Preface / David Khalili -- Introduction : Clad in the aesthetics of tradition: from kosode to kimono / Nagasaki Iwao -- I. Edo (1603-1868) : Governing, spending and wearing in the Edo period / Timon Screech -- Dress in the Edo period: the evolution of fashion / Anna Jackson -- II. Meiji (1868-1912) : The Meiji era: the ambiguities of modernization / Christine M.E. Guth -- Dress in the Meiji period: change and continuity / Anna Jackson -- III. Taishō and early Shōwa (1912-1950) : Delirious Japan: culture and art in the Taishō and early Shōwa periods / Kendall H. Brown -- Dress in the Taishō and early Shōwa periods: traditions transformed / Anna Jackson.

Kimono showcases a magnificent range of kimonos from the Khalili Collection, which comprises more than 200 garments and spans almost 300 years of Japanese textile artistry. Gorgeously illustrated and written by an international team of experts, the book surveys kimono of the imperial court, samurai aristocracy, and affluent merchant classes of the Edo period (1603-1868); the shifting styles and new color palette of Meiji period dress (1868-1912); and the bold and dazzling kimono of the Taisho (1912-26) and early Showa (1926-89) periods, when designers used innovative new techniques and fused traditional looks with inspiration from the modernist aesthetic then sweeping the world.