Geisha

from www.immortalgeisha.com
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i've been reading memoirs of a geisha recently since i foung it in HMV for £2.99

i am loving it and im always staying up late to read as many pages as i can before i put it down because i always want to know whats going to happen next to her^_^

such a lovely story and to hear all the traditions is great:heart:
 
^^^I just finished that book...Not the stuff I normally read but I read it in 1 day..couldnt stop!...
 
^^^ i couldnt put it down either i always wanted to know what was going to happen to sauyri (sp?)

i also loved the descriptions of the kimonos too they sounded so wonderful:heart:
 
It's also nice cos you learn so much of the japonese culture..before I thought the geishas where prostitutes..and I thought japonese peolple just ate sushi..I might be ignorant but at least I admit it...: )
 
from style.com

Sorry to bump this up, but style.com has a feature on geisha style

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
Straight From the Source
Almost everyone has read Arthur Golden's novel; fewer are familiar with the autobiography of his real-life source, Mineko Iwasaki. After helping him with his research, Iwasaki later sued Golden over various grievances. Her best response, though, might be her memoir, Geisha, A Life. It chronicles a nearly 25-year career, from age 5, when she began training as a "woman of the arts," to age 30, when she finally hung up her kimono ensemble—which weighed close to 40 pounds.
Geisha, A Life, by Mineko Iwasaki, $15, available at Amazon.com, www.amazon.com.
Photo: Courtesy of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
The Cutup Artist
Remember Paco Rabanne's sixties-era metal-disc dresses? For his spring collection, Patrick Robinson, the label's current designer, reimagined them with an Asian twist. He cut up and resewed 500 antique silk kimonos from the Osaka flea market Ichiroya to create pieced tank dresses, camisoles, and mini shifts, all held together with plastic rivets. Intrigued? Thousands more kimonos are available on Ichiroya's Web site; they vary in age, fabric, and condition, with prices to match, but thankfully, none of them require assembly.
Information available at Ichiroya Kimono Flea Market, www.ichiroya.com.
Photo: Courtesy of Ichiroya.com

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
A Different World
Tatsumi Kaumashiro's lusty 1973 film The World of a Geisha makes PG-13 Memoirs look like a Disney affair—and you won't find it in any major multiplex. The movie—which was originally banned in Japan and earned the director a cultlike following among women for its sexually liberating subject matter—finishes off the Japan Society's current film series, The Moving Image of Modern Art.
The World of Geisha shows December 11, 4 p.m., at the Japan Society, NYC, (212) 832-1155.
Photo: Courtesy of the Japan Society

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
Tie One On
They're not traditional obis, but we love Richard Chai's origami belts. The Korean-American designer showed them side-tied in oversize bows with Asian preppy separates on his spring runway. If it's a conventional style you're after, try Old Japan in New York's Greenwich Village, which in addition to selling obis, offers tying lessons. They'll even help you with Chai's complicated tulle-covered taffeta numbers—he doesn't call them origami for nothing.
Richard Chai washed-taffeta with silk tulle origami belt, $595, available at G. Gilbert, Atlanta, (404) 355-3713; Old Japan, NYC, (212) 633-0922, www.oldjapaninc.com.
Photo: Marcio Madeira

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
String Theory
Music being a cornerstone of their training, apprentice geishas would spend countless hours hunched over a shamisen, a sixteenth-century Asian lute that resembles a banjo and sounds like a Kurosawa soundtrack. Originally popular in the remote Tsugaru region of northern Japan, the instrument gave birth to Japan's version of the blues. Today, twentysomething shamisen masters the Yoshida Brothers have become pop stars by combining geisha-style dedication to their craft with the rock-star 'tude—and penchant for lengthy solos—of Lynyrd Skynyrd. "Sweet Home Tsugaru," anyone?
More information available at Domo Records, www.domo.com.
Photo: Courtesy of Hands On PR

