Fiction to Fashion: Angelmaker

I just found this totally awesome website that uses books and their covers to create fashion inspiration boards. I just LOVE this idea. So I decided to create one for the incredibly badass book by Nick Harkaway that I finished a few days ago. Angelmaker is a little bit steampunk, a little bit art deco, and a lot of classy criminal cool (yes, that is a thing; read the book). I started working on a fashion board for the hardcover and ended up with one for the paperback as well.

click for detail

The Kensington Satchel | $198 at Madewell
Citizens of Humanity Corduroy Jeans in Cumin | $95 at Piperlime
Like a Boss-y Jacket | $180 at ModCloth
Bumble Honey Bee Entomology Earrings | $28 at Etsy
Sabine Boudoir Sequin Cami | $75 at Piperlime
Steve Madden Troopa Boots | $100 at Piperlime
Steampunk Clockwork Ring | $145 at Etsy

What I love about the era that Angelmaker inspires is its decadence, its boldness. Fashion of the time wasn’t afraid to wear black and brown in the same outfit or pair gold and silver accessories. Below is the fashion board I put together for the paperback edition:

click for detail

Tartine Satchel | $325 at J. Crew
Sabine Pear Shaped Drop Earrings | $22 at Piperlime
20 Gauge Thin Winchester Brass Bullet Necklace | $25 at Etsy
Rhyme Los Angeles Studded Vegan Leather Jacket | $89 at Piperlime
Chinese Laundry Danger Zone Cap Toe Pumps in Jade | $89 at Piperlime
Fan Favorite Dress | $53 at ModCloth

Nick Harkaway’s crime-filled adventure novel is sharp, innovative, and well-told. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, complex though it seemed at times, and some of the images were so clear in my mind, I felt like I was watching a movie (on that note, a movie version of this story would be killerrrr). I recommend it to fans of tommy guns, smart, sensual women, blind pugs, despicable Asian villains, clockmakers, trains, espionage, leagues of classy criminals, underground London, and automata. Yeah, I know.

Coralie Bickford-Smith

OH MY GOSH.  I know that I wrote about those B&N Leatherbounds and their fabulous covers a while back, but I’ve been obsessing over Coralie Bickford-Smith and her genius for far too long, and I just have to share.  The woman is positively brilliant.

Smith is an award winning book cover designer and has created several acclaimed series designs for Penguin Books.  She’s actually the Senior Designer over at Penguin UK, a fact I learned by reading this really cool article/interview all about her.  It discusses everything from her day-to-day duties at Penguin to her inspirations and ideologies as a designer as well as her current and future projects.

I’ve copied my favorite quote from the article:

“Creative inspirations include Paul Rand, Romek Marber, Karel Martens, Alan Feltcher, loads of people. I just try to collect as many books and examples of great design as possible and build up a big collection of stuff to look at and get inspiration. I also love ebay for collecting things that catch my attention. I have collections of strange objects that inspire me: plates, retro plastic kitchen objects, fabric, etc. Inspiration can come from anywhere, not just printed stuff. I love interior design as inspiration – I’m always making notes of colour combinations I see, as colour is really important to me in my design.”

Smith has been working on several series, each completely distinct and wonderfully creative in its own right.  The first two series were the Clothbound Classics (a few of which are shown above).  Then there’s the Boys’ Adventure Series:

She’s also designed collections called the Gothic Horror Series and the Sherlock Holmes Series.  Probably my favorite though is the F. Scott Fitzgerald Series, a few of which are below:

A lot of the links I’ve used are to Smith’s own website, but this one is to the Penguin UK website where one may see Clothbound Series in its entirety (the biggest series by far) and with prices (granted, they are in pounds…).  I’ve seen a few available on Amazon too, though.  I’m so madly in love.  And now you are too.  You’re welcome.