Kimono Style: The John C. Weber Collection

This Noh robe, or karaori, was inspired by sophisticated, layered patterns seen on early seventeenth-century examples. Here colorful dharma wheels referring to the act of teaching by Buddha Shakyamuni and auspicious clouds are set on a ground of interlinked circles (shippō) with stylized flowers in the center, a felicitous pattern. Both the raised patterns and the golden-brown ground motifs are woven with floating supplementary wefts on a dark green twill-weave ground in a technique also known as karaori (literally “Chinese weave”). The term originally referred to luxurious brocaded silks with supplementary weft patterning imported from China. Later, the same term came to refer to Noh robes for which the brocaded fabric was used. Though karaori were worn for women’s and young noblemen’s roles, this costume likely served as a man’s inner garment, as Buddhist implements such as dharma wheels are typically considered masculine.

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

The suō—an unlined hemp suit with double-width sleeves, large sleeve openings, and matching pleated hakama pants—was originally part of the samurai wardrobe and was later adapted to Kyōgen comic theater. White rabbits hop over waves on this suit, the playful motif referring to the story “The Hare of Inaba,” from the Records of Ancient Matters (Kojiki, ca. 710). This text was later referenced in the Noh play Chikubushima (Chikubushima Island), which describes the moon’s reflection in Lake Biwa as a rabbit (a legendary inhabitant of the moon) running over the waves. Suō with large patterns and bright colors were used for roles of benevolent characters such as a bridegroom, daimyo, or wealthy man. As the long hakama pants are subject to intense wear, it is rare to find a complete ensemble like this one.

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

In contrast to the Noh theater’s ornate and luxurious costumes of brocaded silks and other woven fabrics, early Kyōgen actors dressed in everyday clothes; costumes developed only in the early Edo period. Many plays are about the master-servant relationship, featuring an “everyman” servant alongside the daimyo.

As Kyōgen evolved in the seventeenth century, the previously improvised acting became formalized, and more attention was paid to appearance. Costumes, which were specific to each character, were typically made of dyed bast fibers, as was this jacket, decorated with a stylized design of gourds, leaves, and vines.

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

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

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

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

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

The Noh play Okina is a sacred rite in which actors perform as divine characters who dance for peace, prosperity, and safety across the land.While the character Senzai dances, the shite (lead actor) puts on the mask of Okina to transform into a deity. The mask shown here peers out from a brocaded silk mask bag embellished with the auspicious motifs of tortoiseshell patterns and crane roundels.

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

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

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

Ko-omote (literally “small face”) Noh masks are used for main or secondary roles, of either a young girl or a supernatural being. Inspired by Heian-period (794–1185) aristocratic style, the face is painted white, with shaved and painted eyebrows, neatly combed hair, and black-dyed teeth. The mask conveys the idea of innocent beauty.

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

The Chūjō mask portrays Heian-period poet and nobleman Ariwara no Narihira (Zai Go-chūjō, 825–880). The expression represents that of an elegant, graceful aristocrat; however, the furrow on his forehead expresses grief. The mask could be worn for the role of a handsome young nobleman or that of an aristocratic warrior of the Heike clan who dies on the battlefield.

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

Headbands such as this one with a pattern of ivy and stylized arabesques (karakusa), are tied around the head to hold wigs in place for female roles. As with sashes, only the midsection (across the forehead) and the trailing ends are decorated. This elegant set has a green ground with silk embroidery featuring fixed stitches. The plain-weave ramie sections are embellished with stenciled gold-leaf patterns (surihaku) of paulownia flowers and leaves.

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

Kōetsu rendered the thirty-one-syllable court poem (waka) by Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241), one of Japan’s greatest poets, on a light blue paper decorated with miscanthus grasses. The poem, about the moon over the bay, reads:

The elegant poem card is mounted as a hanging scroll with tsujigahana silks. Translated literally as “flowers (hana) at the crossroads (tsuji),” the term evokes images of delicate blossoms amid pathways. While the precise meaning of the word remains unclear, it is used today to refer to a textile technique: stitch-resist dyeing and ink painting on a lightweight, plain-weave ground, often embellished with gold-leaf imprinting and embroidery.

Hisakata no
tsuki no hikari o
shirotae ni
shikitsu no ura no l
nami no akikaze

Rays of moonlight
glisten and spread out
like a white cloth over waves
lapping at the Bay of Shikitsu
buffeted by autumn winds.

The elegant poem card is mounted as a hanging scroll with tsujigahana silks. Translated literally as “flowers (hana) at the crossroads (tsuji),” the term evokes images of delicate blossoms amid pathways. While the precise meaning of the word remains unclear, it is used today to refer to a textile technique: stitch-resist dyeing and ink painting on a lightweight, plain-weave ground, often embellished with gold-leaf imprinting and embroidery.

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

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

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

This unusual handscroll features scenes from six popular Noh plays depicted amid the daily lives of townspeople. Each painting was made on a separate sheet, which were all joined to form a long handscroll. It is likely that the scroll originally included inscriptions or excerpts between the paintings, from the six plays: Orangutan, Wind in the Pines, The Monk Shunkan, Rashōmon Gate, Chikubushima Island, and The Beach at Takasago.

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

The chūkei folding fan is an important accessory of Noh actors whose decoration varies by role; this type of fan is appropriate for a deity part. One side portrays a legendary encounter between the Queen Mother of the West (Chinese, Xiwangmu; Japanese, Seiōbo) and King Mu of China’s ancient Zhou dynasty (1046–771 B.C.). The queen mother is shown in the garden at left with an attendant carrying the queen’s magical peaches of immortality.

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

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

The most characteristic Kyōgen costume is probably the kataginu. This broad-shouldered, vestlike garment is usually decorated with large bold patterns related to the role being played. As most kataginu are worn by actors playing servants, typical patterns include animals, vegetables, and household items. The vest is worn over short hakama pants and a robe: the front panels hang over the pants, the back covers the hips, and the whole kataginu is tied with a cotton sash. The back of this kataginu vest is decorated with three iron trivets, or kettle tripods, on a dark gray ground, as well as with the shepherd’s-purse-in-snowflake Kyōgen crest. The Noh play Iron Trivet (Kanawa) may also have inspired the motif’s development. The pants are embellished with auspicious motifs and treasures in crest format on a green ground.

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

The alternating bands of green and brown on this nuihaku robe, which recall an earlier style of Noh costume, are embellished with two distinctive patterns. The green bands feature interlinked circles (shippō) with stylized flowers in their centers, all executed in satin-stitch embroidery in yellow, white, purple, blue, gray, and brown silk floss. Shippō is an auspicious pattern associated with the Seven Treasures of Buddhism (Shippō), as well as with the prosperity of descendants, good relationships, and harmony. The swaying orchids that fill the brown bands are a type of wind orchid popular among samurai as a symbol of bravery. They were executed in silk embroidery and stenciled gold and silver leaf; the reflective metallic decoration was particularly well suited for the stage. Nuihaku are worn for roles of women and young men.

