Coat

The loose shape of Japanese dressing and tea gowns produced for export attracted proponents of the Western dress reform movement, which resisted the narrow, corseted, S-shaped silhouette fashionable at the turn of the twentieth century. This luxurious, body-enveloping robelike coat by the leading London retailer Liberty and Co., known for sinuous, floral-patterned fabrics and for selling Japanese and Chinese silks, exemplifies the convergence of sophisticated Japanism and progressive trends, including the dress reform movement as well as the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles. The term “Japanese kimono” appeared in both an 1898 Liberty and Co. catalogue and a 1902 Sears, Roebuck catalogue, attesting to the widespread interest in the garment among European and American consumers.





On view from June 7, 2022 – February 20, 2023