The Fashion Resource Book

“. . . a delightful source of enlightenment for those who wish to go deeper than the surface . . .”

Don’t let the title of this book fool you into thinking it’s a boring compendium of yellow pages-like interest. The Fashion Resource Book is a comprehensive, if not exhaustive, study of the process involved in the apparel and fashion collection design.

Robert Leach provides the reader with seemingly every possible scenario and any possible germ of inspiration any designer might draw upon while configuring and designing a collection. The author leaves no genesis undiscovered or uncovered. What makes the book so compelling are the systematic and wide ranging choices offered up—with pictorial and illustrative examples.

The Fashion Resource Book can be used as a primer for students of fashion or for those with a deep interest in the art of fashion as well as seasoned professionals already established within the world of fashion.

Even this jaded reviewer discovered tidbits previously unknown to him.

Mr. Leach makes full use of his position at Central Saint Martins by using examples of actual brands and designers to contribute and bolster and his vision of the process for fashion design. As anyone in the know can tell you, Central Saint Martins school has been an incubator for some of the greatest talents of the 20th and 21st centuries, including John Galliano and the late Alexander McQueen. It is his credibility, as a professor, that enables him access to so many of today’s most celebrated and popular designers and brands, lending authenticity and gravitas to the subject matter.

With all the photos and illustrations, one might approach The Fashion Resource Book as a coffee table title to leaf through casually. But this is a book that will be used as a reference tool, an educational text, and a delightful source of enlightenment for those who wish to go deeper than the surface of a business that does in fact judge a book by its cover.