This ro (gauze) hitoe (unlined) silk summer kimono from 1912-1940 presents a delightfully playful and modern interpretation of traditional Japanese textile arts. The garment features an exuberant polka dot pattern created through shibori tie-dye technique, with multicolored circles in soft pastels - pale blue, coral pink, cream, and yellow - scattered across a deep black ground.

The design represents a fascinating cultural moment where Western motifs were being absorbed into Japanese fashion. The polka dot pattern, originally a European textile motif that became popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, has been reimagined here through the distinctly Japanese lens of shibori dyeing. This creates circles with the characteristic soft, organic edges that tie-dye produces, giving the geometric polka dots a more fluid, hand-crafted quality than their Western counterparts.

The aesthetic strongly evokes the spirit of Art Deco and early modernist design movements, with its bold use of simple geometric forms, high contrast color scheme, and sense of rhythmic repetition. The scattered placement of the dots creates a dynamic, almost jazz-age sensibility that reflects the period's embrace of spontaneity and modern life.

The choice of ro gauze silk for this summer hitoe demonstrates sophisticated technical knowledge - this incredibly fine, open-weave fabric provides breathability essential for Japan's humid summers while creating a subtle textural backdrop that allows the vibrant polka dots to appear to float on the surface. The detail image reveals the remarkable fineness of the gauze weave, showing how the shibori circles are integrated into this delicate mesh-like structure.

This kimono exemplifies the creative synthesis of East and West that characterized Japanese textile design during the Taisho and early Showa periods, transforming a Western pop motif into something uniquely Japanese through traditional craft techniques.

Its measurements are 50 inches from sleeve-end to sleeve-end (127 cm) with a height of 59 inches (149.86 cm).

This artwork is featured on page 327 of Art Kimono: Aesthetic Revelations of Japan, 1905-1960. This book, published by Yorke Antique Textiles, can be previewed or purchased on our website here.

The piece is also featured on page 141 of the July-August 2017 edition of Arts of Asia.

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