Best books of 2022: Fashion

Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion from the New Look to Millennial Pink
by Véronique Hyland, Harper Perennial £10.99/$16.99

From the writer who (inadvertently) coined “millennial pink” is this funny and minutely observed collection of essays about the intersection of fashion, feminism, politics and marketing. It will change the way you look at clothing, trends, products and advertising targeted to women.

Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change
by W David Marx, Viking £25

From the Tokyo-based author of the excellent Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style (2015) is this clear-eyed look at how our innate desire for social status shapes our tastes and identities, gives birth to subcultures and countercultures, and powers a relentless turnover in fashions — from clothing to mop-tops to the way we furnish our homes.

Anna: The Biography
by Amy Odell, Allen & Unwin £20/Gallery Books $29.99

Through more than 250 interviews and extensive research, Amy Odell charts how Anna Wintour become the most powerful woman in fashion as editor-in-chief of American Vogue — and then much more. It is an impressively detailed portrait that reveals much about Wintour’s management style and early career, though what drives her remains a mystery.

Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Fashion
by Alfons Kaiser, Thames & Hudson £25

Alfons Kaiser’s biography of the late Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld made headlines when it was first published in Germany in 2020 for reporting that Lagerfeld’s parents, who owned a condensed-milk business, were Nazi supporters. The book was translated into English this year, offering a satisfyingly rounded portrait of a designer who remained largely mysterious during his lifetime.

The World Is on Fire But We’re Still Buying Shoes
by Alec Leach, Casimir £13

If you’ve ever wondered how you’ve amassed — at likely considerable effort and expense — a wardrobe full of clothes and shoes you don’t particularly like, writer and sustainability consultant Alec Leach’s self-published book is a good place to start. The novella-sized volume is both an investigation of how fashion hacks use consumer psychology to get us to buy stuff we don’t need and a guide to taking back control.

Books of the Year 2022

All this week, FT writers and critics share their favourites. Some highlights are:

Monday: Business by Andrew Hill
Tuesday: Environment by Pilita Clark
Wednesday: Economics by Martin Wolf
Thursday: Fiction by Laura Battle
Friday: Politics by Gideon Rachman
Saturday: Critics’ choice

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