The following photographs provide glimpses into some of the radical changes that have marked the past century. At the opening of the Meiji era in 1868, only the few Europeans and Americans living in Japan wore Western dress. The kimono, which literally means “thing to wear,” was – and had been since the thirteenth century – standard dress for all Japanese. Elaborate time-honed conventions determined everything from color and pattern to sleeve length, and signified social class as well as […]

Categories: cloth threads • Tags: fashion, fashion takenoko, japan, takenoko