It’s all in the fold: an historical, transnational and material investigation to understand the 2010’s kimono jacket trend

This article investigates a fashion trend during the first half of the 2010’s for a garment that looked little like the indigenous kimono, was often designed and manufactured in centres other than Japan and was largely intended for consumption outside of Japan, but none-the-less was marketed as kimono. Rather than reflecting on the ways in which this trend could be viewed as another example of cultural appropriation in the fashion industry or demonstrative of the fashion industry’s attempt to maximize profit by flooding the market with endless variations of these garments that resonate rather tired Orientalized stereotypes, this article examines how the ways in which the kimono has been transformed as it moves through time and across borders resonate with this trend and seeks to better understand the political, social, cultural and economic drivers behind such transformations. It also brings to light new developments in this garment’s cultural meanings.