Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian art

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Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian art

Manufacturer: Los Angeles County Museum of Art
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 087587116X

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Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian Art
Pratapaditya Pal
Manufacturer: University of Washington Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0295961236

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Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian art
p pal
Manufacturer: Los Angeles County Museum of Art
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JGEJ3O

Book Description

This text aims to teach the reader how to assess her body type and then choose clothing that looks good on her. The process involves what the authors call an individual's "design pattern." This pattern is made up of lines, shapes, proportions, body particulars, scale, colors, and textures. How they fit together in harmony and how an individual infuses them with her innate creativity is what authors call "style."

Text Features:

1.Principles of art as they apply to understanding and enhancing the female body
2.Art reproductions from museums such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Musee du Louvre, illustrating women's body forms and surface features
3.Hundreds of line drawings suggest contemporary wardrobe strategies
4.Two color wheels and pages of charts for skin, eye, and hair color.
5. Provides color swatches to create a color wheel

Customer Reviews:

Most Comprehensive Read for Image.......2007-05-22

This book is for the experienced Fashion and Image Consultant that want the theory behind creating image and beauty.

If 'unuseful' were a word, I'd use it........2006-04-09

I am a fashion designer who was looking for some good resource books to help with figure-appropriate designs. I came across this book after a long search and thought I had found gold. Unfortunately, it was not what I expected. I was really disappointed with the line sketches used to explain clothing choices and found those designs to be VERY outdated- especially considering the second printing was in 2002. For example, I could not disagree more with the advice for rectangular-shaped women- that they should opt for sack dresses that ignore the waist, rather than trying to create one.
The chapters on jewlery choices and color charts were equally useless.
I would not recommend this book to any fashion designer looking for figure-flattering design elements. "Dress Your Best" by Stacy London and Clinton Kelly is by far a better choice- especially considering the price.

Excellent.......2006-03-10

This bok with it`s beautiful drawings adds dimension to it`s material. This is a must for people who want to look their best and also a great book for clothing designers as weel as image consultants.

Valuable for a seamstress.......2006-02-27

I found this book six years ago in the libarary. I took copious notes from it over the next few years I checked it out. I finally purchased it and with every reading get more tips for style. I wish I had purchased it sooner.
I sew and it has proven valuable for things like selecting prints, woking with fabric texture, and determining hemline, waistline and neckline lengths and widths. Other books tell me what to do to achieve an effect, but this one tells me why.
I am exploring style and trying to develop more creativity in my sewing. I think this is the best guide around for that purpose. It also would have been a good companion for my "Dress for Success" efforts a few decades ago.

What a joy to read!.......2005-07-09

Having been frustrated by all the books that ask you to slot yourself into one of 4 to 6 body types, I felt incredibly lucky to come across this work in my local public library. Creative in its presentation, with a literary content missing in many how-to books, and with inspiring illustrations, the book was constantly missing from my library. I now own three copies, just so I can lend two out to friends!

The Fine Art of Dressing: Make Yourself a Masterpiece by Dressing for Your Body Type

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Disappointing
A refreshing new look at beauty
Some good advice here
An Elegant Solution
not as good as all that

The Fine Art of Dressing: Make Yourself a Masterpiece by Dressing for Your Body Type
Margaux Tartarotti
Manufacturer: Perigee Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Fashion | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0399525688
Release Date: 1999-12-13

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing.......2007-07-23

I had hoped that this would be an interesting book providing a new perspective on dressing if you have a "Rubenesque" figure, but it was just the same old bull about how you need to wear enormous shapeless clothing to create a "flattering, slim" silhouette. Note to the world: enormous, shapeless clothes do not make you look slim, they make you look enormous and shapeless. In addition, even though this book was published in 1999, all of the suggested outfits look like they're from the 80s. No wonder it's out of print. I am giving the book 2 stars rather than 1, however, because it does have some nice appreciative descriptions of body types that aren't anorexic models. At least it was a cheap book...

A refreshing new look at beauty.......2003-04-17

I really enjoyed this book because it celebrated many different body types, showing how best to enhance each one. It can be frustrating that today there is such a narrow definition of "beauty" and this book goes beyond that.

I also enjoyed the concept of labeling each body type by the artist that celebrated that shape, as opposed to fruit labels, i.e., "pear" or "apple". For instance, the Rubens shape is all-over voluptuous and generous. That doesn't fit today's "ideals" but why shouldn't one be able to look lovely just the same?

