Blow Me a Kiss

Book excerpt: Is there anything more alluring than lips bathed in crimson red? Anicon of untold pleasures, they're synonymous with style, sex, andeven scandal. Whether pursed or provocatively parted, lips haveundeniable visual power, while lipstick remains a timeless symbol ofglamour and sensuality. Blow Me a Kiss offers a dazzling look at ourfascination with lips and the myriad ways they've been depicted inpaintings, film, and photography. Acclaimed author and style innovator Alice Harris curates a uniquecollection of photographs and works of art that celebrate lips ofdifferent shapes and sizes, tones and textures, and their power and influence on our culture. Packed with more than 80 color andblack-and-white pictures, Blow Me a Kiss presents stunning imagesby Andy Warhol, David LaChapelle, Francesco Clemente, LillianBassman, Elizabeth Peyton, Alex Katz, Cindy Sherman, LouiseBourgeois, Roy Lichtenstein, Man Ray, Elliott Erwitt, Jeff Koons,Elinor Carucci, Bert Stern, William Klein, Mario Sorrenti, and manyother groundbreaking visual artists who've depicted lips at work andlips at play, from lips caught in quiet repose, to lips locked in a lustfulembrace, to the lipstick stained remains of an ephemeral kiss. Blow Me a Kiss spotlights lips so legendary that they speak forthemselves from a range of famous personalities that have longseduced and spellbound audiences of every generation includingmusic luminaries like Mick Jagger and Tina Turner and aninternational array of beautiful women from Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor to Lindsay Lohan, CindyCrawford, and Lana Del Rey. Blow Me a Kiss is a compelling chronicle of the impact a beautiful setof lips has had on modern visual culture.