Sleeves and Kosodes: Gate of Hell/costume/fashion/history

This article focuses on how the study of costume contributes to the interdisciplinary nature of fashion studies and film studies. How vital the study of costume is as intersection of history, fashion, politics, art and culture, can be answered through exploring the costumes in Kinugasa Teinosuke’s 1953 Japanese period film, Jigokumon (Gate of Hell) (1953). The reality that fashion, economies. technologies, inventions, identities and politics are inextricably entwined and that film costume must reflect that consolidation is complexly evident in the film.