The New Kimono
Arts & Culture ( 31 )
TOKYO —
Recent years have seen a kimono boom among young women in Japan who delight in kimono as everyday wear and scour secondhand kimono stores and their mothers’ wardrobes for vintage pieces to bring up to date. Capitalizing on this trend is Nanao magazine, established in 2004, and one of Japan’s leading contemporary kimono publications. Nanao is chock-full of stylish fashion spreads and tips for younger women on how to dress, how to find those great but inexpensive pieces, and how to customize, accessorize, and care for these traditional garments.
“The New Kimono” presents in book form a selection of the best articles from Nanao magazine, providing a wealth of information to Western readers with an interest in kimono. Articles include interviews with young Japanese women who treat kimono as everyday wear, advice on how to coordinate fabrics and designs, how to choose an obi, how to choose footwear, how to choose underwear, how to customize vintage kimono, and fabulous vintage kimono fashion spreads. An appendix provides clear step-by-step guidelines on how to put on kimono, kimono underwear, yukata and obi. A glossary of kimono terms, index, shop guide, and price guide is also included.
Combining practical hints with inspirational photography, this is a book that is indispensable for kimono lovers and that will also appeal to anyone with an interest in fashion, Japanese popular culture, or textiles and design.
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31 Comments
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DenTok2009
Good to know some young Japanese girls are going "back to basics". Seems as if most of them are into dyeing their hair blonde, putting on long lashes, heavy on the eyeliner, donning the furry leg warmers, fur tails, etc.
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semperfi
The Kimono is here to stay as a fashion item . It is elegant aesthetic and gracious - - and new Japanese designers will contemporize it, gradually making it more 'wearer-friendly' as well.
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Gurukun
I've seen miniskirt kimonos being worn. Sad.
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jason6
The kimono is ripe for a fashion redesign and this trend could be just the tipping point for some boutique in Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto to modernize it. I couldn't think of how to do it myself, but I'm sure there's somebody on some drawing board somewhere working furiously to get it into production.
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semperfi
Gurukun :
Not really. The skies the limit in terms of how the kimono can be ( and should be ) adapted and modernized.
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Gurukun
semperfi, I agree with fashion being adaptive and modern, however, it's sad to see traditional wear from any country being changed for that fact. Maybe more modern colors for the kimono or slight changes to the design in general, but changing the kimono to a miniskirt version is extreme, I think.
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LoveUSA
Kimono for women with breasts should be developed too. That is what kimono designers need to do. Not all women are flat.
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Zenny11
LoveUSA.
Kimono is designed to HIDE the curves not show them.
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LoveUSA
Zenny, the topic of the article is NEW trends in kimono.
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LoveUSA
ps. The model on the book cover is terrible, the kimono shows nothing new, the hair style is also ugly.
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Zenny11
I know and Mini-skirt length kimono are not NEW either.
Just a hype to sell some old ideas as new.
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LoveUSA
here is my suggestion. Obi should be worn lower at the waist, then kimono will be suitable for all body shapes. If it is worn over brests it is not suitable for curvy women.
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Zenny11
LoveUSA.
Who wears the obi over the breast? Always under to support them, unless you got really saggy ones. ;)
Have you ever worn one? Curious.
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LoveUSA
yes, but I don't like
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cleo
I've worn (been dressed in) a kimono a number of times, and every time the lady dressing me made a fuss about padding out my waist and flattening out my breasts to remove as many curves as possible. The obi does come about half-way up the breasts. It's not about supporting them at all. It seems to be that they're simply not supposed to be there. :-)
If you try to tighten the obi under the breasts the collar bit gapes and spoils the line of the garment. And makes the wearer look like a hooker.
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Zenny11
Cleo.
Not my experience having undressed a few ladies including my wife(who I also helped get dressed) and she was rather well endowed and hid it well in a Kimono. ;)
Oh well, different experiences.
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Zenny11
Agree on the padding for the waist, seen girls wrap towels round to hide it, etc.
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cleo
Exactly, Zenny - the endowments get hidden, not supported.
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Zenny11
Cleo.
I long time ago gave up arguing with you as you always know better, even when people talk personal experience.
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cleo
Arguing...??
Zenny, I thought I was agreeing with you.....
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Zenny11
Ok, maybe I misunderstood. Bad me.
But I do like ladies that wear a Kimono.
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LoveUSA
people say don't judge a book by the cover but in this case I say no thank you to this book. because the kimono on the cover is not fashionable at all. It looks like pajamas
compliments from a true man indeed!
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himehentai
loveusa - I have some experience of kimono dressing. for girls with busts and hips you use wraps underneath the clothes to bind down the bust and hips, and fill in the curvy waist line. Basically you are squeezing some in and filling some out in order to create a straight line.
Actually fitting the kimono is the easy bit. The obi is fun. BUT the most difficult parts are the undergarments.
However the most important point is the neckline - it NEEDS to be lying flat or the beauty of the line is gone. It is quite a bad thing to japanese if the neckline is wrong. If you have boobs sticking out it makes the line lie wrong. I hope this makes sense :D
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himehentai
PS the girl on the photo may look quite dull (I do seriously dislike her hair) but her kimono is VERY beautifully dressed in terms of how the actually design should look. I agree the color is a bit rubbish though.
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Fadamor
The "mushroom cap" hairstyle aside, in the picture I think I see what himehentai means regarding the collars being "flat". If she had a large chest that wasn't restrained in some way, the junction of the collars would be held away from the body and essentially create a cavern between the cloth and the chest. A modest chest size (whether actual or created by compression wraps) allows the collars to "close" relatively close to the neck and eliminate any gaping openings.
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KevininHawaii
Here is MY suggestion: Since this is in ENGLISH, then the plural of KIMONO should be KIMONOS, just like most other English words. I.E. TsunamiS, TaifunS - you get the idea.
This is what happens when Japanese editors and or writers produce near-English articles...
Just my 2 cent(s) - glad I could help!
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himehentai
Taifuns - I assume you are trying to spell "Typhoons?"
This is what happens when you have English speakers produce near-English comments...
And Kimono is both the singular and plural. If you are so dedicated to English then why not insist we drop the word Kimono altogether. We could call the book "The new things to wear" instead? And while were at it we had better stop using the words Tsunami and Typhoon or Thaifun of whatever you were on about too, as these are all words of foreign origin.
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eigokun
Kimonos are straitjackets and blah.
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Fadamor
I disagree, eigokun. The kimono is a uniquely Japanese cultural item that promotes the mystique of Japanese women. It is a form of dress that will forever be associated with beauty and grace. You will never see someone in a kimono "getting down with their funky self" on the local club dance floor.
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BlackWidow
I like it, the plain colors and arthur-esque hair. She could have dyed it lighter, even. Is she holding a piece of paper?
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SousukeSagara
A Kimono does need to be bright. It is more a statement toward tradition (in my eyes)and be it bright or more like that in the picture it is an elegant garment that enhances the wearers beauty.
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