Kimono History and Contempory Fashion Term Paper

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...these designers placed great significance on clothing inherited from the past, including Japanese farmers' clothes designed through necessity and adapted dyed textile and quilting from ancient Japan, which Japanese would not consider fashionable. These designers presented them to the fashion world, gave the opportunity for 'the neglected' to make their existence known, and transformed them into 'fashion'."(Kawamura, 2004, 125)

Kawakubo, Miyake and Yamamoto are considered as the designers who made these first steps towards a new fashion more concrete: "While Kenzo is considered a pioneer among all Japanese designers, Kawakubo, Miyake and Yamamoto are the ones who created a new style characterized by monochromatic, asymmetrical and baggy looks."(Kawamura, 2004, 125) the asymmetrical and baggy look of their designs is clearly influenced by the loose form of the kimono. Sometimes, in Miyake's creations for example, the dresses are completely shapeless and have random holes that offer a certain freedom when wearing them: "There was a garment that was totally out of shape and had four holes. You could hardly tell which holes are supposed to be for the arms to go in or the neck to go in. During the rehearsal, Issey's patternmakers would be going around the dressers making sure we knew which hole was for which part of the body." (Kawamura, 2004, 134) This freedom of wear is also influenced by the kimono, which, although worn according to prescribed rules, can always be adjusted to the body or to the occasion, etc. Also, Miyake uses a special method in his designs that is called "A Piece of Cloth,"that is clothes made out of a single piece of cloth which would entirely cover the body" (Kawamura, 2004, 135)

Kawakubo asserts that "Perfect symmetry is ugly, I want to destroy symmetry" (Kawamura, 2004, 134), again being influenced by the asymmetrical kimonos.

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Yamamoto's "signature designs consist of large pieces of stiff fabric draped and folded around the body. Like Kawakubo's, they were unisex and shapeless, concealing the female body."(Kawamura, 2004, 132)

Other designers, from Europe and America have been influenced by the kimono. Jil Sander and Giorgio Armani for example, were inspired by Japanese style of dressing when designing their androgynous and loose jackets. (Martin, 220)

Emiko Miki, combined in the Tokyo Collection the kimono-inspired couture with technological devices or gadgets such as portable video screens. Tom Ford took the idea of a kimono and made it into a simple beach cover-up, that arranges itself loosely on the body.

Thus, it can be seen that the traditional kimono still plays a very important part in the contemporary fashion, and not as an exotic element, but as an integral part of the designs for either casual or evening ware.

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