Kimono

(Paperback)

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Description

This work traces the history of the Kimono - its designs, uses, aesthetics and social significance - and in doing so explores the world of the geisha, last wearers of the kimono. The colourful and stylized kimono, the national garment of Japan, expresses Japanese fashion and design taste, and also reveals the soul of Japan. Many today consider the kimono impractical, discarded by men for suits and ties a century ago, it is now only worn occasionally by women.

Reviews

She offers a tour of the cultural collisions that have become part of the fabric not just of the kimono but of modern Japan. It is a tour well worth taking * Wall Street Journal *
An impressive, unusual and beautiful book. There are many valuable insights here not only about Japanese clothing but also about patterns of gender, class and identity in Japanese culture -- Joseph J. Tobin, author of 'Re-Made in Japan'
A lively, informative study of the kimono, tracing its evolution throughout Japanese history to its current status as the national dress of Japan At once scholarly and enjoyable reading * Journal of Japanese Studies *

Author Bio

Liza Dalby is an anthropologist specialising in Japanese culture and the only Westerner to have become a geisha. She is the author of The Tale of Murasaki, Geisha and consulted on Steven Spielberg's film of Memoirs of a Geisha. She lives in California with her husband and three children.