In Kyoto, you'll often come across antique KIMONO stores in town. Antique KIMONO has been very popular in Japan since long time ago, and lately the definition of the term "antique" has been broadened along with the "casual KIMONO" boom in these years.
Antique KIMONO are the products manufactured before the early Showa era, and their designs and patterns featuring Taisho*/Showa Romanesque taste has been drawing a lot of attention of KIMONO lovers. Old KIMONO after WWⅡ are called "recycled KIMONO", and considered as different from the antiques.
One of the features of antique KIMONO is its liner called MOMI, made of red silk. The red color is used in order to protect women's body from being cold. Recycled KIMONO has a liner too, but they are made of pale colored silk or cotton.
Women in that era were short in general, so the size of existing antique KIMONO are also very small. I mean, I'm relatively short, still the sleeves are too short for me. It's so pity that every time I found a charming antique KIMONO, I always ended up giving it up because they were too small!
Maybe for that reason, rental KIMONO with antique patterns are gaining so much popularity. YUMEYAKATA offers rich varieties of choices of retro patterned KIMONO in modern sizes. It's very handy!
Taisho*: name of an era in Japan before Showa
Click here to see YUMEYATA original female KIMONO.
Click here to see the blog by former MAIKO "Do You Know?"
