“Marylou Luther is the editor and founder of the International Fashion Syndicate and award-winning “Clotheslines” column and is the fashion editor emeritus of newspapers including the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. Cuban-born artist Ruben Toledo has had his work published in The New Yorker, Vogue, Town & Country, and The New York Times.” From Rizzoli.
I had the pleasure of working with Marylou when she was with the Chicago Tribune and have enjoyed her trend predictions through the years. Her talented perspective on fashion is enhanced by her relationships with the designers and fashion professionals. This book is a unique, personal journey, through the years, using wonderful quotes from the best of the best of the intriguing creators of the world of fashion. Who hasn’t she interviewed from Christian Dior, the Master himself, to the current Dior Creative Director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, everyone who is anyone is here. It is indeed a one of a kind book that will enhance your fashion library. The quotes are a fun insight into the minds of the arbiters of style from Marylou’s seventy years as a fashion journalist, newspaper columnist and trend forecaster. And the Ruben Toledo illustrations are pure magic and enhance the quotes perfectly! Once in awhile a book comes along to give me a totally new perspective on a subject that I know very well…this is such a book…I really love everything about it! I think you will too.
From Rizzoli…”In her early days as a journalist, Luther met with the true legends of fashion—she interviewed Christian Dior in 1957 for the Chicago Tribune and visited Coco Chanel at her Rue Cambon atelier; Chanel proclaimed to Luther that “Only those with no memory insist on their originality. Yves Saint Laurent has excellent taste. The more he copies me, the better taste he displays.” Flash forward to present day, and designer Demna Gvasalia told Luther, “Fashion needs to shut up and look at itself—it needs a minute of silence to adjust after the pandemic.”
Lucky me that I will be in a virtual conversation with Marylou for the February 28th nenasnotes The Fashion Book Club. It will be a not to be missed event…contact me at nenasnotes1@gmail.com if you need further details. In addition, The Book Stall, my Independent Bookseller of choice, has a supply of the books. I would be most appreciative if you support them for all your book purchases (This isn’t a sponsored post!!!! Just a gentle nudge!!!!). https://www.thebookstall.com/book/9780847872022
BE-SPOKE: Revelations from the Worlds Most Important Fashion Designers by Marylou Luther © Rizzoli New York, 2023. Images, credited © RubenToledo.