Blog

  • Sway Gallery London: ‘The Creation of Modern Kimono: KIMONO MAGIC SOCIETY POP UP’

    The Creation of Modern Kimono: KIMONO MAGIC SOCIETY POP UP was held from February 29th to March 4th at Sway Gallery London. Yoshihide Hirayama and Asako Yamamoto from Modern Antenna, Tamao Shigemune from Tamao Shigemune (重宗玉緒), Rumi Shibasaki from Rumi Rock, as well as Narutoshi Ishikawa from iroca, forming the The Kimono Magic Society, were… Read more

  • Royal College of Art: ‘Kimono Magic Society: Kimono Bash’

    On February 28th, I attended the ‘Kimono Magic Society: Kimono Bash’ event held at the Royal College of Art in London. The Kimono Magic Society consists of the designers and creators behind contemporary kimono fashion brands Rumi Rock, Modern Antenna, Tamao Shigemune (重宗玉緒) and iroca, who all have their designs featured in the ‘Kimono: From… Read more

  • Idol Identity Construction in Morning Musume モーニング娘。- ‘The Story of Noisy Girls’『女子かしまし物語』(2014)

    The 2004 music video to Morning Musume‘s ‘The Story of Noisy Girls’ (女子かしまし物語, Joshi Kashimashi Mongatari) discloses a lot about the deliberate identity construction of idols. The video also demonstrates the way in which idol personas are constructed through dress. In this short article, I will start to unwrap some of the most significant aspects… Read more

  • Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe: Kimono Photographs

    And another collection of kimono-related images from an online database, this time from the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe which is located in my hometown, Hamburg. The pictures are mainly from European photographers Felice Beato and Raimund von Stillfried-Rathenitz, as well as Japanese national Kusakabe Kimbei. Kusakabe worked for the former two as an assistant… Read more

  • Women’s Hakama: Female student’s school uniforms

    The three young women depicted here are all wearing the first version of Japanese school uniforms, consisting of a hakama (袴) skirt worn over a short-sleeved furisode kimono. Hakama are wide trousers which were one of the main garments for men during the Edo period. These trousers were slightly modified and turned into skirts, being… Read more

  • Fashion and Textile Museum, London: ‘Weavers of the Clouds: Textile Art of Peru’

    I have to admit that despite having lived in London for almost six years now, I never managed to visit the Fashion and Textile Museum. This disgraceful behaviour finally came to an end however when I went to see the museum’s current exhibition titled Weavers of the Clouds: Textile Art of Peru. The exhibition initially… Read more