MAKING THE UNFAMILIAR FAMILIAR

The phrases 'making the unfamiliar familiar' and 'making the familiar unfamiliar' are analyzed in the context of fashion in Japan and the West.

There is the common phrase ‘making the unfamiliar familiar.’ It means that when one finds something strange and unknown, humans try to make sense of it by connecting it with things they do know. People tend to favor familiarity because what is familiar is considered ‘safe.’ However, that is not always the case. Sometimes, people want the unfamiliar because what is familiar can be ‘boring.’ Therefore, throughout history, people have sought the ‘exotic.’ This was also the case for the fascination and obsession with Japanese art and culture in the west. It was nothing like what the west had seen before. It was new and fresh. It was 'exotic.'

Alfred Stevens, The Japanese Parisian, 1872, oil on canvas, 111.8 cm × 77.3 cm, La Boverie, Liège, Belgium

Making the Unfamiliar Familiar in Europe

Japanese fashion was a source of fascination for western society, specifically for the women at the time, starting in the nineteenth century.

"The rising fascination with Japanese culture in Europe became a social and cultural indicator. Clothing was one of the most affected traits: women from the upper classes started to incorporate traditional Japanese motifs and fabrics into their daily clothing styles."6

With the opening of Japan, fabrics from Japan came to Europe, and it was used in the fashion of the time. Japanese products created a massive attraction for the European public.

"Especially for women of upper social stations, who were delighted with the artistry of Japanese women’s products, such as kimono, belts (obi), hairpieces (kōgai), combs (kushi), fans, boxes and cases for calligraphy (suzuribako), or medicines (inrō). All of these had intricate and beautiful ornamentations that European women found fascinating."13

This obsession was reflected in the art of the time. Like James McNeill Whistler, Alfred Stevens, and James Tissot, many artists started using Japanese props in their paintings. They even began making portraits of women in kimonos.13

In the Japanese Parisian, Stevens paints a Parisian lady wearing a kimono at home. This is an essential detail because, at the beginning, kimonos were used only at home as a robe for being comfortable, fashionable, and presentable to receive guests.13 Because of the idea that the kimono was a luxury item at home in Europe, the woman is in full makeup with her hair well-dressed in the picture. In addition, she is not wearing a kimono in the traditional way a Japanese woman would. The kimono should be worn completely tightened, covering a woman's chest up to part of her neck. However, the Parisian woman wears the kimono loose, and in the reflection of the mirror, her white undergarment can be seen, reinforcing the idea of the robe or gown. The European woman is taking the unfamiliar kimono changing its usage to fit her own familiar culture.

Stevens Alfred Reverie, Portrait of a Woman, c. 1880, oil on canvas.

A similar concept can also be seen in Reverie's Portrait of a Woman, as her kimono is worn similarly to Stevens's Parisian woman. However, this portrait takes it even further with the jewelry. Her crown, necklace, earrings, and bracelet are from western fashion. It almost reflects ancient fashion, like ancient Greek or Roman, but they are definitely not Japanese. The accessories are another way to make the unfamiliar kimono more familiar.

Gustave Léonard de Jonghe, The Japanese Fan, 1865, oil on canvas, 86.5 x 112.5 cm, Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens

This new fascination for kimonos and the Japanese aesthetics resulted in upper to middle-class women acquiring kimonos from Japan and repurposing them as western dresses.13 Gustave Léonard de Jonghe's painting shows how a kimono was repurposed. The linear line of the typical shape of the kimono is gone. There is a bustle in the kimono, making it full and voluminous which was considered fashionable and standard in the Victorian Era.13

Unknown, Furisode Kimono-style dressing gown, 1885, silk (photogr.). FIDM Museum & Galleries.

Another example of how Europeans would have a bustle made with kimono fabric. It was cheaper and easier to buy a kimono than kimono fabric, so they would buy a kimono and dismember it to make modifications and sew it to make a jacket or part of a bustle.13 Wearing kimonos in Europe was not frowned upon as long as it was within a Victorian aesthetic. Thus, kimonos would be dismantled and reused as part of dresses worn outdoors, while those worn as a complement indoors endured fewer modifications.13

Making the Unfamiliar Familiar in Japan

Yōshū (Hashimoto) Chikanobu, Western Clothing from the series An Array of Auspicious Customs of Eastern Japan (Azuma fūzoku, fukuzukushi-Yōfuku), 1889, woodblock print, 32.9 x 22.7 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Europe’s fashion was not the only one affected by these exchanges of fabrics and culture. There was a similar pattern happening in Japan as well.

