Fans pick 73 books like Avedon Fashion 1944-2000

By Richard Avedon, Carol Squires, Vincent Aletti

Here are 73 books that Avedon Fashion 1944-2000 fans have personally recommended if you like Avedon Fashion 1944-2000. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Givenchy Style

Meghan Friedlander Author Of Audrey Hepburn in Paris

From my list on Audrey Hepburn’s fashionable life.

Why am I passionate about this?

My fascination with Audrey Hepburn formed at an early age. My mother used to regale me with stories about taking trips to her local theater to watch My Fair Lady or seeing models at mall fashion shows sporting Audrey’s mod-inspired hairstyle from How to Steal a Million. Hearing these memories made Audrey feel familiar, like a distant relative and not an untouchable  Hollywood movie star. As a child, I watched her movies, and over time, I began collecting books, vintage magazines, and photographs. In 2010, I created my website, Rare Audrey Hepburn, with the intention of sharing my discoveries with fellow Audrey fans. 

Meghan's book list on Audrey Hepburn’s fashionable life

Meghan Friedlander Why did Meghan love this book?

The names Audrey Hepburn and Hubert de Givenchy are inextricably linked. Their union transformed the bond between two industries: fashion and film. This book wasn’t just a reference source for me; it has been a point of inspiration since it first arrived in my library many years ago.

I am a longstanding admirer of Givenchy and his timeless creations. His legacy is a testament to his dedication to quality construction, clean lines, and unique details. This book is an intimate look into Hubert’s life narrated in his own words and told through stunning photos showcasing his beautiful clothes and his ornately decorated homes. Each page makes it more evident why Audrey and Hubert weren’t just friends but fashion soulmates. 

By Francoise Mohrt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Givenchy Style as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The private life of this famous Parisian stylist is presented through newly published photos of Givenchy's homes, along with a review of his painting, art, and furniture collections, and examines how his private life has influenced his fashion design.


Book cover of Diana Vreeland

Meghan Friedlander Author Of Audrey Hepburn in Paris

From my list on Audrey Hepburn’s fashionable life.

Why am I passionate about this?

My fascination with Audrey Hepburn formed at an early age. My mother used to regale me with stories about taking trips to her local theater to watch My Fair Lady or seeing models at mall fashion shows sporting Audrey’s mod-inspired hairstyle from How to Steal a Million. Hearing these memories made Audrey feel familiar, like a distant relative and not an untouchable  Hollywood movie star. As a child, I watched her movies, and over time, I began collecting books, vintage magazines, and photographs. In 2010, I created my website, Rare Audrey Hepburn, with the intention of sharing my discoveries with fellow Audrey fans. 

Meghan's book list on Audrey Hepburn’s fashionable life

Meghan Friedlander Why did Meghan love this book?

When I was brainstorming the outline for my book, I knew from the outset that I wanted to explore Audrey’s noteworthy friendships, including the larger-than-life luminary Diana Vreeland. Diana transformed the way the general public saw fashion. During her time at Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue her influence was seen on every page, from the creative backdrops, to the imaginative themes, to her vibrant use of color.

This book by Eleanor Dwight beautifully captures the true essence of Vreeland. Dwight navigates Vreeland’s journey with glamorous photos that are grounded by her elegant narrative. It goes without saying that Diana was more than a footnote in Audrey’s life. She was a friend, an admirer, and a collaborator.  

By Eleanor Dwight,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Diana Vreeland as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Diana Vreeland has been called the fashion editor of the twentieth century. An epic self-mythologizer, she had an incredible aura of glamour, a great eye, and a genius for life. Diana Vreeland reveals the growth of her professional prowess and gives an account of her personal history, at the same time as it brings to life Mrs. Vreeland's pizzazz, humour, and flamboyant personality. A dynamic cast of characters accompanies Diana Vreeland's story. There are more than 300 illustrations, photographs, and drawings, many by the best fashion photographers of her time such as Louise Dahl Wolfe, Irving Penn, Cecil Beaton, and…


Book cover of Dancing on the Ceiling: Stanley Donen and His Movies

Meghan Friedlander Author Of Audrey Hepburn in Paris

From my list on Audrey Hepburn’s fashionable life.

Why am I passionate about this?

My fascination with Audrey Hepburn formed at an early age. My mother used to regale me with stories about taking trips to her local theater to watch My Fair Lady or seeing models at mall fashion shows sporting Audrey’s mod-inspired hairstyle from How to Steal a Million. Hearing these memories made Audrey feel familiar, like a distant relative and not an untouchable  Hollywood movie star. As a child, I watched her movies, and over time, I began collecting books, vintage magazines, and photographs. In 2010, I created my website, Rare Audrey Hepburn, with the intention of sharing my discoveries with fellow Audrey fans. 

