Beverley Jackson Books

Many cultures around the world have used bird feathers as decorative accessories to denote status, wealth, and even royalty. Nowhere did this unusual art form reach greater popularity than in China, beginning a thousand years ago and continuing to this day. Using the kingfisher-with its uniquely iridescent range of ultramarine to bright turquoise-blue feathers-as their bird of choice, Chinese artisans created extraordinary objects, rendering the many-hued feathers with exquisite technique. The sheer breadth of these objects is staggering, from massive eight-foot-tall screens to tiny two-inch-long hair pins, from ornately ornamental lanterns to elegantly simple bird cages. Beverley Jackson has once again gathered an exceptional group of objects for study from great museums and private collections alike. Her lively, informative text and unique selection of historical photographs make KINGFISHER BLUE a coffee table book that reads like a novel. The first book-length treatment on this subject. With 150 full-color photographs throughout.

It was within the sensual, cinematic setting of 1930s Shanghai that traditional Chinese fashion changed forever. Call them cheongsam, qi pao, or Suzy Wong dresses—the high-collared, body-clinging, slit-to-the-thigh gowns evolved in a world of dramatic change, where Chinese citizens mingled with foreigners from such cosmopolitan cities as Tokyo, London, New York, and Moscow. In SHANGHAI GIRL GETS ALL DRESSED UP, Asian art-historian Beverley Jackson explores the city that fostered such radical cultural and social change and the daring and fashionable women—including actresses, courtesans, and showgirls—who wore these fabulous and revealing dresses. Twenty luminous photos of cheongsams and Chinese costumes from the author'¬?s collection, combined with spectacular archival photographs and art, chronicle the social life and history of a groundbreaking city and the beautiful fashions that were born within its walls. Part history and part fashionable frolic, SHANGHAI GIRL steps back in time and paints a vivid picture of a lost generation of intrigue, style, and beauty. Includes more than 100 new and vintage photographs of the city, the clothes, the Chinese cinema stars who led the trends, and the Hollywood movie queens who inspired them.Addresses the profound influence of Chinese costumes on Western fashion trends via film in the 1930s.