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

Japan’s long tradition of reusing and preserving fragments of textiles has roots in Buddhism and reflects the historical Buddha’s renunciation of wealth and waste. Kesa, the outer garments or vestments worn by Buddhist monks, were originally pieced together from fabric scraps salvaged from worn-out clothing, often donated by members of the community. Later, wealthy people would donate the kosode—the precursor to the kimono—of deceased women as well as Noh costumes to Buddhist temples in exchange for ceremonies and prayers. These luxurious secular garments were transformed into banners, altar cloths, and kesa.

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

Green, orange-red, white, and brownish-purple blocks form a colorful, contrasting background for white chrysanthemums drifting on flowing water. The pattern refers to the ancient Chinese legend of the Chrysanthemum Boy (Kikujidō) or the Noh play based on that story, which tells of a youth banished from court who spends centuries diligently copying a couplet from the Lotus Sutra, one of Buddhism’s most important scriptures, on chrysanthemum leaves. Having drunk miraculous water from a stream where dewdrops had fallen from chrysanthemums, the boy becomes unaware of the passage of time and is freed from aging and infirmity. This robe’s warp yarns were tie-dyed before they were woven, resulting in a blurry ikat pattern. Supplementary silk wefts were used to express the flowers and waves. Atsuita robes with checks, geometric patterns, and Chinese motifs were worn mainly by male leads as undergarments, but this example was shortened and refashioned for a child’s role, probably after being damaged at the hem.

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

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

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

This large hand-painted banner depicts the legendary seventh-century scholar-physician Shōki (Chinese: Zhong Kui) with a sword, scholar’s robes and hat, and his characteristically large eyes, bulbous nose, and fierce expression. Shōki became known as the “Demon Queller” after his death. Denied first rank in the Chinese civil service, he committed suicide. When the emperor heard his story he was buried with honors. In gratitude, Shōki appeared to the emperor in a dream vowing to defeat disease-causing demons. Shōki’s story became popular in Japan during the Edo period, particularly around Boys’ Day, whose celebration ensured that children grew up healthy and trong. People raised large banners of the scholar turned “Demon Queller” outside their homes to ward off evil spirits and disease, and invite strength and vitality.

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

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

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

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

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

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Kanbun bijin, or “Beauty of the Kanbun Era,” is a generic name given to paintings of a woman standing against a neutral background. The tall woman wears her hair in an elaborate style called gosho-mage, or “palace chignon.” The designs on her outer kosode include areas of “fawn-spot” tie-dyeing interspersed with flower patterns, while decorated underlayers are also visible. Around the Kanbun period (1661–73) the width of the obi sash was still quite narrow.

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

This type of porcelain female figure was a popular collectible exported from Japan to Europe in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It is in the Kakiemon style, in which vivid, overglaze enamels are applied to a milky white porcelain surface. The figure’s outfit consists of several layers of kosode (predecessor of the kimono), a thin obi, and a richly decorated uchikake (over robe), a style similar to that depicted in the painting of the Kanbun beauty nearby.

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

Branches of a leafing willow trail down this over robe, which was originally the kosode of a wealthy merchant woman. Semicursive Chinese characters, rendered in orange-red silk embroidery and couched gold threads read, on the front, 梳 (kushikezuri, to comb), 柳 (ryū, willow), and 気 (ki, weather); on the back, from right to left, 鬚 (hige, whiskers), 霽 (harete, to clear), 風 (kaze, wind), and 新 (shin, new). Before the garment was altered, the characters were ordered as a ninth-century poem written in Chinese by a Japanese courtier, Miyako no Yoshika.

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

Fretwork, chrysanthemums, and orchids decorate the ground fabric of this white over robe, which was worn by a wealthy merchant-class bride. It is embroidered with gold bamboo stalks—a symbol of resilience and vitality—that reach from the hem to the neck. Another embroidered and tie-died motif on the robe represents noshi, the folded-paper decoration traditionally attached to gifts and sake bottles as a token of good luck. Designed in the shape of butterflies, these noshi allude to a long marriage. Their distinctive folds distinguish the insects as male and female, symbolizing the new couple. Several noshi are executed in tiny kanoko (fawn spot) tie-dyeing, an expensive, labor-intensive technique. Other symbols of longevity, such as turtles, pines, cranes, and plum blossoms decorate them.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

This uchikake was one of a set of three luxurious over robes—white, red, and black, all with matching designs—worn by a samurai bride. Decorated with auspicious patterns to summon good fortune and a happy marriage, such sets were specially ordered for the wedding and typically worn only once. For the ceremony, the bride wore all white, symbolizing her resolve to be a gentle and obedient wife. After the ritual drinking of sake, she changed into colorful garments (ironaoshi) from the groom for the cele­bratory banquet. This red robe evokes Penglai, the mythological Chinese mountain of eternal life, known in Japan as Mount Hōrai. Japanese depictions of the legendary site were stylized as gatherings of cranes and long-tailed tortoises set in a bright landscape dominated by pine and plum trees, and bamboo stalks.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

This eighteenth-century French banyan—a T-shaped garment named for merchants from Gujarat, India—testifies to the early exchange of clothing styles between East and West. The garment’s non-Western influences range from kimonos to Indiennes (men’s dressing gowns of Indian chintz) and Turkish robes. The banyan was popular with European intellectuals who wore it as a symbol of a freethinking, worldly attitude. Because of its ease of cut, it was worn as a dressing gown over a shirt and breeches after informal meals. Although worn only at home, many banyans were nevertheless made from luxurious patterned silks. An early hybrid of Eastern modes of dress transformed by global trade at a time when Japan was largely isolated from the West, the banyan foreshadowed the kimono’s influence in Europe and America over the next two centuries.











On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

This detailed screen painting dates to a peaceful period when the warrior elite commissioned images of themselves at leisure. Hosts and their escorts enjoy amusements of every variety, including musical performances, eating and drinking, dancing, and strolling in an elaborately landscaped garden with a miniature Mount Fuji. Notably, the wealthy male hosts are joined not only by courtesans and female enter-tainers (as was common in genre paintings of the period) but also by young male escorts called wakashu. Many elegantly dressed figures wear kosode (the predecessor of the modern kimono) with large, colorful, asymmetrical patterns reflective of contemporary fashions popularized by woodblock-printed pattern books. The motifs on these kosode include flora and fauna as well as elements from everyday life—kemari balls, snow-flakes, and waterwheels.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Samurai firefighters were responsible for protecting important government locations such as Edo Castle, shrines and rice storehouses, certain public areas of Edo, and their daimyo’s residence and surroundings. This rare and elegant ensemble of a jacket, plastron or breastplate, sash, and hakama pants would not have been worn to extinguish fires. Rather, this set was made for a samurai who—on fire duty in service of his daimyo—safeguarded the area to prevent looting, supervised the scene, evacuated people, and perhaps gave instructions to firefighters. The use of expensive wool (rasha) imported from Europe signifies the importance of this role and the wearer’s high social rank. The collar and lapels, lined with white satin-weave silk figured with fretwork and flowers, are embellished with a pair of stylized dragons, one on each side, in raised gold embroidery.

