Kimono Style: Edo Traditions To Modern Design The John C. Weber Collection

Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 7 June 2022 - 20 February 2023

Japan's engagement with Western clothing, culture and art in the mid-nineteenth century transformed the traditional kimono and initiated an intercultural dialogue on dress that continues to this day. Originally a sign of the wearer's social position, marital status, age and wealth, the old kimono designs yielded to the demands of the modernised and democratised lifestyles of the twentieth century, as well as to the preferences of the emancipated "new woman".

This publication examines the modern history of the kimono and its significant influence on Western fashion. The kimono silhouette freed Western designers such as Paul Poiret and Madeleine Vionnet from traditional European tailoring.

By juxtaposing never-before-published Japanese textiles from the John C. Weber collection with Western couture, this book places the kimono on the stage of world fashion history.