Kimono

Before the Second World War most women in Japan continued to wear kimono. Although the cut remained the same, the designs on fashionable dress bore an unmistakable modern flavour as motifs were dramatically enlarged or distorted. Many interwar kimono are made of a silk fabric known as meisen which was the favoured fabric for everyday wear because it was both long-lasting and inexpensive. Dyes were applied through stencils onto the yarns before weaving, a speeding up of the kasuri technique. This kimono, with its dynamic design of flying fish, is a particularly fine example, the use of silver and lacquer threads adding an air of luxury to what is essentially an informal garment.