Claire who? McCardell was a seminal designer in the US for more than two decades, from the 1930s until her death in 1958. She created and defined American sportswear, bringing a new, casual style to the fore. Betty Friedan once said McCardell was "the girl who defied Dior," and the designer herself once wondered why women on New York's Fifth Avenue wanted to look as though they were strolling on the Champs Elysees. Lots of colour illustrations and a fully informative text.
Black Book: Art and Fashion. (Assouline, £25 in the UK).
Fashion's favourite colour of the 1990s gets its own book, a catalogue from the exhibition curated by Italian Vogue editor, Franca Sozzani, in Milan earlier this year. Opening with a glossary of black running from Azzedine Alaia to Yohji Yamamoto, the bulk of the work is devoted to full page illustrations (in black and white, of course) showing such diverse images as Bruce Weber's portraits of Nelson Mandela, clothing designs by Carlo Molino from the mid-1960s and an untitled work by Cy Twombly. The perfect accessory for all fashionable lovers of black.
The Fashion Book. (Phaidon, £24.99 in the UK).
In the same format as the already-published The Art Book and The Photo Book, this contains 500 entries in alphabetical order with a page devoted to each. The range of subjects is extensive, including not just designers but also hairdressers, creative directors such as Fabien Baron, milliners and even fashion icons, Jimi Hendrix and Brigitte Bardot among them. While each entry is, of necessity, brief, this is a well-priced and excellent guide to fashion in all its diversity.
Anna Piaggi's Fashion Algebra. (Thamas & Hudson, £40 in the UK).
Anna Piaggi is the extraordinary-looking creature (imagine a Latinate Zandra Rhodes) who produces her DPs - double-page spreads - each month in Italian Vogue. This is a selection of some of the best, in which Piaggi demonstrates her keen eye and exceptional erudition. Cross-references include Baron de Meyer's photograph of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney alongside a dress from Giorgio Armani's spring/summer 1989 collection and pieces from Chanel haute couture combined with Ingres's portrait of the enthroned Napoleon. Eclectic and wonderful.
Historical Fashion in Detail: The 17th and 18th centuries by Avril Hart and Susan North (V&A Publications, £30 in the UK).
A companion to Modern Fashion in Detail (now in paperback, £19.95 in the UK), this self-explanatory book offers full-colour pages focusing on different garments such as the silver and silver-gilt thread wool coat worn by James, Duke of York at his wedding to Mary of Modena in 1673, and a polonaise gown of Chinese painted silk dating from the late 1770s. Every aspect of the dressmaker's art is explored, from stitching and quilting to slashing, pinking and stamping.
Addressing the Century: 100 Years of Art & Fashion (Hayward Gallery Publications, £14.95 in the UK).
The catalogue of the current exhibition at London's Hayward Gallery (continuing until January 11th), it looks at the sometimes close connections there have been between artists and fashion designers. Some of the more obvious links - Paul Poiret and the Ballets Russes, Schiaparelli and the Surrealist movement - are thoroughly covered. Other, less tangible, associations such as Balenciaga's modernist approach to dress are overlooked. Among contemporary designers featured are Martin Margiela, Hussein Chalayan and Helen Storey.
The Pimlico Companion to Fashion, edited by Colin McDowell (Pimlico, £12.50 in the UK).
Letters, journals, memoirs, novels, poetry and plays have all been scrutinised for their references to clothes and fashion. Divided into different sections, it makes fascinating reading and is an excellent reference book.
Diesel: World Wide Wear by Ted Polhemus and Red or Dead: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly by Tamsin Kingswell (Thames & Hudson, £9.95 each in the UK).
Fresh additions to the existing Cutting Edge series, this pair examines two of fashion's mavericks, Renzo Rosso's Diesel label, known for its quirky advertising campaigns and Wayne Hemingway's Red or Dead. This is mainstream rather than high fashion and a welcome exploration of popular taste, with amusing (and informative) text and lots of colour photographs. Good value too - even cheaper than clothes from either of these two companies.