Ivory Wide Obi Belt 'Omon'

Wide ivory brocade obi with a sewn bow, pine and hexagons in green and red

Ivory, with the whole New Year on it. This wide obi is a stiff cuff in an ivory brocade woven with green pine, red plum blossom, a hexagon lattice in orange and gold and touches of violet, the patterns of the auspicious season, with a full bow sewn on a piece that hooks over the band at the back. It is the busiest of the wide obi in the collection and the most traditional in its motifs.

It is the wide obi for a plain kimono in one colour, where the obi carries the pattern.

The name, Omon, is the large crest, the big pattern, and the band is covered in it.

The obi is a wide brocade band with the pattern woven in, not printed, folded and stitched into a stiff cuff that wraps the waist and fastens at the back under the fold, with the bow sewn on a separate piece that hooks over the band. It goes on in a minute: wrap, fasten, hook the bow on at the back, and turn it if you want the bow at the side.

Wear it over a yukata or a kimono from the range, high on the waist, with the bow at the back, which is how a woman ties a wide obi; the photograph shows it from the front so you can see the cuff and the bow together. Over a plain dress it reads as a wide belt with a bow, and it has been worn that way to weddings.

The pine, the plum and the lattice are woven in coloured threads on an ivory ground with a gold thread through it, and the green of the pine is the brightest colour on the band. The bow is a full one with two loops and two tails, and the lattice shows on the tails.

Spot clean only; the brocade is a woven synthetic with a metallic thread in it, and it does not go in water. Store it flat or rolled, never folded across the bow, and keep it out of direct sun, which dulls the thread.

From across a room it is a pale band with a bow and colour on it. From close the pine shows its needles, the plum its petals, and the lattice its hexagons. It is the obi for the kimono in the range in a single colour and for the person who likes a pattern with a meaning.

One size. The band wraps a waist from about 65 to 100 cm with the closure adjusted, and the bow is sewn, so it looks the same on every waist. It is cut to Western sizing.