MANAKO JOURNAL

Essays on Dress, Culture and the Spaces Between

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Category: fashion history

  • What Does a Woman Artist Wear to Work?: Wardrobe at the Atelier

    Where does fashion actually happen? Charlie Porter’s What Artists Wear sets out to articulate a lesser-told realm of “fashion” — one found not on the runway, but in artists’ wardrobes. I first encountered Porter’s book in Japanese translation 「アーティストが服を着る理由」 published in the summer of 2025. Porter explores distinctive and personal dimensions in various artists’ appearances.…

  • Crossover of Looseness: Kimono and Women

    Kimono styling at Meiji era (1868-1912), might be more diverse, compared to our bias of kimono fashion. The exhibition:Unraveling the Evolution of Kimono Styles from Early Photographic Materials: Women’s Traditional Japanese Clothing in the Late Edo and Meiji periods (Dec. 2 2025-Jan. 24 2026) at Marubeni Gallery in Tokyo sought to unravel the transition of…

  • Kazuo Ohno: The Antique Lady’s Dress on Aging Man’s Body

    “How graceful Kazuo Ohno is, dancing in an antique dress.” ── Kazuko Shiraishi, Those Who Paddle Out into Space: A Canoe, a Logbook of a Voyage, 1977 Kazuo Ohno (1906 -2010) was one of the most impressive performers who pioneered Japanese avant-garde dance called “舞踏 (Butoh)”. His performances become renowned internationally at Festival de Nancy…