Reduce, reuse, recycle: the kimono revival in Japan as a strategy of self-orientalization

Abstract

The kimono revival in contemporary Japanese society seems to be pertinent and of high actuality given the multiple articles on the topic in the press and even books; however, it is far from being the first one. Therefore, the study starts with the reconstruction and comparison of previous revivals in Japanese history since the beginning of the Meiji period (1868–2010). In addressing political, social and economic aspects as well the author highlights the way in which nationalist tendencies and international conflicts equally provided impulses for the multifaceted phenomenon of kimono revivals at different moments in history. In the core of the study, based on ethnographic fashion research, Oly Mayela Firsching-Tovar sets out for the first time to analyze the multifaceted aspects of the contemporary kimono revival. Thus, in elucidating the connection between the beginning of the most recent trend and recycled kimono, she shows how in this revival kimono has become part of “casual wear,” as a commodity ready to be consumed in multiple ways. But the commoditization of the kimono was not itself enough to bring about the third kimono revival: this also required the commoditization of history by turning it into nostalgia—especially in the context of tourism in Japan, where historic sites and key events were re-created as stages for the performing of the dressed body in kimono, targeting female and male consumers alike.