A Lot of Kimonos

I like to cruise Pinterest to see what other people out there in the world are doing with their art and clothing. One day my eye caught a glimpse of an image of many kimonos lined up and the caption said: Lot of 30 Japanese kimonos. Huh. I was intrigued. So I clicked on the image and it took me to a site on Etsy, where, amazingly, there were kimonos and lots of them! I felt my pulse racing. I could feel the heat rising up. But- I thought, don’t do anything rash, wait overnight before doing anything. So I did. But then in the morning I was still in that heightened state of excitement and I knew I still wanted them.  So I bought them, 30 kimono, sight unseen.

Soon a box arrived on my doorstep. There they were, all packed in tightly.

First thing was to wash them and thankfully they were not too smelly. Then, to see what I had purchased: Indigo! Stripes! Ikat/Kasuri! Funky sleeves! Some were worn down at the shoulders from daily use. Some were in quite good shape. But all had a sense of history, stories not told that was so seductive for a textile person or should I say obsessive like myself.

My original thought was to deconstruct them. Little did I know these were made for the centuries, hand stitched, sometime double stitched, with wonderful black cotton thread like we’ve never seen. So, no seam rippers allowed, my mantra these days- stitch by stitch. And so the work began. Sizing each one up to assess how large, worn down, needing patches, good as is? 

My goal was to alter them to fit a more western body, the hips alone and shoulders.

So mostly I have taken off the sleeves, maybe used them to make a godet for the hips and used the rest for pockets. I sewed a dart at the shoulder seam to make a more sloped shoulder. I used some of my extra indigo fabric to fashion ties in the front as a closure. And maybe used some of that indigo for a trim on the pocket. Quite often the lining inside the kimonos was an amazing color of indigo as well, a coarser weave than the body of garment. I put a small Gelli printed circle emblem of the center of each back, as a logo.

I have 5 un-deconstructed pieces left.  It has been such a fulfilling journey to play and commune with these “daily” kimonos. A woman, who was visiting the studio recently and was of Japanese descent, told me she thought I was collaborating with the makers and wearers, which made me feel okay about using them. I only wish to honor the iconic. I am not the creator, but in my way, am continuing the life of these lovely works.

PS- I split another order with my friend Catherine Bacon!