Mrs. Toshi Yamagata cape

[No Accounting For Taste]

Hello! I'm pretty good at researching American (especially California) brands, but I've come up empty-handed on this Japanese label. Has anyone ever seen and/or have any information on this label? It's a high-quality cape, looks to be 1960s, label says "Mrs. Toshi Yamagata, Yokohama". I've actually been to Yokohama, so it's particularly embarrassing that I can't find any information about her. Any leads are much appreciated!

(and happy new year!)

 

[Jonathan]

I don't know of any book or published research in English that has been written about Japanese designers in Japan before the onset of the Japanese New Wave of the late 1970s, with the exception of Hanae Mori but she mad her name in Paris and the U.S. Your cape looks early 60s to me - very nicely made. I wonder if it had a suit to match at one point.

 

[No Accounting For Taste]

Ah, makes sense I couldn't find anything. I can see a very fabulous woman wearing it with a matching suit and smart black hat for sure... Thanks for the insight!

 

[Linn]

I have a very academic book that I have not read titled Japanese Fashion, A Cultural History by Toby Slade that covers 200 years of Japanese fashion - theorectically to the present. Mrs. Toshi Yamagata is not in the index. Odd that the label is in English and that Mrs. is used.

The book doesn't appear to cover Japanese designers but as I mentioned - I have not read it.

It's a great cape and I agree that it looks 60s.

Linn

 

[No Accounting For Taste]

I thought that was interesting too - it's clearly for an American (or English-speaking) clientele, which makes sense given Yokohama's history as not only a major point of foreign trade, but also as a community and housing area for the American military personnel and their families after World War II. There were schools, shopping centers, a movie theater, even a bowling alley. It looks like a lot of signage was in English as well, even outside the American housing area. This cape probably came from one of many boutiques in the Motomachi shopping street, an area brimming with western-influenced cafes, bakeries and shops that catered to foreigners, not just American navy families.

 

[Jonathan]

I have a very academic book that I have not read titled Japanese Fashion, A Cultural History by Toby Slade that covers 200 years of Japanese fashion - theorectically to the present. Mrs. Toshi Yamagata is not in the index. Odd that the label is in English and that Mrs. is used.
The book doesn't appear to cover Japanese designers but as I mentioned - I have not read it.
It's a great cape and I agree that it looks 60s.
Linn

I have that book too, but it doesn't refer to dressmakers or fashion per se, its more about the cultural shift in Japanese dress to Western tastes, retailing, textile industries etc.