Kimono (touring)

Kimono designs and Japanese style have inspired global art, design and fashion since Japan re-opened to the world in the mid nineteenth-century. This exhibition displays historically significant and visually dynamic examples of costume and fashion from Japanese history, and establishes a creative lineage to the most experimental and innovative fashion designers of today.

Explore traditional Noh and Kyogen costume, intricately decorated kimono worn by samurai and merchants during the Edo period, early examples of Western influence in the styles of the late nineteenth-century, and Japanese modernist fashion from the early twentieth-century. Additionally, the exhibition features key pieces by fashion innovators Issey Miyake and John Galliano, contemporary creative Hiroko Takahashi and bold Harajuku street fashions.

Alongside unique examples of kimono and kimono inspired costume the exhibition features paintings, posters, wood block prints, magazines and decorative arts that contextualise the themes of the kimono story. It presents the diverse skills mastered by traditional artisans including shibori tie dye, rice paste resist designs and indigo blue dyeing, and highlights the numerous materials used for textile production throughout Japanese history, including silk, cotton, metallic thread, paper, elm bark, banana tree fibre and deer leather.

Photos © Mitch Fong courtesy of National Gallery of Victoria.