In this post, I’ll be sharing a curated list of 12 stunningly beautiful books that would make wonderful additions to your personal library or ideal gifts for the art, fashion, and home decor lovers.
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For art, fashion, design, and home decor enthusiasts, the allure of a beautifully crafted book is irresistible.
Whether you are looking to adorn your home with a touch of elegance or seeking knowledge and inspiration about your favorite subjects, these books are perfect companions on your journey of artistic discovery.
Beyond their stunning covers placed on coffee tables or stacked decoratively in vignettes across a home, these books offer high-value content that delves deep into the world of creativity in the art, fashion, design, and interior spaces. Each one brimming with insights and perspectives from around the globe that can transform and elevate your aesthetic boundaries.
Today, I’m sharing a curated list of 12 stunningly beautiful books that would make wonderful additions to your personal library or ideal gifts for a creatively inclined friend for any special occasion.
Beautiful Books: art, fashion, & design
Click on a title for details and purchase links. For even more beautiful book suggestions, click here to see my complete list.
- S Is for Style: The Schumacher Book of Decoration by Dara Caponigro
- Menu Design in Europe: A Visual and Culinary History of Graphic Styles and Design 1800-2000 by Jim Heimann, Steven Heller, and Marc Selvaggio
- Anna Spiro A Life in Pattern by Anna Spiro
- Home Sweet Maison: The French Art of Making a Home by Danielle Postel-Vinay
- Color Charts: A History by Anna Varichon
- Collecting Fashion: Nostalgia, Passion, Obsession by Alexandra Carl
- The Costume History 1852-1893: From Ancient Times to the 19th Century by Auguste Racinet
- The Complete Pattern Directory: 1500 Designs from All Ages and Cultures by Elizabeth Wilhide
- The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well by Deborah Needleman
- Heirloom Rooms: Soulful Stories of Home by Erin Napier
- 20th-Century Fashion by Jim Heimann and Alison A. Nieder
- Domino: Your Guide to a Stylish Home by Jessica Romm Perez and Shani Silver
1 / S Is for Style: The Schumacher Book of Decoration by Dara Caponigro
With a focus on Schumacher’s greatest contemporary patterns–everything from classic stripes and exuberant florals to edgy animal prints–this accessible and highly useful style guide is organized thematically by chapters such as “Sensual & Spare”; “Preppy”; and “Opulent,” with each featuring a stunning selection of patterns along with inspiring interiors designed in the same spirit.
Full of inspiring design ideas, as well as an unparalleled resource of prints and patterns, S Is for Style is a visual feast of interior design for all styles and tastes.
2 / Menu Design in Europe: A Visual and Culinary History of Graphic Styles and Design 1800-2000 by Jim Heimann, Steven Heller, and Marc Selvaggio
Jim Heimann’s book on Menu Design in Europe is a mouthwatering feast for the eyes, featuring hundreds of European menus from the early 19th century to the end of the millennium. At once a history of continental cuisine and a sprawling survey of graphic styles, Menu Design in Europe satisfies the craving for foodies and design enthusiasts alike.
3 / Anna Spiro A Life in Pattern by Anna Spiro
A field guide to charming, colorful interiors from successful interior designer Anna Spiro. From mood boards to finished rooms, this exploration of Spiro’s design philosophy gives readers the framework to create fiercely unique, surprising spaces that sing with individuality.
4 / Home Sweet Maison: The French Art of Making a Home by Danielle Postel-Vinay
Experiencing first-hand la belle vie—the beautiful life—Postel-Vinay now shows everyone how to create their own French sanctuary, a home sweet maison, no matter where they live. Providing more than just interior decorating and design tips, Postel-Vinay teaches you how to foster the warmth, beauty, and rituals inherent in the French home and create an environment better suited to living a rich, full, connected life.
At the center of the book is the idea that your house should be a reflection of you, your hobbies, your family history, your rituals, all the things that make your life unique. A happy home is a home that expresses your rituals and your taste, not one that relies on prefab décor from a mass retailer.
5 / Color Charts: A History by Anna Varichon
A beautifully illustrated history of the many inventive, poetic, and alluring ways in which color swatches have been selected and staged. Color Charts describes the many different methods and ingenious devices developed since the fifteenth century by doctors, naturalists, dyers, and painters to catalog fragments of colors.
