This exhibition features a gift in 2008 from the June Tsukamoto-Lyon collection, which provided breadth and further quality to Pacific Asia Museum’s already substantial collection. Kimono in the exhibition run from the most formal type reserved for very special occasions to children’s clothing, undergarments and light summer wear. Fabric patterns in the kimono range from deep black with reserve details in white, to Op-art that dazzles the eyes, with each garment giving a strong sense of the wearer’s taste, the modes of contemporary fashion, or requirements of the season in which the kimono was worn.
From this exhibition I learned a great deal about how Kimonos are created and their cultural references. For example, the patterns that adorn kimono are very significant, for it is through choice of color and, most importantly, decorative motifs that the wearer's gender, age, status, wealth, and taste are articulated.
The images used on kimono often have complex levels of meaning, and many have specific auspicious significance which derives from religious or popular beliefs. The crane for example, is one of the most popular birds depicted on kimono. Believed to live for a thousand years and to inhabit the land of the immortals it is a symbol of longevity and good fortune.
The use of specific motifs can allude to the virtues or attributes of the wearer (or those they might aspire to), reflect particular emotions, or relate to the season or occasion. Such symbolism was used especially on kimono worn for celebratory events such as weddings and festivals, when it served to bestow good fortune on the wearer, wrapping them in divine benevolence and protection. This use of auspicious motifs in dress reveals the Japanese belief in the literal, as well as the figurative, power of images.
When studying Japanese literature, it would be fitting for my class to attend this exhibit. Here they would learn about Asian society through the Kimono, and they would understand how Asian women presented themselves to society.
This was a beautiful exhibit that I highly recommend.
edited by mwatt on 12/9/2012
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Pacific Asian Museum: The Kimono Exhibition
04/16/2013 05:20 AM
#1
Pacific Asian Museum: The Kimono Exhibition
Thank you, mwatt for sharing this! I visited this museum several years ago and it sounds like I will have to go back within the next couple of months before this exhibition leaves. According to your description and the description on the museum's website, the kimonos seem very interesting and beautiful. Last year, my Japanese-American friend got married and I was in her wedding. In between the ceremony and reception, she changed into a kimono. Actually, I shouldn't say she changed--it was more like she stood there for 45 minutes while her grandmother layered and wrapped layers upon layers of clothing on her! It was INSANE how long the process took and how much she was wearing in the end. Having seen firsthand the process of a woman putting on a kimono (definitely not a one-woman job), I look forward to checking out this exhibit!
What I personally enjoyed about the exhibit was the way they recreated the feel of the room to make the guest feel as if he or she were in Japan. The room was a represention of a home in Japan with screen walls. I did not know that there were under kimonos as well and that there were rules regarding colors, materials, and designs that social classes could wear. Very interesting exhibit.
I find the japanese kimono to be extremely beautiful and having read a little bit about the traditions and symbolism of the kimono Im sure that I would find the exhibition very intriguing I am going to certainly try to see it.
The Japanese kimono is a treasure. In my childhood home, a gorgeous wedding kimono was framed in the living room and I gazed at it daily. Kimonos as rich as those were not for little girls to play with. Instead we entertained ourselves with cheap versions and looked forward to Girls Day when we were rewarded with dolls in decadent mini versions of the beautiful wedding kimono.