There was a growing interest in Europe in Japan once the borders were opened. Many of the customs that the foreigners brought along with them were initially incomprehensible to the Japanese.

In Europe, kimonos were kept as a luxury and were originally used at home; initially, the same happened with bustles in Japan. Although there are many photographs of Japanese girls and women from wealthy families dressed in European clothes, this was initially only done for the photoshoots, as something exotic and eccentric in Japan. The adoption of Western clothing was limited in the Meiji period to "uniformed professionals or the élite, particularly men."2

"Adopting European dress marked Japanese men as equal participants on the global stage and allied them with the associated characteristics of rationality and seriousness.”7

However, there are many prints showing Japanese women in European fashion, as seen in Chikanobu's print which often focused on new women's fashion. As seen in the print, the Japanese incorporated their own aesthetic into Western fashion. The women are wearing western dresses, but it isn't exactly like the clothes ladies in Europe wear. There are elements about the clothes that are still very Japanese. For instance, there are examples of nioi dying ("ombre") in skirts that are not common in Western fashion but common in Japanese. There are red accents, especially at the collar, cuffs, and sometimes at the hem. Kimonos were often lined in bright red as well.

Another prevalent thing is the Japanese color aesthetic. Japanese women have a uniqueness in the way they choose colors and prints, mixing colors Europeans would not typically put together. Traditional Japanese motifs can be seen in the patterns, rather than roses, which were popular in the west, like chrysanthemums or cherry blossoms.

Day Dress/Reception Dress, c. 1880s, belonging to Marquise Nabeshima Nagako; Jingu Chokokan Museum

This dress is another spectacular example of cultural fusion. One can see the traditional Japanese design motifs in the fabric and the trim. Unlike the other kimono ball gown that was examined, this was geared toward the Japanese market, not the western.

It can be seen how the Japanese made the unfamiliar dress of the west and made it familiar.

Making the Familiar Unfamiliar

Sapporo Breweries Ltd. ad, c. 1908

Women were considered the "keeper of tradition." Social norms did not allow them to wear western clothes. It was expected that they wear traditional kimonos daily.

"In Japan, women maintained traditional customs, allowing men to modernize without jeopardizing the existence of Japanese culture. And because the kimono was an effective visual representation of Japanese culture for English (and other foreign) visitors, Japanese women who did wear European fashion may have been perceived (at least on some level) as not fulfilling their expected role and therefore contradicted western perceptions of Japanese identity that appealed to their own sensibilities."11

Seen in the Sapporo ad, the elaborate traditional outfit, with a full set of accessories, is being used to advertise beer, a distinctly “modern” item.2 Women were expected to be depicted in traditional clothes even next to modernity. With the full makeup, it's as if the woman is trapped in time.

Kasho Takabatake, Magazine cover (“Soyo Kaze”), mid-1920s.

However, by the 1930s, women became more and more fashion-conscious. The extreme "modern girl" (more details about the "modern girl" in Japan can be seen here) dressed in western style.2 However, that was not yet typical at this time. They were not ready to go against the social norm. So, like the European woman in Reverie's Portrait of a Woman, Japanese women often used accessories to keep up with the fashion.

"A more acceptable compromise was the integration of European accessories with the kimono, which was not only more practical for Japanese women, but also blurred the visual boundaries between Japanese women and their European counterparts."11

The typical fashion would be a "high-fashion kimono, accessorized with a short hairstyle, fur tippet, and vivid lipstick"2 as seen in the magazine cover by Kasho Takabatake. Looking back to the traditional genre of seasonal portraits of beautiful women, the print shows a woman in a fashionably striped kimono with a haori jacket patterned with motifs from Western playing cards, and a scarf combining that with the rajiomaki hairstyle of coils which resembled headphones over the ears.2 The woman is dressed in traditional clothes, but she is also modern.

To make the familiar unfamiliar, Japanese women at this time paired their traditional familiar kimonos with the unfamiliar, fashionable non-traditional hairstyles and accessories.