Nancy Lancaster has long been a shadowy eminence whose reputation as a gardener has been hinted at more than studied. The author puts forward the case that she created the English country house style and has been the most influential gardener since Gertrude Jekyll.

More than 40 select private homes are featured here, including the homes of celebrities such as Wanda Ferragamo, Paul Smith and Elsa Peretti and there are regional focuses such as Florence, Chianti, Pisa and the Lucchesia.

'Living Outside' is a celebration of the ultimate goal of an alfresco lifestyle -- the ability to carry out all the activities associated with normal domestic life outside the home -- eating, cooking, sleeping, bathing all seem strangely more interesting and exciting in the open air, as do visits to markets and restaurants.

A visual feast, this text illustrates the richness and diversity of the African textile tradition, providing designers at all levels with inspiration for their own work. Over 30 textiles from the British Museum's renowned collection are explored in detailed.

Reveals the designer's taste for the theatrical. This work shows how Tony Duquette took de Wolf's no-holds-barred style in his manefsto. He crafted rooms that were beguiling, grandiose and pure Hollywood - opulent and overstated with gilded lilies, leopard patters, rock crystal, tented ceilings and endless rococo paintings.