Japonism in Fashion

This is a kimono-style indoor garment exported from Japan to Western countries. It was appropriated to Western markets with its extravagant design of embroidered cherry trees and a peacock, gussets patched on the sides, body flaring gently down to the hem, and a curved collar.

After a long period of national isolation, Japan opened up to the rest of the world, and the promotion of trade became a major preoccupation. Following the opening of the Port of Yokohama in 1859, silk became a major export, but it was more desirable to export silk products, which had greater added value. The Yokohama silk merchant Shobey Shiino was dispatched to the International Exhibition in Vienna in 1873 together with other Japanese delegates. His market research resulted in the production of quilted at-home gowns made of habutae silk (a fine Japanese silk).

In 1867 the Satsuma domain, along with the Japanese government and the Saga domain, took part in the Paris Exposition. The Satsuma domain had displayed interest in foreign countries at an earlier stage, and around 1860 began to make Satsuma-style ceramic buttons for export. Many Satsuma buttons of flower shape, hexagonal or large-sized were distributed in America and Europe from the late 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century.

Day dress in yoryu (silk crêpe de Chine) broadloom fabric made in Japan. The lightweight material with typical Japanese motifs has been made into a dress in line with the fashions of the time. This fascinating garment demonstrates the interest that Doucet, the luxury Paris clothing house, had in Japanese influence.

Japanese motifs of cherry blossoms and kabuto (samurai helmets) are arranged vertically. These motifs were hand-worked in elaborate cord embroidery onto separate silk cloths, which was then applied to the cashmere. The sideways-oriented kabuto that acts as a counterpart to the cherry blossoms is laid out symmetrically in a European fashion.

In the middle of the 19th century, chrysanthemums brought from Japan to Europe were popular in the background of Japonism movement, and European countries created Chrysanthemum Associations. In 1887, Pierre Loti published his Madame Chrysanthème, and the image of the chrysanthemum as a symbol of Japan was established.

The textile for this coat has the almost same design as that of Japanese cut silk velvet for kimono sashes. This Japanese textile was described by the journal Le Japon artistique (vol. 2, 1888) and later by Étoffes Japonaises (1910) (At present, the original sash textile is housed in Les arts decoratifs, Paris.) For this coat, the pattern is produced by stencil printing.

Through the brilliant surface ornaments and straight silhouette of this dress, people could have foreseen the coming 1920s. The scale pattern or seigaiha (blue ocean waves) pattern seen on this dress was used repeatedly in the 1920s as a popular motif of the Art Deco school, whose proponents favored geometric figures.

The textile is woven with metallic thread of pattern like that of overlapping mountains, reminiscent of makie (lacquer) designs. Liberty & Co. was established in 1875 (first called East India House) by Arthur Lasenby Liberty. It sold silk fabric from Japan and China in addition to arts and crafts, and gained a particular reputation for its textiles. Liberty & Co. textiles were used by well-known Paris designers.

In 1907, Paquin created a manteaux japonais that incorporated kimono stitching techniques. Many designs in her creations at that time had an oriental (Japanese or Chinese) image. This evening coat has a traditional Western pattern, but the influence of kimono design can be seen in its form, particularly in the fullness of the sleeves and hem.

Paul Poiret called loose-fitting silhouette coats like this example "kimono coats." The pieces constructing the coat were cut straight. Poiret introduced such coats at the same time as one-piece dresses with a new silhouette having the support point at the shoulders instead of the waist.

A shawl-style coat cut from a single piece of fabric. From 1910 to around 1913, many fashion houses created coats in a generous swing back style, a design feature of which was an exposed neck, as though influenced by the nukiemon look of Japanese kimono.

Like a picture, this wool coat is decorated with Beauvais embroidery all over. Fine chain stitch was used to create motifs of bamboo fences with chrysanthemums, cocks, pine trees, water patterns, clouds and waterfalls. Paul Poiret named this coat "Mandarin," which originally meant a high-ranking official of Qing dynasty China.

A large bow at the back of the belt produces an effect similar to that of a Japanese kimono belt, and red, black, and gold coloring is reminiscent of Japanese lacquerware. In the 1920s, European interest in exotic countries extended to include Russia, Egypt, South America, China, and Japan, and the couturière Lanvin embraced Japanese coloring and motifs in its creations.

The front and back panels are patchworks, constructed from silver and golden patches in a checkered pattern, and their similar design and texture are reminiscent of Japanese lacquerware such as makie. Madeleine Vionnet was interested in Japanese kimono and fine arts, and in the early 1920s she created many works that seemed to be inspired by them.

From an early stage, Vionnet aimed to liberate bodies, and inspired by the straight form of Japanese kimonos, she started to create dresses focusing on kimonos' structures in the late 1910s. Eventually she established a new structural concept for clothing that reinterpreted and highlighted the beauty of the female body.

Kenzo Takada, who went to France in 1964, achieved rapid growth as a designer for prêt-à-porter clothing, and in 1970, he started his own brand. A dress by Takada made with simple ordinary kimono fabric was chosen as the cover of Elle magazine, and he became an overnight sensation in the fashion world. Takada's designs had a simple and relaxed style, combined with the esoteric image of Japan, which matched the spirit of the times that followed May 1968.

After studying Haute Couture in Paris, Issey Miyake returned to Japan and tried to make clothing for the people in the world, not for a small number of wealthy people, through the new fashion system "prêt-a-porter." The crossover of rock and tattoos, or the youth culture and the traditional culture for common people, evidently reflected his belief and the spirit of the times.

In the Paris Collections in which he has participated since 1973, Miyake highlighted traditional Japanese materials, which were almost forgotten even in Japan at that time. Miyake tried to revitalize them materializing as a daily wear with functional beauty. Miyake's unique approach, creating clothing based on the technology of Japanese textile industry, was highly appreciated in Japan as well as in Western countries, and it considerably influenced Japanese designers of the next generation.

At the beginning of the 1980s, Rei Kawakubo received a mixed response in Paris to designs that challenged existing aesthetic values in the Western countries due to their achromaticity, loose fit, asymmetry and deliberately-created holes and tears. Nevertheless, she has maintained a consistent attitude of defying stereotypes in dress designing ever since.

This is one example of Yamamoto's dresses with holes that immediately drew the attention of the Western media when they were showed in Paris in 1982. Yamamoto said, "If one has only one piece of clothing in life, it becomes patched together, exposed to sun and rain, frayed from the course of daily life. I wanted to create clothing with the same kind of unconscious beauty and natural appeal."

In 1993, Issey Miyake developed a series of his works with pleats into more wearable dresses named "Pleats Please." They became internationally popular. These dresses are free sized, and when taken off, the fabric returns to its two-dimensional form. They are light, wrinkle-resistant, and reasonably priced. These are the very dresses that busy modern women dreamed of.

This dress is made of double-layered stretch material with an internal pad. It is part of the "Body-Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body" collection, through which the designer intended to unify body lines with the dress. Kawakubo tried to eliminate the stagnant relationship between the human body and the clothes that limited each other's development; that is, the human body restricted the clothes, while the clothes restricted the body. Her efforts resulted in Kawakubo creating designs with a fresh beauty, as seen in this one-piece dress, that had an impact throughout the world.

An elegant long dress with a beautiful décolletage, relies not on darts or cuts. Instead on a method of twisting and wrapping the fabric as it follows the contours of the body, Yohji Yamaoto sculpted the shape of a female figure. It is a typical example of his work, showcasing his extraordinary skills in dressmaking.