how ofter I wean kimonos

[akihito89]

I don't get to wear kimonos that much , but in the summertime, I wear a happi over a t-shirt with some shorts.  The happi is red, white, blue and black, so it's not hard to find a matching t-shirt.  This mixture of American and Japanese is cool and alot of friends like it.  This goes well with the videogame store environment too!  

I want to go to japan sometime and load up on kimonos!  I intend to wear nothing but japanese dress the WHOLE time i'm there and until I step off the plane back home!  

I've wanted to collect kimonos and their accessories for several years, but that's an expensive hobby.  Oh well, when I get money,...you know!

[Kiyoaki]

Akihito-san,

I guess this heading can include remembrances of past times as well as the present. I don't believe any of us wears wafuku all the time, so there isn't much to say from that perspective alone. However, I often wear kimono at home during the winter months. In that regard, I have a half dozen cotton kimono available.

The Homefront

Around the house, I have five yukata to choose among. The best, I almost never wear. I might bring it out if I were going to a bon-odori, but otherwise, it wouldn't be worth the bother. It was the first kimono I ever bought, so it has sentimental value as well.

The next best has blue and white vertical stripes, which I reserve for house guests. So far it hasn't been used, but it's ready whenever the need arises. The other three are in varying degrees of neglect. One needs some sewing to reattach a loose sleeve (black plaid on white ground). Another needs to be starched and ironed (indigo blue with dense wavy striping). The last has a tear of several inches, which I either need to repair or disassemble for reuse in some other way.

In addition, I have two special pieces, which I save for the winter. The one most often worn has a blue and white kasuri weave. It's lined in a medium blue cotton that makes it very warm. On very cold winter nights, I'll sleep in this one or use it as a quilt. It's probably 75-100 years old, but it's perfect in every respect. It even fits my 54" [wrist-to-wrist] span.

The last one is somewhat peculiar if you've never seen one before. It's a quilt that folows the form of a kimono. The material is kasuri again, but instead of small splotches, there are flower scrolls and wellheads depicted in the weave. That one I'm also saving for guests if they need to fight off the night cold.

Facing the Masses

Basically, I have one semi-formal set and one formal set of kimono and haori. The semi-formal is dark blue tsumugi. The formal one is in rich brown ro with mon reserved on back and front. To go with the brown set, I've worn hakama in a fine tan, tea green, and grey stripe. Of course, black tabi for the blue set, and white for the brown. Geta for the blue and zori for the brown.

Once I got tired of the same old thing, I started playing around with the look. To soften the formal outfit, I switched to an all white kimono with rinzu design of seashells and waves. Over that came a black ro haori. Although these are both informal garments, I added the hakama to dress up the look.

Then with the blue set, I'd sometimes wear a plain black hakama. It was a subdued look, but sometimes it suited the occasion. To try more variations, I sometimes replaced the blue kimono with white, grey gabardine, or a mottled black and white tsumugi.

I wore these outfits mostly to New Year's Eve celebrations, costume parties, museum receptions for traveling exhibtions which featured Asian art, and any other time I though it was called for. I've lived in San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles and worn one of these combination in all three places. [You might want to read my first entry under the heading What about us guys? for an especially memorable time.

Now I'm prepearing for another museum reception later this year, which you already know about. The choice of what to wear is still open. This question is more daunting now because I don't get the opportunity to make a good impression every day, but at the same time, I don't want to go overboard either. Time will tell which one I choose.

Kiyoaki

[Midoria]

akihito89 said:

I've wanted to collect kimonos and their accessories for several years, but that's an expensive hobby.

It sounds like you're in the same boat as me. My goal is to have a small walk-in college full of Furisode, Kurotomesode, and regular Kimono. Of course I'll have Obi and Tabi socks too!

[Kou Hiko]

I know kimono collecting is hard. And finding an occasion for wearing kimono can also be hard. That is why I try to have kimono that can be worn for all occasions/seasons. That is what I think should come first in one's kimono collection -- an outfit for all the seasons and for all occasions. Buy one yukata for summer, one informal, one semi-formal, and one formal unlined kimono, and one informal, one semi-formal, and one formal lined kimono. That would be about 7 kimono.
Get accessories for each as well. I have several obi age
and 3 obi jime, but I usually only use my nice pink set because they go with all my kimono. You could do well with only one set of obi jime/age and if you can find the perfect go-with-everything obi, than you're set (with several tabi and at least one set of zouri and geta).

And just because you don't have everything to dress in kimono doesn't mean you can't. Make your own accessories and improvise. Before I got everything I needed, I made my own. I had my own kimono and obi to start with, and I used silk scarves for obi age and braided cords from the strap of a handbag. I made most of my koshihimo, and used a rolled up piece of cloth for the obi makura. shortage of supplies isn't enough to keep my from wearing kimono. I now have everything I need so I don't so this anymore, but I suggest it if you don't have what you need.

[Kiyoaki]

Lady Kou,

Let me add a further perspective to your comments.

Depending on where you live, the seasons may not be as distinct as they are in Japan. Where I live there are only two seasons. They are 'summer' and 'not summer'. Although this is not typical for most places, it does point up the fact that the kimono traditions cannot always be transplanted wholesale. Nor should the conventions of seasonal change be followed blindly when they don't make sense.

One possible approach is to wear the 'appropriate' outer kimono in keeping with the season, but underneath, wear what makes sense for the actual weather conditions that day. If it's 'summer' but cold, then wear an outer, unlined, 'ro' kimono in silk, but then wear a lined under kimono for added warmth. If the opposite were true, then change the fabrics. Wear linen juban or another stiff material to hold the outer kimono away from your skin so it can breathe and you don't perspire so freely.

If I compiled my own list, it would start with a summer/fall outfit and a spring/summer one. I'd define an outfit as consisting of juban, obi, kimono, plus haori (for both genders) and/or hakama for men.

The next division would be based upon the social occasion. In this group we have the formal and informal gatherings. Aside form the garments already mentioned, we should not neglect both the kaku- and heko-obi, white and dark tabi, white or dark haori-himo, plus zori or geta. Also, don't neglect the appropriate fan [sensu or uchiwa].

Concerning the haori, we have the one's with mon and those without. The casual ones will not have a mon, so they aren't hard to detect. Whether to stick with just three or five is up to the individual. For me, five is way too many! It draws too much attention to itself. Aesthetically, I prefer one between the shoulders, and two on the front lapels. Otherwise, the additional two only show when you hold your arms out from your body as if you're flapping wings. As I see it, the formal style is so narrowly defined, that only the casual garments offer any room for flexibility and individual expressions of style. Quite naturally, most should have better luck with finding casual examples to wear so I wouldn't let the formal aspects of wear hold me back.

Kiyoaki

P.S. Yukata are by general agreement, always 'casual' (although some may aspire to 'informal').