Traditional Japanese clothing has garnered fascination in the Western world as a representation of a different culture; first gaining popularity in the 1860s, Japonisme saw traditional clothing – some produced exclusively for export and differing in construction from the clothes worn by Japanese people everyday – exported to the West, where it soon became a popular item of clothing for artists and fashion designers. Fascination for the clothing of Japanese people continued into WW2, where some stereotypes of Japanese culture such as "geisha girls" became widespread. Over time, depictions and interest in traditional and modern Japanese clothing has generated discussions surrounding cultural appropriation and the ways in which clothing can be used to stereotype a culture; in 2016, the "Kimono Wednesday" event held at the Boston Museum of Arts became a key example of this.Valk, Julie. "The 'Kimono Wednesday' protests: identity politics and how the kimono became more than Japanese." Asian Ethnologyno. 2 (2015): 379. Literature Resource Center, EBSCOhost (accessed October 31, 2016).
Traditional Japanese clothing has garnered fascination in the Western world as a representation of a different culture; first gaining popularity in the 1860s, Japonisme saw traditional clothing – some produced exclusively for export and differing in construction from the clothes worn by Japanese people everyday – exported to the West, where it soon became a popular item of clothing for artists and fashion designers. Fascination for the clothing of Japanese people continued into WW2, where some stereotypes of Japanese culture such as "geisha girls" became widespread. Over time, depictions and interest in traditional and modern Japanese clothing has generated discussions surrounding cultural appropriation and the ways in which clothing can be used to stereotype a culture; in 2016, the "Kimono Wednesday" event held at the Boston Museum of Arts became a key example of this.Valk, Julie. "The 'Kimono Wednesday' protests: identity politics and how the kimono became more than Japanese." Asian Ethnologyno. 2 (2015): 379 Literature Resource Center, EBSCOhost (accessed October 31, 2016).