"Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk" explores the garment's impact on global fashion, reflecting centuries of iconic designs, cultural exchange, and interplay of ideas. Published on By The year 2020 saw the opening of the biggest kimono exhibition outside Japan at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Covering from around 1600 to the present day, it demonstrated how social and political factors influenced kimono fashion.
It also revealed how countries outside Japan have influenced kimono, and how it has also affected fashion in other countries. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, what promised to be a block-busting show was closed after three weeks. Subsequently, the exhibition toured several cities in Europe.
Four and a half years later, it has come to its : the Victoria and Albert Museum's second home, Dundee, Scotland. As I was involved in a consulting role in the production of this exhibition, I was eager to see it once more in a different location. I also looked forward to enjoying the fabulous selection of historical and contemporary garments on display.
At the same time, I took a guided tour of the museum itself. This provided more food for thought, as the museum was designed by the famous Japanese architect, Kengo Kuma. Kuma takes his inspiration from natural forms.
His image for the museum was that it was to be like some sea cliffs rising up from the River Tay. Originally designed to stick right out into the river, it was found that the tidal flow was too fast and the ecol.