As I wrote in the previous article, we have a traditional costume called kimono.
It always charms us so much.
Today, I’d like to introduce you some attractions of kimono that I usually feel drawn to.
“Furisode”, this is one of the best beautiful types of kimono, and that is the one only for unmarried women.
Among varieties of kimono, furisode is one of the best.
It’s a formal cloths that only unmarried women can wear, and generally they wear it at their coming-of-age ceremony called “seijin-shiki”.
Of course, you can wear it at other events, but the coming-of-age ceremony is the representative time to wear it.
If you are thinking to travel to Japan, why not come here around the second Monday in January?
The ceremony is held in Japan every year, so when you come in that season, you can see lots of women wearing gorgeous furisode everywhere.
Furisode is a kind of kimono with long sleeves, that comes to your feet.
Usually it is decorated with beautiful flowers and butterflies in vivid colors, and a furry scarf, that the ladies wind protecting against the cold winter air, is also a feature of furisode.
I think that the most attractive point of kimono is its brilliant.
Of course, besides furisode, there are other types of gorgeous kimono that suits 50s women, like me.
Kimono decorated with a pattern painted by hand
When I wear my kimono, someone tells me “as if you would wear a painting!”.
In fact, some of the exclusive kimono, their patterns are painted by specialists called “hand-painted meister”.
Through this history, even the casual-kimono, not a high-grade kimono, has very unique design.
There are a variety of motifs, for example; drawing in brilliant colors and being designed with chic to emphasize its grace etc.
Additionally, recently some kimono made of denim fabric is so fashionable.
From decorating with traditional design to making of modern material, this gap may be one of the charms of kimono.
You can get a completely different impression by changing a way of using an accessory like obi.
Another attraction is that you can wear various styles with one kimono.
It has long been said “1 kimono, 3 obi“, that means even if you have only one kimono, you can wear a completely different style with three obi.
I usually wonder that we can enjoy various ways of wearing kimono only with three obi. And you can also share one kimono with your children or parents! If you have one kimono, you can enjoy it in many ways.
I went to a theater to see Star Wars with my original obi.
By the way, I love Star Wars.
On the release date, I made the original obi and went to the theater wearing it.
On that day, I wore a kimono that I always wear, but only wearing the obi of Star Wars, people speak to me “you’re wearing the kimono of Star Wars!”.
I think it’s another charm of kimono.
What is your image of kimono?
For me, kimono is a tool to express myself easily.
I hope you also enjoy this freedom that you can choose many ways of wearing.
