Kimono: Fashioning Culture [Paperback]

Liza Crihfield Dalby (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: NY (1980)
• ASIN: B000MU84OC
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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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.