KCIDigital Archives

The KCI Digital Archives on the KCI website presents image and text information for the objects in the collection, arranged in chronological order.

Dress

© The Kyoto Costume Institute, photo by Takashi Hatakeyama

You can enlarge by putting the mouse cursor on the image.

Dress

Spring/Summer 2001

Designer
John Galliano
Brand
Christian Dior
Label
Christian Dior BOUTIQUE PARIS
Material
Silk jacquard with printing, cotton tulle, vinyl, leather, and metal. Design featuring motifs of oxcart-wheel (genji guruma), plum-blossom, and chrysanthemum over a pattern of roses and possibly Japanese women.
Inventory Number(s)
AC10446 2001-5

This revealing design brims with playfulness and incorporates layers of imagery associated with Japanese elegance. The asymmetric skirt and the halter neck attached to the bodice emphasize the beauty of the low-cut neckline. The zip details at the chest and hip and the vinyl material on the bodice add a modern feel. Traditional Japanese designs—chrysanthemums, plums, and oxcart wheels—are printed on white silk with woven patterns of roses and women standing on a balcony. The impressionistic design is reminiscent of mid-nineteenth-century kosode. Western artists of that time, such as Jacques-Joseph James Tissot, sometimes included kosode—either worn by women or as room decor—in their paintings to conjure a voluptuous and exotic mood. Conveying the same sensuality nineteenth-century painters saw in kimono, Galliano skillfully expresses an evocative notion of femininity.
(Translated by the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco for “Kimono Refashioned: Japan's Impact on International Fashion”, 2018.)

2000s