Meghan's book list on Audrey Hepburn’s fashionable life

Meghan Friedlander Why did Meghan love this book?

Audrey filmed seven movies in Paris, three of which were directed by the multi-talented Stanley Donen. When they first worked on Funny Face, Audrey was twenty-seven, and Donen was thirty-two.

Their five-year age gap allowed for an ease between the two colleagues, which would manifest into a friendship spanning over 30 years. In fact, Audrey wrote a touching introduction to Dancing on the Ceiling. Silverman wonderfully chronicles Donen’s life in films during the golden age of Hollywood at a time when movie musicals were still box office hits. Best of all, the book covers all three of Audrey and Donen’s collaborations: Funny Face, Charade, and Two for the Road.  

By Stephen M Silverman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dancing on the Ceiling as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

93 photographs in text


Book cover of Audrey at Home: Memories of My Mother's Kitchen

Meghan Friedlander Author Of Audrey Hepburn in Paris

From my list on Audrey Hepburn’s fashionable life.

Why am I passionate about this?

My fascination with Audrey Hepburn formed at an early age. My mother used to regale me with stories about taking trips to her local theater to watch My Fair Lady or seeing models at mall fashion shows sporting Audrey’s mod-inspired hairstyle from How to Steal a Million. Hearing these memories made Audrey feel familiar, like a distant relative and not an untouchable  Hollywood movie star. As a child, I watched her movies, and over time, I began collecting books, vintage magazines, and photographs. In 2010, I created my website, Rare Audrey Hepburn, with the intention of sharing my discoveries with fellow Audrey fans. 

Meghan's book list on Audrey Hepburn’s fashionable life

Meghan Friedlander Why did Meghan love this book?

In many ways, this book is a precursor to Audrey Hepburn in Paris. Both books were conceived by Audrey’s son, Luca Dotti. I used Audrey at Home as a guide while writing my book. I was moved by Luca’s personal anecdotes and the private photos from his family albums.

Although the two books differ in subject—one is about Audrey’s home life, and the other is about her fashionable career—one concept I borrowed was the exploration of the woman behind the actress. Luca’s book changed the field for Audrey biographies. By inviting us into the intimate setting of his mother’s kitchen, we are given access to a rarely-shown side of Audrey. This book tenderly examines the actress, the mother, the wife, and the friend. 

By Luca Dotti,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Audrey at Home as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

New York Times Bestseller Enter Audrey Hepburn's private world in this unique New York Times bestselling biography compiled by her son that combines recollections, anecdotes, excerpts from her personal correspondence, drawings, and recipes for her favorite dishes written in her own hand, and more than 250 previously unpublished personal family photographs. Audrey at Home offers fans an unprecedented look at the legendary star, bringing together the varied aspects of her life through the food she loved-from her childhood in Holland during World War II, to her time in Hollywood as an actress and in Rome as a wife and mother,…


Book cover of Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein

Albert Glinsky Author Of Switched On: Bob Moog and the Synthesizer Revolution

From my list on iconic 20th Century figures in technology and arts.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am both a musician and an author: a Juilliard-trained professional composer who fell into writing after a Ph.D. in electronic music at NYU. Both of my biographies—a favorite genre—chronicle the lives of inventors who married music to electronics and altered the trajectory of music. But their lives each took strange turns—sometimes in almost fictional dimensions—demonstrating that leaving a technological and artistic mark on posterity often has a black side that history overlooked. I’m fascinated by the psychic profiles of my subjects, and I love books that show how character is not black and white—that those who moved the needle of human progress also harbored dark realms in their personalities. 

Albert's book list on iconic 20th Century figures in technology and arts

Albert Glinsky Why did Albert love this book?

I’ve been a fan of Leonard Bernstein’s music and his peerless conducting since I was a child and I knew that his personal and creative life was stormy. But I was gobsmacked by Jamie Bernstein’s deeply personal tour through the up-close, at-home world of this timeless genius. She invites us into Lenny’s study, his living room, or seats us at the dinner table as he puffs his umpteenth daily cigarette, downs a scotch, and holds forth on the sacred, the profane, and the mundane.  

As a biographer, I gleaned much from this powerful memoir, a confessional chronicle that emboldened me to take chances and dissect the deepest innards of my subject unapologetically.  If we can witness Lenny soiling himself onstage in his last year as he is honored for lifetime achievement, we can also plumb the depths of his deeper psyche as well.  A masterful portrait.  

