Northern Exposure: The New Canadian Cabin
(gestalten, out now)
Each of the 32 projects profiled here reflects the country’s diverse landscape, from B.C. and the Yukon to Quebec and P.E.I. The rejection of what the book dubs “nostalgic cabin clichés” does not eschew cabin tradition, however.
Whether clad in metal or bleached cedar shingles, the dwellings share “an architectural typology designed to engage actively with the passing of time,” responding to shifting weather, seasons and conditions.
Featured lodgings include Les Rochers, two cabins by La Shed Architecture on the Magdalen Islands archipelago, where light-toned interiors reflect changes in natural light.
Akb Architects’s project on an island in Pointe Au Baril, Ont., positions cabins on separate outcrops, exposed to shifting water levels. And Enough House, in Upper Kingsburg, N.S., by Mackay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, is a monolithic cliffside farm building clad in sheet metal that the salty air has oxidized to rust.
Grace: Now
by Grace Coddington (Phaidon, Oct. 14)
Vogue’s legendary former creative director dedicates her third monograph to the narrative pictures she has styled since leaving the magazine a decade ago.
The volume includes imagery for the likes of Dior, Vogue and W Magazine with long-time collaborators such as Paolo Roversi, Arthur Elgort and Steven Klein, as well as younger talents such as Jamie Hawkesworth and Rafael Pavarotti.
There’s Maya Hawke in elaborate recreations of Edward Hopper paintings; scenes of seemingly idyllic family life inspired by the Coen brothers’ satire Suburbicon; and lush storytelling dreamscapes drawn from imagination.
There’s a luxury in revisiting the elaborately staged, multipage shoots in a time of social media overload. As Coddington herself put it: “I keep making books because the internet forgets.”
820 Ebony/Jet
by Barbara Karant (MW Editions, Oct. 14)
The Johnson Publishing Company, which published Jet and Ebony magazines, was at one point one of America’s largest Black-owned companies. Its 11-story Chicago headquarters, designed in the International Style by John Moutoussamy, was the first downtown high-rise commissioned by a Black-owned corporation.
In this fascinating historical record, photographer Karant juxtaposes archival photographs of the vibrant space in its heyday with her own images of the vacant offices after they were abandoned in 2012.
With psychedelic print carpeting, gilded peacock wallpaper, mirrored bathrooms and a state-of-the-art test kitchen covered in laminated marble swirl fabric, every floor of the 110,000-square-foot premises had its own personality.
As the book details, Palm Springs designers Arthur Elrod and William Raiser created a “fusion of Afropolitan elegance as a new American tradition that challenged corporate norms.”
Doll Dressing
edited by Colleen Hill (Rizzoli Electa, Oct 6.)
Barbie may be the world’s most famous fashion doll, but she wasn’t the first: the earliest examples of Egyptian paddle dolls date to 2040 BC.
Automatons, marionettes, late-1700s paper dolls, Mary Quant’s 1960s dolly birds and the Japanese Lolita look all get attention in this companion to the Museum at FIT’s current exhibition (on view until Jan. 3, 2027).
The book, which is organized thematically, considers the enduring relationship between dolls and fashion through photos, essays and interviews with designers such as Jun Takahashi and Martin Margiela, whose fall/winter 1994 collection for Maison Margiela enlarged a doll’s wardrobe.
On human models, the proportions emphasized the the garments’ imperfect construction and awkward fit to make a point about the fashion industry’s unrealistic body standards.
Designing in the Dark
by George Sully (ECW Press, Oct. 6)
The designer, creative director and founder of Black Designers of Canada opens his memoir with a visit to a warehouse packing his very first order for Saks.
That milestone prompts a look back to Sully’s experiences growing up in government-funded housing in Ottawa, the only Black family in a majority-white neighbourhood.
His Haitian parents instilled in him a positivity, confidence and competitiveness that served him well as he pursued entrepreneurship straight out of high school.
Early years producing house music led to founding fashion brands, forays into acting, launching a luxury lifestyle magazine and collaborating with the likes of LG, Nobis and Karim Rashid.
Now heading up accessories brand Sully & Son Co., the designer’s story is a lesson in adaptability and perseverance.
Corduroy
by Eric Musgrave (Batsford Books, Nov. 17)
Often described as “the poor man’s velvet,” the distinctive ribbed cloth is prized for its warmth, texture and durability.
In this entertaining visual, cultural and social history, fashion business journalist Eric Musgrave traces the textile’s journey through shifting style trends, from table looming to 19th-century manufacturing to its rise in American workwear and post-war acceptance in fashion.
Musgrave also considers the fabric’s shapeshifting nature: Corduroy is simultaneously traditional and emblematic of the Ivy League look while also being the bohemian uniform of artists such as Rodin, Picasso and beatnik-era Bob Dylan.
The volume is interspersed with testimonials from enthusiasts such as Savile Row tailors and author Alexander McCall Smith.
