High-quality color photographs and period pictures illustrate this sumptuous volume, which should interest experts and laymen alike. --Choice The Japanese kimono is celebrated worldwide for its elegant, distinctive silhouette. Though quintessentially Japanese, the kimono form has influenced fashion designers around the globe. The 150 stunning kimonos in this beautifully illustrated book were created in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and they include formal, semi-formal, and casual kimono, haori jackets, and under-kimono (juban) worn by men, women, and children. Some of the garments reflect historical styles of design and techniques, while others illustrate a dramatic break with aspects of kimono tradition, as themes and designs from Western art began to predominate over Japanese references. The book, published to accompany a major traveling exhibition, traces the history of the kimono and illustartes the variety of colors, techniques, and designs used in creating this beautiful and symbolic garment. The kimonos featured here are drawn from the internationally renowned Montgomery Collection of Lugano, Switzerland.

Fashioning Kimono focuses on 150 Japanese garments dating from the late 19th to the early 20th centuries, taken from the renowned Montgomery Collection, which includes informal kimonos for both women and men, haori jackets, under-garments, ceremonial and formal clothes, and children's robes. Some of the designs reflect historical continuity, but many others demonstrate a radical break from the traditional. Themes and designs from Western art predominate over historical Japanese references, illustrating the modernization and Westernisation of Japan at this time. The range of the collection represents one of the most dynamic periods in Japan's national costume. It encompasses the final phase of the 'living' kimono, when the kimono was still the daily wear of most Japanese people. After Japan's defeat in the Pacific War and the destruction of virtually all its major urban centres, Western clothes quickly came to replace the kimono, being considered more affordable and conducive to the new post-war lif