In lieu of the usual post, to respect the passing over of HRH Queen Elizabeth and early departure of Diana, this post will be updated as and when in the future. It covers the known history of the British Monarchies brushes with Kimono and KTC which spans many types of materials and forms.
EIC
Whilst it is not certain, it is believed a series of Japanese Kosode could have been sent to King James I as part of the bid to begin trade with a European country such as Britain by as early as 1615.[1] These were originally exported into the country by the EIC between 1613-1620 when England operated a factory in Japan.
Indian Gownes
Banyan were imported into England by around 1665 and are likely to have been used in the courts of Charles II, brought from Amsterdam by the EIC ( East India Company ). During this time, the fashionable wore their Banyans with the sleeves and collars folded back to expose the luxurious silks used underneath.[2]
Merry Vests
The Banyan often was companion to the 3 piece suit which was invented at the court of Charles II in 1666. To promote English trade over French fashions worn by the aristocratic classes of England, Charles began a new fashion of wearing vests at his English court.
[Charles II] hath yesterday in Council declared his resolution of setting a fashion for clothes, which he will never alter. It will be a vest, I know not well how, but it is to teach the nobility thrift, and will do good. - Samuel Pepys 8/10/1666
The Banyan as a T-shaped garment made from silk for gentlemens loungewear was made in Britain certainly by the 1670s. It was with the advent of the newly fashionable three piece suit that aristocratic men began styling their wardrobes with lavish accents such as gold trim, silk buttons, satire worthy hats and overcoats to match. One of these fashions by 1675 was the Banyan style House coat or even Kimono in rarer instances in which the fashionable late 17th century man of means lounged around in.[2]
The Glorious Porcelain Revolution
Arita Porcelain Ware Bijin (c1690-1700) Royal Collection Trust
During the Stuart House (1603-1704) Queen Mary (1662-1694) and her consort William were invited to 'invade' England and become the reigning *protestant* monarchs. The incoming Continental born Queen brought the fashion for Porzellan zimmer (Porcelain rooms) which displayed hundreds to thousands of decorative porcelain pieces in their collectors home. Queen Mary was known for collecting Japanese Arita-ware and Dutch Delftware (imitation Guangzhou export porcelain) at the Water Gallery in Hampton Court, and it is thought that this China-collecting habit carried on as a fashionable court hobby for ladies in particular. So much so that collecting porcelain was considered a 'feminine trait' after 1690.
The Bijin porcelain collected in the period where first the Kakiemon-ware by the 1680s, then Arita-ware in the 1690s and most prominently Imari-ware at its height from 1700-1850. Whilst it can be said that the earlier incarnations of collectors of Kakiemon and Arita bought for the 'Indian effect', later British collectors prized Imari-ware for its own beauty. You can distinguish Kakiemon figures by their subdued Ma Ji-Monnyu and sparse use of motif and colour. Arita Bijin use distinctly black Obi in their designs and a limited blue-red-emerald green colourway and Imari-ware are immediately noticable for their use of intricate red-deep blue-gold colourways and red obi. Some of these features by this time will also have catered to European tastes as export-ware.
This (middle) Bijin figure wears a Genroku period (1688-1704) Ji-Monnyu style, and thus may be either from the collection of Queen Mary or Queen Anne (1665-1714). Due to the lack of interest in women collectors though, we can only go off the appearance clues alone in dating the figure, and whilst the Bijin figure is contemporary to Mary, the fashion for Imari, the colours associated in England with this aesthetic were far more popular in the reign of Queen Anne and thus could be from the collections of either of their majesties, reflecting the fascination with 'Indian Nightgownes' of the 1690s. This late Stuart tradition carried on until the Georgian period, when the fashions changed once more to suit contemporary tailoring.
Georgian Forays
Japanese export Banyan worn by George VI (c.1800) Musuem of Applied Art and Sciences
This recent archival liberation was worn by King George IV by the 19th century and was most likely acquired through the VOC.
Victorian Escapades
Japanese Tableau Scene Postcard (1891, PD) Royal Collection Trust
A tableau vivant scene performed every year at the Royal Residence around Christmas in 1891 was dedicated to performing a Japanese scene with the many Japanese objects collected in the Royal Collection for the enjoyment of Queen Victoria.
Anglo-Japanese Alliance 1902-1923
The Abdicated One or Edward VIII (c1921, PD) Anonymous
Why we call him the Abdicated One. (1937, Fair Use) BBC
Edward was very friendly with his Japanese counterpart, the Crown Prince of Japan during the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. He visited during the 1920s and dressed in Japanese Wafuku during his time there.
