China Through the Looking Glass: Fashion, Film, Art

Consider my breath taken. I'm not much of a follower of fashion (you may have seen how I dress), and we haven't featured many art and fashion books in the store (for one thing, I'm not sure how to display them well), but as soon as I got my hands on a copy of this catalogue for the new Met exhibit on China in the aesthetic imagination of the West, I wanted to make sure you could see (and touch) it too. The essays that open the book take pains to plead that the West's appropriation of Chinese images is creative and appreciative not exploitative, but their best argument is made by the pages and pages of exquisite images that follow. Juxtaposed almost without explanation and photographed and printed with a deliciousy gauzy reverence, their beauty will stop you in your tracks. Open it up and prepare to be overwhelmed.