I myself felt like I was somewhere in between Modigliani (very slender above the waist and curvy below) and a Renoir (similar shape, but more solid above the waist)...it depends on my weight. In any case, some of the same styles apply to both body shapes.

I can say that following the advice of empire-waist dresses and dresses with bolero jackets for the Modigliani shape has garnered me compliments, both from my husband (a spontaneous, "Wow! That looks really nice on you!") and from others. And that feels great.

Some good advice here.......2003-04-11

The author includes detailed charts and drawings, which are indeed helpful. My problem with the book is the rigid categories for body types. My type is almost a Picasso, but deviates from some of the Picasso's key characteristics -- rendering most of the advice for this type useless. I'm somewhat of a Pop Art, too, and the advice for this type contradicted much of that for the Picasso, so I ended up feeling confused. I suggest checking for this book in your local library to determine if it's a worthwhile purchase for you.

An Elegant Solution.......2002-05-23

Finally a book on fashion that makes sense..Margaux has given me the tools I need to go to the store and shop for me. I went through my closet and took all the styles she recomends for my body type and she is right. I was trying to figure out if it was the lable, price, or store that was causing me problems with fit. I am looking forward to another book by Margaux.

not as good as all that.......2001-06-12

I was actually somewhat disappointed with this book after having read all the rave reviews. My basic disappointment is that my body type apparently doesn't exist. I don't fit clearly into any of the six catagories that the book outlines and so was left trying to guess which things in two categories applied to me.

Book Description

For ninety years, young society women in San Antonio, Texas have donned custom-designed dresses and trains to take part in the Coronation of a queen and her court. These royal robes, which weigh fifty pounds and more and cost an average of $18,000, are highly embellished with rhinestones and beads. The Coronation is part of the ten-day, century-old festival celebrating the final battle of the 1836 Texas revolt against Mexico.This book provides a significant contribution to the study of social elites in Western society through a material culture analysis of the Coronation costumes worn by the Euro-American debutantes. Set against the backdrop of a city undergoing many demographic, socioeconomic, and political changes, the themes of Coronation pageants represent the mythologized ethnic and class history which reinforces the hierarchical positioning of its participants. The royal robes serve as the canvas upon which this theme is carried out. The Coronation, held in a city with a Hispanic majority, has come under attack for its elitism, but participation in it is still important for the old Euro-American aristocracy and for a very few extremely wealthy Hispanic families. Integral to the continuation of this increasingly contested tradition is the emotional appeal that wearing these intricately decorated gowns holds for participants.

Customer Reviews:

Only in America, and Only in Texas!.......2001-06-16

A few years ago, a friend of mine moved to San Antonio, Texas. Every year at the end of April, San Antonio holds "Fiesta Week" and the one of the main events is the Coronation of the Queen of the Order of the Alamo. The Queen, the Princess and 24 Duchesses display the most unbelievable gowns made anywhere -- the trains alone are many feet long, and are covered with beads and rhinestones, all to illustrate an aspect of the theme of that year's coronation. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Book Description

For some time now the body has been a central topic across a range of social science disciplines. Similarly, there has been a growing interest in the cultural meaning of clothing. But curiously, even though people are nearly always clothed, the relationship between dress and the body has been relatively unexplored until now.

Dress is a crucial aspect of embodiment, shaping the self physically and psychologically. From dressing up to dressing down, this book exposes the complex ways that fashions and costumes render the body presentable in a vast range of social situations. It investigates the varied ways in which western and non-western clothes operate to give the body meaning and situate it within culture. The authors consider different approaches to the relationship between fashion, dress and the body, and present new theoretical models for their future study. They demonstrate the importance of the concept of ‘embodiment’ to dress and fashion studies.

Exploring gender, photography, cultural history and modernity, this book deals with a vast range of questions inherent in dressing up the body. From fashion photography in the 1960s to contemporary queer fashion and the history of the masquerade, this is a fascinating and far-reaching collection. Its breadth and depth make it essential reading for anyone interested in style, costume, the body, gender or history.

Into the Closet: Cross-dressing and the Gendered Body in Childrens Literature and Film (Children's Literature and Culture)

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Into the Closet: Cross-dressing and the Gendered Body in Childrens Literature and Film (Children's Literature and Culture)
Victoria Flanagan
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

History | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

Literary Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

Children's Literature Guides | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0415980089

Book Description

Into the Closet examines the representation of cross-dressing in a wide variety of children's fiction, ranging from picture books and junior fiction to teen films and novels for young adults. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the different types of cross-dressing found in children's narratives, raising a number of significant issues relating to the ideological construction of masculinity and femininity in books for younger readers.

