The Russian State Library continues its lectures on the culture and art of African and Asian peoples. And today we would like to offer you the new videos where Ms Anastasia Bakina, an art critic practising kitsuke (着付け), collector and junior curator of “First Moscow Gallery of Oriental Art” being alumna of the Theory and History Art Department of Moscow State Stroganov Academy of Design and Applied Arts, speaks on the traditions and peculiarities of the Japanese national dress. 

Three meetings devoted to the kimono, "something to wear" or “thing worn on the shoulders“, will make you plunge into the history, symbols and design of the traditional Japanese clothing. You’ll get to know how kimonos differ in construction and wear between men and women, you will see how these unique articles of clothing are created, and you will certainly be explained the basics of the kitsuke, which remains not only the art of getting dressed but a certain school of etiquette.

The second lecture of the invited expert will be devoted to the details of the interchange of Japanese and European traditions, of wafuku (和服) and yōfuku (洋服), in the historic perspective, while the third meeting will deal with the Japanese dress in the modern times, beginning with the technology of fabrication and decoration most widely used, and up to the current fashion trends and names of the designers adapting the traditional Japanese motives for the needs of time.

Videos are available on the links as follows:

Lecture “Kimono – between Fashion and Art” at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VNdZEfm4Uw,

Lecture “Fashion of the Meiji and Taishō Periods – Eastwise West and Westwise East” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI5aO5fui2Q,

and Lecture “The Kimono of Nowadays – Two Paradigms” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt-Po-hWdSM.