The art of Knitting: Inspiration Stitches, Textures and Surfaces – Francoise Tellier-Loumagne
An overview on stitches, fabrics and techniques within the knitting world both for hand knitting and machine knitting. A highly inspirational book with many pictures on every page. The technique description is complex but any knitter should be able to translate the image into experimental technique development.

Don't miss 'The Art of Embroidery' and 'The Art of Felt' also by Tellier-Loumagne

Radical Fashion – Claire Wilcox
Originally an accompaniment to the Radical Fashion exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum almost a decade ago, this book has been very popular ever since.

The book is littered with inspirational images giving in-depth shots of the detail of the pieces. The book focuses on three main trends that were dominating the international fashion; The British superstar designers; The European minimalist movement and the highly different trends occuring in Japanese collections.

The biggest names in fashion are covered from Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood to Hussein Chalayan and Jean Paul Gaulteir to Yoji Yamamoto and Comme des Garcons.

Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series) – Harold Koda
A fantastic book for anyone studying the female silhouette. Every topic is covered from anthropology, sociology, art history to haute couture, the book looks at how the silhouette has changed over time and how fashion has been the reason behind this.

The book studies various areas of the body including neck and shoulders to waistline and feet. It studies various articles of clothing and how they have affected women's shape. A must read.

Fashion at the Edge: Spectacle,Modernity, and Deathliness – Caroline Evans

A coffee-table must-have, this book focuses on the big names of fashion and studies why the 1990's avant garde fashion was “permeated by images of death, disease and dereliction”. The images included are stunning but the accompanying text is highly intellectual and thought provoking. An interesting yet morbid concept, Evans includes much inspiring text from other authors such as Simone De Beauvoir.

 Knitwear in Fashion – Sandy Black

A very comprehensive look at contemporary knitting, from famous designers to small bespoke designers creating innovate knit pieces from fashion to installations. The techniques included are ground-breaking and designs push the boundaries within the knitting industry.

The book clearly displays various methods of knitting from industrial to innovative new machinery passing by hand knits and domestic knitting machines and various techniques and materials.

Bloom Book: Horticulture for the 21st Century – Li Edelkoort

A strange choice for this list, however this book is a bible for inspiration. From the Bloom Magazine Series this book has captured truly beautiful imagery from nature at its best. This book should be held by photographers, colourists, designers, gardeners, interior decorators and anyone with any sense! The colour palettes are truly refreshing and inspiring to anyone's projects and a great starting point for collections.

A History of Fashion in the 20th Century – Gertrud Lehnert

A very concise compilation of fashion across the past one hundred years, including magazine illustrations from the 1900's to flapper dresses and Poiret in the 20's to an in-depth look at wartime fashions and postwar  'New Look' by Dior to the fashion of the 1990's. Phew! Lovely illustrations and a good in-depth yet concisely written piece.

The Fashion Book - Phaidon Publishers

Also looking at 20th century fashion, this book focuses on designers and fashion brands. A small amount of concise text sums up the designer and related trivia. Alphabetised, the book looks at the top designers to some of the lesser known ones and an iconic image representing the brand is included on each page.

Fashion Illustration Now - Laird Borrelli

A highly inspiring book of various fashion illustrations from the leading fashion illustrators. It shows a wide variety of techniques and ways to display collections from realistic illustrations to bizarre interpretations and creative designs.

The Corset: A Cultural History - Valerie Steele

A personal favourite, an honest portrayal of the corset from when it was first created, to when men and women were wearing them to modern day use including fetishism.

The book looks at how it sculpted the female shape, how women rebelled in the 1920's and how today it still exists with modern fabrics to sculpt areas of the figure. Fantastic images looking at all angles of wearing a corset.

All images www.amazon.co.uk