Kimono is the new NGV exhibition that will transport you to Japan
Discover the history of the kimono and its role as a bearer of exquisite art that tells the stories of a country.
Once a famous red-light district, the Tokyo ward of Taito is now a quaint and tranquil area, less heavily frequented by tourists. Here, the studio of Rumi Shibasaki, best known for her brand Rumi Rock, sits tucked away on a peaceful street opposite the Yoshiwara Shrine. The sweeping arches of the historical Shinto structure peer from behind two concrete apartment buildings and a sakura tree that has just shed its leaves.
Balancing modernity and tradition is at the crux of Japanese culture and key in Shibasaki’s work as one of the most revered and innovative contemporary kimono designers in Japan. “All my inspiration comes from my doubts or questions of the world,” says the 61-year-old over a pot of green tea and through the assistance of a translator. “It could be books, news, anything.” It’s in this space, set back from the street and filled with tomes, that Shibasaki designs the kimonos she’s been fashioning for more than 30 years. It was after she purchased an Apple computer in 1991 that she became one of the first designers to decorate yukata (summer kimono) with graphic, idiosyncratic digital prints made using tools like Photoshop. “I can be a small minority, group or person, who actually designs something different from what the tradition is,” she explains of her practice.
Across the Sumida River, in the shadow of the ultra-modern Tokyo Skytree tower, the studio of artist Hiroko Takahashi presents a different scene. Takahashi sits on a plush chair in her sweeping converted warehouse, white walls covered with her black-and-white artworks. Each of her revered kimonos is designed to express the infinite possibilities of life, featuring circles and straight lines as common motifs. They rarely incorporate more than one colour.
“If you’re a designer who wants to be in the Paris collections, you have to start from your own country’s traditions,” Takahashi says through a translator of her decision as a young artist to develop a comprehensive understanding of the kimono. Japanese kimono tradition then became part of her oeuvre, and she went on to earn a doctorate from the Tokyo University of the Arts. Now 47, Takahashi is considered a bellwether in merging kimonos and modern art. She has collaborated with brands such as Adidas, where she produced a range of summer kimonos, sportswear and sneakers, decorated with her signature art. “I believe the form of kimono is complete – no one ever is going to change it because there’s a beauty in it and [it’s] just perfect,” she says of a garment so cleverly made it’s remained significant through countless eras and is a platform for her artistic practice. “I’m using kimonos as a tool of spreading my message out.” or about a thousand years, the Japanese kimono – a traditional long-sleeved robe worn by both women and men – has been integral to the country’s culture. Now, a new exhibition titled Kimono, on display at the National Gallery of Victoria International, charts the garment’s history and provides a comprehensive look at it from the Edo period (1600 to 1868) to the present day. It features 70 rare pieces, with more than 30 never before seen in public. Kimono is the anticipated follow-up to the gallery’s blockbuster Yayoi Kusama retrospective, which welcomed a record-breaking half a million visitors to the gallery earlier this year. It also follows the success of the hit television series Shōgun, which ushered in a new focus on Edo-era handcrafted kimonos, as worn on screen by Vogue Australia cover star Anna Sawai. Both Shibasaki and Takahashi, who represent a new generation of purposeful kimono artistry, are sharing their works with the NGV; Shibasaki’s is from 2021, while Takahashi’s is a brand-new piece made for the exhibition. They’ll be part of the gallery’s exploration of one of Japan’s most recognisable cultural emblems and its role in global fashion.
“The word kimono is really quite a recent word,” says Wayne Crothers, NGV’s senior curator of Asian art, who hand-selected the pieces that appear in the exhibition. “Probably, from about 1900, it became a popular generic term for the kimono that we know for clothes [made] from cloth from Japan. The characters literally mean ‘thing to wear’.”
The kimono is rarely worn in public today, but was once part of daily life, serving as both a uniform and a source of personal expression. Historically, its design would often denote the occupation and social standing of its wearer. “A hundred, a hundred and fifty years ago in regional [areas], there were very poor farmers who couldn’t afford clothing or kimono, and they would make clothing out of scraps, small pieces joined together and stitched to make garments,” Crothers says, pointing to a century-old piece made of more than 100 fragments of found fabric. Other displays from the exhibition represent the initial meeting of kimono and mid-century postmodern design. One, designed in 1961 by textile designer Keisuke Serizawa, uses a vivid textural pattern to evoke thick glaze dripping down the side of a jar. Another is sourced from Lunco Retro, a small Tokyo boutique that specialises in kimonos made of vintage fabrics, showing a similar fusion of timelessness and modern ingenuity.
