Kimono at the V&A
Detail from Kimono for woman, probably Kyoto 1750-1800, photograph by Birgitta Huse, Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk, sponsored by MUFG, at the V&A from 29 February – 21 June 2020
“Kimonos have always been part of a changing dynamic.”
“Tank motifs replaced former car and train motifs, fighter jets and battleships were fashionable instead of airplanes and yachts.”
“Material and technique aficionados can enjoy figured silk and brush dyeing (hikizome) in this ensemble. The outer kimono shows freehand paste-resist dyeing (yūzen) and the inner kimono applied gold. The Obi is made of Jacquard-woven silk.”
From Poem Stitching to Punk Sensibility Infusion
★★★★
WRITTEN BY DR BIRGITTA HUSE, 27.02.2020
These bold embroidered characters are part of a beautiful satin silk Japanese kimono for a woman. The characters are taken from the first line of a 9th century poem written by Bai Juyi (772 – 846): "It is cold in the yellow autumn forest. And there are autumn leaves. Lapiz lazuli blue water is clear…”
This ‘poem kimono’ was probably made in Kyoto in the second half of the 18th century and its owner demonstrated her taste and literary discernment by wearing it. It is now part of the new exhibition Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London which opens this Saturday 29th of February 2020.
Visiting the exhibition is like travelling through various regions in the north of the Tropic of Cancer. The journey is exciting as the direction takes surprising turns. We are not led straight through from a traditional Japanese kimono towards the work of new generation Japanese kimono designers. Instead, we witness different key moments of an ongoing global exchange of developing ideas and knowledge. The exceptional kimono creations to be seen in the exhibition offer inspiring stories about the kimono as a protagonist on the global fashion stage.
Often the importance of a wedding as a rite de passage is underlined by changing outfits during the wedding ceremony. In Japan the bride wears a white kimono ensemble for the first part of the ceremony. White “symbolises the bride’s willingness to adapt, or be ‘dyed,’ to the ways of her groom’s family” we learn. Here the red outer kimono is used afterwards, decorated with cranes, a motif symbolising longevity. Today also western-style wedding dress can be part of the ‘colour alteration’ custom.
For the bride: Red outer Kimono and white kimono ensemble 1980-2000. Exhibition view, Victoria and Albert Museum, photograph by Birgitta Huse, Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk, sponsored by MUFG, at the V&A from 29 February – 21 June 2020
Kimono for export, probably Kyoto 1905-15, Exhibition view, Victoria and Albert Museum, photograph by Birgitta Huse, Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk, sponsored by MUFG, at the V&A from 29 February – 21 June 2020
Kimonos have always been part of a changing dynamic. To start with, printed Kimono pattern books were used in 17th and 18th century Japan as references for makers and as means of communication between customers and suppliers. The customer selected a design out of a pattern book, specific details like changes in size and placing of motifs were then discussed with the merchant.
Kimono-style coat, probably by Emilie Flöge, Vienna, 1920-30, Exhibition view, Victoria and Albert Museum, photograph by Birgitta Huse, Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk, sponsored by MUFG, at the V&A from 29 February – 21 June 2020
Later also European traders, dressmakers and customers would engage in changes of the kimono with the aim to make it suitable for European taste and lifestyle. The London sisters and dressmakers Margaret and Emma Turner, for example, cut and re-tailored a 1800-50 Kyoto kimono imported from Japan in 1876-8. The result can be admired in the exhibition: it is a day dress with a structure familiar in its time, but with an ‘excitingly foreign appearance.’
Around the beginning of the 20th century Western interpretations of the Japanese kimono were sold in stores like Liberty's in London. In Japan, kimonos in a style known to appeal to foreign customers were made specifically for export. One of those kimonos owned by wealthy American socialite Emilie Grigsby impressed me at the V&A with its opulent embroidery on peach satin ground. In Vienna Emilie Flöge (1874 – 1952) opened a fashion house Schwestern Flöge together with her sisters Helene and Pauline offering stylish kimono inspired coats.
Propaganda textiles 1930´s, Exhibition view, Victoria and Albert Museum, photograph by Birgitta Huse, Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk, sponsored by MUFG, at the V&A from 29 February – 21 June 2020
Another surprising shift in direction during our journey through the exhibition is offered to us with a mirrored room. In this room, I was fascinated by the young men’s under kimonos, juban. Underwear is something quite intimate and as such it gives clues as to what a person might think, but not want to express in public. Some juban designs became more nationalistic in the 1930’s as Japan was invading Manchuria and China. Tank motifs replaced former car and train motifs, fighter jets and battleships were fashionable instead of airplanes and yachts. To be fair, we have to say that it was not only men wearing propaganda textiles. The obi for a woman, featured in the image above, show airplanes flying over The Great Wall of China together with names of various Chinese cities.
“Chee-Shie-San” ensemble, John Galliano, Paris, Haute Couture, Spring/Summer, 2007, Exhibition view, Victoria and Albert Museum, photograph by Birgitta Huse, Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk, sponsored by MUFG, at the V&A from 29 February – 21 June 2020
Kimono ensemble, Yoshiki Hayashi, Kyoto, Spring/Summer, 2016, Exhibition view, Victoria and Albert Museum, photograph by Birgitta Huse, Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk, sponsored by MUFG, at the V&A from 29 February – 21 June 2020
John Galliano´s ‘Chee-Shie-San’ ensemble for Christian Dior is just one example of kimono inspired couture shown within the V&A exhibition. A fascinating detail for me is the delicately folded squared piece at the center of the décolleté which reminds me of the Japanese Origami art of paper folding.
“Informed by his experiences with then band X-Japan, Yoshiki infuses his kimono with punk sensibility.” we read in the text near this kimono ensemble. The 1965-born Yoshiki Hayashi who found the brand Yoshikimono is an acclaimed musician, songwriter and composer who comes from a family of kimono merchants. “While constructing kimono in the standard form, Yoshikimono explore various ways the garment can be styled.”
Material and technique aficionados can enjoy figured silk and brush dyeing (hikizome) in this ensemble. The outer kimono shows freehand paste-resist dyeing (yūzen) and the inner kimono applied gold. The Obi is made of Jacquard-woven silk. This example of Yoshiki Hayashi´s work is an infusion in the best sense of the meaning of this term as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary. It is “the act of adding one thing to another to make it stronger or better.”
Finally, we complete our ‘appetiser journey’ through Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk at this point. Starting off from poem stitching on a kimono in Japan in the second half of the 18th century we passed the cutting and re-tailoring of a kimono into a day-dress in 1876-78 London and so much more, ending with a punk sensibility infusion made visible in Yoshiki Hayashi’s 2016 Kimono ensemble. As with any journey it is certainly one thing to read about it and another to experience it yourself…
Visit Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk at the Victoria & Albert Museum, 29 February - 21 June 2020