Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano - by Dana Thomas

Dana Thomas' new book, Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano is a dazzling expose on two of the all-time greatest names in fashion. Both McQueen and Galliano are true rags to riches stories. They both wanted to revolutionize fashion but both of their approaches were wildly different.

Ms Thomas' previous book, Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster was an eye opening look inside the multibillion-dollar global fashion corporations which are focused on growth, visibility, brand awareness, advertising, and, above all, profits.

In 'Gods and Kings' she writes: "Couture would no longer be about selling one-of-a-kind clothes to the elite; it would be used as a platform to reach out to a broader customer base -the middle market- who would buy perfumes, lipsticks, scarves, handbags and other logo covered accessories that were mass produced and had a substantial profit mark-up. (At the time, handbags retailed for an average twelve times their production cost; today its far more.)"

As far street cred is concerned, Ms Thomas began her career writing for the Style section of the Washington Post and served as Newsweek's European culture and fashion correspondent for fifteen years. She has written for the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, WSJ, Financial Times, Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, and was the European editor of Condé Nast Portfolio. She is a contributing editor of T: The New York Times Style Magazine.