The Elizabethan Epoch
The Queen in Japan (1975) Someone
Princess Diana
Princess Diana on official tour duties (1986) Japan School
When Princess Diana visited Japan in 1986, she was gifted this intricate Furisode.
For more related British-Japanese royal interactions, see the Japan; Courts and Culture Exhibition on until February 2023. Has a great selection of how the royal family has kept certain items related to Japan as well as some of the original reciprocal gifts during the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
Bibliography
[1] Japanese Export Lacquer: 1580-1850, Oliver R. Impey, C. J. A. Jörg, Christiaan Jorg, 2005, p.600?
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This essay will explore how Beauty Pageants, principally Miss Universe, has engaged with KTC. While there may be real Kimono worn by Japanese and Japanese adjacent contestants in the 'National Costume' category, I will be focusing on the Kimonope worn by contestants. The idea of Kimono as a 'national costume' sparks interesting conversations on what 'national costumes' are, their target audiences, and how we form ideas about these things to begin with.
Akiko Kojima with Linda Watamaru in 'Oriental Dress' (1959, PD) Associated Press
Background on Miss Universe
Miss Universe began in 1952 as a marketing ploy by a California company Catalina to sell swimsuits and has continually run for 71 years now as an international arm of the Beauty Pageant Industry. Beauty Pageants such as Miss Universe have gone through many scandals, mostly regarding their lack of diversity, criticism from feminist groups, problems regarding eating disorders, ownership by the fart himself and denying full dignity (in the legal sense) to the incredibly intelligent and hard working women who take part in them.
Contestants today are judged on their looks, personality, aesthetics, knowledge, volunteer work and community based work as well. The Modern Miss Universe often provides opportunities such as modelling contracts, material goods and educational scholarships to winners.
Whilst it is rather semantic, a country it must be noted, is not a nation. Just as England is a country, the United Kingdom is the Nation. This I bring up to make note of why the first half of 'national costume' comes into play. The term 'Nation' as we understand it, derives from 18th century German philosophy (a very nasty headspace indeed; see Scientific Racism and Benjamin Rush for our Statesians friends) when the Holy Roman Empire was split up, creating Germany in its wake by 1815 (when your degree is actually useful XD). The idea of nation differs from country in that nation does not require the ownership of land to exist. A country does. It is in this fire and brimstone of the European republics phase that the term 'Nation' or 'Nation-state' came to be defined a group of people with shared attributes.
The National Costume Narrative
Firstly when we are talking about National Costumes, we must remember that in English we are talking about the historically European tradition of giving 'National Costumes' to certain groups. This began in the 18th century as a way to define what a country was and took off in the 19th in the advent of European Colonization which saw a desire to pseudo-classify and catalogue everything in existence.[5] This saw series of illustrated books drawn by many European and later American and Asian artists depicting the 'National Dresses' of certain groups to quell the thirst of the public appetite for 'rational' 'native' outfits which continues as National Costume Colouring books today. Albeit the focus is more on folklore, shared cultures and mainstream ethnicities today, an example being the controversial Han-fu for China, when instead more people are familiar with the Qipao of the Manchu.
Spanish Beauty [of Havana] (1796, PD) James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey, British Musuem
Whilst the image depicts a Theatre Socialite in Western Europe in 'Roman' dress no less, it is notable that the background highlights Havana, a trope used to denote which part of the world she would have been considered to have her 'heritage' from. This is typical of especially British 18th century ideas about 'nationality', which somewhat remain in Britain today and highlights the uptick in interest of this nature.
The Kimono as a National Costume brings up a series of interesting debates about national identity. That is how to define National Costume. For some countries, it is their traditional dress in a postcolonial world, others their folklore or mythological dress, some unofficial ceremonial garb, particular silhouettes, some particular colours and others types of lavishly decorated fabrics. These things are all subjective though when we consider that Nationality like money and gender, is a social construct; one that at times gatekeeps other ethnic identities from exerting any kind of power and suppresses more diverse national stories.
