Kimono: Fashioning Culture

Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: excellent book
Review: If you are planning to make an Heian era woman's costume (modern term is junihitoe) and already have the patterns for the robes and Heian era hakama (pants, essentially) this book is excellent for giving you all the popular color combinations for the robe layers.

Rating:
Summary: More to the Kimono than meets the eye
Review: 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.