By Jamie Bernstein,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Famous Father Girl as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The intimate memoir of Leonard Bernstein and his family, that helped inspire the new movie Maestro

“Unique among classical-music memoirs for its physical intimacy, its humor and tenderness, its ambivalence toward an irrepressible family genius. . . . The existence of this well-written book, with its poignancy and its shuddery detail. . . is a mark of [Jamie Bernstein’s] sanity and survival. In telling [her father’s] story, she got to write her own.” —New Yorker

The oldest daughter of revered composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein offers a rare look at her father on the centennial of his birth in a deeply intimate…


Book cover of Nothing Personal

Douglas Field Author Of Walking in the Dark: James Baldwin, My Father, and Me

From my list on lesser-known books by James Baldwin.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been writing about James Baldwin for over twenty years and have been reading him since my teens. My father saw the writer debate the conservative polemicist William F. Buckley Jr. at the University of Cambridge in 1965, and I’ve been hooked since he told me about that event. I’ve written three books on Baldwin, scores of articles, and book chapters, and I co-founded the journal James Baldwin Review a decade ago. It's been wonderful to see Baldwin gain popularity over the last decade, and I hope that more people continue to read his essays, novels, plays, and poetry. 

Douglas' book list on lesser-known books by James Baldwin

Douglas Field Why did Douglas love this book?

This book, a collaboration with photographer Richard Avedon, is experimental, exhilarating, and exasperating. I’ve always been drawn to it, which includes striking portraits by Avedon (Marilyn Monroe, Civil Rights workers, Allen Ginsberg) alongside Baldwin’s gnomic and haunting essay.

Panned by the New York Times in 1964, the book has been overlooked by scholars and fans of Baldwin’s work, which encouraged me to return to this troubling book. Published shortly after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Nothing Personal offers up a portrait of the United States as complex and dangerous. Baldwin’s rage at the state of America is apparent, but I’m drawn to his writing about love, which he sees as key to the country’s future: 

“The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another,” Baldwin writes, “the sea engulfs us, and the light goes out.”

By James Baldwin,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Nothing Personal as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

James Baldwin’s critique of American society at the height of the civil rights movement brings his prescient thoughts on social isolation, race, and police brutality to a new generation of readers.

Available for the first time in a stand-alone edition, Nothing Personal is Baldwin’s deep probe into the American condition. Considering the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020—which were met with tear gas and rubber bullets the same year white supremacists entered the US Capitol with little resistance, openly toting flags of the Confederacy—Baldwin’s documentation of his own troubled times cuts to the core of where we…


Book cover of Mike Nichols: A Life

Annie Korzen Author Of The Book of Annie: Humor, Heart, and Chutzpah from an Accidental Influencer

From my list on laughter and tears.

Why am I passionate about this?

These books are all by or about comic geniuses. I have always expressed myself through humor. I never felt I was pretty, so making people laugh was another way of seducing people. I started out by doing improvisational theater on the streets of New York, went on to have a recurring role on Seinfeld, and performed my solo shows on three continents. One of my greatest thrills has been to share the stage with other storytellers while touring with The Moth. When I used my storytelling skills on TikTok, I was amazed at the response. Eleven million Likes is a lot of love. I hope I deserve it.

Annie's book list on laughter and tears

Annie Korzen Why did Annie love this book?

I love showbiz biographies full of the inside dope on glamorous, brilliant people, because I’ve always wanted to be one of those glamorous, brilliant people. 

Mike Nichols knew everyone important in the arts, ate at the most fabulous restaurants, traveled to the most luxurious locations, and owned several grand homes. And I am pleased to report that he was frequently anxious and depressed. 

I find it very reassuring to learn that someone who has everything I’ve ever dreamed of is no happier than I am. I know that sounds a little mean, but I never claimed to be perfect.

By Mark Harris,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Mike Nichols as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A National Book Critics Circle finalist • One of People's top 10 books of 2021 •An instant New York Times bestseller • Named a best book of the year by NPR and Time

A magnificent biography of one of the most protean creative forces in American entertainment history, a life of dazzling highs and vertiginous plunges—some of the worst largely unknown until now—by the acclaimed author of Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back

Mike Nichols burst onto the scene as a wunderkind: while still in his twenties, he was half of a hit improv duo with Elaine May…


Book cover of When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion

Marie Carter Author Of Mortimer and the Witches: A History of Nineteenth-Century Fortune Tellers

From my list on history about working women in New York City.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in Scotland, and from the moment I visited New York City as a tourist, I have been obsessed! I moved to NYC officially in 2000 and have been endlessly fascinated by its history. As a new immigrant who moved here knowing no one and having very little money, I struggled a lot in my initial years, and that left me wondering how people, particularly women, had survived being in the City in prior years, especially with less privileges than I had and so many more obstacles in their way to making a living. I hope these books give you the insight they gave me.

