San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
A CLOSE LOOK AT KIMONO’S GLOBAL REACH
An ancient garment is having a major moment in modern fashion: The kimono is back yet again. Its signatures — the folded waists, drop sleeves and intricate textiles — can be seen everywhere, from haute couture runways to urban streets, where lounge style is in the midst of a renaissance.
The Asian Art Museum’s new exhibition, “Kimono Refashioned” (on display Feb. 8-May 5), is a timely exploration of the kimono’s lasting impact, and how it has morphed, evolved and transformed across time and cultures.
The exhibition chronicles an unbroken 150-year span beginning during the Meiji period in Japan (roughly the mid-1800s) when Japanese goods were suddenly available in Europe and the United States after a century of limited trade with the West, according to Asian Art Museum curators Yuki Morishima and Karin G. Oen. But it wasn’t just the goods themselves that made the journey. Elements of kimono aesthetic ranging from embroidery techniques to botanical motifs were also introduced during this convergence.
“The way we’ve tried to organize the exhibition is to look at the different themes even-handedly,” says Oen. “Some sections are based around silhouette, the sleeves, the dip of the neckline. There are sections more geared to the decorative motifs like cherry blossoms, pine, bamboo and cranes. We’ve tried to make it as diverse as possible.”
Among the designers represented in the exhibition are 18th century dressmakers like the houses of Turner and Worth, Parisian designers Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel and Madeleine Vionnet from the early 20th century and contemporary names like Iris van Herpen, Christian Louboutin, Tom Ford and Japanese designers Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. Paintings depicting kimonos by artists like James Tissot and William Merritt Chase are also placed in conversation with the garments. An Edo period kimono from the museum’s permanent collection is featured at the beginning of the exhibition, allowing the museumgoer to see the foundation that so many have built upon. The kimono — which means “a thing to wear” in Japanese — is a relatively simple, robelike garment that is worn by both genders. Its relaxed form and easy construction made it especially popular in the West during periods where fashion reacted against more constricting styles, like in the liberatedfrom-corsetry 1920s and discostreamlined 1970s. “Kimono Refashioned” features more than 40 ensembles for both men and women borrowed from the Kyoto Costume Institute in Japan.
While Oen points out that much of the Western fashion in the exhibition was created in fashion industry centers like New York and Paris, she says that San Francisco’s historic Japanese community and its “culturally fluid” present make it an appropriate place to present the exhibition.
“San Francisco is a cosmopolitan city with a strong tie to Asian and Japanese culture,” says Oen. “It’s in the aesthetic of California and the Bay Area, this infusion of Japanese values.”
Among the most daring reinterpretations of the kimono in the exhibition are the ensembles by contemporary Japanese designers. The curators call the 1980s a seminal moment for Japanese designers on the international stage, and the reverberations continue to be felt today as these once niche brands have became major fashion players.
“These were designs that shocked the world,” Morishima says of clothes by Miyake, Kawakubo, Yamamoto and Junya Watanabe, presented for the first time as part of Parisian fashion weeks in the ’80s. In addition to exploring themes of deconstruction and unconventional shape, the continued riffing on the kimono became a signature for Japanese fashion of this era.
“The point is not that they were self-conscious about Japanese elements in designs,” says Oen. “It was part of their design DNA,” which, she says, is why the collections struck a nerve globally.
A Comme des Garçons Noir evening gown from 1991 freely plays with the yuzen dyeing technique frequently seen on traditional kimonos, while a 2010 Issey Miyake dress can be folded down kimono-like into what looks like a single fabric square. A 1995 dress by Yamamoto incorporates both kimono folds and a waist reminiscent of an obi belt in its construction.
By the late 1990s, Western designers like Tom Ford were more literally referencing traditional kimonos on their runways: Alexander McQueen, his successor Sarah Burton and Karl Lagerfeld at the house of Chanel also frequently used hallmarks of the kimono in collections in the 2000s and 2010s. With the heightened awareness and sensitivities around cultural appropriation and changing mores in recent years, one might ask whether this 150 years of fashion exchange Above: Autumn/winter 1991 evening dress by Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons Noir. Made of silk taffeta with hand painting. Bottom left: Jacket, shirt and trousers from the spring/summer 2015 collection by Junya Watanabe for Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons Man.
around the garment might be re-evaluated.
“It’s an important question,” Oen says. “The point of the show is it’s not about a simple binary, one culture looking at another. It’s not appropriation and appreciation as opposites, but the subtleties of the art in life that are emphasized.”
Morishima warns against “blanket statements of appropriation” and says that when it comes to the 20 non-Japanese designers featured in the exhibition, “the question should be taken case by case.”
“Designers have learned Japanese principles,” Morishima says. “They’ve learned, digested and are now creating something completely new. As a Japanese person, I personally don’t mind.”