Beyond Knitting
Kimono Style
When I’m wrapped up in my dressing gown with a cup of tea at my elbow and my knitting on my lap, I have kimono to thank for that luxurious delay in getting dressed.
I’d be perfectly content in this Georgian dressing gown from around 1760 once it was broken in a bit. Made in England with silk woven in Spitalfields in London, this one garment shows just how far the influence of Japanese kimono reached in 1,000 years from Japan to London.
Here’s Elizabeth Smith in 1873, wife of George Murray Smith who published Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. For her portrait by Frederic Burton, Elizabeth wore a fashionable secondhand kimono. This summer kimono (hitoe) was originally made in Kyoto for a high-ranking woman of the military elite at least fifty years before Elizabeth bought it.
The end of samurai rule in Japan meant such formal garments went out of use in Japan, so kimono merchants had surplus stock to sell to foreign buyers. Elizabeth’s kimono was hand painted in ink, hand stenciled, and embroidered in silk and gold-wrapped silk threads.
You can see Elizabeth’s portrait and the kimono she wore in the exceptional exhibit “KIMONO: Kyoto to Catwalk” at the V&A Dundee until January 5.
There are many online scholarly resources about the history of kimono, but here’s a short introduction from the curators:
“The word kimono means simply ‘the thing to wear.’ The garment has a history that stretches back over a thousand years. By 1615, the beginning of the Edo period, everyone wore a kimono, regardless of their gender or social status.
“In the middle of the 17th century, a distinctive fashion culture started to emerge in Kyoto, the centre of luxury textile production. It was at this time that kimono were first exported to Europe, where they had an immediate impact on dress styles. The global influence of the kimono continues to be felt on fashion catwalks around the world today.”
One of the very best things about this exhibition is how the structure of the “rooms” echoes the history of kimono’s exposure to the outside world.
The exhibition starts in small quiet “rooms” with low light and eventually opens up to a huge room full of contemporary riffs on kimono with mirrors, huge paper globe lanterns, and a riot of color.
Because I know not everyone will be able to hop on a plane and get over to Scotland, I thought I would take you on a photo tour of some of my favorite moments from the exhibition.
A color print from woodblocks of a merchant visiting two women by Katsukawa Shunshö, Edo (Tokyo), 1786, from the series The Cultivation of Silk Worms.
A sales clerk from the Echigoya kimono store is visiting two clients. One of the women examines a piece of fabric. Her companion, filling her pipe from a tobacco pouch, looks at a kimono pattern. Sound familiar?
This kimono for a woman (kosode) was designed for the wife of a samurai. It’s crêpe silk (chirimen) with freehand paste-resist dyeing (vüzen), and embroidery in silk and gold-wrapped silk threads made in Kyoto (1880-1850).
Remarkably, the Misses Alexander gave the V&A a kimono pattern book in 1870 which shows the pattern for a very similar kimono to be worn on a formal occasion.
This satin silk (rinzu) woman’s kimono (furisode) made in the early 19th century would have been extremely extravagant in terms of both price and visual effect. The fabric is intricately woven and the striking red derives from costly safflower (benibana).
The pattern was created using the kanoko shibori technique which is an expensive and labour-intensive method involving tightly binding tiny circles of fabric to prevent the color penetrating when the cloth is immersed in the dye vat.
This twill silk kimono is a collaboration between Yohji Yamamoto and Chiso, one of Japan’s most eminent kimono producers.
For their 450th anniversary, Chiso asked Yamamoto to create a kimono collection that represented the future of the garment. He looked through over 20,000 samples in the Chiso archives. This 2005 garment is based on a pattern for men’s kimono.
Duro Olowu, a Nigerian-born, London-based designer created this knitted garment to marry the concepts of the kimono and the buba, a Yoruba garment with square or flared sleeves. Made of Jacquard-woven merino wool, it was part of his Autumn/Winter 2015 collection.
I’ve hope you’ve enjoyed this tour.
There is a comprehensive book on the exhibition, and a wonderful “Key Objects” page on the V&A website highlights more kimono. You can hear designer Dame Zandra Rhodes speak about Freddie Mercury’s kimono and also learn how kimono influenced the costumes for Star Wars.
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What an amazing coincidence! I’ve just finished reading “Kyoto” by Yasunari Kawabata, Nobel prize winning autor. The book was discussed in the Book Club of Japan House São Paulo. The main characters are either fabric weavers or fabric designers. All for kimonos! Thank you so much for your thorough report!!!
Sounds like a fascinating book!
That sounds like a GREAT book! I’m so glad you enjoyed the tour!
author and not autor. Sorry!
Fascinating! Thank you for bringing this piece of history to us, especially since the U.S. is seeing such a resurgence in embroidery and up cycling garments!
HI Karen, I am also SO excited about the up cycling and embroidery resurgence I see here in the UK and in the USA. I’m so glad you enjoyed my article!
Was at the V&A Dundee just a couple of weeks ago with fellow travelers on a Rowan Tree Wool and Whisky tour, what an amazing exhibit! It was so interesting to see how much the Kimono and their fabric designs have influenced modern fashion over the years. Highly recommended for anyone who may be in the area.
Beautiful!
Especially appreciated since I won’t be in Scotland.
I’m glad that you enjoyed the visit!!
What a great “wake up” read packed full of information. I did not realize that “kimono” is also the plural.
Thank you, Sharon! Yes, I noticed about “kimono” being used as the plural throughout the exhibition, so I followed their lead. I think “kimonos” has also entered common use because kimono have traveled so far into other languages and cultures. So, I think it’s a bit of a linguistic free-for-all right now! Thank you bunches for reading and for your kind comment. I’m glad that I got to be part of your “wake up” yesterday. Happy weekend to you!
