While browsing today in the absolutely charming Trina Turk Residential store in Palm Springs, I came across my newest Favorite Thing, a beautiful little book called …Isms: Understanding Fashion.

Appropriate for fashion fanatics and the fashion-curious, …Isms: Understanding Fashion lays out the major fashion movements and trends of the past 4 centuries, explaining each (in its own context), identifying the major players, and, through illustrations and photos, bringing the trend to life.

To wit: Audrey Hepburn — with her simple all-black ensembles — is emblematic of the anti-materialism Existentialist movement. Karl Lagerfeld, continuing a tradition started by Coco Chanel herself, typifies Post-Modernism by fusing high and low culture in his collections (and suddenly this spring’s clog trend makes sense). Oscar Wilde was a symbol of the Aestheticism movement which opposed restrictive and cumbersome apparel — but the clothes also had to be pretty. And so on, across 400 years, 50 trends, and 150 pages.

Sounds fascinating, right? We thought so, too. That’s why we’re giving away a free copy of this book to one lucky Fantastic Toe member. To enter our random drawing, just join Fantastic Toe. If you’re already a Fantastic Toe member, post a picture to your Fantastic Toe collection. Anyone who joins Fantastic Toe, or posts a picture to her collection, between now and March 31, 2010 will be automatically entered to win the book.

We’ll do a random drawing on 4/1/2010, and notify the winner by email. Only US residents are eligible to win.