[.ca] Asian Costumes and Textiles: From the Bosphorus to Fujiama (ISBN 8881189712)

Beautiful photos of ethnic textiles:
This beautiful, large, coffee table type book is full of gorgeous color photography. There are tunics from Syria, embroidered veils from the Ottoman Empire, incredibly complex gowns from Afganistan, and wedding saris from India. The chapter on the Far East starts with a large color photo of a peasant's palm fiber rain costume while the next pages are full color photos of Manchurian court dress. The juxtaposition of the two is extrordinary. While there is a whole chapter on South East Asia, with some beautiful textiles from the region, I was dissapointed to find nothing in this book from Vietnam. I also wish some of the costumes could have been modeled on mannequins or people. It's hard to tell exactly what you're looking at in some of the photos, and if you're not familiar with the styles of the clothing, it's often difficult to envision how the pieces are worn.