Relay Column: Creating a "New Body" – An Examination of Improvements Made to the Kimono in Modern Japan (Saki Suzuki)

I live with my grandmother, who turned 82 this year. She absolutely loves dressing up and mostly wears clothing designed by fashion designers from her own generation. On the other hand, she has also stored many kimonos in a paulownia chest. Sometimes she pulls out her favorite piece and skillfully dresses herself to go out.

Born just before the Pacific War broke out, my grandmother is not from a generation that routinely wore kimonos. Nevertheless, she must have witnessed how people's attire gradually transitioned from kimono to western clothing. "Kimonos are hard to move in, but people from the past always wore them," she says, refusing to let go of the inconvenient form.

Japan has a unique clothing situation that "accepted" western clothing, but this acceptance was not easily accomplished. As Masato Inoue explains, the westernization of women meant discarding the pre-modern "inconvenient old body," and afterward, a "new body" had to be established (1). The formation of that "new body" is—much like my grandmother who does not part with her kimono—a process frequently attempted within the transition to western clothing, fluctuating between kimono and western attire.