Valerie Mendes – författare

From Belle Epoque tea gowns to Dior’s 1947 ‘New Look’ and fashion blogs in the 2000s, this comprehensive, international survey explores all the significant developments in fashion from 1900 to the present day. Formerly published as the internationally successful 20th Century Fashion, the survey is now brought right up to date with a new chapter that dicusses, among many topics, the impact of the Internet on the fashion industry, the importance of new fashion centres in India and China and how fashion is now pluralistic, multi-cultural and fast moving.

From the turn-of-the-century S-bend silhouette to celebrity couture of the new millennium and the evolution of streetwear, this comprehensive survey explores significant developments in fashion from 1900 to the present day. Fashion historians Amy de la Haye and Valerie Mendes focus on key movements and innovations in style, and explore trends through the work of some of the world’s most original and influential designers and couturiers. Chapters are organized around crucial shifts in tastes and major world events, and exciting advances in fashion are placed within their socioeconomic, political and cultural contexts. International in scope with colour illustrations throughout, this edition includes updated text as well as a new chapter that discusses some of the defining features of fashion in our time: the industry’s proactive embrace of age, gender and race diversity, and its ongoing efforts to combat labour exploitation and encourage global sustainability.With 315 illustrations in colour

In the tradition of THE FORSYTE SAGA, a sweeping historical novel that spans three generations, telling the dark secrets of a family torn apart.Larkswood House. The very name suggests birdsong, peace and elegance. It is home to the Hamilton children - Edward, Cynthia and Harriet - who enjoy the freedom and excitement of privilege. But in the glorious summer of 1896, with absent parents and a departed governess, disaster strikes the family, leaving it cruelly divided.More than 40 years later, on the eve of the Second World War, Louisa Hamilton, newly presented at court but struck down with glandular fever, is sent to Larkswood to recuperate. There, for the first time, she meets her grandfather, Edward, home after decades in India.But as Louisa begins to fall under the spell of Larkswood, she realises it holds the key to the mystery that shattered her family two generations before. Will she find the courage to unravel the dark secrets of the past? And can Larkswood ever become home to happiness again?

After the death of his beloved grandmother - his only family - Daniel feels lost and alone. People move into his house, rubbing salt into the wound. But then he meets Laura, whose loneliness matches his. Might she become his surrogate grandmother? And that family in his old home: the bright, beautiful Jade and her little brother, Finn. Could they too spell a new beginning? It seems too much to hope for. There is something strange about Jade and Finn's relationship. And someone is after the little boy - a figure from the past. He holds the key to a secret that threatens Finn's future - and that will turn Jade and Daniel's lives upside-down.