IRREVERENT is a strange title for Carine Roitfeld's book. Roitfeld is a legendary stylist and former editor in chief of French Vogue whose reputation is beginning to approach that of Alexander McQueen. Her fashion and style statements are a bit on the edgy side and her willingness to share secrets she has held with some famous names seems to be one of the reasons of the publication of this book. IRREVERENT is a 368-page collection of pages with pasted 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
Carine Roitfeld has stated 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."
For the reader who relishes Parisian couture and style this book of memorabilia will satisfy. She has been called both a style visionary and the instigator of dramatic change in clothing and body attitudes. For others, this may seem a picture book that is somewhat in the line of vanity press, but that is also Roitfeld's style. Art critic and curator Oliver Zahm and fashionista Alex Wiederin contribute to this book. Grady Harp, December 11