Kimono: Fashioning Culture
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.60 (617 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0300056397 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 352 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 0000-00-00 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
It shows how clothing fashions can illuminate our understanding of a culture, by considering why things change and what can be learned from a formal analysis of the elements of a system that is more or less fixed. The resulting book is an engaging mix of detailed fashion history and social history, enhanced by more than two hundred illustrations.. This beautifully written and sumptuously illustrated book uses the history of kimono, from its beginning two thousand years ago, to explore Japanese culture. The author uses kimono as a way to probe aspects of Japan that the Japanese themselves think of as close to the heart of their culture. She includes discussion of the social meaning of wearing kimono today; how kimono as we know it came to hold its pre-eminent place as the national garment of Japan; a historical overview of the genesis of kimono; and an exploration of the intersections of sexual identity and clothing in the early 17th century
Dalby is particularly concerned with how the confining robe in which women can't, among other things, cross their legs clashed with creeping Westernization in the last century, giving rise to such controversies as the 1920s skirmish over what kind of underwear should properly be worn with the kimono. Her experience inspired this exhaustive chronicle of the history and social meanings of the robe. From Publishers Weekly Another Eastern fashion innovation is spotlighted by anthropologist Liza Dalby (Geisha) in Kimono: Fashioni
A book based on fine research This is an essential book, I think, for clothing designers, people who like Japanese style, and fabric makers -- as well as others. Dalby's knowledge of Japan and women's kimono fashion is based on personal knowledge in the culture, including a stint as an "American geisha" in Japan and all the kimono wearing that involved. She also did terrific book research. One of the intriguing parts of the book is the revelation of the fashion art of woodblock print (ukiyo-e) artists. The book becomes a double pleasure of fashion AND art. Her prose explains kimono to you with ease, and it reads like . Wonderful! Wonderful book. Some books like this can be very wordy with lots of random unrelated examples. But this was a nice read! I recommend it to everyone who is interested in Kitsuke. Informative Book Nice book with a lot of information, but wish there had been some color pictures.