A wonderful book by the best-selling author of Geisha and Tale of Murasaki on the kimono and the fashioning of culture in Japan
In this beautifully written and lavishly illustrated book Liza Dalby 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 stylised kimono, the national garment of Japan, expresses not only Japanese fashion and design taste but also reveals something of the soul of Japan. Amazingly beautiful, many today consider it impractical, too uncomfortable to wear in modern life - it was generally discarded by men for suits and ties a century ago, and now only worn occasionally by women. However, the kimono still retains a powerful hold on the Japanese heart and mind, and provides a link to Japan's past.
Author ProfileLiza Dalby is an anthropologist specialising in Japanese culture and the only Westerner to have become a geisha. She is the author of Tale of Murasaki and is a consultant on Steven Spielberg's film of Memoirs of a Geisha. She lives in California with her husband and three children.
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