Marie's book list on history about working women in New York City

Marie Carter Why did Marie love this book?

I loved that Julia Satow uncovers the history of lesser-known female department store professionals who hit the pinnacle of their careers in an era when few women were allowed to have executive careers following the Depression.

What delighted me the most were the details of tactics employed by the women to attract more consumers to the stores, such as selling bestselling novels that glamorized the career of an assistant buyer in the shop or the men’s club in which they could gawk at underwear models while shopping for lingerie for their wives. I was also surprised and amused by the stories of name artists such as Salvador Dali, who created window displays for the stores.

By Julie Satow,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked When Women Ran Fifth Avenue as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A glittering portrait of the golden age of American department stores and of three visionary women who led them, from the award-winning author of The Plaza. • "Ms. Satow’s carefully researched book is compulsively readable: I found myself dashing through it like a novel. She portrays the women with verve; we get a glimpse into their lives, as well as a sense of what it was like at each of these retail meccas." —The Wall Street Journal

The twentieth century American department store: a palace of consumption where every wish could be met under one…


Book cover of How to Murder Your Life: A Memoir

Paige Harbison Author Of Anything to Have You

From my list on wasted women.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have spent my entire life in the literary industry, first being raised by an author and her two published sisters, then signing my own book deal at age nineteen. So basically, I am completely incapable of seeing the world through anything but a bookish lens. For this little project, I was asked to make some recommendations based on a subject I care about. I chose Wasted Women. These are books about women who deserve more out of life than they have—and about the consequences of letting a clever woman stay caged.

Paige's book list on wasted women

Paige Harbison Why did Paige love this book?

This one is literally about a wasted woman. It’s a fascinating non-fictional journey to be taken on by the author, who has led a fascinating, glittering New York life working for Conde Naste and other high-profile jobs. A life that she is consistently self-sabotaging through the abuse of drugs—particularly the ones prescribed to her by her father when she was a child. She is smart, sharp, interesting, interested in the world around her, and yet she continues to burn everything down time and time again.

By Cat Marnell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How to Murder Your Life as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?


'I was twenty-six years old and an associate beauty editor at Lucky, one of the top fashion magazines in America. That's all that most people knew about me. But beneath the surface, I was full of secrets: I was a drug addict, for one. A pillhead. I was also an alcoholic-in-training who guzzled warm Veuve Clicquot after work alone in my boss's office with the door closed; a conniving and manipulative uptown doctor-shopper; a salami-and-provolone-puking bulimic who spent a hundred dollars a day on binge foods when things got bad (and they got bad often); a weepy, wobbly, wildly hallucination-prone…


Book cover of Burning for More

LoLo Paige Author Of Alaska Spark

From my list on the perilous world of firefighting.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a former wildland firefighter, so I am passionate about writing about it. I’ve included several personal experiences in my books, and I learned integrity and an outstanding work ethic with the firefighters who trained me in the wildland fire community. I met my husband on another fire crew, so I had to write these fire stories in the romance genre. I have friends who also met their spouses in the world of firefighting, and I loved their romances. While not all wildfire stories in real life may have happy endings, I choose to write these as romances because a happily-ever-after is required for the romance genre.

LoLo's book list on the perilous world of firefighting

LoLo Paige Why did LoLo love this book?

This author is a former NYC firefighter and a terrific writer. This book is well written, with plenty of action in the firefighting world in New York City and plenty of heat for the slow-burn romance.

The heartfelt emotion this author writes is so realistic that she had me laughing and crying along with her characters. Now and then, I like to read a steamy romance, and this one more than delivers on that score. I’ll read anything this author writes.

By Kaye Kennedy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Burning for More as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

He's reckless. She's hiding behind a lie. They seem destined to be, but could easily crash and burn.

As one of New York's Bravest, Dylan Hogan is notorious for his recklessness, but ask him to put his heart on the line and he couldn't be more cautious. After narrowly escaping death, he meets Autumn outside her burning apartment and instantly feels a connection that intrigues and terrifies him. He feels alive for the first time in over a decade, but she seems as adamant about pushing him away as she is about holding him close.

Autumn Bianchi is still licking…


Book cover of The Givenchy Style
Book cover of Diana Vreeland
Book cover of Dancing on the Ceiling: Stanley Donen and His Movies

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