Īt the beginning of the Meiji period, some women did adopt Western fashion, but were relatively few and far between, as all Western-style clothing was imported from Western sources.
: 64–65 During this time, the kimono continued to evolve as a fashionable garment, and would evolve the formalised predecessors of modern types of kimono for women during the following Taishō period (1912–1926).
Women, having always been slower to adopt Western dress than men, continued to wear the kimono as fashionable and everyday clothing, and did not adopt Western clothing as everyday dress to nearly the same degree as Japanese men. : 84 In the final stage of the Meiji period, during the 1890s, popular culture and clothing saw a callback to nativism, in which the kimono re-established itself as the primary dress of the Japanese people, with Western-style clothing mostly relegated to formal roles, uniforms, and men in positions of power or obligation of dress. : 83įollowing the Rokumeikan period, due to a proliferation of Western dress over two decades, a single piece of yōfuku no longer served the purpose of distinguishing someone as modern and progressive. Two decades into the Meiji period, it became increasingly hard to find men with uncropped, chonmage-style hair and women with blackened teeth, styles mostly relegated to rural areas. During the Rokumeikan period, Western culture grew in popularity, and a number of clothing reforms including a Westernised system of dress. The Bunmei kaika period was a period wherein Western products were adopted quickly, and were mixed with elements of yōfuku, such as Western-style shoes and hats being worn by men when wearing kimono. This transition came to be referred to as three, distinctive periods: Bunmei kaika (1868–1883), the Rokumeikan (1883–1890s), and a unnamed period of nativist revival afterwards in the 1890s. The transition to Western-style clothing throughout wider Japanese society happened gradually, with a significant degree of resistance. While those in employed in the Imperial court, office workers and factory workers wore Western dress at work, many still chose to wear kimono and other traditional Japanese clothing ( wafuku) at home. The Western trends adopted by the government were not popular with the public at large. Western-style uniform was first introduced as a part of government uniform in 1872, and quickly became associated with elitism, modernity, and money. Perry, forcibly opened Japanese ports to American vessels, thus ending Japan's centuries-long policy of isolation – and the Meiji Restoration in 1868, which saw the feudal shogunate dismantled in favour of a Western-style modern empire.ĭuring the Meiji period, Western-style fashion ( yōfuku) was first adopted most widely by Japanese men in uniformed, governmental or otherwise official roles, as part of a drive towards industrialisation and a perception of modernity. Japanese clothing during the Meiji period (1867–1912) saw a marked change from the preceding Edo period (1603–1867), following the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate between 18, the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854 – which, led by Matthew C. Improvement or change is often incremental and based on a mix of successes and failures.A woodblock print by Yōshū Chikanobu showing Japanese women in Western-style clothes, hats, and shoes ( yōfuku) The secret to life success is getting out of your comfort zone! Trying new things, noting what works for you, and trying again. We only go through this life once – so if you want to be bold, now’s the time: BE BOLD. Keep building that dream wardrobe gradually so you have what you like when the opportunity comes along. Want a cape or cloak? Start making it or save for it. However it works for you, there is no reason for you not to be happy with your personal style. Or maybe you’ll be more comfortable making small changes that become more bold over time. You may be fine making a bold statement by breaking out in your new fashion.
Take it on in baby steps like other new endeavors. Enlist a friend to go with you to a costuming event, hold a costume party, or just go out with you in everyday capes. If you want to dress boldly but are afraid, try it out in small amounts – “slow and steady” and all that. Like so much in life, we advance when we push ourselves past where we’re comfortable.
Billy Porter in original outfit for 2019 Golden Globe Awards