Kimono is a traditional Japanese dress which has a strict dress code, layers of socio-cultural symbolism, and regulated aesthetic expressions. Since the Japonisme movement in nineteenth-century Europe, Western painters had been influenced by Ukiyo-e, Japanese woodblock printing, which depicted women in kimono during the Edo period (1603-1868). Vincent Van Gogh painted a courtesan in her distinct kimono and hairstyle in his “Courtesane” (1887), and Claude Monet painted his wife in a red kimono gown in “La Japonaise” (1875). Designers, such as Paul Poiret and Jeanne Lanvin, designed clothes that were loose-fitting like kimono, and imitated its geometrical shapes. The Western fascination with kimono continues in the twenty-first century, such as Dior’s kimono-inspired couture collection, and Victoria’s Secret’s “Sexy Little Geisha” collection. With the development of social media, protests and criticisms against the use of kimono in the creative field have been loud and explicit. In my presentation, I examine where we draw a line between appreciation and appropriation, and compare and contrast different viewpoints between Japanese-Americans and native Japanese who were born and bred in Japan.
Cultural Appreciation and Appropriation of Kimono in Western Fashion and Art
Sunday, April 27, 2025
2:00 PM–3:00 PM
Marly Room
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg
255 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg FL 33701
FREE for MFA Members; Included with the cost of admission for Not-Yet Members. Registration required.