Re-fashioning kimono: How to make 'traditional' clothes for postmodern Japan

Jenny Meredith Hall

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

It is difficult to ride a bicycle or drive a car while wearing a kimono. Kimono are not considered suitable for contemporary life in Japan, and because of this, there is a pervading view that the Japanese traditional textile industry is in decline. However, Japanese designers and consumers are redefining Japanese clothing (wafuku) while retaining its traditional image. This project investigates how the contemporary reinvention of Japanese clothing embodies the process by which tradition and modernity interact, and helps us understand how new designs are a vehicle for designers and consumers expressions of Japanese culture.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)59 - 84
Number of pages26
JournalNew Voices in Japanese Studies
Volume7
Publication statusPublished - 2015

Keywords

  • culture
  • contemporary
  • fashion
  • kimono
  • textiles
  • tradition
  • sensory ethnography
  • wafuku

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