In Britain for example, there is no such definitive thing as a Kimono to call a National Costume. Instead we are often represented by tacky costumes only fit for Halloween which riff on the idea of what it means to be 'British', which axiomatically is a million and one things. British contestants for example since Kim Carlton (the English semifinalist) dressed up as a Beefeater (Yeomans Warder) in 1962.[1] Other examples include the 1968, 1971, 2010 and 2015 Beefeater costumes.[1][2][3] Other editions draw on the more vague Britannia, Monarchy-adjacent, Union Jack attire, with the latest by Jeaneatte Akua in a bid to the Pearley Kings and Queens of working class London culture.[4]
Pearly King of Upminster in his Skeleton suit (2011, CC2.0) William
In fact Welsh and Scottish (Kilts and Betgwyn) national dress only arose in response in the 19th century as part of the Celtic revival to prevent them from becoming extinct, and to save them for posterity in lieu of the English wool suit. It is in this sense we can see why 'National Costumes' carved out a space for themselves, as a need to make space in a dominant cultural identity which threatened to wipe their own out. Tartan in particular was originally banned by the English in the 1500s, along with the Celtic languages as a way at the time for King Henry VIII; originally Welsh himself; to get England into the Continental European spotlight by pushing a narrative of England first (sound familiar?).[12] It is for this reason I in particular do not refer to Kimono as a National Costume or Dress, as it a patriarchal paternalistic notion of hegemonic cultural/White supremacy that Kimono are distinctly outdated womens attire, only fit for the 'lesser race' (in the words of Leonce Benedite[11]) which I shall hereby Christen : Macarthism.[13]
*C*o*o*l* Japan
When it comes to the Kimono as a National Costume, there are some interesting theories about 'Cool Japan' (japanese conservative soft power push). It is interesting how the 'Dying Kimono' trope works, as it is a principle example of Macarthism at work at pushing the idea that traditional Japanese culture is inferior to the superior Western culture.[13] When we examine Akiko Kojimas original use of Kimono at the Miss Universe pageant for example, whilst she may have done (I cannot exclusively find evidence) she wears Kimono as everyday or at least casual wear, not as a traditional 'Oriental costume'. Kojima wore Kimono to hand accept and handover the 1960 crown, on tour as Miss Universe, to get married and in domestic commericals for example.[14][15] It seems therefore that generally civilian Japanese had not got the message yet about Americas superiority complex.
This had all changed however by the 1960s when Japan, as it had 100 years before, had to take on another great 'Modernization' period once more to reclaim its own position as great power once more. This internalized Macarthism is reflected in the way Ms. Akiko was represented in American society. In the same year that saw Donyale Luna, she and Akiko entered the pages of the previously all Hwight Harpers Bazaar, a magazine that refused previously to run models of 'color' in its pages. Akiko was presented in Western dress, not Kimono. This is striking as it tells us of the fact that Kimono was not considered fashionable enough to be considered as fashion in its own right, instead Akiko wore *acceptable* white brands such as Sarff-Zumpano Inc.[16]
It is interesting to note though that this comes with the caveat of internalized inferiority dealt with the idea that 'Japan lost the [Pacific] war'. This attitude in Japan commonly refers to the postwar generation of Japanese Teeners (I recently studied the etymology of teenager, never using that one again) who felt the burden of growing up in the shadow of Macarthism, in a world which saw the subjugation of Japanese culture as 'feudal', saw Japanese people as 'savages' for fighting on the wrong side of WWII and the unlawful incarceration of Nissei Americans (1942-1947). When 'Sukiyaki' was released to Western audiences it gave notions of Beef dinner, to a Japanese Teener, Ue o Muite Arukō (I look up as I walk) was reminiscient of the frustration of dealing with American occupation in the Anpo protests (1959-1970) and the Sunagawa Struggle (1955-1956). Its culmination being the murder of Chinese-American Vincent Chin in 1982 at the hands of Statesian men who thought he was Japanese.
Anti-Eisenhower Demonstrations (1960) British Pathe
Anpo Protests (2015) TuCraiN
It is in this cultural hegemony that we see the 'Dying Kimono' trope appear, because casual wear of the Kimono becomes a thing of your mothers generation by 1975, and your grandmothers by 1995. That is, the idiotic idea that Japanese=bad, American=good. When the next winner of Miss Universe wore Kimono, it was as a 'National Costume' in 2007 by Riyo Mori who wore an altered Kimono.[6] Ever since this time it has been commonly accepted that Japanese pageant goers wear Kimono to the National Costume section of the event. It is this internalized effort to become 'global' which has made the Kimono into 'vintage' exclusive fashion, if fashion at all, as Japan has attempted to claw back the image of the Kimono as fashion since the 1990s when it sees a revival amongst young people.
'Cool Japan', a sort of right wing Japanese politicians wet dream of global Japanese hegemony on par with the 1902 Russo-Japanese win in their books, has attempted to adopt the Kimono as a National Costume as well which is a strand of Japanese paternalism which in itself is just a strand of 1690s Iki ideas about the 'correct way' to wear Kimono (all 52 colourways and seasonal motif Houmongi or Komon included) mixed with a dash of inferiority complex, has thankfully yet to make any headway, but is certainly a proponent of the issue of bringing KTC into the global world as global fashion under Macarthism's influence.
