mens' elaborate kimonos

[akihito89]

First I must ask where everyone is. Where is everyone? I've not seen a single post in a while.

Now for the subject matter...

Several of us guys have complained that women get fancy kimonos and guys get plain stuff. First of all, the plain stuff is far nicer than "modern" clothes by a long shot!

I'm still for elaborate mans' stuff. If y'all have read my other stuff, you'll know I want to wear some extreamly elaborate stuff too. Since a can't make a man's kimono based on the desigh on a child's design, and since I can't modify a Bride's shiromuku into a man's kimono (I don't have the time coz I'm in college). Otherwise I'd do both!

Here's an idea. Halloween's comming up so we canjust take a houmongi, furisode, shiromuku, or whatever we can get our hands on and wear that for halloween. Just coz we're grown up doesn't mean we can't have fun. With some of the stuff I've seen people wearing on halloween, a guy in a Houmongi or furisode shouldn't be too far fetched.

[Kiyoaki]

Akihito,

He's another suggestion: There is an old traditon of men using a woman's kimono as an 'overcoat'.

To explain this tradition we need to start with the Heian Period. In that time women were never allowed to show their faces in public. At home they would be surrounded by screens when receiving guests. Even their brothers couldn't look at them. When they went out, they had to ride in enclosed cart with the blinds down. They could see out, but no one could see the passengers.

When the bushi class took control of the country, their women adopted a similar technique to guard their modesty. Instead of carts, they took to draping a kimono over their head like a veil. At first it was any kimono. Later it accquired a special form, which was distinguished by a large mon on the back seam. The mon was oversized and placed lower than is commonly seen on modern garments. When worn, the mon sat on the wearer's head, and the front lapels would be held open so the wearer could see where she was walking.

In the Edo Period, most of the daimyo were required to attend the Shogun's court for half of the year. Often they didn't bring their wives, so there were official quarters created for the use of the prostitutes and courtesans, where they had to reside and could also 'entertain' their customers.

Some customers would spend the entire day there and if the weather changed, they would borrow an extra kimono for their walk back home (usually from the oiran [courtesan] they were visiting. Even today, customers, who hold gatherings where geisha attend to entertain (strictly with dancing and music), might be sent off at the end of a long evening wrapped in a woman's outer kimono (merely draped over him, and not belted). Of course, the garment should be returned the next day with some gift of appreciation for the courtesy.

Before the Meiji Restoration, burglers would adopt this look as a disguise. If one encountered a police patrol after curfew, he could claim he was returning from a party. The woman's kimono also allowed him to shield his face from onlookers. For the innocent, the veiling aspect helped to disguise a man's movements in and out of the 'red light' districts, or curtail gossip stemming from frequent visits to the Yoshiwara (Edo) or Shimbara (Kyoto)Districts.

What I'm suggesting here is, wear the usual men's garments (especially the hakama if you have them), but loosely/casually drape a woman's kimono over that ensemble as well. Perhaps that way you can add a splash of color to a man's conservative style of dress for Halloween. The condition continues today, although it is rarely seen. Obviously, someone in a Western suit would look very odd dressed that way, but in Japanese clothing, at least traditional precedents exist.

Kiyoaki