Drawing on nearly two hundred documents from public and private collections, almost all of them previously unpublished, this wonderfully illustrated book shows how the color chart, in its many distinct forms and expressions, is a practical tool that has transcended its original purpose to become an educational aid and subject of contemplation worthy of being studied and admired.
6 / Collecting Fashion: Nostalgia, Passion, Obsession by Alexandra Carl
An indispensable survey of the most important archival collections assembled by fashion’s key players. This book gathers the preeminent collections of archival obsessives, capturing the closets of an impressive list of fashion and design talent. Essays throughout by leading thinkers and writers provide insightful commentary alongside each collection featured in this new, enlightening fashion bible.
7 / The Costume History 1852-1893: From Ancient Times to the 19th Century by Auguste Racinet
Originally published in France between 1876 and 1888, Auguste Racinet’s Le Costume historique was in its day the most wide-ranging and incisive study of clothing ever attempted. Covering the world history of costume, dress, and style from antiquity through to the end of the 19th century, the six volume work remains completely unique in its scope and detail.
8 / The Complete Pattern Directory: 1500 Designs from All Ages and Cultures by Elizabeth Wilhide
An essential resource for any designer, crafter, artist, or historian, The Complete Pattern Dictionary is the most comprehensive, practical, and beautiful directory of patterns throughout history, covering all periods, styles, and cultures. With 1500 illustrations of patterns from all ages and cultures, the book is arranged thematically according to pattern type, with chapters on Flora, Fauna, Pictorial, Geometric, and Abstract designs.
9 / The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well by Deborah Needleman
Style is a luxury, and luxury is simply what makes you happy.
Over the years, founding editor in chief of domino magazine Deborah Needleman has seen all kinds of rooms, with all kinds of furnishings. Her conclusion: It’s not hard to create a relaxed, stylish, and comfortable home. Just a few well-considered items can completely change the feel of your space, and The Perfectly Imperfect Home reveals them all.
10 / Heirloom Rooms: Soulful Stories of Home by Erin Napier
Our homes are more than an assemblage of bricks and glass, wood and nails. They are the keepers of our childhood memories, our milestones, and heartaches. They evolve as we do. As a family grows and eventually retracts, a home can change hands and begin again. We are the chapters in the book of a house. They carry on after we are gone, setting the stage for another story, a new life, new memories.
With essays that evoke her Southern home, photos of the beautifully imperfect, lived-in spaces of her family and friends, and prompts for us to document our own homemade memories, Heirloom Rooms feels like walking through the front door of the collected and loved-in houses Erin and Ben are known for revitalizing in HGTV’s #1 hit series, Home Town.
11 / 20th-Century Fashion by Jim Heimann and Alison A. Nieder
The 20th century saw fashion evolve from an exclusive Parisian salon business catering for the wealthy elite into a global industry employing millions, with new trends whisked into stores before the last model has even left the catwalk.
20th-Century Fashion offers a retrospective of the last hundred years of style via 400 fashion advertisements from the Jim Heimann Collection. The images trace not only the changing trends but also the evolution in their marketing and audience, as fashion was adopted into popular culture and the mass market, decade by decade.
12 / Domino: Your Guide to a Stylish Home by Jessica Romm Perez and Shani Silver
Since launching in 2005, domino has attracted a fiercely loyal following, which looks to the brand as the definitive source for decorating and style. The brand’s first book, domino: The Book of Decorating, was an immediate bestseller upon its release and has established itself as the quintessential guide to demystifying interior design.
In a time when the flood of decorating advice and inspiration online can feel overwhelming, domino: Your Guide to a Stylish Home provides a trusted filter, using the friendly and authoritative voice of domino to teach readers about attainable, stylish design and how to make it uniquely your own.
These decorative coffee table books are not merely pages bound together; they are gorgeous treasures, each one a visual feast that elevates any living space.
Don’t overlook the visual insights and creativity that await within the pages of beautiful coffee table books. The power of a carefully curated personal library can spark inspiration and elevate your aesthetic in all areas of life, from fashion to home decor.
I hope you stumbled across some gems in this list that piqued your interest. For more beautiful book recommendations, check out my complete list here!
Xx Laura
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