Meiji Period Inspiration
Inspired by the two earlier pieces on cricket and the Zouaves, and also intrigued by the idea of more colorful steampunk costumes, I’ve put together a little piece here on Meiji period (1868-1912) Western-influenced dress in Japan. Hopefully its bright and colorful pictures make up for my ramblings on about the history. ;)
1868 marks the beginning of the modern period in Japan. Though, contrary to popular belief, Japan had regular contact with the outside world before this time, it had been formally a closed country and did not allow foreigners to move freely about the country. Here’s a print of a foreigner’s house in Yokohama. Note the exotic Western women and their flouncy dresses in comparison with the narrow silhouette of the kimono.
However, after Perry and the US Navy forced the shogun to open up Japan to trade, Japan embarked upon a rapid period of modernization. In the first part of this period (known as the Meiji period for Emperor Meiji), this meant Westernization, and the emperor, appearing for the first time in visual art, was clothed as a modern monarch in Western-style military uniform. Here is an image of the royal family: emperor, empress, and crown prince.
Other members of the government, businessmen, scholars, and similar forward-thinking men followed the emperor’s lead and adopted Western clothing.
While it took women a little longer to begin to adopt the new fashions, once the empress and her ladies-in-waiting switched to Western-style dresses, they became examples of modern women for the rest of the new nation.
However, don't think that kimono disappeared. Kimono were still worn by most women, but were now often cut out of exotic new fabrics, or with patterns influenced by foreign trade.
While these images might lead one to believe that in there was an abundance of Western-style clothing in Japan at this time, that's not quite true. The images function somewhat as fashion plates, showing people what these new exotic, fascinating clothing styles were. Most of the empress’ clothing was first imported from France, as seamstresses trained in complicated Western clothing did not yet exist in Japan. Also, the cost of such luxurious imported fabrics would have been prohibitive to most people. Often what you would have seen on an ordinary person would have been traditional Japanese clothing with a modern, Western accessory. A woman might have a wool shawl over her kimono, a man a bowler hat or an umbrella. Sometimes there were misunderstandings and Western underwear was worn as outerwear. I think this mix is very steampunk!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed these images. I think they’re great inspiration for colorful steampunk! They’re all woodblock prints from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and I recommend you check out their website (www.mfa.org) for more prints!
1868 marks the beginning of the modern period in Japan. Though, contrary to popular belief, Japan had regular contact with the outside world before this time, it had been formally a closed country and did not allow foreigners to move freely about the country. Here’s a print of a foreigner’s house in Yokohama. Note the exotic Western women and their flouncy dresses in comparison with the narrow silhouette of the kimono.
However, after Perry and the US Navy forced the shogun to open up Japan to trade, Japan embarked upon a rapid period of modernization. In the first part of this period (known as the Meiji period for Emperor Meiji), this meant Westernization, and the emperor, appearing for the first time in visual art, was clothed as a modern monarch in Western-style military uniform. Here is an image of the royal family: emperor, empress, and crown prince.
Other members of the government, businessmen, scholars, and similar forward-thinking men followed the emperor’s lead and adopted Western clothing.
While it took women a little longer to begin to adopt the new fashions, once the empress and her ladies-in-waiting switched to Western-style dresses, they became examples of modern women for the rest of the new nation.
However, don't think that kimono disappeared. Kimono were still worn by most women, but were now often cut out of exotic new fabrics, or with patterns influenced by foreign trade.
While these images might lead one to believe that in there was an abundance of Western-style clothing in Japan at this time, that's not quite true. The images function somewhat as fashion plates, showing people what these new exotic, fascinating clothing styles were. Most of the empress’ clothing was first imported from France, as seamstresses trained in complicated Western clothing did not yet exist in Japan. Also, the cost of such luxurious imported fabrics would have been prohibitive to most people. Often what you would have seen on an ordinary person would have been traditional Japanese clothing with a modern, Western accessory. A woman might have a wool shawl over her kimono, a man a bowler hat or an umbrella. Sometimes there were misunderstandings and Western underwear was worn as outerwear. I think this mix is very steampunk!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed these images. I think they’re great inspiration for colorful steampunk! They’re all woodblock prints from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and I recommend you check out their website (www.mfa.org) for more prints!