Book Description

The first published collection of the work of Joe Eula, one of the twentieth century's greatest fashion illustrators With text by fashion journalist Cathy Horyn, Joe Eula: Master of Twentieth-Century Fashion Illustration brings together a selection of more than 200 gorgeous black-and-white and full-color sketches and finished illustrations from prolific graphic designer and illustrator Joe Eula, whose career spanned more than fifty years. This landmark volume sheds light on Eula's development as an artist and his contributions to the worlds of fashion, design, and arts and entertainment—through numerous interviews, anecdotes, and Horyn's personal reminiscences of their friendship—while placing his work within the critical context of those fields as they evolved from the early 1950s until his death in 2004. This extraordinary collection presents runway and showroom sketches as well as advertising work for Chanel, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Dior, Geoffrey Beene, Bill Blass, Rudi Gernreich, and Charles James, as well as for Halston, for whom Eula was the creative director during the 1970s, the era of the designer's greatest influence. There are album covers, portraits, and show posters for Miles Davis, Lena Horne, Marlene Dietrich, Eartha Kitt, Liza Minnelli, Shirley MacLaine, and the Supremes, as well as costume designs for Jerome Robbins's ballets. Also included are sketches of Diana Vreeland, Helena Rubinstein, Coco Chanel, Andy Warhol, Twiggy, Elsa Peretti, and Halston, and work for Studio 54, Regine's, and Elaine's. Eula was the very essence of a maverick American spirit. All his life he did what pleased him, guided by his incredible eye, fluent ideas, and spare drawings. This book captures the essence of the acute visual clarity, creativity, decisiveness, and great personal energy that fused so brilliantly in his quick, sure hand. With more than 200 full-color and black-and-white photographs and illustrations