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

The luxurious red wool (rasha) jacket worn by a high-ranking samurai woman on fire duty is extravagantly decorated with crashing waves, water droplets, and anchors. The dynamic composition refers to the processes of extinguishing a fire and pulling down smoldering buildings and also symbolizes security. The quality of the gold-thread embroidery is excellent, with various gold couching techniques and French knots on the tassels, which are attached to the cords of the anchors. Five crests with a motif of three oak leaves, possibly the Yamauchi family crest, are depicted on the jacket. The hood (zukin) indicates that this set was made for a woman, as male firefighters wore helmets. A matching plastron, or breastplate, and hakama pants would have completed the ensemble. High-ranking samurai women, especially those living in the women’s quarter of Edo Castle, were trained to evacuate and assist people during fires. They carried spears (naginata) to defend the fleeing occupants (mainly other women) and patrolled the grounds.

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

Townsmen firefighters served in Edo’s business and residential areas. Their reversible coats were made of several layers of thick cotton fabric quilted with sashiko stitching (a running stich of “small stabs”). The inner layer was decorated with elaborate designs often inspired by popular contemporary woodblock prints of warrior-heroes and mythical creatures that instill bravery or are related to water. This jacket’s interior (shown reversed) features a scene popular in Kabuki and based on a print by Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1865) in which the warrior Yoshikado asks a frog sage for magical powers to avenge the murder of his father. Yoshikado holds his family banner, patterned with a tethered black horse. The subject signifies a heroic and honorable confrontation with death, suitable for such a garment.

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

The interior of this thickly layered, quilted cotton jacket is decorated with the image of Rōrihakucho Chō Jun (Chinese: Zhang Shun), a character revered in nineteenth-century Japan for his courage. Chō Jun, one of the 108 heroes of the Water Margin, a novel translated from Chinese (Shui hu zhuan) into Japanese (Suikoden) during the second half of the Edo period, was the subject of works by celebrated print artists, predominantly Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861). This composition is based on a print by Kuniyoshi published in 1827–30. The righteous rebel is shown clenching a sword between his teeth as his characteristically pale, muscular, and tattooed body forcefully emerges from a destroyed water gate. He faces down the enemy soldiers who anticipate his arrival and who will slay him in an attack of arrows.

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

Issey Miyake’s collaboration with artist and graphic designer Tadanori Yokoo on textile designs and printed material began in the late 1970s, when Yokoo designed invitations in his signature Pop Art style for Miyake’s Paris fashion shows. Miyake first applied Yokoo’s brightly colored, sometimes psychedelic collages to clothing in 1976. Inspired by Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints as well as illustrations from European and American literature and contemporary art, the Yokoo print Paradise appears on this shirt, and was used in Miyake’s 1976 and 1978 collections and advertising campaigns.



On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

The victory of the Minamoto over the Taira clan, which marked the close of the Heian period (794–1185), was assured by the battle at Ichinotani, along the western shore of Japan, in 1184. Confrontations of warriors around the Taira stronghold are described in the ninth section of the historical chronicle known as The Tale of the Heike (Heike monogatari). In the center of the two left panels is a famous encounter between young Taira Atsumori, fleeing on horse-back into the water, and veteran Minamoto warrior Kumagai Naozane, war fan in hand, who calls Atsumori to return and fight.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Decoration was important to firefighters’ garments, which were far from purely utilitarian uniforms. Firefighters enjoyed respect and high status in urban Japan, especially in Edo, where wood architecture and crowded living conditions led to frequent outbreaks of fire. Commoners wore reversible coats (hikeshi-banten) made of thick, quilted cotton fabric, with a plain indigo-dyed exterior and an elaborately decorated interior. The inside of the quilted jacket here depicts a climactic scene from a legend recorded in the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters, ca. 711): Susanoo-no-mikoto, the younger brother of the sun goddess, Amaterasu, saves the eighth and last daughter of an elderly couple from being taken by a monstrous serpent. Trousers and an inner jacket complete this set; gloves and socks as well as head gear of the same material would also have been part of the ensemble.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

The dramatic combination of red and gold was popular on battle surcoats, armor, and battle flags. The nine-circle crest refers to the nine planets and is associated with the Hosokawa family. Warriors wore this type of small banner (sashimono) with the daimyo’s crest for identification mounted on a pole attached to the back of the armor.

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

This flag has a stencil-dyed crest of a five-element stupa that originally functioned as a grave marker or cenotaph and derived from a similar stupa containing relics of the historical Buddha. Its stone pieces also represent the five elements—from bottom to top: earth, water, fire, wind, and space. This insignia is often seen on samurai flags.

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

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

This light, carefully crafted saddle, dated 1491 on its reverse, might have seen use during the turbulent samurai warfare of the Muromachi period. Treasured by samurai families, saddles such as this one were both carefully preserved and also relacquered and redecorated in the Edo period to reflect contemporary tastes. The flower decoration on the pommel is inspired by Chinese brocaded silks.



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

The jinbaori ceased to be battle wear during the peaceful Edo period, and transitioned into a garment used for ceremonial occasions. On this example, the collar, originally designed to be closed against the cold, evolved into a decorative open collar, while the “sword support” shoulder piece (tachi-uke) was rotated toward the front, so it was no longer functional. This thick wool fabric was dyed black with logwood. At the back of the jinbaori, directly above the slit, is the pattern of a tattered fan in white wool appliqué and gold embroidery. Battle fans were crucial on the battlefield for giving signals, and also were believed to summon deities and good luck, and to have spiritual powers. This unusual tattered-fan motif might signify a military commander’s determination to keep fighting and never retreat, no matter how injured. It also suggests the fragility of life and the inevitability of decay.

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

The most suitable material for a durable, visibly striking, and warm battle surcoat was wool, which in the seventeenth century could not be produced in Japan and had to be imported from Portugal and the Netherlands. It arrived pre-dyed, most popularly in a deep scarlet derived from cochineal. This surcoat has an elongated shape and a decorative epaulet-like strip called a “sword support” (tachi-uke) sewn to the upper shoulder. The position of the shoulder piece indicates that this example is an early jinbaori, but the use of mid-eighteenth-century European silk reveals the piece to be a replacement, possibly to conceal use. At the center of the back is a cut-out and finely stitched white wool (rasha) appliqué in the shape of a Chinese-style military signal fan (tōuchiwa or gunbai). It appears to be only a decorative pattern, not a family crest.

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

Traditionally, garments of the Indigenous Ainu people from what is now northern Japan were made from the fur and skin of deer, bear, and other animals, as well as from salmon skin and, later, plant fibers. However, cotton, which could not be grown in the region, was introduced through the extensive trade of used cotton clothing from central Japan, around the mid-Edo period (1615–1868). From their creative recycling of used fabrics, the Ainu people developed a distinctive style. One of the most striking types of Ainu robe is the cotton ruunpe. The ground fabric, typically dyed a dark indigo, was embellished with additional cotton pieces usually taken from old Japanese clothing. These now-faded cutouts of bright red and white were appliquéd onto ruunpe robes with vividly colored, decorative stitches. Areas subject to heavy wear, such as around the neck, cuffs, and hem, were reinforced with appliqué as well. The robe’s complex geometric patterns were thought to have talismanic qualities that protected the wearer.

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

Probably once owned by a well-to-do farmer, this stylish and sturdy jacket is made with alternating blue, green, pink, red, and orange scraps of fabric of various widths. Strips of cotton were reused as wefts, woven together with warps of mountain wisteria (tree-bast fiber, yamafuji) in a plain-weave technique known as sakiori. This method began as a means of recycling old textiles, mainly cotton, which were too valuable to discard. Often women wove sakiori textiles on a traditional backstrap loom, using a heavy batten or hand-beater to force the thick weft into place. This jacket’s pristine condition suggests that it was never worn. Very few antique farmer’s jackets survive.

