Meisen Kimono
銘仙 / 1900s–1950s / Style / Fashion History
A popular kimono that carried bold abstract patterns and the bright colors of chemical dye on a cheap ikat technique. It was a Japanese modernism, translating Deco and the avant-garde into everyday dress.
At a glance
Visual cues
- Large abstract patterns
- Vivid chemical dyes
- Blurred kasuri edges
- Everyday experimentation
Best used for
- Bringing surprise to everyday wear through bold pattern at low cost
- Selling volume weaving that carries a painterly abstract pattern
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Let pattern speak instead of letters, the name kept on a small tag
- Composition
- Scale the repeat larger than the body and allow the seams to break it
- Material
- Chemical dyes on a stencil printed warp, keeping the blurred kasuri edge
- Caution
- Chasing a crisp register kills the blur that kasuri gives, and the cloth drifts toward being an ordinary large scale print.
- Further study
- The Ashikaga, Isesaki and Chichibu districts / the modern girl and mass consumption / hogushi weaving and combined kasuri
Related entries
- Rinpa (琳派)Editorially linked for a useful contrast.Compare Meisen Kimono and Rinpa
- Flapper (フラッパー)Same Fashion History lineage.Compare Meisen Kimono and Flapper
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Cite this entry
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- https://indexstyle.org/styles/meisen-kimono
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- [Meisen Kimono — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/meisen-kimono)
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