CULT OF BEAUTY

After 250 years, Japanese isolation from the West during the Shogun era ended, and the impact on Western fashion, art, and culture was swift.

Inspired by the display of Japanese art at the International exhibition of 1862, members of the Aesthetic movement (1862-1900) with its “cult of beauty” embraced all things Japanese.

E.Desoye opened a store of Japanese curios in Paris an in 1875 Arthur Lazenby Liberty sold Japanese goods at his store, Liberty and Co. on Regent Street, London, alongside a comprehensive range of fabrics and artifacts from the Far East.

Japanese prints based on conventionalized forms of the natural world, such as flowers, birds, dragonflies, and butterflies, along with free-flowing garments, appealed to the bohemian style makers of London, in particular Aesthetes such as Oscar Wilde and his wife Constance.

Fashions such as classic Greek gowns or “Athenes,” Japanese kimonos, Indian pajamas, and embroidered coats from China and Japan created an immediate contrast with the established, traditional Victorian dress of corsets, crinolines, and bustles, and a restricted and structured silhouette.

At the Divan Japonais nightclub in Paris, fans and silks festooned the walls, and customers were attended to by waitresses dressed in kimonos.

In 1876 Claude Monet painted his wife wearing a kimono in a painting entitled “La Japonaise.”

美的文化

250年后的日本，在幕府时期隔绝来自西方社会的联系，包括西方时尚，艺术与文化的冲击。

受到1862年国际博览会日本艺术展品的启发，美学运动（1862-1900）成员带着他们 “美的文化” 囊括了所有日本的东西。 DESOYE于1875年在巴黎开了家日本古玩店ARTHUR LAZENBY LIBERTY，位于伦敦摄政大道，专门出售来自远东的各种面料和古玩。

基于传统形式描绘自然世界的日本版画，如花，鸟，蜻蜓与蝴蝶，以及飘逸流动的服饰，吸引了伦敦的波西米亚风格带头人，特别像奥斯卡王尔德和他妻子这样的美学家。

时尚如经典的希腊长袍，或者雅典娜长裙，日本和服，印度睡衣，以及来自中国和日本的刺绣外套，与传统的维多利亚胸衣，臀衬与臀垫，以及其他禁锢与结构化的轮廓形成鲜明对比。

在巴黎的DIVAN JAPONAIS夜总会，扇子与丝绸挂在墙上，客人们穿着和服来参加派对。

1876年，莫奈画了一副题为“LA JAPONAISE”的画，他的妻子在华中正穿着一件和服。