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
Burning Love
Can anyone really put a price on a good time? Traditional geishas did. They charged for their services (which generally meant playing music and pouring tea, despite what dirty minds think) based upon time. And they measured their shifts by lighting incense sticks, which burned about 30 minutes each. Impart an Asian ambiance to your next rendezvous with Shiseido's floral-woody Zen incense, packaged with a handsome holder. The typical geisha session required four sticks; how you define "services" is up to you.
Shiseido Zen perfumed incense, $31, available at Shiseido, www.sca.shiseido.com.
Photo: Elissa Wiehn

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
Tea of Life
Now available in supermarkets across the United States, Ito En's Teas' Tea, distinctively flavored and smartly packaged in flat-sided bottles, puts Snapple to shame. But if you really want to experience what the deluxe Japanese beverage company can brew up, pay a visit to its flagship Kai, on Manhattan's Upper East Side. After sipping a frothy cup of matcha there, pick up a canister in the shop downstairs, which boasts America's biggest assortment of Japanese green teas.
More information available at Ito En, www.itoen.com.
Photo: Elissa Wiehn

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
Pretty in Punk
Not too many rock stars can also boast of being florists, but Azuma Makoto can. The onetime front man of Tokyo grunge band Bliss worked in a flower shop while perfecting his former group's sound. Now, he's bringing punk attitude to ikebana, the Japanese art of aesthetic floral arrangement. Rather than irises, Makoto likes to arrange, say, artichokes. The New York debut of Damned Ikebana at Issey Miyake will be followed by an installation at the Paris boutique Colette starting December 12.
More information available at Azuma Makoto, www.stemandcookie.com.
Photo: Courtesy of Issey Miyake
 
more from style.com

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
In the Realm of the Senses
Here's a tea ceremony that's easy to perform at home: pick up a bottle of Eau Parfumée au Thé Rouge—a peppery new addition to Bulgari's tea trio—and squirt once behind each ear. A bow to the mirror is optional. Eau Parfumé au Thé Rouge, $57 for 50 milliters and $82 for 100 milliters, available at Bulgari, www.bulgari.com, and select Saks Fifth Avenue stores, www.saksfifthavenue.com.
Photo: Courtesy of Bulgari

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
Letter Perfect
No maiko (apprentice) could become a full-fledged geisha before mastering the art of shodo, a sophisticated form of calligraphy based on graceful movement and boasting three different character sets: kanji, hiragana, and katakana. Before you take brush pen to thin hanshi paper—New York's Kinokuniya Bookstore is a good bet for supplies—sign up for a class at the Japan Society.
Brush pen, $8.25; bottle of Ink, $11.55; ink stick, $19.80; ink stone with lid, $180; water pitcher, $11.55; and pen holder, $13.20, available at Kinokuniya Bookstore, NYC, (212) 765-7766. More information on the class Shodo: Japanese Calligraphy available at the Japan Society, NYC, (212) 715-1256.
Photo: Elissa Wiehn

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
Painted Lady
The powdered face, lined eyes, and crimson lips of a traditional geisha are hardly understated. But Fresh's seven-piece line inspired by the movie offers some subtler, real-life alternatives, like a shimmering powder with crushed south sea pearls, a rice face wash, and, should you get no kick from champagne, a bath with sake.
Memoirs of a Geisha Bath With Sake, $42, and Memoirs of a Geisha Shimmer Powder With Crushed Pearl, $38, available at Fresh, www.fresh.com.
Photo: Elissa Wiehn


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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
Everything Is Illuminated
Leave it to Dean Harris to find inspiration in humble shoji screens. The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund-nominated jewelry designer, known for his minimal yet whimsical creations, transformed the translucent room dividers into light-catching, 18-karat-gold and diamond danglers.
Dean Harris Shoji Screen earrings, $7,500, at Barneys New York, (212) 826-8900, and www.deanharris.net.
Photo: Elissa Wiehn

