Buttoned-Up

Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom

1986

Published by Penguin (London)

108 pages

18 x 11.5 cm. 

This is the first book I thought of when you proposed we make a selection of books about fashion. If there is anything I find lacking in the world of fashion in general, it is more text, more critical thinking or simply more intellectual depth of any kind. This is surely very personal and it doesn’t really need it, but I am grateful for those who go beyond the mere image. This little book is an unquestionable exception, and the fact that it appeared in a paperback collection dedicated to the London underground makes it even more valuable. In it, the creators of Fantastic Man and The Gentlewoman personally and fairly randomly dissect the masculine gesture, in itself minimal, of buttoning up a shirt’s top button. It is a delight in substance and style. In addition, I am especially fond of it because it was the germ of one of the most special books we have edited at Terranova. It was our main point of reference for our conversations with Marta D. Riezu in what would end up being her book Agua y Jabón, probably the only book we have edited related to the world of fashion.

Luis Cerveró