Founded by Albert Kriemler’s grandmother in 1922 with polka-dot aprons made on her home sewing machine, and taken over in 1944 by Kriemler’s father, who introduced ready-to-wear and designed for Givenchy, the house of Akris has stayed true to its generation-spanning traditions of focused craftsmanship and transcendent separates. From showstopping runway imagery to behind-the-scenes studio shots, artist sketches, and the paintings that informed some of Akris’s most notable collections, this cloth-bound hardcover encapsulates the brand’s singular aesthetic.
Valerie Steele (PhD, Yale University) is director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (MFIT). Having curated more than twenty exhibitions in the past ten years, Dr. Steele also serves as editor in chief of Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, which she founded in 1997. She has appeared on many television shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show. The Washington Post describes her as one of “fashion’s brainiest women,” and she was included in the New York Daily News list of Fashion’s 50 Most Powerful.