Japanese Western Fashion Collection.

$1,500.00

Item Number: 132604

Japan:, c. 1800.

Collection of six plates depicting the traditional attire of countries west of Japan including England, Germany, Portugal, Holland, Denmark, and Russia. Folio, each painting housed in a custom mat with a mylar guard. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

With the opening of Japan's ports for international trade in the 1860s, clothing from a number of different cultures arrived as exports; despite Japan's historic contact with the Dutch before this time through its southerly ports, Western clothing had not caught on, despite the study of and fascination with Dutch technologies and writings. The first Japanese to adopt Western clothing were officers and men of some units of the shōgun's army and navy; sometime in the 1850s, these men adopted woolen uniforms worn by the English marines stationed at Yokohama. From this point on, Western clothing styles spread outwards of the military and upper public sectors, with courtiers and bureaucrats urged to adopt Western clothing, promoted as both modern and more practical. By the beginning of the 20th century, Western dress had become a symbol of social dignity and progressiveness; however, the kimono was still considered to be fashion, with the two styles of dress essentially growing in parallel with one another over time.