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

The white geometric patterns enlivening this sturdy, indigo-dyed fisherman’s jacket were produced with sashiko stitching, a quilting technique of a simple running stitch used to reinforce or patch textiles or, as in this jacket, join layers of cloth. Typically made at home by women in fishing and farming communities, sashiko jackets are as decorative as they are warm and durable. The intricate needlework took several months to complete, making such garments precious; they were worn when the fishermen went into port to sell their catch or on festive occasions. This example also has decoration in some sections in kasuri (ikat) dyeing: the yarns were resist-dyed with small geometric patterns before the garment was woven.

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

This summer kimono appears composed of three different fabrics, but this is in fact an effect created by skillful dyeing. After the application of the patterns with stencils, the ramie ground was dyed with indigo, leaving the motifs in white reserve. On the back shoulder area, a vertical stripe combines with a pattern of straight bamboo stalks, while the lower section of the robe features horizontal stripes. A large pine-lozenge motif with scattered cherry blossoms occupies the center. Ramie, also called “China grass,” is a fiber-yielding plant of the nettle family (Urticaceae). Known for its high quality and soft touch, ramie fabric (karamushi) is often used for summer clothing. It is produced primarily in Fukushima prefecture.

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

A katsugi is a woman’s mantle or coatlike veil, usually in the shape of a kosode, worn pulled over the head with the sleeves unused. Some katsugi were made of silk, but most were hemp with indigo-dyed patterns. This example represents a type with a large flower motif, here a chrysanthemum crest, where the garment covers the head. As the chrysanthemum crest is placed lower than usual and the robe’s other patterns are relatively simple, this could be a regional variation of katsugi made for a commoner in Kyoto, where it remained popular throughout the Edo period. Stencil-dyeing and tube-drawn paste-resist dyeing (tsutsugaki) were used to create patterns on this robe in white reserve: the applied rice paste resisted the indigo dye. From shoulder to hem, the patterns are: chrysanthemums and stylized concentric motifs among small dots against an indigo ground; plum blossoms on a green ground; stylized hemp leaves against an indigo ground; and bracken fern fiddleheads on a blue-black ground.

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

On view from June 7 – October 10, 2022

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

This stylish vest was made of swatches from more than thirty types of fabric, including velvet and silk with gold and silver embroidery, resulting in a colorful and playful composition. Patchwork had connotations of longevity, since stitching together the scraps extended their use.

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

Rei Kawakubo is known for radical silhouettes that question conventional notions of beauty. Her avant-garde creations posit new relationships between the body and the garment based on elements ranging from negative space to Buddhist principles and the kimono. The designer has said that this armature, made up of a patchwork of several strips of floral jacquard fabrics pieced together with rivets, conjures up “punks in the eighteenth century, which was a time of so many revolutions.” Combining tradition with transgression, the designer creates a rebellious, yet romantic silhouette.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

This lacquer box for eyebrow cosmetics, including a variety of brushes, was part of a spectacular wedding trousseau. It was commissioned to celebrate the marriage of Princess Taka (1809–1862) of the Shimazu clan (one of the wealthiest and most politically influential daimyo families of the time) to a son of the Matsudaira clan, relatives of the Tokugawa. The two family crests on the piece—the Shimazu cross in a circle and the Matsudaira stylized plum flower—symbolize the union. The pine and bamboo motifs are auspicious symbols associated with longevity and resilience and allude to good wishes for a happy marriage.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

This type of ceremonial, formal obi would have been coordinated with a robe with long sleeves (furisode) worn beneath an over robe (uchikake) for a merchant-class bride. The underside of the light blue sash has auspicious crane and cloud patterns, while the front depicts accoutrements of the shell-matching game (kai-awase), which was closely associated with weddings. The goal of the game, which became a popular courtly pastime in the late Heian period (794–1185), was to pair as many matching halves of clamshells as possible. In its most elaborate form, the game was played with 360 paired clamshells, the number reflecting the average number of days in a year.

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

Fine white lines create a graceful, painterly composition on this samurai woman’s pale blue summer robe. Playful butterflies and delicate plum blossoms are depicted among a stream’s rushing waters. No coded motifs indicate a specific location or scene, so this delightful garment seems dedicated only to the pleasures of the mild seasons. Some of the details are stencil-dyed, but there is no embroidery. The robe bears the crest of the Nabeshima clan, but close examination reveals the Tokugawa family crest underneath it, indicating a change of ownership.

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

Light garments made of bast fibers were most suitable for summer. This unlined robe was designed with long sleeves for a young, unmarried commoner (chōnin) woman, probably in Kyoto. The cascading branches of a weeping willow provide the structure of the composition, to which scattered chrysanthemums and clematis flowers were added, along with kemari balls that appear to be suspended in the air. Accents of couched gold thread suggest sunshine. Courtiers played kemari, a game somewhat like soccer, beginning in the Heian period (794–1185); the aim is to keep the soft leather ball aloft only by kicking.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

This samurai woman’s summer robe evokes water—light blue fabric with irises and zigzagging plank bridges. The composition refers to an episode from The Tales of Ise and the Noh play derived from it, Irises, in which an exiled ninth-century poet—alluded to on this robe by a courtier’s hat and a fan near the hem—and his friends leave the capital. Pausing at Yatsuhashi, where bridges cross eight channels of a river, they admire the irises growing in the riverbank. Inspired, the poet composes a poem in which each line begins with one of the five syllables of the word for “iris,” ka-ki-tsu-ba-ta.

Karagoromo / kitsutsu narenishi / tsuma shi areba / harubaru kinuru / tabi o shi zo omou.

I wear robes with well-worn hems, / Reminding me of my dear wife / I fondly think of always, / So as my sojourn stretches on / Ever farther from home, / Sadness fills my thoughts.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

The lustrous white satin-weave silk ground of this elegant samurai woman’s over robe is patterned with large bamboo, an unusual motif that points to the early nineteenth century. Decorated all over with embroidered wild ginger leaves in gold, green, light brown, and purple, as well as with purple lozenge-shaped crests, the robe bears a main design featuring the wheels of an imperial ox-drawn carriage, or Gosho-guruma. Court carriages, which were often depicted in paintings associated with the literary classic The Tale of Genji, are sometimes referred to as “Genji-guruma”; the term came to be used for the wheels as well. Combined with the wild ginger, the cartwheel imagery refers to Lady Aoi, Prince Genji’s wife, and might allude to the tale’s ninth chapter, “Leaves of Wild Ginger” (Aoi), in which Aoi’s attendants obstructed and damaged the carriage of Genji’s lover during a grand procession. A similar composition was published in Hinagata yoshino-yama, a woodblock-printed pattern book from 1765.

