Database / I I I I

Design Resources: Digital Archive

Holdings Classification (Registered Name)

Dress

Category

#Fashion

Year of Production (First Edition): 1956

Release Year: 1956

Designer: Toshiko Yamawaki

Manufacturer: A special production for Yamawaki's solo exhibition “Japanese Clothing and Costume Dolls: KIMONOS d'hier et d'aujourd'hui” held at the Chernusky Museum in Paris in 1957. Probably not for sale.

Materials and Techniques: The dress is made of purple silk taffeta (seiko) with Japanese gold thread embroidery of rough waves.

Design Registration Number: Unclear

Portrait and Publicity Rights Holder: Not Applicable

Copyright Registration Number: Unclear

Inquiries: KCI The Kyoto Costume Institute. Curatorial Division

Data Source

3-6: Information at the time of donation
8: Measured at KCI
9: Identified at KCI
10-11: “KIMONO REFASHIONED” exhibition catalog (San Francisco Asian Art Museum, 2018) Work commentary

Early examples of dresses made by Japanese people using Japanese embroidery techniques

Description

This gorgeous dress is made of purple silk taffeta (seiko) with bold embroidery of rough waves in a painterly manner. The wave pattern, widely known around the world, culminating in the works of Hokusai, is dynamically arranged on the front of the dress as if it were gushing out violently. Wave patterns have been popular in Japan since ancient times and are used for various decorations including kimonos. In this dress, the waves are embroidered with gold thread, giving the dress an even stronger impression.
Toshiko Yamawaki was one of the most active female designers in the prewar and postwar periods. As an educator, she not only led the shift to Western-style clothing in Japanese society through the establishment of a school for Western-style dressmaking and the publication of her first style book (“Clothing Art”), but also left behind many works that crossed or blended the distinction between Japanese and Western clothing.

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