Kimono: Fashioning Culture

New Haven and london: Yale Univ Press, 1993. First Edition, First Printing. Fine Hardcover in a Fine Dust Jacket. Fine/Fine.

No Flaws or Blemishes but minimal shelf handling; Still Gift Quality. Square, 8.5 by 8.5 inches, 382 pages with Chapter Notes, Bibliography, glossary and Index. Illustrated with line drawings. In this beautifully written and lavishly illustrated book, Liza Dalby, author of the highly acclaimed Geisha, traces the history of kimono - its uses, aesthetics, and social meanings to explore Japanese culture.

The colorful and stylized kimono, the national garment of Japan, expresses not only Japanese esthetic sensibilities but the soul of Japan as well.

Drawing on a variety of period texts such as seventeenth-century kimono pattern books, Dalby creates vivid pictures of kimono and those who wore them through the centuries. She discusses the development of the kimono robe from its Chinese origins two thousand years ago to its assimilation as the national dress of Japan.

An engaging mix of fashion history and social anthropology, this lively book demonstrates in a new way how clothing fashions can illuminate our understanding of culture.

Elegantly anachronistic, kimono still retains a powerful hold on the Japanese heart and mind.