Kimono
Traditional Japanese garment. It is still used, especially during official ceremonies. Soft and loose, with characteristically large sleeves, it is fastened around the waist by a broad sash (obi), measuring 76.2 inches in height and 3.66 yards in length, often in richly embroidered silk. The several ways to knot it around the waist take on different meanings, a secret which is transmitted from mother to daughter. Splendid examples from Japanese history are seen in costume museums around the world. Kimonos appeared for the first time in the 12th century, worn by members of the aristocracy, who would don several colors, one on top of the other. In the centuries that followed, their extraordinary embroideries became rich elements of decoration. A rule of the Samurai class in 1600 forbade colors and decorations, so in that period the kimono became almost a monkish garment, just black or white, no longer made from silk, just simple cotton. Following the influence on European art and fashion of Japanese prints, in the late 1800s and early 1900s the kimono was portrayed by painters, such as Toulouse-Lautrec, who also wore it as a night robe; and by Mucha and Gustav Klimt. At the same time the kimono became, for the Western woman, an elegant afternoon or house-party dress, and reappeared as a night robe. The term “kimono cutting” indicates the style in which the sleeve is cut in the same size as the armhole. The obi and its large but flat bow has long been a feature of fashion. Fortuny dedicated the same attention to the kimono that he did to other ethnic garments; Ferré took it up in some models when he was more influenced by fluid colors, which he assimilated during his travels to the East. In the 20th century the most renowned creator of kimonos was Itchibu Kuboto (1971), who exhibited in museums around the world. He is a specialist in the tsujigahana art, a method of dyeing that was used at the end of the sixteenth century.