Modern interpretations of kimonos in the exhibition are complemented by exquisite historical creations that highlight craftsmanship and storytelling. A burgundy uchikake kosode (outer robe) from the late 18th century depicts a windy coastline, with fine stitching sewn into white-capped gusty seas. Meanwhile, a katabira furisode (a long-sleeved summer kimono) from the same era illustrates a snowy winter creek scene, in one of the exhibition’s many sublime displays of artisanal beauty. While the designs adorning a kimono have evolved over time, other features – wide sleeves, the front opening and an obi – have endured.
“What I find inspiring about kimonos is that every piece comes in exactly the same shape, regardless of who wears it, age or gender,” says Akira Isogawa. Two works by the Kyoto-born, Sydney-based designer will appear in the exhibition. One piece is a dress inspired by kimonos made in calico fabric and lined with red silk jacquard, which balances the simplicity and luxury often associated with them. “[The kimono] maintains the same structure, which is all rectangular, made up of just a square form of textile,” he says. “The textile is what makes the difference.”
Elsewhere in the exhibition are works by prominent international designers and labels, including Paul Poiret, Callot Soeurs and Alexander McQueen, representing fashion’s longstanding fascination with the garment. There are two works by John Galliano. One, a black kimono-inspired dress from autumn/winter ’94/’95, the collection said to have guaranteed his hiring at Givenchy. The other, a rarely seen piece from 1985, was acquired by Australian philanthropist, donor and NGV fashion champion Krystyna Campbell-Pretty in 2023. It’s the only full-length kimono to exist from the collection, which was the first ready-to-wear range Galliano ever presented. The exhibition also includes examples by Japanese labels that are rooted in culture. Among them is Issey Miyake’s kimono finished in the designer’s recognisable pleats, and a red-and-black Yohji Yamamoto kimono coat from 2015.
The elegant shape of the kimono highlights its textiles, and allows it to tell stories through its design. Shibasaki sees her work, including the piece she’s giving the NGV, as a “gift for young people”, decorated with messages about the past that are still relevant today. “I want to let young people learn about the culture and this piece was inspired by a ceramic being produced in the early Edo era,” she explains, pointing to a print she’s made inside her studio. It’s covered in crucifixes, bibles and text, symbolising the ban of Christianity in Japan for some 250 years during the Edo period. Shibasaki has been contemplating how language today is distributed through smartphones, something she views as potentially perilous. “In 1990, the computer was something we thought we could connect [with], but in 2009 the smartphone came out, and we are actually isolating ourselves,” she says. “I want to spread this message through kimonos.”
For Takahashi, the purpose behind her democratic black-and-white artwork stems from her childhood lived against the backdrop of Japan’s codified ideas of gender. “In elementary school, we have a bag we use – for girls, red, for boys, black,” she explains. “I was having a hard time living with this stereotype and restriction – why a woman needs to act one way, boys another.” The artist, who practises judo, points to an image of herself in her studio in which she wears one of her own pieces and stands tall with clenched fists, a stance often reserved for men. “We can rethink [gender roles] – it gives an opportunity again to think about other people,” she says.
The alluring curvature of Takahashi’s art represents unity and togetherness; her hope is for world peace. But, like Shibasaki, she says kimonos can be a way to reckon with the challenges of modern life. “You can doubt your thoughts, have an uncomfortable mindset. That’s what I want to do – I want people to question things or to have doubts. It’s not just designing a beautiful kimono, it’s using kimonos as a medium to question.”
The instantly recognisable shape and construction of the kimono has made it famous. But from Edo-era Japan to the present, its designs – some evoking a historic moment, others telling stories all their own – make up a compelling patchwork of past, present and even future Japan. Back inside Shibasaki’s studio, the designer points to a computer-generated image of the kimono she’s sharing with the NGV, which is designed for a young woman to wear on her ‘coming of age’ day, traditionally held when she turns 20. “This is 80 per cent complete. How to complete 100 per cent is about the person who actually wears it,” she says. “How they coordinate it, how they do their hair.” That part, she says, is up to you.
Kimono is on display at the NGV International until October 5.
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