Sometimes you really can judge a book by its cover—or what is wrapped around it.

 

“Vogue: The Gown” is an oversized hardcover protectively nestled in a massive clamshell case. It’s also literally substantial—the entire thing weighs a whopping eight pounds and stands over a foot tall. Cracking it open is like opening a portal into an amazing, dizzying world of beauty.

 

Written by former British Vogue features director Jo Ellison, “Vogue: The Gown” is the magazine’s definitive take on the haute couture dress, with Ellison curating over 300 photographs from the 1920s to today, covering different trends and looks.

 

“Vogue: The Gown” is divided into five chapters, each representing a “mood,” ranging from Classical to Modernist, featuring all the great designers, from Yves Saint Laurent to Oscar de la Renta, Tom Ford to Alexander McQueen.

 

The book essentially covers gowns from classic to cutting edge, from streamline minimalist to flamboyant fantastical, with supermodels (Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss) sharing space with era-specific celebrities (Marlene Dietrich and Jennifer Lawrence).

 

All the designers and all the models are veritably in it.

 

“Vogue: The Gown” is as much a portable exhibit of the designs and models as it is of the talented, visionary photographers who have been chronicling this aspect of fashion.

 

In dramatic black-and-white as well as vibrant color, “Vogue: The Gown” presents photographs from the likes of Herb Ritts, Cecil Beaton, Helmut Newton, Tim Walker and Mario Testino.

 

Ellison makes the connection between the dresses, models and lensmen. “Vogue: The Gown” is a coffee table book that stands out with its mix of history, art and celebrity on different levels.

 

The stunning images emphasize how romantic and daring the quest to make the perfect gown is, and “Vogue: The Gown” is the lovely, luxuriously readable road map to the edge of high-end fashion through the years.

 

“A great gown is exactly that: something more than oneself,” Ellison writes in her introduction. “Here, then, are images to nurture the imagination and salve the soul. Gowns that have made history… transformed the industry… captured a moment and forever frozen in the public mind… gowns that have elevated mere ordinary mortals and turned them into myth.”

 

“Vogue: The Gown” is available at National Book Stores.