kimono beauty

At the beginning of the month, I received an invitation to the opening reception for the latest exhibit at the Chiba City Museum of Art, Kimono Beauty! Since it seemed silly to go to the opening reception without having seen the exhibit (though actually I think a lot of people at the reception went to see it right after, since the museum is open late on Fridays), I took off work a little bit early to go check it out.

As you may be able to guess from the name, the main focus of the exhibit was kimonos from the middle of the Edo Period (1603-1867) to the beginning of Showa Era (1926-1989). Some of them actually came from the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, donated by an American named William Sturgess Bigelow in the early 1900s, which I found somewhat ironic but also pretty cool.

Anyway, the kimonos were absolutely gorgeous! Unfortunately I don't have any photographic evidence, as I forgot to bring my camera and I didn't want to bother people with the sound of my cell phone camera (because you can't silence the shutter sounds on Japanese cell phone cameras), so you'll have to just take my word for it (or go see it, if you're in Japan!). The basic kimono shape was the same, but there were all sorts of different designs, patterns, materials, and of course, colors! It was cool to see designs that weren't symmetrical or whether the details were dyed or embroidered, etc. Some of them kimonos also had what seemed like super modern colors and patterns to me, which made it easier to imagine them as something you could wear every day, like they used to.

There were also a lot of hair ornaments and accessories on display, which were also very cool and beautiful - I had a fun time trying to imagine how exactly they were used (since it wasn't always obvious to me, haha). Then they had obis (the sashes you use to tie up the kimonos) and books and paintings from those time periods, though I was running a little short on time so I didn't really have time to appreciate them fully.

Afterward I went up to the opening reception and heard a few remarks by the mayor, the assembly chairman, and a representative from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which was pretty cool, though I had somewhere else to be later so I didn't stay too long.

Anyway, I thought it was a really great exhibit and I definitely recommend it to anybody who can go, especially since it'll only be here until the mid-February! I think I found it especially interesting because I recently signed up for kimono lessons, aka learning how to put them on, which apparently even Japanese people don't always know how to do. My first lesson is tomorrow, so that'll be exciting! :)