mid twentieth century
shoulder to hem x sleeve tip to sleeve tip: 60" x 48", 152.5 cm x 122 cm
This is a kimono hand stitched of Meisen silk, a kind of "everyday" silk that was developed in the Meiji era (1868 - 1912) at a time when Japan's strict, feudal era sumptuary laws were lifted: these laws dictated what people were allowed to wear and consume (among many other things), notable among the strictures was a ban against "common" people wearing silk as this was a privilege granted only to the upper echelon of Japanese society.
Meisen silk, therefore, represents the democratization of dress in a changing Japan and it was consumed readily. Its boom market prompted huge manufacture, which, of course, meant that countless new designs were being invented over time.
Add to that, the opening of Japan during the Meiji era allowed for the Japanese to absorb and implement the novelty and invention of Western arts, culture, science and industry. Meisen design patterns reflect this new phase in Japanese openness.
Western contact greatly influenced Meisen design ideas and it is no small wonder: design innovation in the West in the form of Art Nouveau, the Vienna Secession, Art Deco and so on were radical, newsworthy and widely copied.
Victorian patterns exhibited at the Glasgow and St. Louis Expositions (1901 and 1904 respectively) and design shown at the Great Paris Exhibition in 1900 were all eventually known in Japan. The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, 1925, was particularly influential and it could be said that it was after this that Meisen kimono entered its "Golden Age," a raucous 25 year period of wild design innovation that burst forth in a free wheeling trajectory of modern design, sometimes outrageous in its color and boldness.
It was during this "Golden Age" that Meisen kimono show their startlingly original designs many of which were so far from a traditional design source that they ventured into the realm of purely abstract design, such as this excellent example offered here.
The design of this kimono shows little if no allusion to traditional Japanese design: it revels in the unhinged play of color and pattern and in so doing it represents a key and desirable aspect of late phase Meisen kimono, the unbridled use of abstracted design in the service of making a daring kimono for a modern woman.
This is a very, very good example of the Modern style of pattern which has come to characterize Meisen kimono and garments. In good, used condition with one small stain, shown in the detail photo that accompanies this post.
Very recommended.
