The first book that I looked at was by Alan Kennedy and it was published in 1990, its interesting as it shows the culture and understanding traditional aspect of Japanese’s fashion back in the days, the book focused more on the women but kimonos was worn by all genders. I was captivated by the patterns and history by the garments. I love the gold appliqué by one of the textile artist, it was very simple yet affective. Woman in the 18th century was not about showing a specific silhouette to look sexy but showing the humility and pureness of the colours and patterns in the garment, as they were about class and status back then.
There is an exhibition about Japanese kimonos in Victoria and Albert museum, the museum showcase illustrations and garments created in the ages. The museum definitely has a variety of Japanese’s heritage of different people with different stories and meaning. Such as social backgrounds whether they work for the royal family or in the royal family. It is exciting to see that these garments have been through as it teaches us about how far we have come after centuries of modernising the world.
The second book I choose was about Mexican costume by Chloe Sayer and published in 1985 was about the Mexican cultures and traditions. I chose this because of the vibrant colours and different weave pattern produced throughout the history of their ‘Sarape’ which is a traditional poncho worn by men and ‘Huipil’ which is a traditional dress worn by women, the women in Mexico had some of the most awesome and lively dress styles back then. I was attracted to the colour and simple designs and it was a very outstanding way of Mexican heritage.
There’s an exhibition in The Royal Ontario museum in Toronto about Mexican culture. The museum offers a range of textile design produced traditionally by people using traditional equipment’s back in the days and from today. They first draw their inspiration by their Aztec ancestors by incorporating loose fitting and colourful garments; from time to time their clothing has become refined and more elegant. Especially we used the technique that they use to create their ponchos such as weaving. It is what we used on our clothing these days. The Mexican people showcase vibrant and exiting ways of how people incorporate and draw inspirations by their surrounding such as the colours and different landscapes.
Overall I choose to dip into the culture and tradition by two different countries, because they both offer exciting colours and silhouette back in the days and with limited resources like fabric and colours both countries have showed how to still work with what they’ve got. With both they are different in some ways as the Japanese’s fabric are finer and more elegant to show their status back in the days, whilst Mexican fashion offers and cater to all the people, they draw in consideration of the people.
book 1 – Kennedy, Alan (1990), Japanese Costume: History and Tradition
book 2 – Sayer, Chloe (1984), Costume of Mexico
website –
https://www.vam.ac.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvLSb0o341wIVhpPtCh2EPADDEAAYASAAEgLbCfD_BwE
http://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/exhibitions/viva-mexico-clothing-and-culture