Italian fashion between oriental influences and suggestions: this book tells the influences of Japanese art and clothing between fabrics, colors, cuts and atmospheres.

When one considers Japanese clothing, one immediately thinks of the kimono, which has enjoyed extraordinary success in Europe and Italy since the late nineteenth century. Since then, its cut and decorative motifs have become a source of inspiration for designers eager to offer clothes with shapes and decorations unknown to the western sartorial tradition. But the kimono was not the only aspect of Japanese fashion to revolutionize Italian style. Starting in the Seventies, the avant-garde Japanese fashion designers (Kenzo Takada, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo) with their shapeless and asymmetrical dresses subverted the traditional aesthetic canons and became a point of reference also in Italy for the maverick fashion creators . Between the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the new millennium, Japanese subcultures spread throughout Italy, from kawaii fashion to cosplayers and Lolitas.

The volume is accompanied by a rich iconographic apparatus, with images taken from fashion magazines, photographs and sketches from the archives of museums and fashion houses. With a preface by Akiko Fukai, director and Curator Emeritus of the Kyoto Costume Institute, leading expert on Japanese fashion. Professor and scholar of fashion history, Laura Dimitrio has carried out specific studies on Japanism and Italian fashion of the twentieth century. Among her publications are essays on Italian Japonism, on the costumes for the first performance of Madama Butterfly and on the working conditions of seamstresses in the 20th century.