ORIENTALISM: Visions of the East in Western...

ORIENTALISM: Visions of the East in Western Dress by Richard Martin and Harold Koda (Metropolitan Museum of Art/Abrams: $29.95; 95 pp., paperback original). The ongoing dialogue between East and West in ceramics, furniture, garden design and other applied arts has been well-documented; this exhibition program adds fashion to the list. The Asian and pseudo-Asian influences range from 18th-Century French court dresses a la Turque and 19th-Century paisley robes that emulate Kashimiri shawls to chinoiserie motifs popular during the ‘20s and contemporary dresses with Southeast Asian patterns from Ralph Lauren.