The kimono--worn by women, men, and children--is the ultimate signifier of Japan: revered within the country as the embodiment of national culture and regarded internationally as an exotic fascination. Often viewed as a simple, unchanging garment, the kimono has been equated with" tradition" and seen as something static and timeless. This book, published to accompany a major exhibition at the V&A, London, presents the kimono as dynamic and fashionable, and explores its significance in historical and contemporary contexts, both in Japan and in the West. Beautifully illustrated, it includes more than 200 kimono from collections at the V&A and around the world, as well as examples of the ways in which they have been represented in paintings, prints, and photographs, and interpreted more recently in popular culture and fashion, from Bj rk to David Bowie, John Galliano to Issey Miyake.