T List: Books That Capture Fashionable Collaborations — and Clashes

This fall sees the release of three coffee table books that consider fashion from different perspectives. “The Battle of Versailles: The Fashion Showdown of 1973,” which was published by Rizzoli last week, chronicles the dramatic 1973 runway face-off between French designers (Marc Bohan, Pierre Cardin, Hubert de Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent and Emanuel Ungaro) and their American counterparts (Bill Blass, Stephen Burrows, Oscar de la Renta, Halston and Anne Klein) and is illustrated with largely unseen images from the archives of the fashion photojournalists Bill Cunningham and Jean-Luce Huré. As Liza Minnelli writes in the book’s foreword, “The Battle of Versailles is one glittering waypoint — an event where fashion, music and art collided in a spectacle of transatlantic glamour.” “ALAÏA / GRÈS beyond fashion,” out Oct. 22, is published by Damiani in conjunction with a 2023 exhibition at the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa in Paris that paired creations by the Tunisian designer with sculptural draped gowns by Madame Grès, whose designs Alaïa extensively collected. Although they never met, the book highlights the parallels between the two couturiers (a mastery of cut and design, a tendency toward uncompromising perfectionism), creating a dialogue across time and space. Finally, the monograph “Simone Rocha” (Rizzoli, Oct. 8) is not just an extensive survey of the designer’s collections but a catalog of her inspirations, which range from Irish poetry to Louise Bourgeois. It also features contributions from the likes of the actress Chloë Sevigny, the artist Cindy Sherman and the photographer Petra Collins. “It started as a documentation of the last decade, but it evolved into conversations with collaborators and people I admire, bringing a new perspective of my work to the table,” says Rocha. “It felt like the right time to share it all and reflect, so I can start a new creative chapter.”