Photo: NY Times
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has displayed kimonos designed with polka dots, Cubist patterns and anime characters that have big eyes. This reveals how the East’s influence on the West is evident, and vice versa, through traditional Japanese clothing.
“Usually, when you think of fashion, you think of big brands made in the Western world. But the kimono also had a fashion system going back to the 17th century,” stated Monika Bincsik, Diane and Arthur Abbey Associate Curator for Japanese Decorative arts at the museum.
Co-hosted by the Met’s Japanese Gallery and Costume Institute, more than 60 kimonos were shown in the museum with Western dresses in the first show.
Bincsik further said, “The Japanese kimono had a big influence on Western fashion going back to the early 20th century.”
For instance, a kimono coat was created by French couturier Paul Poiret. Meanwhile, the bold geometric design in ‘Meisen’ kimonos of the early 1900s was based on Western abstract art.
The exhibit is open until February 20th.
