‘The great question before the Japanese woman at present is the question of dress,’ wrote an anonymous contributor to the Pall Mall Gazette in 1888. Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century, newly opened Japan sought to westernize not only its political system but also its everyday way of life. Dress was one of the central concerns in this process of modernization. Yet Western views on the westernization of Japanese clothing were often rather pessimistic. In particular, the article cited in this episode emphasised that traditional Japanese attire was far more suitable for Japanese women than the adoption of foreign fashions.The broader discussion of the Victorian reception of Japanese dress is examined in Yamaguchi’s book, Sartorial Japonisme and the Experience of Kimonos in Britain, 1868–1914 (Routledge, 2023).

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