By Helen McCarthy.

The Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk exhibition is impressive – so impressive that since I left the Victoria and Albert Museum I’ve worn nothing but kimono. I’m writing about it, right now, dressed entirely in kimono. Of course that’s nothing new. My crew-neck knit kimono and my straight leg Levi's stonewash kimono are my usual gear. “Kimono” is just a thing to wear – that’s what the word means.

But in academic or artistic terms, calling all clothes “kimono” is about as helpful as calling animation made in the USA with almost no Japanese input “anime.” Even the Japanese don’t call all clothes “kimono,” not any more. They call Levi’s Levi’s like everyone else – otherwise what’s the point of all that expensive brand identity-building?

The Victoria & Albert Museum is brilliant at analysing brand identities, uncovering the craftsmanship and skill behind them, and presenting them as something more interesting and significant than a logo on an expensive carrier bag. They’ve had a run of very successful blockbuster shows devoted to the houses of Balenciaga, Dior and Quant, each an object lesson in how to present art, craft and cultural anthropology. Now they show us the kimono as the house style of Brand Japan, and it’s much more than you expect. In this exhibition kimono, is revealed as classic yet edgy, elegant yet cool, historic and localised yet contemporary and diverse, a summary of the style, technique and aesthetic philosophy of a nation dancing on the edge of an identity crisis as it seeks to merge the best treasures of its past with the most marketable elements of its future. Continue Reading