Formal crested lavender kimono with woven brocade and embroidered island and cloud designs
Japanese
Description
In the language of kimono, colored tomesode are slightly less formal than black. A married woman would wear this type of kimono for the wedding of a nephew or niece or a business associate to whom she and her husband served as matchmakers. Colored tomesode are accompanied by brocade obi, here with gold embellishments, tied around the midsection; the sheer bulk and abundance of such an obi would have perfectly matched the festive mood of a wedding. Accessories are equally important for formal occasions: sandals made of multicolored woven silk fabric and a hand-woven obi cord would be worn with a colored tomesode and brocade obi.
(Wrapped in Silk & Gold Exhibition, Summer 2010)
Subject Matter:
The yûzen tie-dyed design simulates the shibori effect. Shibori is a labor intensive technique, in which hundreds of hours would have been spent tying up each small section where white can be seen on the fabric before immersing it in dye. Shibori textiles are very expensive due to the time and skill required to produce them. Saga brocade is also simulated with surihaku, embroidery, and yûzen.
Physical Description:
Lavender silk crepe damask (rinsu) with woven mottled cloud-like pattern; designs in surihaku over yûzen: brocade and silk metallic thread embroidery. Lining is plain weave white silk above, second inner lining of white satin damask with woven design of chysanthemums on sayagata ground below. Lined with kimono fabric.
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