Isabel Toledo: Fashion from the Inside Out

One of the most exciting fashion designers in the United States, Cuban-born Isabel Toledo has been honored with a National Design Award from the Cooper- Hewitt Museum and a Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion, given by The Museum at FIT. Yet her name and work are recognized only by fashion insiders. This ravishing book brings Toledo’s creations to a wider audience, places them within the context of contemporary fashion, and examines her creative process.

Interviewing Toledo, her husband (fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo), and other colleagues, clients, and critics, Valerie Steele gives an account of Toledo’s career and explains that while she has been heralded by leading fashion magazines and featured in stores in New York and Europe, she has not had the long-term financial backing to break out of the niche market. Patricia Mears investigates the artistic and cultural influences on Toledo’s work and analyzes her unusual methods of construction, noting that she designs in three dimensions in her mind and then begins working directly with fabric. Displaying garments Toledo has created since her first show in 1985, this book is a revelatory exploration of a fashion innovator in a mass-market industry.

Customer Reviews:

A gorgeous must-have book

By T.F. - September 1, 2009

Thank goodness there is a finally a book that does justice to Isabel Toledo's talent. This book is simply beautiful to look at, with luscious reproductions of Ruben Toledo's illustrations as well as photographs of a huge variety of Isabel Toledo's clothing. There is an excellent and detailed biography by Valerie Steele, with family photos of the Toledos and Izquierdos. There is an essay by Patricia Mears discussing Toledo's work. Both sections are lavishly illustrated with full page photos of collections. The second half of the book covers even more of her work since the 80s, broken into thematic sections: liquid architecture, organic geometry, origami, shadow, suspension, shape, manipulated surfaces. A nice bonus here is the pattern sketches for four garments so you can appreciate the enormous skill involved in the design. With Toledo's clothes it is often impossible to see how the garment has been drafted when it is worn, or, when seeing a flat garment, to understand how it will... read more

A fashion lovers must

By M. E. Mistlberger "MEM" - September 16, 2009

This is a must for the lover of fashion. Isobel and Ruben are a talented duo and their work is timeless. After seeing the exhibition this book is a collection of images and ideas that will delight the home sewer to the budding designer and maybe even inspire you to create your own masterpiece.