Something to wear – Kimono

Jump to Comments

Imagine having to go The Wall Street Journal for advice on how to wear a kimono.  The advice is surprisingly good:

How to Wear a Kimono
l Stand up straight, with your legs together. Nothing looks worse than a woman in a kimono with bad posture.
l When walking, take small steps with your toes pointing inward. Large steps will expose your underlayers.
l Always sit on the edge of any chair. Sit too deeply and you will ruin the prettiest part of the obi sash tied on your back.
l As you reach for anything with your hand, hold the sleeve back to keep it from landing in your food or drink.
l Take handkerchiefs with you, so you always have something you can sit on or cover your lap with.  Stains on kimonos can be difficult and expensive to remove.
Author:  Yukari Iwatani Kane

Of course this doesn’t cover any of the umpteen steps that lead to actually wearing a kimono!  Wearing a woman’s formal kimono requires several layers of clothing as well around 9 different cords to hold everything together.  Most Japanese women, at least during one period of their life, will take a class on how to properly apply kimono.  Most of us poor foreigners just go to a kimono shop and rent one if we want to try out Japan’s national garb.  If you’d like to avoid the cost ($500 for a simple used ensemble, up to more then $10,000 for a long-sleeved young woman’s ensemble) but experience the kimono feel, try yukata.

Two yukata from popular clothing company Uniqlo.

Yukata is the simple, cotton kimono that is most common around Japan today.  It’s worn in the summer to festivals or while strutting around town.  Japanese Lifestyle offers a very nice, illustrated Kimono Encyclopedia that’s been great help to my friends and I during yukata season.  While today kimono is a bit of a dinosaur in modern culture, it still holds on in traditional niches like sado (tea ceremony), ikebana (flower arranging), rakugo (comedy shows) and of course worn by the world-renown geisha.  If you’d like to know more about the evolution of kimono through history, I’d really suggest Liza Dalby’s Kimono: Fashioning Culture.  While Dalby isn’t known for high amusement factor, her solid, academic book is a fascinating insight into the history and social power of a complicated garment.

Here’s a photo taken while visiting the Kyoto Costume Museum:

 

More fun with kimono:

• Yukata and Kimono Weblog
• Kids Web Japan – Kimono
• Natural Textiles from Forest and Field – on modern kimono dyeing
• Textiles, Dyeing and Weaving – from the Handbook for Appreciation of Japanese Crafts

3 Comments

Filed under Art, Culture, Japan, Japanese Culture