The Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture

Winter 2006

Modern Mode: Kimono for Japan's New Woman
Meisen kimonos from the first half of the twentieth century
Guest curated by Sharon Sadako Takeda
Senior Curator and Department Head, Costume and Textiles, L.A. County Museum of Art

December 6, 2005–April 1, 2006
Closed December 24 and 25, January

Lee Center Permanent Collection. Click here for larger image.

The kimono, Japan’s national dress, has a long and venerable history. The predecessor of the modern kimono began as a simple wrap-around robe with small openings at the wrists called kosode (literally, small sleeves). It was worn primarily by commoners prior to its adoption as an undecorated undergarment of aristocrats during the Heian period (794-1185). By the fifteenth century, the kosode emerged as an outer garment for the upper classes. It evolved into the primary outer garment for both men and women of all social classes by the Edo period (1615-1868). Embellished with colors and designs created by a variety of decorative textile techniques, including embroidery, tie-dye and paste-resist dye techniques, the Edo-period kosode became an expressive means of personal display. In order to insure that consumption of kosode on every level of Tokugawa society would be appropriate to feudal class distinctions, the government issued numerous sumptuary laws regulating clothing fabrics and techniques. The lower classes, however, creatively and repeatedly circumvented these edicts by inventing new textile techniques and decorative styles.

The term kimono (literally, thing to wear) came into use at the dawn of Japan’s modern age. The Edo period came to an end after more than 250 years of peace and prosperity under the Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji period (1868-1912) was ushered in with the Emperor being reinstated as the divine leader of the empire. During the Meiji Restoration, Japan was open to foreign trade and participated in World Expositions held in Europe and the United States. Japanese men and women began to adopt Western fashion and the word kimono came into use in order to distinguish indigenous dress from Western-style clothing (yôfuku).

Both Japan and the West were greatly influenced by the cross-cultural fertilization that took place during the Meiji and Taishô (1912-1926) periods. Japanese art and design inspired the art nouveau movement in Europe and America while Western technology, especially synthetic dye and textile manufacturing techniques, contributed to the development of Japan as a major exporter of silk thread and textiles.


	Detail. Lee Center Permanent Collection.

The kimonos exhibited in Modern Mode are made from a type of silk plain-weave fabric known as meisen that owes much of its existence to Western technology. Meisen is a commercial term used to describe a textile of inexpensive machine-reeled silk thread and colored with synthetic dyes that was developed in the 1880s. Western dye technology adapted to traditional Japanese dye methods resulted in new, cost-effective techniques and dazzling, multicolored pictorial designs resembling paintings. Both traditional and Western-inspired motifs decorated the affordable meisen kimono worn by the upper and middle classes as everyday wear and by the working-class, such as the increasing number of women who worked in the new textile mills, as formal attire. These vibrant meisen kimonos reflect the stimulating changes that occurred in the lives of women living in a modern Japan.

Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 1-5 pm.
Admission: $5 for adults, $3 for students with valid ID. Children 12 and under free.

Weekly docent tours are held Saturdays at 1pm and guided group tours can be arranged by calling the Center in advance at 559.582.4915.

This exhibition receives promotional support from Valley Public Television.

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