Navy Ukiyo-e Kimono 'Yofuke'

The pagoda scene after dark, on navy satin, with the blossom reading like lanterns

Put the same scene on navy and it becomes night. This kimono carries the pagoda, the grey mountain, the geisha figures at the hem and the pale cloud panels of blossom that the red and gold versions carry, but on a deep navy satin, and the dark ground changes everything: the cream clouds read as lit windows, the gold grasses as lamplight, the pinks and greens of the flowers as colour seen after sunset. A white collar edged in gold. A navy obi with a braided red cord.

It is the version of the scene for the evening, and the most wearable of the family, because navy is a colour people already own. It goes with black shoes and it goes with a dark room.

The name, Yofuke, means late at night, the hours after midnight when the streets of the old pleasure quarters were at their busiest, and it is the hour the print now shows.

It is printed, not painted, on a polyester satin with a smooth, glossy face and a fluid drape, chosen because a navy this deep must stay even through washing and the pale panels must stay pale, and because satin is what makes a dark ground glow rather than absorb. It is light and it moves.

The obi is included, a matching sash with a braided cord that wraps twice and ties at the back. Cross the fronts left over right, tie the obi, and the kimono closes into a long dark column with the pagoda at the hem and the blossom breaking across the shoulders.

The cut is long, falling to the ankle, with wide kimono sleeves and a wrap front that adjusts at the waist. Tied, it is an evening dress with a picture on it. Open over black, it is a robe that makes the room look better. Black shoes, nothing else printed.

At three metres it is a navy kimono with pale shapes on it. At thirty centimetres the geisha at the hem have faces, the pagoda has its roofs, and the blossom inside the cloud panels shows every petal against the dark. It is a print for the second look.

It comes in one size, cut long with a generous wrap. It is Asian sizing, so it sits closer than a Western one-size; the wrap and the obi give the room, and set the waist where you want it.