Arguably the most influential, imaginative, and provocative designer of his generation, Alexander McQueen both challenged and expanded fashion conventions to express ideas about race, class, sexuality, religion, and the environment.

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty examines the full breadth of the designer’s career, from the start of his fledgling label to the triumphs of his own world-renowned London house. It features his most iconic and radical designs, revealing how McQueen adapted and combined the fundamentals of Savile Row tailoring, the specialized techniques of haute couture, and technological innovation to achieve his distinctive aesthetic. It also focuses on the highly sophisticated narrative structures underpinning his collections and extravagant runway presentations, with their echoes of avant-garde installation and performance art.

Published to coincide with an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art organized by The Costume Institute, this stunning book includes a preface by Andrew Bolton; an introduction by Susannah Frankel; an interview by Tim Blanks with Sarah Burton, creative director of the house of Alexander McQueen; illuminating quotes from the designer himself; provocative and captivating new photography by renowned photographer Sølve Sundsbø; and a lenticular cover by Gary James McQueen.

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty celebrates the astounding creativity and originality of a designer who relentlessly questioned and confronted the requisites of fashion.

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The long-awaited home décor bible by the beloved design blogger

“Thank you,” wrote a reader to Design*Sponge creator Grace Bonney, “for teaching me that houses don’t have to be frumpy and formal. They don’t have to be matchy-matchy or rigidly modern.” They can just be comfy and unique and reflect who you are, no matter how small your budget or space.

That reader is one of the 75,000 unique daily visitors to Design*Sponge, who make it the most popular design site on the web. The site receives 250,000 pageviews every day and has 150,000 RSS subscribers and 280,000 followers on Twitter. Design*Sponge fans have been yearning for the ultimate design manual from their guru, Grace, and she has finally delivered with this definitive guide, which includes:

• Home tours of 70 real-life interiors featuring artists and designers

• Fifty DIY projects, with detailed instructions for personalizing your space

• Step-by-step tutorials on everything from stripping and painting furniture to hanging wallpaper and doing your own upholstery

• Fifty Before & After makeovers submitted by readers of Design*Sponge—real people with limited time and realistic budgets

• Essential tips on modern flower arranging, with 20 arrangements

With over 700 color photos and illustrations and projects that are customizable, relatable, and affordable, this is the democratizing design book everyone has been waiting for—and all for only $35.00!

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An Economist Book of the Year       

Costa Book Award Winner for Biography    

Galaxy National Book Award Winner (New Writer of the Year Award)

Edmund de Waal is a world-famous ceramicist. Having spent thirty years making beautiful pots—which are then sold, collected, and handed on—he has a particular sense of the secret lives of objects. When he inherited a collection of 264 tiny Japanese wood and ivory carvings, called netsuke, he wanted to know who had touched and held them, and how the collection had managed to survive.

And so begins this extraordinarily moving memoir and detective story as de Waal discovers both the story of the netsuke and of his family, the Ephrussis, over five generations. A nineteenth-century banking dynasty in Paris and Vienna, the Ephrussis were as rich and respected as the Rothchilds. Yet by the end of the World War II, when the netsuke were hidden from the Nazis in Vienna, this collection of very small carvings was all that remained of their vast empire.

Michael O’Brien got out of his car one day in 1975 and sought the acquaintance of a man named John Madden who lived under an overpass. Their initial contact grew into a friendship that O’Brien chronicled for the Miami News, where he began his career as a staff photographer. O’Brien’s photo essays conveyed empathy for the homeless and the disenfranchised and won two Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards. In 2006, O’Brien reconnected with the issue of homelessness and learned the problem has grown exponentially since the 1970s, with as many as 3.5 million adults and children in America experiencing homelessness at some point in any given year.

In Hard Ground, O’Brien joins with renowned singer-songwriter Tom Waits, described by the New York Times as “the poet of outcasts,” to create a portrait of homelessness that impels us to look into the eyes of people who live “on the hard ground” and recognize our common humanity. For Waits, who has spent decades writing about outsiders, this subject is familiar territory. Combining their formidable talents in photography and poetry, O’Brien and Waits have crafted a work in the spirit of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, in which James Agee’s text and Walker Evans’s photographs were “coequal, mutually independent, and fully collaborative” elements. Letting words and images communicate on their own terms, rather than merely illustrate each other, Hard Ground transcends documentary and presents independent, yet powerfully complementary views of the trials of homelessness and the resilience of people who survive on the streets.

