VA South Kensington

Now in paperback, Ballgowns presents interpretative photographs by David Hughes of 60 years of British ballgowns, including designs by Alexander McQueen, Bellville Sassoon, Erdem, Gareth Pugh, Stella McCartney and Zandra Rhodes. The social season of debutante parties and private balls, weddings and charity events has long provided Britain's fashion...

Alec Cobbe (b.1945) established his reputation as a conservator of Old Master paintings before specializing in the redecoration and rearrangement of historic interiors as homes for masterpieces. His list of clients includes H.R.H.The Prince of Wales and the Ritz Hotel. This beautifully illustrated catalogue marks a gift to the VA of Cobbe's career...

Painting has always been regarded by the Chinese as a supreme art, its merits equal to those of poetry and philosophy. The tradition can be traced over 2,500 years, but - from very early on - many Chinese paintings were made to be viewed on a temporary basis, displayed for just a few hours, or perhaps several weeks. The masterpieces of the form...

The VA's renowned Fashion in Detail series has become essential reading for historians, costumiers, designers and fashion students alike and this impressive volume brings together for the first time, edited highlights from all the titles in the series. The VA's Fashion Collection is the largest and most comprehensive in the world, housing...

Focusing on design ingenuity, Modern British Furniture pinpoints the most inventive British designers and companies from 1945 to the present - from early postwar pioneers such as Ernest Race, Robin Day and Robert Heritage, to iconoclastic figures such as Peter Murdoch, William Plunkett and Max Clendinning, to today's global superstars led by Tom...

A to Z of Hollywood Style brings together style advice from the good, the bad and the beautiful to explore the allure of some of the world's best-loved film stars: Alfred Hitchcock on elegance, Sophia Loren on sex appeal and Edith Head on how to make a woman more beautiful. This book includes the opinions of critics, designers and film directors,...