History of Meisen 銘仙
When we picture Japanese kimono, we envision the Japanese garment covered in similarly traditionally figurative images: Floral motifs, animal, mountain peaks, houses and creating seascapes. But cross-country cultural exchange and inspiration between Japan and the West started in earnest during the Meiji period (1867 - 1912).
The Meisen Kimono went on stage in the Taisho period (1912-1926) with big, bold, exuberant and colorful designs inspired by Western modernist art and they looked quite different than they once were. The following years up to 1950s, the Meisen Kimono was the kimono of the modern, independent Japanese women. By 1950-1960 the fashion became more westward and the demand for Meisen Kimono declined. Today there are only a couple of craft workshops are still making Meisen, but only in very little numbers.
The print and weaving technique of Meisen silk is called Ikat. The silk was woven on loom and before the silktreads were put on the loom, the treads were hand-printed by stencils (one color per stencil), here after the printed treads were placed on the loom and woven. Finally, the kimonos were hand-sewn. Ikat silk is an old technique, originated from India. It was conveyed to the east and west by cross country trade and developed in each country. In the 18th and 19th century it was produced in Lyon in France, and was very popular by the court and the upper class. A man called Tokutaro Kondo returned in 1882 to Japan from Lyon, appointed the president of Ashikaga Industrial school in Gumma Japan. It tells that he applied the Ikat technique learned in Lyon to Japanese kimono. The technique produce a silk with blurry edge of the print and where both side were printed equally.
The development of Meisen, the combination of a less expensive silk and a stencil print and weaving technique, brought modern silk kimono fashion within the reach of many women for the first time. Wealthier Japanese women and the modern working women wore them for everyday town wear. Country girls perhaps had just one to wear on special occasions. The designs and the patterns of the Meisen silk were rather simple in the early stage such as stripes, cross, arrow feathers and small repeated patterns, these meisen Kimono were sold in large numbers at the department stores in Japan. Afterwards the traditional patterns changed to stylized and large flowers and landscapes, and by the Taisho (1912 - 1926) and early Showa (1926 - 1945) Era vibrant, big, and dynamic designs arrived, inspired by European art movement such as Art Deco and Nouveau, Abstract Expressionism and Constructivism. The designs have the bright colors swaths of Fauvism and the bold, geometric patterns of Art Deco.
During the 1920s, Meisen Kimono was in great vogue especially among the young urban women who, with these bold designs, find a way of expressing herself as the new independent and modern woman.
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