Immerse yourself in the wit and wisdom of Coco and Karl: two elegant collections of the legendary designers’ maxims on style, creativity and life.

Chic, sharp and always on point, Coco Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld continue to captivate young generations of fashion fans. Chanel was fierce and uncompromising in her opinions on fashion, women and life, while Lagerfeld’s famously controversial pronouncements were seized upon by fashionistas, acolytes and sages around the world. Cultivated, surprising and sometimes shocking, their ‘bons mots’ are always impossible to ignore.

This elegant box set contains two slim volumes of their pithiest, wittiest and most provocative quotations, and will be required reading for us all today as we negotiate the trickiest curves of modern life.

Contents List:

A box set containing:
The World According to Karl 
The World According to Coco 

About the Author:

Jean-Christophe Napias is an author, translator and editor of books on dandies, dance music and camp culture. Sandrine Gulbenkian is director of Parigramme, a Parisian publishing house. Patrick Mauriès is a writer and publisher of many notable titles on fashion and design, including Jewelry by Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Houses and several titles in 'The World According to...' series, all published by Thames & Hudson.

A stylish collection of legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent’s maxims on fashion, craft, women and inspiration, presented in an attractive gift format.

Founded by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé in 1962, shortly after the young couturier left his post at the helm of Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent would soon become one of the most successful and influential haute couture houses in Paris. Introducing Le Smoking, the first tuxedo suit for women, in 1966, Saint Laurent also presented iconic art-inspired creations, from Mondrian dresses to precious Van Gogh embroidery and the famous Ballets Russes collection.

The designer put the women who wore his clothes first (‘What’s most important in couture is the body we dress, the woman we dress, more so than the ideas we might have’) and was determined to change attitudes of the era (‘Fashion’s purpose was not only to make a woman look beautiful, but also to reassure them and to give them confidence’). He could be critical of the fashion industry (‘I adore clothes but I hate fashion’) and saw himself as a craftsman who perfectly understood his customer (‘I think there are three kinds of designers. The big ones, the real ones, and those who know how to strike a chord with a woman just by making a very simple dress, or a very simple suit’).

Presented in a beautiful package and accessible format, The World According to Yves Saint Laurent is the perfect gift for fashion fans, capturing the essence of a true visionary.

About the Authors:

Patrick Mauriès is a writer and publisher of many notable titles on fashion and design, including Cabinets of Curiosities, The World According to Karl and The World According to Christian Dior, all published by Thames & Hudson.

Jean-Christophe Napias is an author, translator and editor of books on dandies, dance music and camp culture. His recent publications include The World According to Karl, Choupette: The Private Life of a High-Flying Fashion Cat and The World According to Coco, all published by Thames & Hudson.

An elegant collection of Christian Dior’s maxims on style, women and inspiration, presented in a fashionable gift format

Credited with creating some of the most luxurious and spectacular haute couture pieces of all time, Christian Dior became a fashion icon overnight in 1947 with the launch of his ‘New Look’ - sumptuous hourglass silhouettes that provided a welcome tonic to the austerity of wartime. Its wild success, and the global fame that ensued, was built on the designer’s subtle understanding of fashion, couture, style, elegance and women - a perspective and insight best revealed in Dior’s own words, which are gathered here for the first time.

Rightly described as the ‘Designer of Dreams’ in the recent blockbuster exhibition on the house of Dior that attracted millions of visitors the world over, Christian Dior was an unrivalled arbiter in the world of high fashion. Dior was generous with his advice on all things, from style and how to dress (‘No elegant woman follows fashion blindly’, he once declared), to his insights into the creative process, invaluable for any budding designer.

Presented in a beautiful package and accessible format, The World According to Christian Dior is the perfect gift for fashion fans, publishing on the occasion of the house’s 75th anniversary.

About the Authors:

Patrick Mauriès is a writer and publisher of many notable titles on fashion and design, including Jewelry by Chanel, Cabinets of Curiosities, The World According to Karl and The World According to Coco, all published by Thames & Hudson.

Jean-Christophe Napias is an author, translator and editor of books on dandies, dance music and camp culture. His recent publications include The World According to Karl, Choupette: The Private Life of a High-Flying Fashion Cat and The World According to Coco, all published by Thames & Hudson.

Karl Lagerfeld’s legendary maxims in a fashionable gift format

Karl Lagerfeld is a modern master of couture. He is also famously outspoken: his wise, surprising statements pop up like offbeat news flashes. This compact collection of quotations pays homage to the legendary éminence grise of the fashion world. Lagerfeld’s pronouncements – on fashion, women, art, politics, love, and life high and low – are famously oracular, seized upon by fashionistas, acolytes and sages around the world.

Created with the full approval of the designer himself, this cornucopia of Lagerfeld’s maxims is required reading for us all today as we negotiate the trickiest curves of modern life. Cultivated, unpredictable, provocative, and sometimes shocking, Lagerfeld’s ‘bons mots’ are always impossible to ignore.

About the Authors:

Jean-Christophe Napias is an author, translator and editor of books on dandies, dance music and camp culture.
Sandrine Gulbenkian is director of Parigramme, a Parisian publishing house.

An elegant collection of legendary designer Coco Chanel’s maxims on style, women and life

French couturière Coco Chanel has achieved legendary status across the world and continues to captivate young generations of fashion fans who eagerly collect and share her quotes, creations and insights.

A close friend of some of the leading wits and writers of her days (from Jean Cocteau to poet Pierre Reverdy), Coco Chanel was fierce and uncompromising in her pronouncements on fashion (‘Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity’; ‘Elegance is refusal’; ‘Fashion changes, but style endures’), women (‘A woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future’; ‘Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman’) and life (‘The best things in life are free. The second-best are very expensive’). Much like her successor, Karl Lagerfeld, she never shied away from controversy, declaring one day of her detractors: ‘I don’t care what you think about me. I don’t think about you at all’. Chic, witty and accessibly priced, The World According to Coco is the perfect gift for fans of fashion in general and Chanel in particular.

About the Author:

Patrick Mauriès is a writer and publisher of many notable titles on fashion and design, including Jewelry by Chanel, Cabinets of Curiosities, The World According to Karl and The World According to Christian Dior, all published by Thames & Hudson. Jean-Christophe Napias is an author, translator and editor of books on dandies, dance music and camp culture. His recent publications include The World According to Karl, Choupette: The Private Life of a High-Flying Fashion Cat and The World According to Christian Dior, all published by Thames & Hudson.