Many literary and cultural critics have studies the cultural significance of adult cross-dressing, yet although cross-dressing representations are plentiful in children's literature and film, very little critical attention has been paid to this subject to date. Into the Closet fills this critical gap. Cross-dressing demonstrates how gender is symbolically constructed through various items of clothing and apparel. It also has the ability to deconstruct notions of problematizing the relationship between sex and gender. Into the Closet is an important book for academics, teachers, and parents because it demonstrates how cross-dressing, rather than being taboo, is frequently used in children's literature and film as a strategy to educate (or enculturate) children about gender.

Unzipping Gender: Sex, Cross-Dressing and Culture (Dress, Body, Culture)

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Gender Unzipped? Not yet!

Unzipping Gender: Sex, Cross-Dressing and Culture (Dress, Body, Culture)
Charlotte Suthrell
Manufacturer: Berg Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1859737250

Book Description

How does culture shape notions of sexuality and gender? Why are transvestites in the West so often seen as "deviant" or "perverse," while they are accepted in other societies? Is transvestism motivated primarily by sex or gender? What are the implications for the categories of "male" and "female" when considering transvestism? Unzipping Gender compares transvestism across cultures and considers how emotion, mythology, imagery, and beliefs influence ideas about sex and gender. Suthrell challenges the straightforward binary divide that dominates Western theories of gender. She argues that sex and gender are really so closely connected that we need a more sophisticated response to the complex practice of transvestism. In order to gain a deeper understanding of sex and gender issues, it is imperative to examine underlying social and symbolic structures. This unique study across cultures leads the way.

Customer Reviews:

Gender Unzipped? Not yet!.......2005-02-17

"How does culture shape notions of sexuality and gender? Why are transvestites in the West so often seen as `deviant' or `perverse', while they are accepted in other societies? What are the implications for the categories of `male' and `female' when considering transvestism?"

Author/researcher Dr. Charlotte Suthrell attempts to answer these questions which are posed on the back cover of her book, "Unzipping Gender", sub-titled "Sex, Cross-dressing and Culture".

The book, itself, is the author's doctoral thesis based upon field work conducted on two continents and over a four year time span. From an academic viewpoint it makes fascinating reading. In particular, the last two chapters give the reader much thought provoking material for discussion.

Chapter One starts by examining the ongoing debates and discourses on sex, sexuality and gender. Contending that gender lies at the intersection of culture and biology, Dr. Suthrell examines current doctrines concerning cross-dressing, its prevalence, and its uses. Her study is focussed exclusively on male-to-female cross-dressers, excluding so-called "drag queens" and stage personalities in cross-dressed roles.

Chapter 2, entitled "Clothing Sex, Sexing Clothes: Transvestism, Material Culture and the Sex and Gender Debate", starts with the author's claim that "Clothing as an artefact, with its clear gender divisions, illustrates, as few other things can, the socially constructed nature of gender which goes beyond biological sex." (p. 14). Then, for purposes of her study she goes on to define transvestism as "the deliberate and conscious wearing of clothes which, in that particular society, are perceived as the domain of the opposite sex, usually to knowingly create an image of the self as a person of the opposite sex." (p.17). Having thus defined and delineated the scope of her studies she moves quickly to her field work.

Chapters 3 and 4 describe her interviews with subjects from two widely diverse cultures, one representing the West (the UK), and the other the East (India), to illustrate the stark difference between the way the two cultures regard cross-dressing males.

In Chapter 5 she expands upon the interviews and case histories to show that "belief systems are a crucial part of the underlying structures which shape the sex, gender and sexuality discourses in each society." (p. 123). It is here that she states "one of the reasons why sex and gender are so powerful as systems of control is that they are considered so normal and natural that they are rarely opened up to be questioned in a radical fashion," which this book does. (p.124).

But it is in Chapters 6 and 7 that she really digs her teeth into her study and where she massages her data in an attempt to wring out basic truths which call into question Western society's current approach to transvestism.

