Sunday, March 25, 2007
25th Second challenge
I tried dressing kimono again in my house on March 25th. They were so kind to come to my house. I really appreciated it. And I was glad they are interested in kimono. One person wore formal kimono (blue one), the other person wore casual (white one). This time the problem was they were tall. Kimono's size didn't properly match their height. I tried to fix their body shapes. But kimono remained too short. This means it 's difficult to make "ohashori" part. Ohashori is an extra piece of cloth under the obi. This part needs to be at least 5 cm Thick. In her case, if the participant had been another 1 or 2 cm tall, and then the kimono would have been too short for her if I had had to dress a taller person, I would have to buy a larger kimono. But I want to focus on good kimono characteristics. Although the sleeves were also short, I couldn't adjust the length. Kimonos are made to match many body shapes. If you have large kimono, you can change the length and even width. Kimono is very flexible. One could say the kimono is "One size fit's All". That's why expensive kimonos are passed on from generation to generation. Without major alterations, people can wear their mother's, grandmother's or even their great grandmother's kimonos. OF course it's better to buy kimono made to order that matches your size. Because sleeves don't change length without being professionally altered. But look at the picture again. The two models are wearing the same kimono I do (I am in the center). We are actually quite different heights. Do you think kimono length is short? I don't think so. I think this is one of the features that makes the kimono so special.
