Alexandra Carl lists her 5 favourite gems from the world's greatest fashion collections

"The clothing featured in this book requires exactly what we all lack today: time," starts Danish-born, London-based stylist Alexandra Carl in the foreword to her newly-published tome Collecting Fashion: Nostalgia, Passion, Obsession. “Time is at the core when studying the construction of garments; it is crucial to creating them, innovating them,” she goes on. “The value of a garment – both financial and symbolic – is often directly related to the efforts and attention required to source and craft it.”

Similarly, building an archive or collection of garments requires time. Time spent connecting with far-flung dealers, scouring the reaches of Ebay and in the depths of obscured vintage sales. The result can be a remarkable representation of fashion history, a testament to taste and the act of preservation.

Published by Rizzoli New York, Carl's Collecting Fashion: Nostalgia, Passion, Obsession steps inside some of the world's most important fashion collections, capturing the closets of an impressive list of industry names. The archives documented include Michèle Lamy's extensive Comme Des Garçon collection, the sneakers and T-shirts in Sarah Andelman's posession, Endyma's growing Helmut Lang archive and Zaha Hadid's fabulous footwear assemblage.

Related: The latest coffee table book to covet comes courtesy of Louis Vuitton

In over 300 pages, Carl painstakingly showcases rare gems from top-tier labels and hard-to-obtain seasons – think sought-after Issey Miyake, Maison Martin Margiela, John Galliano, Thierry Mugler and Alexander McQueen, amongst others.

Here, exclusively for Vogue Scandinavia, Carl pinpoints five stand-out pieces from the collections that are explored in her book's pages.

“Zaha Hadid’s shoes all together! Custom Prada and iconic Helmut Lang that are used for so many references today – but we tend to forget what Lang brought to the table because fashion's memory is short.”

“The broken plate top [Maison Martin Margiela, autumn/winter 1989] owned by Adrian Appiolaza who’s now CD at Moschino. I've never seen this in real life nor exhibitions. the construction blows my mind.”

“The label top [Martin Margiela Artisanal line, spring/summer '01] from Vicky Roditis' archive. To imagine each label being sourced cleaned and stitched individually is incredible. From the sourcing to the construction, it is such a labour of love.”

“Alex Fury’s Galliano showpiece dress lined with Quality Street Paperwraps. It blows my mind when people make clothes so committed to making the wearer feeling something extraordinary, details not visible for anyone else than the person who wears the dress.”

“Azzedine Alaïa’s Jean Patou dress from 1931 in immaculate condition. As relevant today as ever before.”

Collecting Fashion: Nostalgia, Passion, Obsession by Alexandra Carl is available to buy via Rizzoli New York.