Because her study is about material culture and the use of clothing as an artefact of gender, only rarely does she dig into transgenderism. Although she states that transvestism is primarily a gender phenomenon, rarely is the term "transgender" used in her discourse. Arguing that cross-dressing cannot be satisfactorily separated from issues of sex and sexuality she observes that "in our society, there seem very few things that one needs to be gendered for except sexuality; sexual relationships are one of the only places where gender is the key defining object - clothing being one of the few others." (p. 144).

Although this reviewer's perception is that transgender individuals seem not wanting to be represented by any specific social group, preferring to speak for themselves, Dr, Suthrell contends that s/he, [the transvestite], "is also performing a social role for the whole of society, whether this is viewed as a social imperative, a transgression, or a striking out for balance and wholeness." (p. 164). That is something to think about!

However, the sad fact, so clearly delineated by Dr. Suthrell, is that: "Within the Western context, it therefore starts to become very clear why transvestites have no place in the scheme of things. Women's economic and social position in the UK may have altered significantly in the last century, as parallelled by clothing changes, but not much has really changed for men - and underneath the surface improvements, at the level of structural symbolism (particularly regarding presumptions and truisms of what men and women do and are), little has changed for either sex." (pp. 169-170).

The book is very aptly entitled "Unzipping Gender" as opposed to "Gender Unzipped", for although Dr. Suthrell has gotten the zipper moving, it still has a long way to go. Let's hope that as society continues to move the zipper further it doesn't get stuck on a broken fingernail in the process.

Whether for academic study or just for general knowledge this book is an excellent read.

Dress To Impress: Classic Men's Dressing

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Dress To Impress: Classic Men's Dressing
Dr. Martin B. Green
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 141963304X
Release Date: 2007-02-09

Aphrodite's Secrets: Dressing Up for Getting Down and Other Ways to Unleash Your Inner Sex Goddess

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Loved It!

Aphrodite's Secrets: Dressing Up for Getting Down and Other Ways to Unleash Your Inner Sex Goddess
Joanne Brunn
Manufacturer: Fair Winds Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1592330657

Book Description

According to mythology, Aphrodite had a cestus - a magic belt that made her charms irresistible to any man, god or mortal. She would lend the belt to her friends if they needed a boost of extra magic to entice a beloved. Dressing up can help us get down and bring a little of Aphrodite's love magic to the bedroom.

In this clever and playfully sexy book, Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Beauty, shares her saucy secrets on how we can all awaken our inner love goddess:

* Decorate your panties to make a modern cestus
* Use rituals to heighten your own mood, excite a lover, or turn you both on
* Add a playful twist to intimate encounters with sensuous delights involving food, dance, and body paint

Entertaining, fun, and filled with practical suggestions for spicing up any woman's love life, this book is perfect for any day a woman wants to turn up the heat and be more confident and alluring.

Customer Reviews:

Loved It!.......2004-02-09

This book is perfectly playful and informative for women...and do I dare say men, too! I now have more ideas and strategies tucked into my magical cestus idea belt for cultivating the goddess Aphrodite. The ideas presented bring the mood of Valentine's day to ANY day.

Dressing the Colonised Body: Politics, Clothing and Identity in Colonial Sri Lanka

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Dressing the Colonised Body: Politics, Clothing and Identity in Colonial Sri Lanka
Wickramasinghe Nira
Manufacturer: Orient Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Fashion | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 8125024794

Book Description

This book explores popular, political and symbolic meanings assignes to dress in a variety of colonial contexts in Sri Lanka; thus is focuses politics of nationalism and identity under late colonialism. Well researched and highly creative, this book is an important addition to the growing literature on the social history of South Asia.

The First Four Seconds: Things Successful Men Know About Dressing for Power

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Easy read and good insight for young executive
This book is fine, but there is much better

The First Four Seconds: Things Successful Men Know About Dressing for Power
Martha Falke
Manufacturer: Falcon House Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0962722707

Customer Reviews:

Easy read and good insight for young executive.......2002-05-24

This book contains several good points to keep in mind as you shop for your next purchase. I am aware that there are several large volumes on the subject, but I want to read something that I can remember and not something that I have to lug to the store with me. This is a decent book.

This book is fine, but there is much better.......2001-01-14

This books is not as helpful or convincing in its presentation as the classic work in this field, Molloy's New Dress For Success, although this is shorter and perhaps easier to read. The author also lost some credibility with me when she suggested that "Mountblanc" is the top-end pen to own(the brand is spelled "Montblanc"). Molloy takes a much more empirical, research-based approach to the study of clothing and its effect on others. Although his work is now a bit dated, this book is not much more recent.

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