Gift Idea: Vintage Photography Books

Between my husband and I, we own over 450 books. It should come as no surprise then that I consider books a wonderful Christmas present. The sheer volume of fashion books can be a bit difficult to navigate, but here are a few of our favorite vintage fashion photography books.

Many things people say about modern fashion (Things are changing so fast! The skirts are scandalous! That doesn't even flatter the body!) become even sillier when you look at pictures of women in the 1920s. Jazz Age Beauties: The Lost Collection of Ziegfeld Photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston is full of women in dramatic makeup and shocking cuts only a few years removed from the Gibson Girl image.

Go even edgier with street shots of regular people in We're Desperate: The Punk Rock Photography of Jim Jocoy, SF/LA 1978-1980. Excellent for anyone wanting to by-pass the mall bastardization and explore the fashion roots of the punk movement.

For the glamorous vintage lover on many of your shopping lists, Movie Star Portraits of the Forties is a goldmine of style and class. In the same style Lillian Bassman: Women is a retrospective of images shot by Bassman primarily in the 50s.

Often when I look at fashion photography with it's selective lens, I want a little more insight to the average woman. The Icons series publishes books of fashion and beauty ads from the glam 1950s, the mod 60s, and the groovy 70s, and what has more mainstream appeal than advertising?

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