This thesis analyses formal kimonos for young women and their prints. This paper attempts to draw a connection between femininity and symbolism through the use of flowers and colours.
This thesis looks at the development of new female identities in Taishō Japan (1912-1926) through the lens of kimono, answering the following research question: How was kimono modernised in the...Show moreThis thesis looks at the development of new female identities in Taishō Japan (1912-1926) through the lens of kimono, answering the following research question: How was kimono modernised in the Taishō period and how does this factor into the formulation of new female identities? The short economic burst that followed World War I resulted in a new middle class that had more money to spend on things like homeware and clothing. Developments in the textile industry and the abolishment of sumptuary laws in the Meiji period (1868-1912) provided people with the opportunity to purchase more affordable kimono, in styles that suited their own tastes. Department stores became popular, offering people a new, noncommittal way of shopping. Mass-media emerged and disseminated advertisements and articles featuring the icon of the moga, the 'modern girl'. This icon, often dressed in western clothing, working the white-collar jobs newly available to women, offered women an ideal to strive after that went against the ideal of the 'good wife, wise mother', which had been promoted since the Meiji period. However, the moga gained a superficial, hedonistic, even promiscuous reputation, and the Meiji ideals of womanhood remained influential. Most women continued to wear kiono, which allowed them to express their modern tastes through hair, accessories and kimonopatterns if so desired, while still complying with the Meiji ideal of the woman as preserver of tradition.Show less
In deze scriptie wordt ingegaan op de vraag hoe de traditionele Japanse kledingstijl heeft bijgedragen aan de opkomst en ontwikkeling van westerse kleding in Japan. Er wordt voornamelijk gekeken...Show moreIn deze scriptie wordt ingegaan op de vraag hoe de traditionele Japanse kledingstijl heeft bijgedragen aan de opkomst en ontwikkeling van westerse kleding in Japan. Er wordt voornamelijk gekeken naar de invloed van de losse pasvorm van de kimono en hoe deze op verschillende wijze een positieve invloed had op het dragen van westerse kleding in Japan vanaf het einde van de 19e eeuw.Show less
