East Meets West at Japonesque

by Sally Norton, First published for the September/October 2003 issue of Finery

On Sunday, Oct. 5 GBACG presents Japonesque, A Victorian Afternoon in Hakone Gardens (2100 Big Basin Way, Saratoga). This event offers something special in costuming: an opportunity to explore and combine American/European and Japanese fashions of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. Your interpretations may be historical or fanciful. Both views are correct because the trend in Orientalism was frivolous.

The enthusiasm for Orientalism started early in the 19th century. The success of British and American shipping enterprises brought eastern goods into the west. Textiles, pottery, painted screens, swords and fans all were enthusiastically absorbed into already over-crowded Victorian parlors.

Ladies and gentlemen of fashion and leisure were not content to simply look at Oriental objects in their homes. Gradually, traditional Japanese garments and textiles found favor as elegant ‘at home’ attire. Today, the Japanese kimono is a perfectly ordinary option for a bathrobe but, the kimono began it western life as avant-garde fashion garment. It was popular as a tea gown; a shorter version was worn over walking skirts creating a skirt and bodice tea gown. With these Eastern/Western ensembles, ladies wore flowers in their hair and carried hand-painted Japanese fans.

Both men and women in the Edwardian era wore the Kimono as a light jacket over western attire. Instead of a smoking jacket, a gentleman might don a kimono in the afternoon or evening, worn over his trousers and shirt. A lady chooses a kimono in a beautiful floral design to wear over a plain house-dress or skirt and bodice. Such a pleasing and attractive ensemble was tres chic for a visit with a few intimate friends.

In the 1880s fashionable Japanese ladies had western clothing custom-made out of Japanese textiles. The resulting garments are of extraordinary beauty. By the 1890s western ladies of fashion returned the compliment; Japonesque textiles found particular favor used in evening gowns. After 1900, we see Japanese textiles combined with western textiles in chic afternoon ensembles.