Celebrity hardbacks, inane autobiographies and, worst of all, "toilet books" ... Books are as good a Christmas gift as any. But it has to be the right kind of book. Follow today's gift guide to make sure you get the designer in your life a page-turner rather than a dust-collector.
Fashion Designers A-Z (£250)
Fashionista in the family? You can’t buy them clothes, they’ll scowl. Shoes, they'll sneer. Hat, they'll laugh in your unfashionable face. Featuring everyone from Azzedine Alaa, Cristbal Balenciaga, and Coco Chanel to Yves Saint Laurent, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, a century's worth of famous fashion-types from the permanent collection of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology are celebrated in Fashion Designers A-Z. So buy them that. The book comes in various limited edition front covers.
Tree House (£44.99)
Have a treehouse when you were a nipper? Not like this you didn't. Tree House features 50 structures from around the world, some built by architects, others by unknown craftsmen, that will make the child in you green with envy.
Hello World (£16)
Written by design critic Alice Rawsthorn, and designed by the award-winning book Irma Boom, Hello World is the "definitive guide to design and modern life" which "explains how design can help us to make sense of them and to turn them to our advantage."
The Wind In The Willows (£4.99)
Make the tyres squeal on Toad’s car as you go careering across the road, into hedges or over a cliff. Over 190 fully illustrated, interactive pages give children’s classic The Wind In The Willows new lease of life in this new app. Not strictly, technically, actually a book. But very good nonetheless.
James Bond Archives (£135)
Elegantly designed with stacks of incredible images, the James Bond Archives is perfect for the Bond boffin in your life. Editor Paul Duncan collected photos, designs, storyboards and production materials over a two-year period, leafing through over a million images from 100 filing cabinets of documentation.
