This first volume on François Catroux is a comprehensive consideration of the work and life of an international master of interior design. François Catroux is an innovator and explorer in interior design, who has always been a master of contemporary style. From his early days as a design prodigy, creating space-age boutiques for a house of couture and apartments that drew from Art Deco and modern design, to chic, mirror-studded interiors rich with glamour and elegant refinement in residences in Hong Kong, New York, and London, Catroux is at home in the vast world of design. His spaces may surprise with the introduction of irregular elements—a chandelier of elk horn or pink florescent lighting in a hallway—but Catroux’s hallmark sensibility combines the majesty and grandeur of high ceilings, elegant moldings, and gossamer draperies with elements that suggest comfort and tasteful, restrained opulence. Go-to accoutrements include sumptuous sofas, rich carpeting, gentle lighting, rooms lined with books, and ship staterooms in warm wood paneling with brass lamps, all measured according to a modern eye. This book looks at Catroux’s career chronologically, featuring his first projects in 1968 through his latest, completed only this year, and includes the interiors of houses and apartments around the globe, from Paris to New York, Hong Kong to Los Angeles. Luxuriously photographed, this volume is more than just a design monograph on one of the great, and so far relatively untold, careers in the history of design—it is also a lively and intimate read about a life lived in great style.

This in-depth exploration of celebrated French artist François Morellet (1926-2016) showcases his diverse oeuvre, famous for infusing systematic and rigorous experimentation with humor and playfulness. Morellet's interest in kinetic and optical effects spurred work that engages viewers' perception and participation, ensuring an element of chance within his predetermined systems and challenging the convention of the artistic genius. This book features new scholarship by an international group of renowned art historians and curators. Essays explore topics such as the conceptual stakes of Morellet's practice, the influence of Brazilian geometric abstraction and the Islamic decorative tradition, and the role of humor in his work. Also included is an extensive selection of previously untranslated writings by the artist himself. With striking new photography of the artworks--such as Morellet's geometric paintings, neon works, and architectural interventions--this is the definitive book on a fascinating, multifaceted artist.

How They Decorated illustrates some of the great rooms of the twentieth century, whose stylish residents influence our tastes today. Gloria Vanderbilt cleverly noted, “Decorating is autobiography.” Reflecting that truism, the interiors in this book capture the individual approaches of these icons of style: Bunny Mellon’s spare all-American elegance; Hélène Rochas’s refined sophistication; Vanessa Bell’s colorful bohemianism; Mona von Bismarck’s breezy opulence; and Georgia O’Keeffe’s earthy chic. Author P. Gaye Tapp analyzes each of her subjects’ refined way of living, how she embellished her residences (or left them elegantly stark), and the long-lasting effects on today’s generation of designers and connoisseurs of beauty. The book is presented in four sections that describe the aesthetic approaches that the ladies took in decorating their abodes: “The Fashionably Chic”, “The Unconventional Eye”, “In the Grand Manner”, and “Legacy Style”. Each interior illustrates the crucial aspect of the lady’s definitive taste. Some worked closely with decorating legends such as John Fowler, Albert Hadley, Billy Baldwin, Syrie Maugham, and Jean-Michel Frank. Others took to the task of decorating single-handedly—like Pauline Trigère, Sybil Connolly, Vita Sackville-West, and Fleur Cowles. The interiors of these trendsetting ladies defied their time and inspire and delight to this day. In How They Decorated, one can learn from the most notable style muses of the last century.

"Betty Catroux, Yves Saint Laurent's female double, embodies in the couturier's eyes the androgynous woman and a certain feminine ideal. She personified, better than anyone else, the fascinating enigma of Saint Laurent and his long silhouettes, celebrated around the world and immune to passing trends. One of his closest friends, she was the only model able to keep prototypes of each collection. A collection she just donated to the Yves Saint Laurent Museum 1,200 pieces (clothing and accessories). This book presents photographs from the museum's collections and Betty Catroux's personal collection, selected by Anthony Vaccarello." -- Website.

Most decorating books focus on one designer; the rest focus on one period, one trend, one room. This book, for the first time, has the big picture: ALL the names everybody must know from the entire 100-year history of interior design. Each designer is profiled and illustrated with three to four photographs of their best work; what we can learn from them--and how they changed decorating forever--is clearly highlighted to catch the eye.

The first monograph on the work of renowned twentieth-century British decorator and antiques dealer Geoffrey Bennison. Geoffrey Bennison (1921–1984) ranks among England’s most influential designers, defying conventional notions of style to conjure up magnificent settings for discerning clients who loved his theatrical and romantic sensibility. The master of the layered look, he used antique textiles with his own fabrics to achieve a complex mix of scale, pattern, and color in inventive shades such as his evocative Red Riding Hood Red and Prussian Blue. His talent for combining eclectic objects, his unerring eye, and his deep knowledge of antiques earned him a reputation for sophisticated originality equaled by very few. Even today, leading designers turn to Bennison for inspiration. This lavish volume opens with an illuminating text about Bennison’s fascinating history—from his early days at the Slade School of Art and his work as an antiques dealer in London during the swinging sixties to his later career as an interior designer. All of Bennison’s interiors are showcased, from magnificent country estates and retreats to elegantly appointed apartments and townhouses filled with priceless French and English furniture and curiosities, making this book a must-have for design lovers.

A 100-year visual history of the magazine, showcasing the work of top interior designers and architects, and the personal spaces of numerous celebrities. Architectural Digest at 100 celebrates the best from the pages of the international design authority. The editors have delved into the archives and culled years of rich material covering a range of subjects. Ranging freely between present and past, the book features the personal spaces of dozens of private celebrities like Barack and Michelle Obama, David Bowie, Truman Capote, David Hockney, Michael Kors, and Diana Vreeland, and includes the work of top designers and architects like Frank Gehry, David Hicks, India Mahdavi, Peter Marino, John Fowler, Renzo Mongiardino, Oscar Niemeyer, Axel Vervoordt, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Elsie de Wolfe. Also included are stunning images from the magazine’s history by photographers such as Bill Cunningham, Horst P. Horst, Simon Upton, Francois Dischinger, Francois Halard, Julius Shulman, and Oberto Gili. “The book is really a survey of how Americans have lived—and how American life has changed—over the past 100 years.” ?Los Angeles Times “A Must-Have Book!” ?Interior Design Magazines “Written in the elevated quality that only the editors of Architectural Digest can master so well, AD at 100: A Century of Style is the world’s newest guide to the best and brightest designs to inspire your next big home project.” ?The Editorialist