Commonly Observed Kimono Blunders

[Himiko]

I have noticed that some people trying to wear kimono have inverted the Y fold of the kimono in a probably genuine blunder, due to the lack of knowledge.
Instead of folding the right side first and then overlapping it by the left side of the kimono, where the end of the bottom of the collar meets and ends on the right hip, they reverse the Y fold.
Sorry to sound morbid, but this reverse Y fold is used to dress the dead appropriately for funeral purposes.

[chiiyo]

This isn't very interesting, but some of the pictures in kimono books (especially western produced books) have this error, the right over left thing. I don't believe that the person wearing the kimono was actually rong in her dressing, but that the people who created the book or designed the cover might have reversed the picture to make it more appealing but in the process accidentally made the error. One such example is the Asian version of Liza Dalby's Kimono, where you see clearly a woman (with white face paint and all) wearing an embroidered collar and black kimono right over left.

[chiiyo]

Easiest way is to refer to pictures, but anyway, for the record, the correct way is to overlap the right lapel with the left, that means, left lapel on top in the end...

[Himiko]

Zaphod, yes, the left lapel should be over the right lapel, in the end result.
Left over right, and right under left.
If you look at a person facing you, it should look like a regular Y.
The left over right is also present in the Korean short blouse (chogori) though it being so short and bolero-like, it is not overtly noticed, but the small left panel is slightly overlapping the right one, when one buttons it up. I haven't checked other Asian clothing, eg. Mongolain/Tibetan/others etc if they also display this asymetricity.
I am not sure if this left over right thing is helpful for the majority of people who are right-handed, as one might
use the inner kimono lapels to store stuff like secret letters, maps, and other personal items out of sight.
It would obviously be easier to slide and hide items with the slit/opening on the right side if one were to be right-handed.

[Kiyoaki]

Zaphod,

With all the too-ing-and-fro-ing in the past few messages, let me offer a different way of thinking it through.

When you dress yourself __ first, slip your arms into the sleeves. Next, close your eyes. Now take the lapel on your right side in your right hand and draw it across your chest to your left hip. Then take the left lapel in your left hand and cross it over to your right hip. Then, wind the obi around your waist __ always making certain the free end is to your right side after each turn. That will keep everything properly ordered.

The dead are dressed the opposite way, because a live person is dressing them, so naturally they start with the right hand, which is the normal way for them, but it's reversed for the corpse. Don't worry about this aspect. You'll never need to do it for yourself.

That's all there is to it.

Kiyoaki

P.S. You do know your left from right, don't you?