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Meisen Kimono: ziguzagu
collection
at Kazari
Collector 2007
450,Malvern Rd, Prahran
3181
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Bold design
and dazzling colour characterise Meisen kimono - from the
Taisho period 1912-26 when advances in industrialization and
‘modanizimu’ meant that for the first time, middle class
Japanese women could afford to buy silk kimono. Prior to this, silk
kimono were hand made and beyond the budget of the middle
classes.
These silk
kimono and haori jackets are a representative
selection of Meisen style displaying art deco designs from the
early C20th, collected in Japan over many years by Robert Joyce,
principal buyer and director of Kazari Pty Ltd and ziguzagu:
Vintage
Meisen
Kimono – East meets West
1912 to
1926 covers a period characterised by the increased influence of
Western culture in mainstream Japanese society, especially urban
society. The Meisen Kimono is a product of this period – of
distinctly Western designs in Japanese dress.
The term
Meisen refers to both a sophisticated Japanese textile technique
and a bold design aesthetic in kimono fashion worn in the late
Taisho period to the early Showa period.
A visually
striking and blurred graphic effect is created from combining
dominant bright colours with large scale all over patterning.
The more fashionable kimonos drew inspiration from art deco and art
nouveau designs and were worn by wealthy and middle class
women.
The
appearance of the cloth’s finished surface displays a
characteristic painterly quality and is produced by a process of
resisting and stencil printing colour and design directly onto
reeled silk yarn, of both warp and weft prior to weaving and is
known as e-gasuri, or ‘picture ikat’
The
finished fabric construction of Meisen cloth is a fine compact
plain weave, (Hiraori) which presents a mostly flat and
smooth face with a soft lustre. The weave has subtle texture
from slightly unaligned and inconsistent silk threads, which
traditionally were reeled from broken cocoons.
Meisen
textiles have a soft, slightly crisp handle and are light to medium
in weight. Originally Meisen Kimono cloth was woven from hand
reeled silk however later developments in Japanese silk production
led to more efficient and machine reeled silk making
Meisen
kimono can be worn, or hung as a work of art in your home or added
your textile collection.
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images to enlarge
Haori
jacket - striking Cherry
Blossom design
displaying blurred
effect typical of Meisen
technique
bright
geometrics
cubist and
painterly
vibrant colours and
designs
contrasting colours and
shapes
dazzling
striking
designs
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