Fascinating read, full of colour and history. Makes me want to fly over to Scotland and view this exhibit.
Thank you, Barbara! It was truly one of the best exhibitions I’ve seen. So completely thorough and enchanting. Someone further down in the comments said that they bought the book and that it’s very good.
Dear Jeni, thank you for article! My best friend of 40 years died 2 weeks ago. She was 1/2 Japanese, spent part of her life in Japan. She introduced me to many things Japanese including Kimono’s. She gave me two after one of her trips to Japan. I miss her terrible. Kimono’s are coming out of closet to be worn again. Diane
Hi Diane, Thank you for sharing this memory of your friend. I’m very sorry that she passed away. How fitting that you have these kimono as a legacy from her. I’m glad that you are going to wear them. I have a vintage one that I bought in Kyoto nearly thirty years ago and when I get back to the USA, I’m going to bring it back to the UK with me.
In the Spring of this year, I went on a fiber arts tour (focused on weaving) to Japan, where we visited multiple cities and very rural towns to see various silk production methods. We reeled silk threads from silk worms by hand, saw several amazing weaving factories, from a large one in Chirimen to several small designer concerns and even the oldest obi weaver, and learned to weave ikat. The trip included introductions to Japanese art and history and craft and gardens as well. It was amazing (thank you to Sarah Bixler of Redstone Glen for leading this, with Opulent Quilt journeys). I bought 5 used kimono at a flea market and have given most away, keeping only the indigo ikat kimono. All of them are beautifully handstitched, and are inspirational fiber works. I hope to go back to Japan. What an amazing place, with such beautiful people and artistry that is made of dreams and long, long hours of hard work.
What an extraordinary trip!! WOW! I visited Japan nearly thirty years ago for a month and I will never ever forget the kindness of the people I met there. I also bought a vintage kimono which I’m looking forward to bringing back to the UK with me when I visit my “stuff” in storage in the USA again.
That sounds like an incredible trip!
Thank you for the tour! What a fascinating exhibition. Love the examples you chose, they’ve provided me with some inspiration
Hi Barb, It was so hard to choose from the many many examples, so I’m glad the ones that I chose are inspiring to you!
This was fabulous. I loved all the photos and seeing how the kimono evolved. The craftmanship is remarkably lovely. And who knew the kimono influenced the costumes in Star Wars? Thank you, this was great fun to read and take the tour.
Thank you very much, Sandra! Yes, they actually had a screen showing clips of various films in the exhibition and it was a lightbulb moment when they showed Star Wars right next to the vintage kimono!
Jeni, your articles are wonderful. Have long loved Kimonos, and had a wedding one in red and white silk with embroidered cranes. unfortunately it was lost in a fire. I wish one of the US museums would bring this exhibit to the US.
That’s SO kind of you, Diane!! Thank you for being my reader. Yes, I agree. I could see this exhibition at the Frist in Nashville or the Baltimore Museum of Art, so many places. It’s SO comprehensive and beautifully designed. It deserves to be seen by more people.
Beautiful photos, especially the last one! Thank you for the tour and links to more.
Thank you, Bessie!! Thanks for traveling along with me.
I would love to see more knit wear patterns in kimono style. Do you know of any patterns?
Hi Jerilyn, This was the first I’d seen of kimono-style knitwear. So, I don’t know of any patterns myself. I have a feeling that some designers like Kaffe Fassett and other folks who designed long cardigans or knitted jackets in the eighties may have had kimono in their minds. I feel it’s worth flipping back through those books to see them anew. I’m sorry that I can’t think of anything at the moment. The garment you see was the only knitted one in the exhibition.
Excellent article. Being “hapa”, or half Japanese, this writing pleases me in many ways. Kimono are works of art, everyday wear, gaudy, plain, but always a simple form. Practical, even if dressed “to the nines!”
Thank you very much, Trish!!
Though I haven’t been able to see the exhibit in person, I bought the book when it was first available in the US, after the exhibition debuted at the V&A in London. So glad I did – it’s a must-own. Can’t recommend it enough to anyone with an interest in design, fashion, or cross-cultural history!
Thank you very much, Gretchen, for this review of the book! It’s good to know you think it’s a good resource. I thought so, too, when I looked through it in the library area of the museum.
Another interesting, well-written article from Jeni Hankins. Kimonos are everything! Wish I could fly back over to see this exhibit. Thank you for taking me there Jeni.
Thank you very much, Mary Ann, for your kind comment! I’m so glad you traveled with me through this article!
I always love your articles, Jeni! Elizabeth Smith’s kimono is especially astonishing in detail and color, and the matching up of the formal robe with the pattern in the book is an interesting find. I also appreciate putting on my old thin silk robe while I have my coffee and read some news and put off starting the day. How nice if the exhibit should come to Baltimore. I’d go more than once.
This was amazing! I lived in Japan (Yokohama) for six years in my twenties, and amassed a nice kimono collection between flea markets and gifts from Japanese friends. When I went to festivals, I would wear my yukata (made of cotton and designed for summer wear, but otherwise shaped much like a kimono). People always responded really positively seeing foreigners appreciating their culture in that way.
One of my adult students in my English class would take old kimono and use them to make clothes. She offered to make me a dress for my brother’s wedding. Another student offered an absolutely stunning kimono she had worn as a child. Silk, hand-embroidered, and made in the 1920s. The dress doesn’t fit anymore post-children, but I will treasure it forever.