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For 40 years, Bob Gruen’s name has been synonymous with rock and roll. From taking early photos on tour with Ike and Tina Turner, to capturing the early CBGB/Max’s Kansas City scene to covering current stadium rockers such as Green Day, Gruen has always been at the right place at the right time—and he’s always gotten the shot. In this lavish monograph, Gruen has curated his favorite photographs from his career, with intimate captions and behind-the-scenes anecdotes. Featuring such illustrious acts as the Clash, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols, Ramones, and more, and including an introduction by the legendary Debbie Harry of Blondie, this collection is a must-have for all fans of rock and roll.
Praise for Rock Seen:
“Rock Seen offers a disarmingly natural look at icons like Blondie and Cher before the era of the posed rock-star portrait kicked in.”

—Entertainment Weekly

“Rock Seen . . . hits the high points on and off the stage in rock’s past four decades.”
 —USA Today

“Go backstage with 40 years’ worth of rock-and-roll images from the legendary lens of Bob Gruen, who was once John Lennon’s personal photographer. From over-the-top action shots of Elton John’s acrobatics to private pics of Lennon and Yoko in bed with baby Sean to boozy plane rides with the Sex Pistols, the glossy pages act as your VIP pass to the rock-star lifestyle you’ve dreamed of.”

—Marie Claire

“The official monograph of rock and roll’s most famous photographer, Rock Seen is a must-have for all rock fans.”

—RollingStone.com 

“Gruen had a front-row seat to the rise of many rock legends [from] Elton John to Green Day.”

—New York Post

“If you want to give the gift of great music photos, you honestly cannot do better than these thrilling images from Bob Gruen’s forty-year-long career as one of rock’s iconic photographers” 
—Creative Loafing

“It all came flooding back when I opened Bob Gruen’s beautiful new book, Rock Seen, a sparkling collage of live concert shots and portraits from the last forty years.” 
—Irish Echo

How two New Yorkers led the transformation of a derelict elevated railway into a grand—and beloved—open space
The High Line, a new park atop an ele-vated rail structure on Manhattan’s West Side, is among the most innovative urban reclamation projects in memory. The story of how it came to be is a remarkable one: two young citizens with no prior experience in planning and development collaborated with their neighbors, elected officials, artists, local business owners, and leaders of burgeoning movements in horticulture and landscape architecture to create a park celebrated worldwide as a model for creatively designed, socially vibrant, ecologically sound public space.
Joshua David and Robert Hammond met in 1999 at a community board meeting to consider the fate of the High Line. Built in the 1930s, it carried freight trains to the West Side when the area was defined by factories and warehouses. But when trains were replaced by truck transport, the High Line became obsolete. By century’s end it was a rusty, forbidding ruin. Plants grew between the tracks, giving it a wild and striking beauty.
David and Hammond loved the ruin and saw in it an opportunity to create a new way to experience their city. Over ten years, they did so. In this candid and inspiring book— lavishly illustrated—they tell how they relied on skill, luck, and good timing: a crucial court ruling, an inspiring design contest, the enthusiasm of Mayor Bloomberg, the concern for urban planning issues following 9/11. Now the High Line—a half-mile expanse of plants, paths, staircases, and framed vistas—runs through a transformed West Side and reminds us that extraordinary things are possible when creative people work together for the common good.

Unlocking the Key to Perfect Selections and Amazing Photoshop Effects for Totally Realistic Composites

Compositing is one of the hottest trends in Photoshop and photography today for portrait photographers, designers of all walks of life, and even retouchers. Everywhere you look, from group photos, to school graduation or sports portraits, to magazines, movie posters, and DVD covers, chances are, you’ve seen compositing.

In Photoshop Compositing Secrets, Matt Kloskowski takes you through the entire process behind creating convincing, well-executed, and captivating composites. You’ll see how to create images that run the gamut from real-world portraits for corporate, graduation, or group photos to sports portraits, templates, and collages, and even the surreal, dramatic composites that clients clamor for.

