The Supermodern Wardrobe (Hb) - Tapa dura

This title examines how men and women dress for the urban environment, and how fashion designers are responding to the ever-increasing demands of contemporary city life. The book focuses on the work of innovative designers whose approach to supermodern clothing fuses high style and 21st-century technology. They have all appropriated ideas and materials which were previously on the margins of fashion - such as those used in high-performance sportswear and riot gear - to address the challenges of the urban environment. Their clothes are functional and adapted to the public spaces of the supermodern world: supermarkets, airports, motorways - and the street. They are designed to anticipate all contingencies, offering protection and security in an increasingly alien urban environment. Sections cover concepts such as multiple functionality, mobility, shelter, protection, identity and super-invisibility featuring the work of designers such as CP Company, who have produced a jacket with a built-in antismog mask, Vexed Generation whose parkas disguise the identity of the wearer and act as urban armour, Mandarina Duck who have devised a camouflage system for the street, and Levi's who have produced a range of jackets equipped with fully integrated communications systems. This book should appeal to all lovers of fashion, radical design and innovation.

Andrew Bolton is the V&A/London College of Fashion Research Fellow in Contemporary Fashion. He is curator of Fashion in Motion at the V&A, a monthly performance event, and Fashion Forum, a public lecture series for designers, fashion journalists and dress historians.