Asian Buzz: A Kimono Renaissance

Last month I had the pleasure to attend a lecture titled Cherish the Old, Know the New: Onko Chishin: Kimono No Saisei—A Kimono Renaissance at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The guest speaker was Nobuaki Tomita, the founder of a kimono design and styling company called "Kyokaori" based in Kyoto as well as costume coordinator for many NHK Television programs and Japanese movies. Tomita brought in many kimono, Haori, and Yukatas of different eras, including Meiji and Edo periods, as well as contemporary fashions of how celebrities today wear kimono.

Tomita is an charismatic and funny man, causing the audience to laugh with his good sense of humor despite the language barrier (the interpreter was Melissa Rinne, Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the museum). At one point a question from the audience was posed to Tomita asking how people who wear kimono use the bathroom, which then led to an impromptu demonstration of Tomita himself hiking up his robes to pretend to go to the toilet. Everyone had a good laugh. Here is a photo of Nobuaki Tomita showing an obi he designed based on San Francisco motifs (Coit Tower, Japanese Peace Pagoda, Cable Cars, etc):

I learned many things about kimono and kimono culture, including how a conservative inn keeper would wear a kimono versus how a Yakuza (Japanese mafia) wife would wear the very same kimono. For example, the inn keeper would have the neckline be very high and tightly closed, whereas the Yakuza wife would wear the kimono with a draping back and much lower cut in the front.

This incredible seamstress created a simple robe from a bolt of fabric during the lecture, taking about 45 minutes to measure, cut, and hand sew it together:

Here are some photos from the event:

A lucky volunteer from the audience got dressed in Samurai kimono:

Many obi sashes tied in various styles:

Samurai:

Here is an example of how Tomita puts a modern flair to traditional dress. He takes a fine Italian jeweled necklace and uses it to fasten an outer robe together instead of using a traditional sash as a tie. This style is considered very chic and set forth by celebrities in Japan: