Since the opening of Japan’s borders to the West in the late nineteenth century, the kimono has become a dynamic and evolving source of inspiration for global fashion design, particularly in the West. It has had an impact on early haute couture and influenced the “Japanese Fashion Revolution” of the 1980s, as well as the work of contemporary fashion designers. This presentation will examine the kimono as a sophisticated garment that has continually influenced the evolution of fashion.

Melissa Marra-Alvarez is curator of education and research at The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (MFIT) where she has curated several exhibitions including, Minimalism/Maximalism (2019), Force of Nature (2017) and co-curated Head to Toe (2021) and Fashion & Politics (2009). Marra-Alvarez is co-editor of the publications Food and Fashion (Bloomsbury, 2022) and ¡Moda Hoy! Latin American and Latinx Fashion Design, (Bloomsbury, 2023) and co-authored Fashion Underground: The World of Susanne Bartsch (Yale University Press, 2015) with MFIT director Dr. Valerie Steele. Her research interests include twenty and twenty-first century fashion with an emphasis on fashion and culture, fashion and sustainability, and the study of fashion in relation to the natural sciences. Marra-Alvarez holds a M.A. in Museum Studies: Fashion and Textile History from The Fashion Institute of Technology.

To register for this event, click here.