As improbable as this may sound, we attended a brief kimono fashion show during our second day in Kyoto. Kyoto is known for, among other things, its textiles, and there’s a center that has displays of looms, antique fabrics, descriptions of fabric-making processes, and so on. Much of this was familiar to Tracie and myself, her from direct experience, me from watching my mom spin and weave when I was a kid. (Weaving-geek info: Jacquard looms were imported to Japan, after which the Japanese put a good deal of effort into refining and improving them. We’re talking about automated but non-electric looms with 3000 to 8000 warp threads!)
You can’t walk very far in Japan without seeing someone walk by in a kimono, but I rarely photograph them because I don’t want to be an annoying tourist. The kimono show gave me the opportunity to take a number of photos of some beautiful examples. Photos and one short video are here.
