Japanese Dress

A Japanese dress, in the sense this collection uses it, is a dress that takes the kimono's lines, the wrap front, the wide sleeve, the printed camellia, the pleated lower half, and builds them with a zip, a lining and a Western waist, so it goes on the way a dress goes on. Sixteen women's pieces here: two-piece sets with a kimono-style top and a long or pleated skirt, mori girl blouses laced at the waist, a Taisho Roman skirt set with sheer layers, a sailor-collar midi that is a dress and not a uniform, a wrap maxi in a linen-look weave. Everything is photographed on a woman and measured in centimetres.

Kimono lines, Western construction

The kimono has no waist and no fastening; a dress needs both. These pieces keep what the kimono gives, a straight panel, a crossover front, a wide three-quarter sleeve, a print placed rather than repeated, and add what a Western wardrobe expects, a fitted waistband with a bow, a laced corset back, a zip, a hem that stops where a skirt stops. The result is Japanese-style clothing that needs no lesson to wear. The full-length kimono is in its own collection for the day you want the real thing; the hakama skirts are next door for the pleated half on its own.

The sets, the blouses and the dresses

The two-piece sets are the heart of it: a white kimono-style top printed with red camellias over a long skirt with a wide waistband and a bow, in red or black, or over a short pleated mini; a burgundy kimono top with white magnolias over a long sheer-layered black skirt with red ribbons, the Taisho Roman look of the 1920s; a pale pink kimono top with embroidered sleeves over a long red pleated hakama-style skirt. The blouse sets are the mori girl register: a white or cream puff-sleeved blouse with a rounded collar and a ribbon bow, over a long skirt laced at the waist with a lace hem, in sage, lavender, brick red, powder blue, persimmon, sand or black. The dresses stand alone: a long-sleeved winter midi with a cowl neck and a tie belt, an ecru wrap maxi with bishop sleeves, a straight midi printed like blue-and-white porcelain, an ivory eyelet maxi with a laced corset waist, a black sailor-collar midi with striped cuffs.

How to wear a Japanese dress

The sets are worn as sets, and the bow or the lacing is the detail that should show, so keep the jacket off or open. A camellia skirt set with black geta or a low white sneaker; a mori girl blouse set with a flat and a kanzashi in the hair; the sailor midi with black tights and a pointed flat. A kimono jacket goes over the plain dresses when it is cold, open, and adds the print the dress does not have. One print per outfit, as everywhere on this site.

Sizing, fabric and care

Sizes are listed in centimetres on each page: bust, waist, garment length, and for the blouse sets the sleeve. Most pieces are cut to Asian sizing, about one size smaller than US or EU, and the page says whether to size up; the one-size wrap maxi and the tied pieces fit by design. Polyester-cotton blends, a knit-feel blend for the winter dresses, an eyelet-textured blend for the corset maxi. Wash cold, inside out, hang to dry; the sheer layers by hand. Made to Japanese designs in Asia, never silk, and every page says so.

Japanese dress: the questions we are asked

Is a Japanese dress a kimono?

No. It borrows the kimono's lines and builds them as a dress with a waist, a zip or lacing and a hem. The kimono, full length and closed with an obi, has its own collection.

What is Taisho Roman?

The look of Japan's 1920s, when the kimono met Western dress: a printed kimono-style top over a long skirt, ribbons, a pleated hakama-style hem. The burgundy magnolia set and the pink hakama set are that look.

What is mori girl?

The forest-girl style: soft, layered, natural colours, puff sleeves, lace at the hem, a laced waist. The blouse-and-skirt sets in sage, lavender and sand are mori girl.

Do the sets come together?

Yes, top and skirt are sold as one set at one price, in the size you choose.