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

Yokohama opened as a treaty port in 1859, and trade with Western countries developed rapidly. In 1873, Japan exhibited decorative arts, textiles, ceramics, and lacquerware at the Vienna World’s Fair, popularizing Japanese art in Europe. Spurred by Western demand, Japanese textile businesses started to produce dressing gowns for the foreign market. The so-called Yokohama robe, named for the port from which the garments shipped in the 1880s and 1890s, was developed based on models provided by Western retailers. In the 1910s, Yokohama robes were advertised in American Vogue and Vanity Fair. Western in shape, as is this example with leg-of-mutton sleeves and a pleated backside in the French style, these gowns were made of quilted habutai (a plain-weave, glossy silk) and embroidered with traditional Japanese motifs like spring flowers. They would not have been worn by Japanese women and instead represent a hybrid style.



On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the craze for Japanese art and design in the West, known as Japanism, had a strong impact on the Japanese textile industry. This evening robe illustrates the confluence of the two cultures: a kimono silhouette in a fabric embroidered with butterflies and chrysanthemums has been Westernized by the use of center-back pleat construction. This type of garment was produced for export by the Kyoto-based kimono and silk store Iida and Co./Takashimaya, and would not have been worn by Japanese women. From about 1893, Takashimaya sold goods specifically for the foreign market. This ready-to-wear robe bears similarities to Takashimaya’s export art textiles, including large-scale wall hangings.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

At the turn of the century in Europe and the United States, women wore tea gowns to receive guests at home. These garments were less formal and structured than day or evening wear, and sometimes show more creative inspiration, such as from historic or Eastern forms of dress. This example bears the influence of embroidered kimonos as well as French eighteenth-century gowns. Interior padding intended to provide warmth and a magenta lining that picks up the purple details of the lilies are signs of superior workmanship, while the garment’s asymmetrical embroidery is in keeping with Art Nouveau design. While the maker is no longer known, the smocking of the bodice relates to the distinctive fashions of the retailer Liberty and Co. then in vogue, and the store might easily have been the source for this gown.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Paul Poiret was an influential advocate for the abandonment of the corset. Breaking with nineteenth-century couture conventions of tailoring precisely shaped pattern pieces to fit a corseted figure, Paul Poiret’s designs of the 1910s relied on draping techniques. This approach yielded soft, flowing forms that hung loosely from the body. In his efforts to design clothing that liberated the body, he turned to antique and Eastern forms of dress. The influence of the kimono’s linear cut is evident in this opera coat, which Poiret composed from rectangular pattern pieces that hang from the shoulders. The designer’s use of the kimono’s structure offered an innovative model for Western dress that changed the course of fashion history and anticipated the styles of the following decade.





On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

The design of this elegant garment, a type favored by aristocrats and court ladies from the late Edo (1615–1868) through the early Meiji period, is composed of a single flowering cherry tree. A red string with tiny gold bells is tied to the tree, while birds fly around its delicate blossoms and sit on the branches. The flowers and leaves are embroidered; their bright white, red, and green hues form a sharp contrast with the deep purple ground created through the use of an aniline, or chemical, dye imported from Europe.

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

The sewing machine is the featured attraction in this print of upper-class women making and ironing clothing. Sewing machines were a novelty in Japan in the 1870s, but by the mid-1880s, when Western dress was enforced for many government employees, seamstresses and tailors started to use Singer machines in preference to hand machines. The sewing machine was among the efficiency-improving devices that carried Western ideas concerning gender roles, progress, and technology into Japan. The Meiji empress supported imported fashions with caution but at the same time was an advocate for the development of the domestic textile industry. However, around the 1880s only the upper classes could afford expensive Western garments.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

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

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

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

The Japanese order system, modeled on European examples, originated in the 1870s shortly after the Meiji Restoration to recognize individual merit, typically in the form of distinctive insignia such as medals, collars, and badges. The Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum was the highest distinction conferred by the emperor; the Order of the Golden Kite was an exclusive military honor; and the Order of the Precious Crown was primarily awarded to women.

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

While the rendering of the swirl (uzumaki) motif on this unlined kimono is very modern, the spiral, or vortex, pattern has a long history in Japan. It appears on ancient Jōmon pottery (ca. 10,500–ca. 300 B.C.). In the Edo period (1615–1868) small swirl motifs were often used as background in complex compositions depicting rivers. This summer kimono’s large swirls of white on a dark green ground are a blown-up, stylized version of the motif and reflect the influence of Western art and the contemporary Art Deco aesthetic.

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

Bold, simple, large-scale patterns that seem to burst from a garment’s surface are typical of early Shōwa-period kimonos. The latticelike, diagonal motif of swaying banana leaves evokes a cooling breeze appropriate for a summer garment. This example is similar to a yukata, a casual kimono much like a bathrobe. The ground is kōbai, a fine fabric of silk and cotton with a waffled texture that does not adhere to the skin and is cool to wear. The pattern was executed by a stitch-resist method called tritik, in which the design is outlined with thread that is then gathered tightly to keep the outlined areas from being dyed, a variation of the shibori tie-dying technique. The fabric received the same treatment within each part of the blue pattern, creating a double row of small dots that delineates the veins of the leaves.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

This kimono exemplifies the heiyō-gasuri technique, in which stencil-printed warp and weft threads are woven into complex double-ikat patterns with curves and flowing lines. It was made in Isesaki, one of the meisen production centers where this technique was developed and refined. The pattern on this summer garment is a modern rendering of a traditional comma (tomoe) pattern that was associated with samurai culture and widely used in crests in the Edo period (1615–1868). Here, large commas boldly punctuate a background of rectangles. The fabric, which was promoted as Chiyoda omeshi, has a slightly ribbed texture similar to crepe, the result of strongly twisted silk and rayon wefts. The use of inexpensive rayon was common in Isesaki in the 1930s, when the demand for meisen was at its peak.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

The four sister dressmakers at the head of Callot Soeurs were known for innovative designs that drew on the kimono’s structure and Eastern modes of dress in combination with Art Deco aesthetics and an elegant, relaxed modern lifestyle. The barrier between leisure and formal dress was permeable in the 1910s and 1920s, as is evidenced by these pajamas, which were intended for informal wear in the boudoir as well as in the drawing room. Their abstract, Art Deco–like pattern further testifies to the progressive nature of the garment.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

American designer Thom Browne makes elegant use of a staple from the Western masculine wardrobe—the tailored jacket—as a canvas for traditional Japanese motifs such as flowers and Mount Fuji. Rendered as a mosaic in shades of gray, the design is the result of intricate hand piecing, a time-consuming and exacting process comparable to complex inlay work that Browne would only entrust to Japanese craftspeople. The collection to which this suit belongs draws on motifs that have long been seen in the West as symbols of Japan, including bamboo, cranes, samurai, and Mount Fuji. Browne’s suit jacket responds to the men’s under kimono (nagajuban) with the Mount Fuji motif in black and white displayed in a nearby case.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Worn under an outer garment or at home, the nagajuban frequently bore eye-catching designs that would be seen only by family and friends. The large spider perched on the right shoulder of the crepe silk robe, whose back is covered with a web against gray clouds, exemplifies such a decoration. The pattern could be a reference to Tsuchigumo, a monstrous, shape-shifting spider featured in Japanese myths and legends as well as in Noh and Kabuki plays. The dramatic, supernatural subject was also featured in ukiyo-e prints, which might have inspired this nagajuban’s composition.

