When did the Japanese start wearing Western clothes?

Western clothes were introduced in the Meiji period (1868－1912).
The Meiji government adopted a European-style military uniform and decided that officials, mailmen and railroad workers should wear Western clothes because they felt that change was necessary for the Japanese government system to quickly transform itself into a modern state.
This expedited the spread of Western clothes amone ordinary people.
However, dresses, partly because they were very expensive, were worn only by women in high society at parties held at the Rokumeikan, a Western-style official party house built in 1883.
As nationalism spread across the nation, Western clothes were limited to nurse uniforms.
It was in the Taisho period (1912-26) that working women such as bus conductors and typists started wearing Western clothes on a dailv basis.