Americans wearing kimonos

[theresar]

i've been reading the posts about foreigners wearing japanesse dress. Here's how I see it in the U.S.

We don't see kimonos, haori, etc., as public dress. For some reason, these are robes to us. I don't know how it got that way, either! but i do know kimono, haori, etc., are thought of as robes, to be worn at home, like a bath robe.

I have started wearing my very georgous kimonos (OF CORSE bought from Ichiroya!) and haori to work, over a dress or pants, like a jacket. I get MANY compliments, and other people have told me they are going to start wearing things like that!!! I've passed on Ichiroya's web site, and people have bought kimonos and hairos from her!! Now 2 other women have worn them to work!

I give kimonos and hairos as presents, too. People love them! And this is in Kansas, not a huge city!!!

So maybe it just takes a few people to start doing something, and other people like it and see it as ok to wear kimonos and hairos in public!

I don't wear them in the traditional way, I know. But I've adapted wearing my kimonos and hairos i love to the way I live! And people are remembering how much they do like japanesse dress!

[Kiyoaki]

Yes, transplanted traditons always seem to under go a transformation. Whether the new culture discovers something that old one no longer recognizes, or the current focus of appreciation was unintended originally, doesn't really seem to matter. What does matter, is that the tradition spreads and grows, instead of withering and dying.