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

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

This four-tiered shelf was likely part of a high-ranking bride’s trousseau. The kurodana was used for the display and storage of cosmetic boxes and toiletries, including the utensils necessary for tooth blackening (haguro), the sign of a married woman. This example’s black-lacquer surface features a pattern of wild grapevines and the nine-circle or star crest (kuyō mon), which might be associated with the Hosokawa family.

The couturière Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (1883–1971) owned numerous Chinese Coromandel and Japanese gold lacquer folding screens. The contrast of their lustrous black coating, gold and silver, and inlaid decoration influenced some of her compositions, such as the evening dress from the 1920s displayed nearby.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

In the Momoyama period, a new style of lacquer decoration, named after the Kōdaiji Temple, developed in Kyoto to cater to the flamboyant taste of the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The corners of this rectangular box are covered in red lacquer, under which a thick layer of hemp—part of the foundation—is visible. The decoration of chrysanthemums and autumn grasses is executed in flat, gold hiramaki-e, whose fine lines create a striking contrast with the black-lacquer background. Lacquers made for the European market around the same time are embellished in a similar style and technique.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel used metallic lace, lavish embroidery, and beading in her Art Deco–style evening wear to give the illusion of supple knits metamor­phosed into metal. This example features metallic lace and sequins applied in tightly overlapping rows by Chanel’s embroidery workshop. The ornament of the dress, in both pattern and color palette, resembles Japanese maki-e, or lacquerware sprinkled with gold and silver powder. The flat, straight construction of the dress evokes the kimono’s two-dimensional structure.





On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Madame Marie Callot Gerber, the oldest of the four dressmaking Callot sisters, was friends with French art critic and collector Edmond de Goncourt (1822–1896), who introduced her to Japanese woodblock prints. As a result, she included Eastern elements in some Callot Soeurs designs. The planar, straight silhouette and the shoulder as a main structuring point are based on the kimono’s construction, while the water lily–like pattern in gold and silver and brightly colored embroidery reveals the designer’s reinterpretation of paintings of the same subject by Claude Monet (1840–1926).

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Waves were a major theme in Japanese painting and prints and the subject of the archipelago’s most iconic artwork, The Great Wave, by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849). The playful design on this unlined gauze- or leno-weave summer kimono modernizes that print’s turbulent waters by depicting only the foaming swells and splashing blue droplets. The weaving technique creates an airy fabric with fine stripes of openwork.

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

Snow-covered Mount Fuji adorns this fashionable nagajuban, which is made of a soft, lightweight plain-weave silk (habutai) similar to taffeta. The large, stylized design of the sacred mountain was rendered against a dark blue ground in stitch-and-bind resist technique (nuishime-shibori), with a painstakingly executed gradation from white to deep gray. The dark hue delicately contrasts with the deep blue ground. Mount Fuji is one of the most represented subjects in Japanese art, depicted on hanging scrolls, folding screens, woodblock prints, ceramics, and lacquerware, and features prominently in Japanese literature. On this robe, the perfectly shaped mountain, revered in Shinto and Buddhism, is a symbol of good fortune.

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

The Mickey Mouse design borrowed from Western popular culture on this child’s thickly padded winter garment evidences twentieth-century Japan’s adaptability in a changing world. In one repeating element, Mickey’s pal is on the verge of being stung by a mosquito, likely a reference to the 1934 Disney film Camping Out, in which the cartoon characters battle a swarm of angry insects. The motif, set against a checked, patchwork-patterned cotton ground, was produced by roller printing: copper rollers—one for each color—are carved with a design in small dots and fine lines and used to press colored paste into the fabric. The technique facilitated the mass production of textiles reminiscent of kasuri (ikat) and was often used to make inexpensive cotton clothing for children.

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

Upon the birth of his infant son in 1954, designer Charles James created a children’s line. Whereas James’ designs for adults were feats of technical ingenuity that prompted the wearer to assume elegant yet constrictive poses, this dress’s easy, pleated shape allows for maximal freedom of movement.




On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

A collector of ukiyo-e woodblock prints, Madeleine Vionnet infused Western couture with principles based on the structure of the kimono, and created elegant, body-skimming dresses that let the wearer enjoy freedom of movement. This dress’s asymmetric silhouette, bias cut, and wrapped, obi-like ribbon all reference the kimono. As indicated on its label, “n°3 dite Japonaise” (number 3, called Japanese), the garment was dubbed the “Japanese” dress by the designer, who personally gifted it to The Met as a prime example of her work.



On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

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

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

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

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

On this high-quality and luxurious sash, embroidered bouquets of peonies decorate a ground fabric of figured damask (donsu), likely imported from China.

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

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

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

The woman seated in front of a dressing table and mirror with a blue towel is the artist’s lover, Nakatani Tsuru. A dazzling modern beauty, she closely holds her sheer summer kimono and gazes at the viewer in a pose that pays homage to artist Kitagawa Utamaro (1753–1806). The fine flower-diamond patterns on the figure’s robe and the rendering of her hairline and body, visible through thin fabric, demonstrate Goyō’s exceptional skills.

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

Kodaira Tomi, the model for this sensual figure, appears in other Goyō works. Here she holds a narrow green sash between her teeth while her bare toes peek out from beneath a long under kimono (nagajuban) decorated with motifs of red butterflies and flowers on a white ground. Goyō, who had created a series depicting beautiful women in 1920, was growing in skill and fame when he died suddenly and tragically of meningitis at the age of forty-one.

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

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

This abstract, stylized pattern was created by using four stencils to dye the wefts before weaving, a type of all-weft ikat technique. The ground color, a dark strawberry red, was achieved by crossing plum-red wefts (transverse yarns) with dark red warps (longitudinal yarns). This vivid lined jacket was made in Isesaki, in Gunma prefecture, north of Tokyo, during the brief revival of meisen production following the Second World War.

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

The finely dotted ground of this meisen kimono is overlaid with overlapping orange, red, green, white, yellow, and pink discs of various sizes and transparency to create a striking visual effect that required unusually complex techniques. Simple compositions relied on the same stencils for the warps and wefts, but this version required three stencils to dye the warps and four for the wefts. While this double-ikat technique produced dramatic, vividly colored motifs, the weaving process was painstaking. The time and expertise necessary to achieve such patterns, done by hand on a floor loom, made this type of fabric relatively expensive. In the West, polka dots rose in popularity throughout the twentieth century, and were featured on Minnie Mouse’s iconic skirt in 1928. The pattern was historically associated with Spanish flamenco dresses.



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

This ensemble features a rectangular tunic gathered at one shoulder, in reference to the kimono’s linear pattern as well as to classical drapery. Its colorful polka dots (from the Spanish, traje de lunares) could evoke a flamenco dancer’s costume, which has origins in Romani dress. A similar pattern in Japan called “water droplets,” consisting of various sizes of colorful dots, was especially popular with young women and were featured on meisen kimonos around the 1930s. This ensemble was sold in 1979 at Henri Bendel, the New York department store founded in 1895, and was worn by the late Diana Vreeland, special consultant to the Costume Institute.



