She wrote a book, too, "Geisha", By Liza Dalby
ISBN #0-394-72893-9. Mine was published by Vintage Books, division of Random
House, in 1985.
Originally published Berkeley: University of California Press 1983

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Carmen Beaudry
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 5:45 PM
To: Historical Costume
Subject: Re: now costume design, was Re: [h-cost] new Butterick pattern 5061


>I didn't either.  As both a historian and a costume designer, I see  no 
>reason to be embarrassed about the very good reasons why accuracy  > is 
>often compromised on the stage.  I still groan when I watch films  with 
>terribly bastardized fashions, but I can often tell why they did  it. 
>Telling the story is first priority.  Accuracy is icing for the  geeks.  :)
>
> Melanie Schuessler

Exactly.  The ones that really irk me are the ones where the story would be 
better served by most accurate costumes and they still don't.

I just read a very interesting article about Memoirs of a Geisha.  Lisa 
Dalby, who is the only non-Japanese ever trained as a geisha, was a 
consultant on the film, and was upset that they didn't use the correct 
make-up, but did a modified version, until she overheard a couple of 
stagehands talking about how wierd the complete white-faced look was to 
them.  She realized that, in order to portray the women as beautiful and 
sexy, the traditional make-up had to be modified for the modern and western 
audience, that where a Japanese (and especially an older Japanese audience 
would see them as being beautiful, the intended audience would not.

Melusine 

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