ESPRIT: The Making of an Image
First printing of this scarce and remarkable overview of the brand's design sensibility at the height of its dominance and power.
Near fine.
Price: $500.00
ESPRIT: The Making of an Image
"His name was Brian and he wasn't even a real model. Somebody told me he'd been discovered in a hot tub at a party at my Uncle Doug's."
Jaunty visual portrait of the iconic sportswear brand of the '80s: with photography by Oliviero Toscani, also of Fiorucci and Benetton fame; hairstyles by Valentin Mordacq, "an authority on women and motorcycles," a young François Nars for lead makeup artist; Esprit employee profiles by Beth LaDove; and vignettes by PR director Robertson written in the voice of the young Rocco Toscani, the then-four-year-old son of photographer Oliviero and model Kristi Toscani.
To the young and the forgetful, this book may be no more than a vital and astonishing piece of fashion history; but to those cursed with long and living memories, the proportions – the layering – the gleaming pastel cheer – the sheer visual impact strikes like a bold of lightning. A testament to the days when wearing one pair of pleated shorts over another pair of pleated shorts was a reasonable thing to do; when a pair of culottes began at the natural waist and ended at the shins; when simply putting on a puffy E S P R I T sweatshirt and bright headband was enough to summon a tennis-y gentleman in gleaming white polo shirt and white trousers out of the aether to your side, like some diabolical incantation in a language no longer known to us, or which we no more care to know. From a bygone era of print advertising, the glory days of catalog photography, now sunk beneath the oceans like another Atlantis. Iconic, as they say.
The Object
(San Francisco): (Esprit De Corp), (1985). 14.25'' x 9.75''. Original color photographic wrappers. In original publisher's plastic slipcase. Color photo-illustrated throughout. 199, [1] pages. Spine sunned, mild edgewear.
The Fine Print
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