On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

World War II–era restrictions on the manufacture of certain goods interrupted the vogue for meisen kimonos. The need to replace large quantities of clothing destroyed during the war and the special procurement demands of the Korean War (1950–53) led to a brief revival of the meisen industry in the early 1950s. In 1953, meisen production in just five centers (Sano, Ashikaga, Tatebayashi, Kiryū, and Isesaki) reached 4.19 million rolls. Bold, large-scale, abstract motifs emerged again, seeming to reflect the relief that followed the turmoil of war and to celebrate the beginning of a new era.

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

In the ōgasuri (large ikat) version of the tie-dyed ikat technique, which was developed in Isesaki in the 1920s and flourished from 1930 to 1940, both the warp and weft threads were tied and then resist-dyed before being woven. This ōgasuri robe, which was inspired by the abstract paintings of Piet Mondrian (1872–1944), features large patterns in raspberry red, turquoise, yellow, and white, and is embellished with gold thread. This method could produce only straight lines, such as stripes, blocks, and checks. The blurry edges are typical of the kasuri technique, as the patterns dyed into the yarns could not be perfectly aligned on the loom. Japanese department stores worked closely with textile workshops in Isesaki, Ashikaga, Chichibu, Kiryū, and Hachioji to develop inexpensive, mass-produced meisen kimonos. These were designed to be visually striking, with a great variety of bold patterns and bright colors. Retailers aggressively promoted them to turn over inventory quickly and to create fast-changing trends that would continually bring customers back.



On view from June 7 – October 10, 2022

This composition of small colorful rectangles on a black ground recalls the illuminated windows of high-rise buildings at night; it also suggests works of Piet Mondrian (1872–1944). It was made in Ashikaga, where many meisen kimonos were designed with modern, abstract patterns. The warps were dyed with five stencils while the wefts were tied-resist dyed. At the same time that synthetic fibers became more popular, kimonos were less frequently worn as daily wear. The flourishing market for Western-style clothing also caused demand for meisen to decline after 1955, and production soon ceased altogether.

The circular motifs on this evening dress with straps and puffed sleeves playfully indicate motion. An integral component of Vionnet’s work, both as a motif or as a base structure, the circle was also a feature of her logo, designed by Futurist artist Thayaht. Simple geometric motifs were popular on meisen kimonos made in the 1930s. The dress’s kimonolike construction, based on rectangles of fabric that hang from the shoulder, allowed the wearer freedom of movement. Vionnet collected Japanese ukiyo-e prints depicting kimono-clad women, which graced the walls of her studio. Vionnet famously stated in Marie Claire in 1937: “I have always wanted to be the doctor of the silhouette”; this philosophy runs through all her designs.



On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

The dazzling pattern of thunderbolts, rendered as white and black lines on a red ground, was made with the stenciled double-ikat technique. The wefts were dyed with three stencils and the warps with two. The dyer used a four-sided block instead of a flat board to dye the wefts, creating a sophisticated, gradated kasuri (ikat) effect. This lively composition was created in Isesaki, Gunma prefecture, and represents postwar fashion for meisen.

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

In graphic black and white, this Art Deco necklace radiates modernism. Art Deco design was based on mathematical and geometric shapes, and this sleek necklace combines the two variously shaped angular faceted elements to create a sophisticated piece of jewelry. The stark color combination and simplicity of the elements is visually impressive. The necklace was owned by legendary actress Lauren Bacall, who gave many pieces from her personal wardrobe to the Brooklyn Museum.

During the 1930s, '40s and the early '50s, when hats were considered required accessories for well-dressed women, Sally Victor was among the foremost American milliners. Creative and very successful for almost 40 years, Victor began her prolific millinery career in 1927. She was one of the original members of the Edward C. Blum Design Laboratory, and often used the Brooklyn Museum's varied collections to draw inspiration for her designs. She was so connected with the Design Lab that she participated in several collaborative exhibitions and the museum often used her designs in publicity materials to exemplify how the Lab could benefit designers by providing inspiration. Her work is characterized by a special quirkiness that could often be traced back to interesting sources such as Native American tribes, the artist Henri Matisse or Japanese armor. She also combined traditional hat-making materials such as felt and silk with new synthetic materials in unique ways. According to her May 16, 1977 obituary in the "New York Times," Victor described her mission simply as "designing pretty hats that make women look prettier."

A striking, chic form, this design is a fashionable twist on the well-liked snood. The fresh green jersey acts as both a snood at back, but also to attach the crown to the brim, with a sculptural sensibility. The contrast between the red felt and green jersey is stark but also refreshing. The asymmetry lends a modern feel to the design, making the hat a perfect foil to the tailored suits of the period.

Caroline Reboux was one of the most renowned high-fashion milliners of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like many other purveyors of luxury specialties, the firm's success led to expansion into other fashion items. The overall shape and angular insertions in this elegant evening scarf manifest the geometric aesthetic of the Art Deco period. The technique of inserting the abstract design rather than applying it to the surface is more labor intensive, but gives a more refined and flat finish.

This playful pattern of white rabbits and scouring rushes—stiff plants used for polishing—has a long history in Japanese art. The design suggests the rabbits are gnawing the rushes to grind down their teeth, symbolizing self-improvement and industriousness. Here, however, the classical composition has been modernized and stylized. This kimono might have been created in 1939, the Year of the Rabbit. It was likely made as a young girl’s ceremonial garment for the New Year’s celebration, and then tailored into a summer kimono.

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

This vivid robe is embellished with a design of origami cranes in a rectangular, abstract composition. Cranes are symbols of longevity and good fortune, and folding a thousand paper cranes was supposed to make a wish come true. Large-scale patterns became increasingly popular by 1941, with motifs extending as much as twenty-four inches—almost half the length of the typical kimono. The all-weft kasuri (ikat) technique allowed for the creation of large, free-form, multicolored, continuous patterns.

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

The varied geometric motifs and bright colors of this ensemble by Issey Miyake recall early meisen kimonos of the 1920s, many of which were inspired by modern art movements and are featured in this gallery. The structure of the ensemble—a vest and trousers—resembles hakama, wide, skirtlike pants combined with a haori jacket. This look was popular in Japan among young women in the early twentieth century and originated from men’s garments. Miyake’s combination of traditional Japanese styles with innovative materials and technology revitalized fashion in the second half of the twentieth century.



On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

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

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

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

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

This album, probably compiled in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, contains fragments of kosode from the seventeenth to nineteenth century. Precedents for compiling albums of textiles can be found among the records of tea ceremony aficionados, who preserved and studied textiles associated with the tea ceremony, such as mountings for paintings and bags for treasured utensils. The identity of the textile connoisseur who owned this album is not known. Since several of the kosode fragments in the album have counterparts among the Nomura collection's screens, it seems likely that the compiler was one of Nomura's contemporaries who took part in the avid textile collecting of the first few decades of the twentieth century.

The fan-folded album is opened to a page spread that features yûzen-dyed textiles on the left side and one shibori-dyed and one embroidered textile on the right. The compiler of the album often labeled the textiles with an educated guess as to date or type. The fragment on the left-hand page that corresponds to the larger textiles shown here is labeled Kanbun Date gire, indicating that the owner of the album believed that this fragment dated from the Kanbun period (1661-73) and was related to the Date daimyo family.

