Runway Madness

by Robin Givhan, Lucian Perkins (Photographer)

Bargain Books are non-returnable. The unexpected runway moment, the candid dressing room expression, the steely eyed scrutiny of the front-row denizens. Runway Madness is a personal invitation to New York's infamous Fashion Week. More than 100 arresting photographs by Pulitzer Prize- winning photographer Lucian Perkins many never published until now tell the behind-the-scenes story of this unparalleled fashion event. Perkins captures the models up-close and Kate Moss without make-up, Naomi Campbell in curlers, and Shalom Harlow, Amber Valetta, Christy Turlington, and many others in high pomp as well as unguarded circumstance. Also exposed are the fashion editors and buyers, journalists, and stars whose high-visibility presence is essential. Quotes from fashion insiders provide a running commentary and captions by Washington Post fashion writer Robin Givhan explain each image. The beat, the lights, the cascade of beauty and this is not only a performance, but also a performance art. Long and lean like the runway itself, Runway Madness is the total high fashion experience.

120 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1998

About the author

ROBIN GIVHAN is a contributing Opinion writer for The New York Times. Previously, as The Washington Post's senior critic-at-large, she wrote about politics, race, and the arts, covering the fashion industry as a business, as a cultural institution, and as pure pleasure. She is a Pulitzer Prize winner for criticism and author of The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History. In addition to the Post, where she has also covered Michelle Obama, Givhan has worked at Newsweek, Daily Beast, Vogue, and the Detroit Free Press.

Reviews

[Lisa]

Like everything that Givhan writes, this is perfectly what you want from this book.