Pink Peacock Long Kimono Robe 'Momoshou'

A peacock on a long pale-pink satin robe, kept soft, peonies in the same key

Pink on pink is the gentle version of the peacock robe. The bird sits high on one side with its tail sweeping down to the ankle in rose and green, white blossom scatters across the cloth, and pink peonies open in the same key as the ground, a pale, warm pink satin that reads as one colour with a bird in it. The bird is polite about it. The belt is cut from the same cloth and ties at the front. Wide sleeves to the elbow, a crossover front, and a hem that moves.

It is the peacock robe for the morning, and the one that looks best against skin, because pale pink satin flatters everyone and the print never rises above a murmur.

The name, Momoshou, means peach peacock, the bird on the colour of the fruit, and the pink is that pink.

The print is printed, not embroidered, on a polyester satin with a smooth, glossy face and a fluid drape, chosen because satin is what gives a pale colour its glow, and because a long robe should fall straight rather than stand. It is unlined and not sheer.

Cross the fronts left over right, wrap the belt once at the waist and tie it at the front or the side. The tail runs down the side, tied or open, and on pink it reads as a shadow of the bird rather than the bird itself.

Up close the tail shows its eyes and the peonies show their layers. From across a room it is a long pink robe with a softer pink moving down it, and it is the one in the family that looks like a gift before it is unwrapped. The ribbon is optional.

It washes cold, inside out, and dries in an hour on a hanger. Kept on the back of the door rather than folded in a drawer, the satin stays smooth and the print stays where it was put.

It goes with nothing, with a white slip when the room is cool, and with a bridesmaid's morning, which is where most of these end up. Of the peacock robes, this is the sweet one, and it does not apologise for it. Nor should it.

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