The kimono

[Sinned]

I read an article in yesterday's Daily Mail on the kimono.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic ... ivals.html

The pictures don't look like any kimono that I recognise though. Looks just like an open loose top to me. But then what do I know? Can't say that I've seen any around either but then if they are so bland I probably wouldn't recognise one anyway. Non-event of the summer.

[melsav]

I agree that's not like any kimono I have ever seen.

[Tor]

One of the comments calls it a "kimono jacket". Can't call it an area of expertise, though.

[melsav]

This, as far as I am concerned is what a Kimono looks like, men's and woman's

[Sinned]

There was actually a better article in Thursday's Sun.

[Departed Member]

They are probably based off of the Happi coat or the Haori, the Happi being a loose fitting robe shirt worn by workers or at summer festivals, while the Haori is a robe jacket worn over formal kimono. Inspired by kimono, perhaps, but definitely not a kimono. If you are looking at getting a kimono, might I suggest a Yukata, a lightweight, thin cotton kimono worn during summers or as nightwear at Japanese hotels, provided free by the hotel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukata

However, it's hard to find good Japanese style prints in Yukata on the net; most are very touristy patterns that the Japanese think touristy people think looks Japanese.

I had an old Yukata in such tourist print that I didn't wear anymore and I altered it into a lavalava, cutting the top half off, but leaving the lapel seams on so as to have straps of a sort to wrap around and secure the lavalava better before folding it over. They convert perfectly to lavalavas.

[Sinned]

One of the real positives about this site - if you don't know ANYTHING about something then just post a vague entry and there's someone here who knows quite a lot about the subject. There's been good discussions about all sorts of topics from music through nuclear physics. And maybe surprisingly, maybe not, one topic that seems well represented is clothes from around the world. Very entertaining.

[Tor]

Not only are the multitude of interests represented by the diversity of topics interesting in and of themselves, I shouldn't be surprised if they might help keep the occasional intelligent gentleman hanging about here longer than he otherwise might to gain fortitude to sally forth into the world unbifurcated.

[Sinned]

Indeed, I find myself returning to this site each day my interest piqued and to be educated by the enlightened attitudes and specialised knowledge on all sorts of topics. My interests used to be science only but as I have got older my interests have widened to include subjects such as history which was a very weak subject for me at school. I think that was mainly because of the way it was taught. Thank you, all.

[Derek Plattis]

I much prefer the woman's one above to the man's! I'd 'love one like that!

Derek

[Sinned]

I actually agree with Drk on this. Normally I like short but the long kimono ( without the cummerbund or whatever the Japanese call the wide waist garment ) looks a lot better. The short kimono just looks like a short dressing gown but the long one just looks that bit more elegant. The only disadvantage, if I remember rightly from when I've seen one worn in films and programmes, is that the long kimono is fairly tight at the bottom necessitating a short, almost mincing, stride. Perhaps a slit partly up each side would take care of that. I could always be wrong though as that seems to be my middle name.

[Departed Member]

I actually agree with Drk on this. Normally I like short but the long kimono ( without the cummerbund or whatever the Japanese call the wide waist garment ) looks a lot better. The short kimono just looks like a short dressing gown but the long one just looks that bit more elegant. The only disadvantage, if I remember rightly from when I've seen one worn in films and programmes, is that the long kimono is fairly tight at the bottom necessitating a short, almost mincing, stride. Perhaps a slit partly up each side would take care of that.

The tie around the waste is called an obi (Obi Wan Kenobi sound familiar?), and yes women's Kimonos are not only purposefully tight, but also quite hot from what I hear, even though they are made of silk, mostly because there are several layers.

Actual Men's Kimono are longer like Women's but tend not to be as colorful, and are looser as well. Indeed, the Japanese men (Samurai/Bushi used to wear a bifurcated or unbifrucated skirt called Hakama over their Kimono as well. You can see some pics via this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai

But, men's traditional Kimono also involve several layers, so that's why I recommend the simple one-layer, cotton summer kimono called Yukata.

Interestlingly, Kimono just means "wearing thing," "ki" being taken from the verb "kiru," to wear, and "mono" just meaning "thing."

[Sinned]

There was another article in today's mail on pp34-35. If you're interested the mail's site probably has a copy. I don't think that any of them resembled what I imagined a kimono to look like.

[Grok]

I used to have a Yukata, which wore out. I ended up wearing it as a lightweight bathrobe during summer weather, after getting out of the shower. It was useful, I can recommend it as, yes, a lightweight bathrobe.