The 52nd feature exhibition"Patterns of clothing for townsmen – stripe"

This museum exhibits Ukiyo-e prints and paintings produced in Osaka in the Edo period. Most of them are portraits of popular Kabuki actors whom many people came to see to the theatres around Dotombori area.

Popular Kabuki actors dispatched the latest fashion trends through their portraits. Designs of the actors’ costumes were taken in to Kabuki fans’ clothes and spread out into general public. Thus Ukiyo-e paintings played the trend dispatcher role.

In this feature exhibition, we focus on the patterns of the actors’ costumes, notably a striped pattern which is considered a symbol of townsmen, among other things. Striped patterns are consisted of various kinds of lines. There are many combinations of lines and the pattern have rich designability. Find their trendy kimono styles at the time in Ukiyo-e paintings.