Arts and Culture

Social meets fashion history in the tantalizing story of the boot from the Roaring Twenties and Prohibition to online shopping and fashion blogs. Weaving together such unlikely elements as Glam Rock, the martyrdom of Joan of Arc, and the Iran-Contra scandal, it shows how the modern fashion boot plays with our ideas of gender, straddling the line between practical and stylish, between fashion and ...

A unique mix of art and science, this fresh and visually stunning survey celebrates the extraordinary beauty and diversity of the world’s most controversial plant: Cannabis sativa. Cutting-edge scanning electron microscope images, combined with light micrographs and X-rays, bring this captivating plant vividly to life.

Tattoos have played an important role in human culture for thousands of years. Ideal for the tattoo artist, anthropologist, or tattoo fan, this visual lexicon covers tattoos from hundreds of different cultures and lists meanings, reasons for wearing, and rites of passage and indicates placement for thousands of individual tattoos.

Tracing the rise of commercial fetish art from its shadowy beginnings in the 1940s to its acceptance in the 1970s, this illustrated biography explores the unconventional life and art of Eric Stanton, a pioneering sexual fantasist who helped shape the movement.

Most take for granted that a pair of jeans is not considered complete without patches, rivets, buttons, and other trims. The existence of such design elements is not questioned because they are seen as the standard. Nick Williams’s book is exclusively dedicated to denim branding and deconstructs every element that goes into branding a pair of jeans.

This original animal alphabet series with its sophisticated imagery was created to appeal to adults but children delight in it as well. The book explores unusual imagery juxtapositions pairing alphabet letters with animals and unexpected objects beginning with that same letter. The series started when artist Leslie Haines discovered a human-faced walrus in an old engraving book.

COPIC markers are very popular drawing materials used all around the world. This long-awaited book provides techniques for rendering exciting textures using COPIC markers. From basic techniques to entire color sample sheets, this book provides step-by-step visual instructions for rendering textures for a variety of materials, from metals to bricks.

This guide to printmaking plunges you into dozens of ways to leave your mark on the world—and on your walls, tablecloths, garments, and every other surface imaginable. Emphasizing the joy and energy of printmaking, the 41 projects use everyday materials, and don't require any previous experience.

This lavishly photographed and authoritative book presents the secret history of Soviet subminiature spy cameras during the Cold War. It is a history that could only have been written by the veteran KGB technical intelligence officers who created and used the cameras in secret operations.

In this collection of works by more than 25 contemporary ice artists, discover a fascinating art medium defined by its ephemeral nature. Merging creativity and engineering, today’s ice artist can create incredibly complex artwork, featured here in more than 150 photos.

Using your creativity and the vibrant medium of alcohol inks, create these 20 beautiful representational paintings. With a broad range of painting subjects including florals, animals, landscapes, and more, these projects demonstrate a variety of approaches to alcohol ink painting to inspire and ignite creativity. Step-by-step photos make each project a learning opportunity.

One of the most important shoe designers of the mid- to late twentieth century, Arsho Baghsarian spent more than four decades working behind the scenes for prestigious companies with men's names on the label, including Christian Dior, Andrew Geller, I. Miller, and Stuart Weitzman, as well as Shoe Biz.

The age of the metrosexual is over. Dead and buried. In places as diverse as Seattle, Los Angeles, Austin, Richmond, Miami, and Charleston, modern American men are ushering in a new golden age of hirsute pursuits. Denouncing the baby-smooth standard that society has set, men from around the world are reembracing their face in its most natural state.

The climate is changing, and so must domestic architecture. Premium materials—brick, stone, wood—and timeless design used to be the key to building homes that would last for generations. But a warming planet, coupled with severe weather events, has changed the equation and raised the stakes, sometimes literally.

From one of the largest photographic pin-up collections in the world comes a stunning showcase of more than 350 commercial pin-up images, many never before seen, from the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s. Reproduced with meticulous attention to detail, the evocative images include some of the most alluring and spellbinding women of the 20th century.

Since Alvardo's Pin-Up Nudes was first published in 2013, it has become a bestseller in pin-up photography. In this second edition, Alvarado uses his trademark innovative technique to blur the line between photography and illustration. Relying on subtle costuming to add color, texture, humor, and homage to his images, Alvarado focuses on the female form in these 160+ pin-up nudes.

This artistic, inspirational guide to wearable art shows you how to nuno-felt patterns and textures into luxurious fabrics like georgette, chiffon, and silk, then design garments to feature them. Using only hand friction, soap, and water, bond wool and silk fibers together to create lightweight, one-of-a-kind clothing and accessories.

At once an examination of gender ideology in the Third Reich, a history of women in uniform as photographic theme, and an analysis of the functions of wartime photography, The Woman in My Uniform compiles  original Third Reich photos of German women wearing men's military uniforms—often their husband's, boyfriend's, or family member's—nearly all never before published.

In an invitation to expand and liberate your creative voice in floral design, Jenny Thomasson (AIFD, PFCI, EMC) generously unfolds her artistic process that has made her a rising star in the industry through 40+ beautifully shot compositions. The delicacy, intensity, and cyclical temporality of flowers mirror our deepest emotions—making them a potent source of inspiration and innovation.

A colorful guided tour from an expert, enabling weavers, textile lovers, and art lovers to notice and appreciate what tapestries can do and how they do it. This guide from expert tapestry weaver and historian Sidore gives how-to strategies enabling weavers and nonweavers to notice and appreciate the meaning of these artworks.