---
node: fashion_edo
type: fashion
slug: edo_period_fashion
title: "Fashion in the Edo period"
lead: "Over 260 years of peace the kosode matured into the kimono we know: the obi widened dramatically, furisode appeared for young women, and yuzen dyeing made painterly designs possible, while sumptuary laws pushed townspeople toward the understated chic called iki."
published: 2026-07-27
updated: 2026-07-28
previous_hash: "23b73a7db7b29e014e3e85d1c45cd4ee3556fb6d5f73e38d906a99c722f5e152"
renamed_from: "edo_period"
change: "Merged under the history section; title reframed as “Fashion in …”"
requester: internal
reason: "Per the owner's decision, fashion is no longer a standalone section but lives under each history era"
---

## Overview

The kosode became the everyday kimono of all classes. The women's obi grew from a narrow tie into a broad, elaborately knotted sash; long-sleeved furisode marked unmarried young women, and men wore kimono with haori and hakama, the kamishimo serving as samurai formal dress.

## Key garments and style

Dyeing and design flourished: yuzen paste-resist painting (late seventeenth century), shibori tie-dyeing and stencil komon patterns. Repeated sumptuary edicts against luxury turned merchant taste toward restrained indigo and brown palettes and hidden linings — the aesthetic of iki — and ukiyo-e prints spread the latest looks like fashion plates.

## Transition

The yukata, a cotton bathrobe, moved into summer streetwear. With the Meiji opening, Western dress would arrive and reshape everything.