MODERN FASHIONS IN DRESS POPULAR IN JAPAN NOW

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 77, 16 December 1949, Page 7

MODERN FASHIONS IN DRESS POPULAR IN JAPAN NOW

Long skirts with gilded buttons and glistening accessories are taking the place of elegant kimonos, once the symbol of the submissive Japanese woman, in most of the large cities and towns in Japan today. Walk along the Ginza, the Oxford Street of Tokio, and you will find that one out of five stores decorates its window with colourful dress materials, plastic handbags and belts, American-style shoes, and other items that fascinate the feminine eye. This general post-war conversion from the traditional kimonos to Western-style attire can be attributed tp two main reasons. First, the comparatively cheap cost of Western-style clothes. Comparatively, because food, and not clothing, is still the largest item in a Japanese family’s budget even four years after the war. An average office girl has to spend* two months’ salary to make a decent suit, but it will cost her a fortune to obtain a whole set of kimono, including sash together with all of accompanying strings and footwear.

, Second, the simplicity and ease of the Western-style dresses compared with the tight 'and complicated kimonos. With crowded transportation conditions and the bustle of everyday life, there'is no wonder .that elaborate and elegant kimonos 'are losing popularity. Those who wore carefree slacks or baggy knickerbocker - like “mompeies” during the. war /cannot possibly squeeze themselves back into the ceremonious kimonos.