Pattern 100 Fashion Designers, 10 Curators

This hefty volume, a follow-up to Phaidon's Sample (2005), takes on an impossible task - identifying the 100 most influential new designers of the moment. Half of the curators are from London, with the remaining five coming from New York, Amsterdam, Chicago, Shanghai, and Antwerp. The index reveals the effects of such a lopsided editorial board. The U.K. has the most designers represented, followed by the U.S. What is well represented is a range of looks, influences, and types of fashion (including footwear and jewelry) that have appeared on major runways over the past five years. The concepts of protection, bondage, and vulnerability radiate through collections that include the leather and vinyl of Gareth Pugh in London, the hooded and spliced garments of Nicola Formichetti for Mugler in Paris, or the gothic fairy tale styling of Mareunrol in Riga. The rise of heels, deconstruction, androgyny, draping, feathers, spikes, and even a little old-fashioned bondage are all here, too.