---
node: fashion_meiji
type: fashion
slug: meiji_era_fashion
title: "Fashion in the Meiji era"
lead: "The Meiji era brought the sharpest change in Japanese dress: Western clothing (yofuku) was adopted for the military, police and officials, an 1872 decree made Western style the formal dress of officials, and the kimono was recast as traditional wear."
published: 2026-07-27
updated: 2026-07-28
previous_hash: "b2b305369039716e7c5788f8262058d9a26f618509aebcbaa72536dc99eacdab"
renamed_from: "meiji_era"
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

Westernization began at the top and in public, male life. Uniforms for the new army, navy, police and railways were Western-cut; the 1872 decree set Western clothes as official formal dress, and men's business and government dress followed. Students took up the stiff-collared gakuran.

## Key garments and style

Elite women wore European bustle gowns at the Rokumeikan receptions of the 1880s, but for most women the kimono remained everyday wear, giving rise to a mixed Japanese-and-Western wardrobe (wayo setchu). Men often kept haori and hakama for Japanese formal occasions.

## Transition

In the Taisho era Western fashion would spread beyond officialdom into a lively urban popular culture.