Exhibition Review: Red and White Dream Competition! - "Red" and "White" from Various Countries - at Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum

This was my first visit to the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum. It was reasonably priced at 500 yen, the exhibition was compact, and I enjoyed deepening my knowledge of clothing.

I learned about this exhibition through some web advertisement, and since I had never been to the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum, I decided this was a good opportunity to go.
I have been to various art museums and galleries, but when I look for them, including the smaller ones, I realize there are still many I don't know about.

Next to the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum is Bunka Gakuen University.
Bunka Gakuen Educational Foundation was established in 1950 as Japan's first dressmaking school, based on the idea that "improving clothing is the starting point for the development of a new Japan and the improvement of its culture."
I didn't know that the magazine "So-en" was also published by Bunka Gakuen.

This exhibition is focused on the theme of "Red and White Clothing."
Even for a single color, there are various purposes and effects, and many were common across the world.

White: Pure white, warding off impurity, innocence, equality, not retaining heat, etc.
Red: Warding off evil, celebration, representing fire, symbol of power, meaning spring, etc.

Depending on the region, systems were in place so that social status, wealth, marital status (married/unmarried/widowed), and place of origin could be identified at a glance by color.
Expanding from there, it made me rethink: what is the "power of clothing"?

I usually wear a lot of white, black, and blue. When I wear a white shirt, I feel clear-headed. Clothing expresses a person's heart, and clothing can change a person's feelings.
Uniqlo's UT (graphic T-shirt) uses the slogan "WEAR YOUR WORLD" to highlight the wearer's individuality (come to think of it, although it wasn't mentioned in this exhibition, the Uniqlo logo is also red and white).
I have been helped by the "power of clothing" until now, so I can't help but feel happy when I see people using clothing to consciously express themselves in a bold way.

Anyway, it was interesting to learn about the costumes of various countries and the cultures derived from them at this exhibition. I thought that collecting such things and spreading them to the world has cultural value.

One Dior dress from the period when Raf Simons served as artistic director from 2012 to 2016 was also on display.
I had no interest in the Dior exhibition currently being held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, but I've started to feel a little inclined to go. Most exhibitions featuring apparel brands just place products on display, and the impressions are often just "cool, beautiful, amazing," and since there is little to learn from those exhibitions, I don't feel much interest. In the case of the Dior exhibition, I wonder?

I was concerned that there was no English notation on the individual captions in this exhibition. Given the location in Shinjuku, there were foreign visitors, so it would be kinder to have English captions for everything, not just the section explanations.

The video introducing Bunka Gakuen on the second floor and the special video for this exhibition were compact and easy to understand, which was good. I thought it would be better to promote Bunka Gakuen more in a chronological format using panels and the like.

It was a rare style where there were no guards in each exhibition room, and the receptionist watched via security cameras. Because of this, it seems possible to have a certain amount of conversation inside the exhibition room.

All in all, the price was reasonable at 500 yen, and the exhibition content was compact, so I enjoyed being able to easily and quickly deepen my knowledge about clothing.
It's not flashy, but I recommend it to anyone who has even the slightest interest in clothing.

Exhibition Name: Red and White Dream Competition! - "Red" and "White" from Various Countries -
Location: Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum
Satisfaction: ★★★☆☆
Conversational Level: ★★★☆☆
Dates: December 9, 2022 (Fri) - February 14, 2023 (Tue)
Access: About a 10-minute walk from Shinjuku Station
Admission (General): 500 yen
Advance Reservation: Not required
Time Required: About 1 hour
Crowd Level: Comfortable even on holidays
Photography: Not allowed inside the exhibition room
URL: https://museum.bunka.ac.jp/exhibition/ https://museum.bunka.ac.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/48b526e54792ea0390957dc19a31c8a6-1.pdf