Kimono: Fashioning Culture [Hardcover]

Liza Crihfield Dalby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1993

This beautifully written and sumptuously illustrated book uses the history of kimono, from its beginning two thousand years ago, to explore Japanese culture. 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 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. The resulting book is an engaging mix of detailed fashion history and social history, enhanced by more than two hundred illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Another Eastern fashion innovation is spotlighted by anthropologist Liza Dalby (Geisha) in Kimono: Fashioning Culture. When Dalby spent a year as a geisha in Kyoto in the 1970s, she found that the most difficult part of her work was wearing the kimono. Her experience inspired this exhaustive chronicle of the history and social meanings of the robe. 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.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

Dalby, author of Geisha (Univ. of California Pr., 1983), has written a lively, informative study of the kimono, tracing its evolution throughout Japanese history to its current status as the national dress of Japan. Her book's coverage includes all types of "native" dress, past and present; her unique position as a Western "insider" allows her to demystify the complex social mores connected with wearing the kimono. The work is also notable for reprinting and translating sections from 17th-century pattern books and for its discussion of the Heian (794-1185) color palette. Jill Liddell's The Story of the Kimono (Dutton, 1989) and Alan Kennedy's Japanese Costume: History and Tradition (A. Biro, 1990) cover different aspects of kimono history and textile design. The three books nicely complement one another, providing almost complete coverage of the subject. At once scholarly and enjoyable reading, Kimono is recommended for academic and public libraries with collections on Asian culture.
- Katharine L. Kan, Aiea P.L., Hawaii
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Yale Univ Pr; First Edition edition (October 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300056397
• ISBN-13: 978-0300056396
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 8.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,501,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource, May 2, 2003

By 

Anna M. Stevenson (Nice, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kimono: Fashioning Culture (Paperback)

A comprehensive history of kimono past and present, this book is so full of information that it's hard to summarize. The author covers not only "familiar" - i.e., formal - kimono, but also work clothes, folk clothing, and the modest beauty of stripes and ikat. Illustrations throughout the book are well annotated and informative.

My two favorite chapters are those on kimono in the Heian (9th-11th centuries) and Genroku (1688-1704) periods, with their wealth of history and beauty. The chapter on the Heian era covers, among other things, seasonal color combinations, with color depictions of how the layers would look. The Genroku chapter covers kosode, with commented (black and white) illustrations from pattern books of the time.

For those interested in wearing modern kimono, the chapter "The Structure of Kimono" includes information on several different aspects of what a kimono, obi and their accessories can mean according to how they're worn. For instance, how the V-shape formed by the collar differs according to age, or what an obijime placed slightly lower than usual can signify. It also includes charts on kimono formality (a wonderful resource) and descriptions - as always, accompanied by illustrations - of the different kimono and obi types.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More to the Kimono than meets the eye, June 28, 2004

By 

K. Maxwell "katmax1" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kimono: Fashioning Culture (Paperback)

The kimono is the national dress of Japan and is instantly recognisable as Japanese wherever you see it. However, the kimono that we see today is essentially the end of a long evolution of dress over a thousand years and what is worn now is essentially a fossilised costume.

This book gives you an illuminating look at the history of the kimono in Japan - how even the word "kimono" didn't exist before last century, when the Japanese became aware that there were "other" forms of dress. We are also given insights into the dress of the lower class and rural people of Japan. They are often forgotten in kimono discussion, yet they developed a dress style that was both practical and indigenous, though it is dying in the modern age. There is even an extensive section devoted to the aristocratic 10th century kimono styles and colour combinations.

Lastly this book gives you insight into how the modern kimono is worn. There is a wealth of meaning in dress design and how it is worn that mostly passes non-Japanese by and for a kimono to be worn with style requires a lot of social knowledge that not many other books will spell out for you like this.

This book is highly recommended if you have an interest in Japanese costume, history or fabrics. It gives a fascinating account of how dress mirrors history and social changes. However, if you are looking for lots of colour photos of kimono and their designs this book will probably disappoint you as all the illustrations are in black and white.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Book on the History of Kimono, March 21, 2006

By 

C - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kimono: Fashioning Culture (Paperback)

This is a very good guide to the history of the kimono and its importance in Japanese society. Perhaps its only fault is that it doesn't have a huge amount of pictures and those pictures that it does have are largely in black and white.