The series "How to Draw Manga" has a reputation for mediocrity that is somewhat deserved. I had to flip through almost the entire collection to spot a handful that were worth it, and those are REALLY worth it. Kimono and Gowns sounds like a volume with an awfully specific target, but in his efforts to teach people everything they could possibly want to know about drawing characters wearing Japanese dress or Western formal wear, Hayashi created an awesome general reference for drawing clothing, even for illustrators who have nothing to do with the manga style.

Chapter 1 is 150 pages dedicated to the kimono. I never thought my ethnographic fashion research would be served so thoroughly by a book with such an unrelated purpose. Absolutely nothing is left out. First, Kimono Basics goes through the complete anatomy and accessories of wearing kimono of all kinds, for all occasions, by men and women. The info tends to be scattered throughout the chapter so you don't get it all in a single logical sequence, but the detail of it is overwhelming. Assorted Actions While Wearing a Kimono is more than the average illustrator will ever need to know about making characters in kimono move (unless you're working on a comic set in traditional Japan!), but the abundant diagrams, abundantly annotated, point out details of cloth and fold behaviour that are valid for all types of clothing, in all styles. The section on wielding weapons is much appreciated as well, and I almost cried at the detailed, fully illustrated descriptions of Japanese dress for weddings, festivals, mourning, priest robes, ... Accessories (obi, purses, footwear) and hairdos are described, both traditional and West-inspired. It doesn't end there, as there is then an overview of period costumes (and hairdos) for different social classes and professions, info which is really hard to find otherwise – we usually only see the "classic" kimono and certainly not the outfit of carpenters or fortunetellers from a few centuries ago (yes, samurai are shown as well. No armor though). This part is of course very targeted info, but we move on then to Chapter 2.

Gowns, in this context, refer to Western-style dresses as worn in Japan. The author classifies them into 3 basic shapes (triangular, straight and bell-shaped silhouettes) and from there goes on to illustrate how the behave, comparatively, in the same situations covered in the kimono chapter. The contents of this chapter is more directly useful to illustrators, given the generic nature of the gowns. The comparative approach to the 3 silhouettes is really helpful, even offering insights into what one can or cannot do in a given dress (I seriously think he dressed a model into each and observed how it dictated her movements or not). The section on bridal gowns was unexpected and the cherry on the cake. Trains, veils, rear designs, necklines, back, sleeves, gloves, shoes, hairstyles, even bouquet shapes are illustrated. It made me want to draw brides just for the heck of it. Men's formalwear is also treated, albeit very summarily, but that's covered more extensively in another volume I will review next time.

In short, although I have no interest in manga at all, I found it insanely rich both for illustration and as a reference for Japanese dress, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in either (provided you're already comfortable drawing the human figure). ( )