The Birth of Fashion: Trends, Aesthetics, and Edo Kimono with NARUMI Hiroshi

Have you heard about V&A Dundee’s ongoing kimono exhibition? Perhaps you attended our online talk on kimono back in 2020? The kimono is an object of national pride in Japan, long beloved by Japanese people and influential even within the western world. Yet, unfortunately, kimono in modern Japan have been relegated to a sort of costume, worn only on specific special occasions. Perhaps the kimono, now overshadowed by western attire, is no longer considered a driving force in fashion – indeed, fashion itself is a concept generally considered to have been born in western Europe, from where it spread to the rest of the world, Japan included. But is that really the case?

Keeping this question in mind, sociologist and Japanese fashion theorist Prof. NARUMI Hiroshi will discuss how trends and aesthetics surrounding kimono came into being and changed over the course of the Edo period (1603-1868), a period during which many notable cultures flourished. Paying close attention to the trends seen among the groups active at the time – those in power, industry insiders, creators, performers, and young people – NARUMI will also explore in what ways kimono constituted fashion, and just how trail-blazing a fashion culture emerged.