Exhibition Research: 'KIMONO: Fashioning Identities' and 'Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk'

 'KIMONO: Fashioning Identities' was shown at the Heiseikan Special Exhibition Galleries in June 2020 to August 2020. 

“This exhibition traces the kimono from its inception some eight hundred years ago to its role today as a symbol of Japanese culture with increasing sway on the contemporary fashion scene. Featuring some of the finest extant textiles, paintings, prints and other artworks drawn from collections in Japan and around the world, KIMONO: Fashioning Identities promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to consider the past, present, and future of this quintessential Japanese garment." 

In summary, the exhibition's primary concern is recognising the garment in its contemporary context and reconnecting it to its history through education of the public.

The exhibition shows historic garments in back-lit glass cases along with paintings of kimonos from the 16th century onwards to show their context within culture and art history of Japan.

A chronological progression enables the viewer to see the changes in the kimono garment throughout history.

Whilst the Exhibition references contemporary fashion, focuses visually on the historic garments. Acts as a historic museum exhibition rather than a fashion exhibition.

...

'Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk' was shown at The V&A Museum in October 2020.

“This exhibition presents the kimono as a dynamic and constantly evolving icon of fashion, revealing the sartorial, aesthetic and social significance of the garment from the 1660s to the present day, both in Japan and the rest of the world.”

Features a historical kimono from the 19th century next to a painting of a kimono on a Dutch woman in the 17th century,  Anna Elizabeth van Reede, by Gerard Hoet, 1678, Netherlands. 

There is a significant contrast between Fashioning Identities in it’s concentration on the kimono in historical Japanese culture and the focus on the international inspiration of the kimono in ‘Kyoto to Catwalk’ – I wonder how this is approached in the gallery text to acknowledge the appropriation and orientalism of the kimono’s prevalence in the west.

“The ultimate symbol of Japan, the kimono is often perceived as traditional, timeless and unchanging. Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk, the UK's first major exhibition on kimono, counters this conception, presenting the garment as a dynamic and constantly evolving icon of fashion"

Garments are shown in several rooms, in what seems like the central room, mannequins dressed in the garments are shown on circular podiums all facing in different directions. There are information plaques on the floor surrounding the circular podium and images/paintings/illustrations on the walls surrounding.





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