Rock Style: A Book of Rock, Hip-Hop, Pop, R&B, Punk, Funk and the Fashions That Give Looks to Those Sounds

This huge book, for me, shows the best thing about fashion and that is the garments themselves. The accompanying text is simple and to the point, no frilling round the edges, like an unnecessary essay. Its order doesn't stick rigidly to a timeline, and allows itself to vear into areas of fashion which re-appear etc. Hilfiger also chooses ungeneralized musicians as examples of fashions connection with music and is also quite up to date with more modern artists etc. All in all the book speaks through its imagery and fashion as an art form, with concise language and a good variety of examples and musicians.

First the positives: This book is very large format so the pictures are extremely clear and details are very easy to see. This book covers everything from the early 50s through the present day, with especial focus on the bigger names (and thus, most influential trend-setters) like the Beatles, Elvis, and Madonna. The reason I do not give this book the full 5 stars is because I think it leaves out some crucial (if less well known) musicians/looks (the gothic style of the Cure and Siouxsie Sioux, early hip-hop look of Salt & Pepa, and the '90's club stylings of Bjork and Lady Miss Kier of Dee-Lite, to list some examples) and because it doesnt go very far in depth into the fact that some musical styles eschew any claims to fashion whatsoever (the chapter on grunge being the sole exception). A good intro with large fabulous photos but supplement with "Street Style" or "Style Surfing" by Ted Polhemus for more detail.