Michou in Kimono with Siblings 

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As a barware, lighting and  home accessories design company, we at Thomas Fuchs Creative specialize in handmade goods. Every week we give you behind the scenes to the people, places and things that inspire us.

There has been much ado about songstress Gwen Stefani's interview for Allure Magazine were the writer quotes her as saying:

Gwen Stefani: "I Said, 'My God, I'm Japanese'"

I believe as a gay man who is of a multi-ethnic and multicultural background who speaks many languages, I too feel sometimes Italian, sometimes Indian, sometimes Jamaican ( a country my parents left  Beirut to move to and still reside in for over 60 years), sometimes Swiss/ European/ American by schooling and most of the time by from a career background as a New Yorker. 

Musée Du Quai Branly - Kimono Exhibit

We all are a mix and a bit of everything. Americans came to this continent from other countries no one is truly fully American other than the native tribes that were here way before any of us. 

Musée Du Quai Branly - Kimono Exhibit

My Grandfather Monsieur Chulani former head of the legendary Maison Boucheron in Lebanon and Egypt fled to Jamaican and brought all the luxury french brands with him including Baccarat, Lalique, Daum and many many more.

As the global markets changed and culture moved into the modern photography world with Nikon being founded in July 25th 1917 and Canon being founded in August 10th 1937 It was my Grandfather who was responsible for brings camera to the Caribbean and South America. At 96 years old my grandfather was invited to New York City to give the opening speech of the annual Camera Convention. 

Musée Du Quai Branly - Kimono Exhibit

Hence this lead me to the appreciation and love of the Japanese culture (not to mention I have Japanese cousins) and his gifting all his grandchildren Kimonos as seen in the above photo. 

While in Paris for Maison Objet, both Thomas and I always arrive a day or two earlier which we dedicate to seeing all the museum exhibitions. We immediately headed over to the Musée Du Quay Branly to view the Kimono exhibit.

Musée Du Quai Branly - Kimono Exhibit

The kimono – literally what is worn – appeared more than a thousand years ago and is a representation of their national culture and sensitivity for the Japanese. At the beginning of the Edo era (1603-1868), it became the traditional garment par excellence, worn by all Japanese, regardless of social status or gender. A golden age that saw the extraordinary development of its production and the birth of a fashion culture, thanks to the infatuation of the entertainment world. Celebrities and trendsetters of the time – kabuki actors in particular – became the first Japanese fashion icons.

Musé Du Quai Branly - Kimono Exhibit

Although it timidly reached European shores at the end of the 17th century, it was in the 1850s, with the opening of Japan to foreign trade, that the kimono was exported to the West, fascinated by its exotic character. The enthusiasm generated by its shape and fabrics profoundly and radically transformed fashion on the continent a few decades later. It subsequently surpassed its status as a symbol and lost none of its beauty in the hands of the world's greatest designers (such as John Galliano or Alexander McQueen) or in the streets of the archipelago, revisited in innovative and sometimes subversive ways by the young Japanese.

John Galliano for Dior Spring 2007 Couture Collection 

The exhibition designed by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London revisits this history, that of an iconic garment, intimately linked to Japan. The kimono from every angle, or the portrait of a resolutely modern garment, across the centuries and continents.

Journalist Jessa Marie Calaor mentions how as an Asian American and there is hate pointing toward the Asian community and how she feels Gwen Stefani has appropriated her Asian background to a certain extent of lack of visibility and how she pined after the perfume bottle from Stefani's fragrance collection.

I believe  we should be happy that a demographic which would never have been exposed to Asian culture unless for Gwen Stefani and her fragrances giving all her followers a quick lesson in Japanese culture by way of pop culture has created a platform for this generation of authentic Asians to step into the light and be celebrated for being of Asian decent with a culture that predates many continents. There is a key difference between inspiration and appreciation versus appropriation, 

Lets all come together and look at the positive angles instead of searching for the negative ones in our world and in each other.

Have a great week and lets hug and celebrate each other!

Warmest,

Michou