Modern Men's Kimono 'Enso'

White brushed circles overlapping across dark navy, the Zen ring drawn a hundred times

One circle, drawn with a brush in a single stroke, is the most famous mark in Zen. This kimono draws it a hundred times. White rings sweep across a dark navy ground, overlapping, crossing, some complete and some open where the brush lifted, each one showing the dry streaks of the bristles, from the shoulder over the sleeves and down to the hem. The obi is grey, wide and flat, and it is the only straight line on the garment.

It is the most modern piece in the men's range and the most Japanese at the same time, because the circle is the oldest mark in the calligraphy tradition and repeating it turns it into a pattern that reads like a print from a design studio. It looks like it belongs in a gallery, and it wears like a robe.

The name, Enso, is that circle, the ring a Zen monk draws in one breath to show the state of the mind that drew it. On this kimono there are many, and they are all a little different, which is the point.

It is printed, not painted, with the streaks of the brush kept in every ring so none of them reads as a stamp. The cloth is polyester with a dry hand and a slight texture, chosen because a navy this dark must stay even under white through washing, and because a kimono for the warm months should hang light.

The obi is included. Cross the fronts left over right, wrap the grey obi twice at the waist and knot it at the hip. Grey against navy and white is a calm choice, and the rings need calm around them.

At three metres it is a dark robe with pale rings on it. At thirty centimetres each ring shows its brush, the place it started and the place it stopped, and the overlaps show which stroke came first. It is built to be looked at twice, and it is one of the strongest prints in the range.

The cut is long, falling to the ankle, with wide square sleeves and the room to move. Worn at home it is a robe with a drawing on it. Worn out with black sandals it is an evening outfit that reads graphic from the street and thoughtful from the table, and it goes with black, white, grey and nothing else patterned.

Sizes run from M to XL, by height. It is cut to Asian sizing and runs small, so take one size up from your usual. Between two sizes, take the larger.