Kimono

📍 4 JUNE – 5 OCTOBER AT NGV INTERNATIONAL

Kimono designs and Japanese style have inspired global art, design and fashion since Japan re-opened to the world in the mid nineteenth century. This exhibition displays historically significant and visually dynamic examples of costume and fashion from Japanese history, and establish a creative lineage to the most experimental and innovative fashion designers of today.

Works include Noh and Kogen costume, popular intricately decorated kimono of the samurai and merchant classes of the Edo period, examples of Japanese early interaction with western fashions during the late nineteenth century, Japanese modernist fashion of the early twentieth century, and key works by fashion innovators Issey Miyake and John Galliano, Japanese contemporary creative Hiroko Takahashi and Harajuku street fashions.

Alongside unique examples of kimono and kimono inspired costume the exhibition features paintings, posters, wood block prints, magazines and decorative arts that contextualise themes the kimono story. It presents the diverse skills mastered by traditional artisans that include shibori tie die, rice paste resist designs and indigo blue dyeing and highlight the numerous materials used for textile production throughout Japanese history, including silk, cotton, metallic thread, paper, elm bark, banana tree fibre and deer leather.

You may also like the following events from National Gallery of Victoria:

• This Thursday, 15th May, 10:00 am, Melbourne Design Week 2025 in Melbourne
• This Friday, 16th May, 10:00 am, Melbourne Art Book Fair | Stallholder Fair in Melbourne
• This Saturday, 17th May, 12:00 pm, Melbourne Design Week | Walking Tour in Melbourne

Also check out other Arts events in Melbourne, Exhibitions in Melbourne, Workshops in Melbourne.