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

Publishers in Edo (present-day Tokyo) immediately recognized local interest in nearby Yokohama’s newly opened port, and began releasing prints featuring foreigners. Popular subjects included the so-called black ships, shops on the settlement streets, and the customs and clothing of Westerners. Few Western women lived in Yokohama in 1861, and it is likely that their look depicted here was copied from an illustrated magazine.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

This view of a foreign shop interior includes a kitchen full of people preparing food. A Western butcher cuts a side of beef while a Japanese cook is busy at the stove. On the right, a Chinese merchant holds a bolt of fabric and watches with amusement as the Western shopkeeper tries to communicate in sign language with a Japanese client. An anchor, some books, and a large framed picture of an elephant are offered for sale.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Delicacies such as grapes, in ceramic dishes, and bottles of sake with tiny cups are strategically placed on the large lacquer table for easy reach by revelers. Some of the Western men enjoy their drinks and snacks, while another, accompanied by a Chinese man, dances to music performed by a group of Japanese women. Two female entertainers watch with curiosity, while two Western women quietly converse.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Hanae Mori, the pioneering postwar designer known for making Western-style clothes for the Japanese market, also presented evening garments inspired by kimonos in New York and Paris beginning in 1965. Her signature style was sophisticated and feminine, inspired by Edo-period (1615–1868) fashions. The Sumie dress exemplifies Mori’s incorporation of Japanese culture into Western-style evening wear. Its primary motif comes from sumi-e, the Japanese art of monochrome ink painting, with cursive calligraphic characters and bold brushstrokes evocative of classical artworks. The wide, kimonolike sleeves likewise refer to Japanese culture, while the translucent fabric is a more typically Western feature, attesting to Mori’s position connecting East and West.



On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Charles James began his design career in the 1930s, and between the late 1940s and mid-1950s his scarce and highly original couture gowns were sought after by society’s most prominent women. James manipulated fabrics into dramatic, elegant shapes using complex seaming and sometimes complicated understructures. An innovator of form, color, and texture, James engineered this wrapped evening cape with kimonolike sleeves as a form-fitting yet fluid silhouette imbued with vitality and movement.

On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

From his debut collection in 1971, Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake’s work revolved around the integrity of textiles and garments built from a single piece of cloth, after the principle of the kimono. His emphasis on developing new materials and methods of manufacture synthesized formal and conceptual concerns into highly inventive garments. With this playful sweater, Parts Knit, Miyake transforms the traditional form of a turtleneck sweater through the introduction of a third arm. This alien appendage straddles functional and theoretical considerations, and introduces several aesthetic possibilities for the wearer.



On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Yohji Yamamoto has explored the relationship between clothing and the body since the early 1980s, often obscuring the body beneath unstructured layers, similar to the principle of the kimono. With this bustier, Yamamoto inverts that relationship, creating an exoskeleton made of plastic boning wrapped in black silk crepe. Like Issey Miyake’s bustier nearby, Yamamoto transforms the corset from supportive underwear into sculptural, decorative outerwear that stands away from the body and removes its traditional function of reshaping the female form



On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Issey Miyake’s plastic bustier, the finale of his autumn/winter 1980–81 collection, epitomizes the designer’s experiments with unorthodox, humble, and high-tech materials, from plastic and rattan to wire. The bustier subverts the idea of clothing as a covering separate from the body, and also departs from Miyake’s own design philosophy, based on the kimono’s structure, of leaving an intermediate space between body and garment (ma). This bustier molds to the contours of the female form, creating a second skin that transitions into a short peplum of fabriclike folds at the hips. It also metaphorically reimagines the female form as samurai armor, which likewise encased the upper body. Like the Yamamoto bustier nearby, the traditional undergarment has been transformed into an outer garment worn as an exoskeleton.





On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

With his revolutionary “A Piece of Cloth” (A-POC) line, Issey Miyake realized his lifelong aim of making garments based on the Japanese principle of constructing kimonos from a single bolt of cloth. A democratic approach to self-tailoring mass-produced garments, A-POC draws the customer into the act of creation and effectively materializes utopian ideas of a seasonless, genderless, wasteless, and sizeless garment. Produced from machine-knit tubes of fabric based on the kimono’s basic cylindrical structure, the garment can be cut—without unraveling—along preknitted, dotted seams, as the wearer wishes. This dark blue example is an uncut length from a larger roll.



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

This robelike coat makes direct reference to voluminous evening coats from the golden age of postwar haute couture by designers such as Christian Dior and Cristobal Balenciaga. Saint Laurent’s version of heavy silk faille merges the sumptuous romanticism of Dior with the sculptural drama of Balenciaga. With a bias collar extending into front ties, the design of this coat echoes the kimono’s drooping neckline and draped backside.





On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Since founding Comme des Garçons in 1969, the designer Rei Kawakubo has consistently upended conventional notions of beauty and disrupted accepted characteristics of the fashionable body. This dress of cotton-polyester felt from Kawakubo’s autumn/winter 2012–13 Two Dimensions collection was designed to blur the boundaries between body and garment. It incorporates the two-dimensionality of the kimono into a trompe l’oeil silhouette of a Western dress. Its bold, primary colors and flat, outsize shape challenge the rules of age-appropriate dressing by engaging with the concept of kawaii (cuteness), a key aspect of Japanese popular culture defined by playfulness and performativity.



On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Madame Grès’s career spanned five decades, during which she excelled in her ability to manipulate fabric and use its innate characteristics to enhance her designs. Known for classically inspired, form-fitting gowns, Grès began experimenting with geometrically cut pattern pieces in the mid-1960s, creating more free-flowing designs and earning the epithet “master of the wrapped and draped dress.” In this example, Grès used the cylinder and rectangle as basic compositional forms, creating a columnar gown with dramatic side panels that resemble the furisode kimono’s long sleeves.







On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

American designer Claire McCardell’s knowledge of fashion history included an interest in both Western and Eastern vernacular dressing styles. She used these inspirations to achieve utility, ease, and fit. The textile, pleating, and color of this evening dress borrow from Chinese costume, while the wide, obi-like sash and columnar silhouette evoke Japanese origins. The dress is cut like a poncho with its top crisscrossed over the bodice to create a kimono-like neckline.








On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Issey Miyake, known for limiting waste in fashion by following the principle of constructing the kimono using a single piece of cloth, also created many pleated pieces that can be easily folded flat, much like how kimonos are stored. In his 1990 Rhythm Pleats collection, he explored transforming such flat garments through sculptural manipulation. The pieces are first cut and sewn together from fabric that is nearly three times larger than the finished item, then sandwiched between sheets of paper and hand-fed into a pleating machine. A heat-press used to shrink them into perfectly sized garments also finalizes the shape and texture. This cocoonlike dress from his Rhythm Pleats collection echoes the billowing volume of the uchikake, or outer robe.





On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023

Hanae Mori showed her first couture collection in Paris and became the first Japanese member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in 1977. Often referred to as “Madame Butterfly,” she dressed personalities from around the world, and was a symbol of the emancipation of women in Japan. Her fashion house popularized a style that merged Japanese elements with Western designs. This evening ensemble is an early example of Hanae Mori’s work. Here she uses two types of silk fabric printed with the same floral motif to create a shadow effect. The sleeves are reminiscent of the long, fluttering sleeves of the furisode, a formal kimono style worn by young, unmarried women.





On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023