Carine Roitfeld Irreverent

>> From recent releases to much-loved classics, these coffee table tomes promise to make the perfect addition to any fashion fiend's collection. Featuring drop-dead images from legendary photographers like Mario Testino, Patrick Demarchelier, and Richard Avedon; insider info from industry icons Daphne Guinness, Carine Roitfeld, and Valerie Steele; and sublime collections from Christian Dior, Christian Louboutin, and more — these 15 books are some of the chicest to give this holiday season. After all, there's nothing like being well-dressed and well-read.

>> Carine Roitfeld's upcoming book, Irreverent, doesn't hit stores until Oct. 18, but previews of the 368-page tome — which culls photographs from her 30-year career, plus personal photographs (one shows her topless, wearing nothing but a black G-string and white pumps) and notes from the likes of Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, and Tom Ford — have hit the Internet this morning on both Style.com and Vogue.com (more photos at the links).

Roitfeld already has another book up her sleeve — one she's doing with Karl Lagerfeld, that's set to release in December — and as for further projects, she told Vogue.com recently: “I have so many proposals in front of me, cosmetics or even a clothes line. I didn’t say yes or no.”

She added that she's enjoying her moment in the spotlight: “I worked 20 years ago, and 20 years ago no one was talking about me. I didn’t change. Maybe I was at the right moment. But sometimes I say, What is so interesting about me? I am just doing photo shoots. It’s not something that extraordinary. I’m not a great artist, I’m not writing books, I’m not a painter, and people in the streets ask me for a picture or a note and I say why? But I think it’s better to appreciate it, because maybe it’s not forever.”

>> Read between the lines with these: the best of the upcoming season's fashion tomes. From designer anthologies to magazine compendiums to haute biographies — there are three on Coco Chanel alone — this Fall is, literally, one for the books. In fact, it seems like everyone who's anyone will debut a coffee-table edition come October: Carine Roitfeld, Rick Owens, Ralph Lauren, Christian Louboutin, and Glenda Bailey all have glossy monographs on the way. Here, the volumes we just can't wait to devour.