Concept of ‘Department of Clothing’ by Kiku Yamamoto in the 1920s and 1930s: Focusing on ‘Clothing Culture’

Abstract

  The purpose of this paper is to clarify Kiku YAMAMOTO's concept of 'Department of Clothing' as an argument for reorganizing sewing education as one which teaches not only technical skills but also techniques used for general clothing. Three points were clarified from the above examination. Firstly, Yamamoto's concept was conceived as early as the 1920s. She paid attention to embellishments, which until then had been neglected as an important feature of clothing. Secondly, Yamamoto's idea was not only to develop skills to care for and manage ready-made clothes, but also to help students learn to be attentive to what they wore, as expressed in the word “dress culture”. Thirdly, there were certain differences of opinion among proponents of these concepts, especially in terms of the degree to which technical instruction should be maintained.