book as haiku

KIMONOS

Sophie Milenovich
9.5 x 7, 236 pp.
fully illustrated in color
Harry N. Abrams Books

(sold with different covers)


like a haiku, this book is deceptively simple, revealing layer upon layer of insight and poetry with every page. in addition to patterns for making one's own kimono (teaching about it's history at the same time), it gives you follow-ups like, for example, images and patterns for vionnet's beautiful, kimono-inspired gowns.

the very simplicity of the kimono, with its straight sleeves and stiff bearing emphasized by the very flat band of the obi, gives the impression that it is never quite three-dimensional. it exists, on the contrary, in a zone that is

seemingly halfway between surface and volume, that is two-and-a-half dimensional. this impression of a garment with a hint of flatness is rendered in many a japanese print.

the book is filled with kimono, kimono fabric, and antique photos from milenovich's personal collection; you'll covet every one. most of the images you see here in this review are similar but not identical to those in the book. the book's are better.

during the heian period (794-1185), the women of the japanese court wore multiple kimonos, one on top of the other. this fashion was known as juni-hitoe, meaning 'twelve- thick- nesses,' but the number of kimonos could go as high as twenty-five, making movement virtually impossible. the use of colors was rigidly codified, some being the privilege of an exclusive imperial circle.

within this framework, the association of colors became an extremely sophisticated art that despite the tight constraints subtly reflected seasons, virtues, or sentiments, in addition to a taste or talent for demonstrating one's personal sensitivity.

this art was known as iromi no ka- sani. all the liter- ature of the time, and especially the poetry of sei shonagon, reflects a careful attention to chromatic blends and their significance. this sensibility to colors, which remains very much alive today, is the legacy of a very rich period in japan's history.

though the greatest per- centage of the book's focus is clearly kimono in japan, including instructions on how to tie an obi, a generous nod is given to japonisme, finding examples of some that are new to me. from these, the obvious becomes even more clear: western women wear their kimono in very different ways than japanese women do.

in all, a
rich and
delight-
ful gift,
one that
comes
with its
own
instruc-
tions for
wrap-
ping.

designs

when i first made this little collage, a selection of fabric designs from one single series by one single artist, i wanted to learn what i could about the artist, with regard to, as we were discussing. fashion and designers and such.

did the same artist who made this set of prints design both the fabrics and the clothing made up of them? (click the image several times to see full-size -- there is one print from the series below)

i learned nothing about this at all! what i learned about was this amazing character of an artist, author, poet, and general scalawag named iwase sei.

this was not a name he used, however, in any of his artistic endeavors. the name he used when he was creating this series, a manga purportedly analysing the personalities of all of the courtesans of the yoshiwara (pleasure district) through their calligraphy, was kitao masanobu.

kitao masanobu did very little art, as it turned out (a fact which surprised me since i thought the prints were pretty amazing), though he did become the illustrator for a writer of manga and other fiction named santo kyoden. santo kyoden, however, was also him!

as the japanese middle class had grown starting in the late 1600s, a market had arisen for materials about the yoshiwara, the "floating world" (which was off-limits to most men). iwase sei, who was active in the 1700s joined the likes of ihara saikaku and all of the ukiyo-e artists to fill this market. his titles offered ways for a gentleman to win admiration from a courtesan, and similar techniques.

i mentioned the crackdown on these artists discussing utamaro's shackling, and the same thing happened to this guy. when released, however, apparently he went on to become one of the instigators of modern fiction in japan. he also married two different wives, each a licensed worker of the yoshiwara.

cacophany or harmony?

since we are so used to seeing it, i would like to remind you that pattern-printed, colorful clothing on women was not the stuff of illustration, nor of, well, clothing.

nor were highly stylized images of nature. here in the 1850s image we have some sketching in of nature, but with an eye towards 'natural,' sort-of.

but in rhead we have an unconscious, or subconscious, or just plain exuberant exploration of color and design unseen in western illustration until the influence of japanese art.

an interesting question might be, what is it in the japanese culture (pictured here by masanobu kitao) that the vibrant fabric was the norm? prints are so often awash with what to our eyes might be considered wildly competing motifs, with ornament and hue brought together in what to us may seem confection; what then, to the japanese?