It is in this climate that Ayako Hara wore an upcycled (?) Kimono to Universe 2012.[8] Yukimi Matsuo wore a Furisode to Universe 2013.[9] The cringe worthy conservative political version of 'Cool Japan' fosters a disturbingly ethnocentric idea of Kimono, which is also another thorn in the side of KTC. This thankfully saw a divergence when Miss Japan wore a bedazzled Seifuku (Sailor Uniform), influenced by Cosplay and Sailor Moon in 2018.[9] This move into national costumes like the Seifuku is particularly reassuring as it is the Death of the 'Dying Kimono' trope, in saying that Kimono is current and alive, and that culturally Japan has more to its 'national' culture than just reasserting 'Wafuku'. Wamono in this sense has shifted to a more inclusive contemporary understanding of the national, away from the stereotypical Longingism of 'coolies' and 'Geisha-girls'.
Kimonopes
It is in this strand of Kimono as national costume we come to the rather comical if mix of cultural Acculturation and Appropriation. They point thankfully to the more widely accepting side of global fashion which post 2005 began to accept Kimono as a global fashion garment. Post the John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen acceptance of KTC (lets be honest, who remembers half of the shows before the English swooped back in to finish Charles Worth's legacy) we recieve a number of reactions from the Western world which are tantamount to the grey area KTC exists in majority white spaces.
We see the confused 'National Costume' of Emiri Miyasaka who wore a Kimonope to Universe 2009.[7] This particular Kimonope appears to only worn in Summer, as the bottom half of the Susoyoke (Skirt Juban slip) is completely gone with only pink Panty and Stockings left. Designed by a French woman at the Miss Universe offices, a telling piece of Cultural Appropriation.
The absolute corker though that is Juri Watanabe's distinctly Kimo-nope to Universe 2021 is well ... there.[10] The ode to 'Harajuku fashion' (my 15 year old Textile class literally did better) that is that evening dress is stunning in its bid to be fashionable. Certainly more Cultural Acculturation than the mess that was Miyasaka's Kimonope, it still manages to be more Halloween than Ballroom gown. Topped with pink space buns, as you go down, the neckline falls away to reveal the Nihon Kanji etched in Sharpie and a sequined crossover pink cocktail dress with a train (right over left because we are dying of laughter), stretchy yellow polyester belt and 'Kimono' sleeves. Pink go-go boots and two moving beckoning cats complete the Camp.[10] Designed by the Israeli designer Aviad Herman, this Kimonope whilst horrifyingly bad, is a step in the right direction to curb the Dying Kimono trope of Macarthism, in displaying that KTC has made a comeback as global contemporary fashion.
Conclusion
In total we can how the context for many national costumes depends on how we define national culture. Kimono and other 'traditional' garments are often seen as 'national dress' due to the decline of their wear after the introduction of Western power structures, colonization and efforts to 'modernize' under globalisation. After 1955, this evolves from Macarthistic policy, which becomes internalized in Japanese culture by 1970 becoming the 'Dying Kimono' trope, which precipitates that old 'feudal' Japanese culture has been shed off becoming 'modern' Japan. After 1990 though, KTC was revived domestically and has since re-emerged as casual clothing once more both in Japan and globally with the rise of the digital age.
In context therefore, we see how the Kimono has become regarded as a 'National Costume' for Japan, but that when we explore how we get to the notion of certain modes of dress being 'Costumes' we can see how this can be a negative reinforcement of existing power structures through lenses such as Macarthism. The Kimonopes which exist in these spaces are often attempts at cultural appreciation, but more often are regarded as objects of cultural appropriation by many. Thankfully, we can also see post 2005, a resurgence in the pageant and fashion worlds of KTC as influential global fashion (for example the 2016 Furisode for Miss Mexico at Miss Latina USA designed by Sueko Oshimoto).[17] This sees the Kimono as a modern incarnation of fashion, part of its revival in the contemporary world we live in and allows Kimono to be seen as desirable in the current beauty standards we ourselves hold, unravelling the work of hwight supremacists. Thus seeing the reemergence of KTC as living, contemporary fashion, as seen in high fashion, beauty pageants and street fashion.
[11] Allegorizing Aryanism: Fernand Cormon's The Human Races, Maria P Gindhart, 2008, Volume 9, Online Edition, The Journal of the History of Art (Aurora), WAPACC Organization
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