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
Chick Lit
"Memoirs of a Geisha is on my Top Ten list," says "modern alchemist" Douglas Little, who is designing a line of limited edition candles inspired by the movie. Little spent a lot of time on the details. Packaging elements, like a bow-tied hatbox, pleated wood-blocked tissue wrapping, and a hand-painted bisque vessel, reference various kinds of kimono silks. And as for the candles themselves, they evoke the scented powders favored by geishas, along with Japanese temple incense. "I wanted to make something that was romantic and spectacular," Little says. Mission accomplished.
Peony candle with Japanese pear fragrance, $175, available Barney’s New York, (888)222-7639.
Photo: Elissa Wiehn

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
Made in Japan
Searching for origami paper, camellia hair oil, (left), or a bamboo steamer direct from Japan? Look no further than SoHo's newest shop, Salvor Kiosk, which stocks country-specific objets handpicked by its artist, photographer, and set designer owners. But hurry, when Japan's three months are up, the shop will be full of Swedish treats.
Camellia hair oil, $35, available at Salvor Kiosk, 95 Spring St., 2nd fl., (212) 226-5155, www.salvorkiosk.com.
Photo: Fran Pollitt

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
Walking Tall
For not much more than the cost of the gravity-defying, lacquered platforms on Prada's spring runway, left, shoe aficionados can get the real thing in Kyoto. MoNo, a shop in the Old Town section of the Japanese city, sells handmade sandals that give the local geisha a good 5 inches, for about $600 a pair.
Prada black patent leather platform sandal, $490, available at select Prada stores, (888) 977-1900; MoNo, Kyoto, 011-81-75-541-7110.
Photo: Don Ashby

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STYLE NOTES: GEISHA
Further Reading
Memoirs of a Geisha fans looking to venture deeper into Japanese history should dip into The Pillow Book. Not the erotic 1996 film by Peter Greenaway, but the poetic 1000 A.D. journal of Sei Shonagon, a lady-in-waiting of Empress Sadako. While scholars pore over Shonagon's spare text for rare insight into eleventh-century life, casual readers will enjoy her plain-spoken observations. "Snow looks wonderful when it has fallen on a roof of cypress bark," for example, and "the hair of a woman of the lower classes should be neat and short." (Be warned: Shonagon was a bit of a snob.)
The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, translated by Ivan Morris, $22.50, available at Amazon.com, www.amazon.com.
Photo: Courtesy of Amazon.com
 
I'm currently reading Memoirs of a Geisha. (trying ot finish it before movie gets released! Loving it at the moment.
Actually was talking about he movie with a friend, and we were discussing how ironic it is how the main roles have been given to Chinese, rather than Japanese actors. And the Japanese HATE the Chinese. Also, Chinese actors, ZhangXi and Michelle Yeoh don't even look Japanese!

I've been told Geisha (otherbook) is very good.
Fashionwise I can see small resurgences in Japanese fashion, prints, silks...
 
rainbow unicorn said:
Actually was talking about he movie with a friend, and we were discussing how ironic it is how the main roles have been given to Chinese, rather than Japanese actors. And the Japanese HATE the Chinese.

Oh my! :shock: I can't believe I'm having to say this, but I'm glad to say this is not true, with all due respect. It's really unfortunate now how false publicity is occurring in China that the Japanese don't like the Chinese...the war has been over for 60 years :shock:! We love the Chinese...in fact, ZhangXi is a big star here too. :flower: I wish her luck.
 
i saw Memoirs of a Geisha last night and am just speechless. the costumes are magnificent, kimonos amazing. i ve always loved the Geisha style and now i just love it more. soo unique and everything bout it is beautifull
 
ummm..is she's supposed to be japanese....why did they give her blue eyes?


quote=sw33tricecakes]For anyone who is interested in the film version of Memoirs of a Geisha, I found some pics! I'm curious as to how it's gonna turn out.

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***edit: lovely pictures, but please resize them and try to post them again, they're simply too big and are causing page formatting problems :flower: ***[/quote]
 
^^^ the character actually has grey eyes and this is explained in the book... i think its because she has to much water in her personality which shows through her eyes.

hope i explained that ok:flower:
 

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