Kimono

What is the kimono? Everyday garment? Art object? Symbol of Japan? As Terry Satsuki Milhaupt explains in this book, the kimono has served all of these roles, its meaning changing across time and with the perspective of the wearer or viewer. Kimono: A Modern History traces the transformation of the kimono from everyday garment to national symbol of Japan. It begins by revealing the foundations of the modern kimono fashion industry in the 17th- and 18th-century. With Japans exposure to Western fashion in the 19th century, and Westerners contact with distinctive Japanese modes of dress and design, the kimono took on new associations and came to symbolize an exotic culture and an alluring female form. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the kimono industry was sustained through government support. The line between fashion and art became blurred, as kimonos produced by famous designers were collected for their beauty and displayed in museums, rather than being worn as clothing. Today, the kimono has once again taken on new dimensions, as the Internet and social media proliferate images of the kimono as a versatile garment to be integrated into a range of individual styles.Published to accompany the Kimono exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, commencing in September 2014, Kimono: A Modern History not only tells the story of a distinctive garments ever-changing functions and image, but provides a novel perspective on Japans modernization and encounter with the West.

Auteur

Terry Satsuki Milhaupt (1959-2012) was an independent art historian based in New York, a guest curator and an internationally recognized expert on Japanese textiles. She contributed essays to numerous exhibition catalogues and publications, including the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion (2010).

Texte du rabat

"Kimono: A Modern History" traces the transformation of the kimono from everyday garment to national symbol of Japan. The book begins by exposing the 17th- and 18th-century foundations of the modern kimono fashion industry and explores the crossover between art and fashion in this period at the hands of famous Japanese painters who worked with clothing pattern books and painted directly on garments. With Japan s exposure to western fashion in the 19th century, and westerners exposure to distinctive Japanese modes of dress and design, the kimono took on new associations and came to symbolize an exotic culture and an alluring female form. Early in the twentieth century, kimono production underwent a period of modernization and kimonos were intermixed with western fashion, in parallel to Japan s social transformation. In the aftermath of World War Two the kimono industry was sustained through government support and the naming of important kimono designers as living national treasures. Once again, the line between fashion and art became blurred, as kimonos produced by famous designers were collected for their beauty and displayed in museums, rather than worn as clothing. Today, the kimono has once again taken on new dimensions, as the internet and social media proliferate images of the kimono as a versatile garment to be freely integrated into a diverse range of individual fashion styles.
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Résumé
Kimono traces the transformation of the Japanese garment from everyday attire to National symbol, exploring the historic and contemporary use of this enduring cultural legacy.