Samurai Chic: Costume and Authenticity in Shōgun

Free Talk Event
August 15, 2025

This talk examines the recent television adaptation of Shōgun (2024) through the lens of historical accuracy in clothing and armour, exploring how costume design negotiates the complex intersection of authenticity, dramatic effect, and cultural translation. Set in the pre-Edo period, a time of political consolidation, shifting social structures, and refined sartorial codes, the series presents a rich visual tapestry that both draws from and reinterprets Japan’s material culture. By analysing key costume elements such as samurai armour, court dress, and everyday garments, the talk assesses how visual choices are made to signal power, class, identity, and exoticism to a global audience. Through close comparison with historical sources, including portraiture, extant garments, and contemporary costume manuals, the lecture reveals where the series aligns with or departs from historical record, and why such departures matter. It also considers the lingering influence of earlier cinematic and television representations of Japan, the role of the Western gaze in shaping aesthetic expectations, and how costuming becomes a powerful tool in constructing historical narrative, national identity, and cultural memory on screen.

Topics to be covered

Shōgun
Fashion
Armour
Edo period
Samurai

A/PROF TOBY SLADE

A/Prof Toby Slade is an Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney specialising in Fashion and Japanese Popular Culture. Toby lived in Japan for 17 years lecturing at the University of Tokyo. He has written two books on Japan: Japanese Fashion: A Cultural History, and Introducing Japanese Popular Culture. He is current researching the contemporary forms and changing meaning of luxury in Japan, revealing shifts in social values and patterns of consumption throughout history.

This is the last day of the Shōgun Talk Event Series.