You’ll learn:

• One of the most important secrets to compositing: how to master selections in Photoshop (yes, even wispy hair),
• What background color, and camera and lighting setups work best for compositing,
• How to move a subject from one background to another, and the Photoshop lighting and shadowing techniques to make it look real,
• And all the Photoshop tips, tricks, and special effects you need to pull off a convincing, professional composite.

No matter if you’re a professional, an aspiring professional, or a hobbyist, Photoshop Compositing Secrets will sharpen your skills and open up a whole new avenue of photographic expression in an easy-to-understand way that will have you creating your own composites in no time.

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Moms, if you can’t seem to take enough great photos of the children in your life, this is the book for you.  Now you can learn how to photograph children with the style, clarity, color, and beauty you see in professional photographs.  This fun guide combines humor with solid know-how to show you how to compose shots, handle cameras from basic compacts to advanced dSLRs, take portraits or candids, create prints that impress, and even work with kids! Packed with beautiful examples and written in a down-to-earth style from one mom to another, this book will help mamarazzis everywhere take better photos.

• Moms are one of the fastest-growing segments of the camera-toting demographic, and the blogosphere has a term for them, mamarazzis
• Mixes information, inspiration, and fun for women who want to take better photographs of the children in their lives
• Explains how to set up a camera and use the controls on basic compacts up to advanced dSLR cameras
• Covers shot composition, determining settings, exposing images correctly, the essentials of printing images, how to process for clear and bright color, and more
• Includes stunning examples of portraits and candids of children

Become a better mamarazzi with this fun and informative guide!

Mamarazzi: Top Tips for Getting Super Kid Shots
Of course, every mamarazzo wants to know how to capture winning photos of her children. She wants to pick the perfect spots for shots, use lovely lighting, and make her camera’s bells and whistles sing. But the true show stopper for most moms is the ability to capture her child’s true personality in photos. A few insider tips can do the trick!

Don’t act your age.
The best way to guarantee giggles from your children is to think like a kid yourself. Figure out what makes them laugh … and then start the show! This may mean breaking a few rules in honor of photo time. For instance, let your monkey jump on the bed or plan a ridiculously bubbly bath time.

But whatever you do, aim to capture the magic of childhood. Grab close ups of your son’s grass-stained knees. Or keep your distance and zoom out to show your daughter at play in her room. Use your imagination–right along with your child–to grab some great captures.

Catch smiling siblings.
Sibling shots are the pièce de résistance for nearly every mama–and papa, for that matter! But they can also be the most difficult images to get. How can you capture the charisma (or chaos!) of siblings without taking a trip to the looney bin?

Here’s an idea: Gather your crew and engage them in a fun-for-all activity, like blowing bubbles, playing in the sprinkler, or building a blanket fort. Step back and capture the candids that ensue.

Or hop into the Director’s chair for some shots. Mix up the words to a standard song to get a few grins. Suggest a jumping contest or try a tickle fest for fun. Balance something on your head and then let it fall to the floor. Engage your inner actress and make a big deal over the funny fails.

Encourage siblings to get close (closer … no, ever closer!) to each other as you snap your shots. Chances are, if they’re having fun, they won’t mind the close quarters … and yep, it even works with toddlers and tweens!

Give ‘em some star treatment.
A seemingly simple tip that can go a long way to improve your mamarazzo moments is to handle your “star” with care. Be fun, honest, and kind to your child when you’re behind the camera.

Make picture time fun … and enjoy the experience … rather than just getting the shot. Play games, tell jokes, or act silly along with your child. And if your children are old enough, let them be part of the photography process. Encourage your daughter to choose her own funky photo outfits. Or have your son pick his favorite places for picture-taking. If you make it fun, chances are that you’ll all enjoy camera time together.

Remember to be kind to your child, especially when taking photos. You’ll want your child to feel cherished rather than chastised when the shutter is snapping. So keep your cool, mama. And no matter how much your kids push your buttons when you’re trying to (wo)man the camera, keep it fun and upbeat. And when you’re tapped out, close the curtain!

With these tips, you’re sure to capture the winning shots you want. And even better, you might just earn a repeat performance the next time you bring out your camera!

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