Shibori Print Kimono 'Hakeme'

A blue lattice with pale strokes brushed across it, as if wiped away

Two patterns share this kimono, one under the other. Underneath, a fine lattice of hexagons in navy and white covers the whole cloth, small and regular, the tortoiseshell net that Japanese textiles have used for a thousand years. Over it, broad strokes of pale blue sweep diagonally across the body and the sleeves, as if someone had dragged a wide brush through wet dye and wiped the lattice away wherever it passed. Order below, movement above. The obi is navy, edged in gold.

It is the freshest-looking piece in the collection, the one that reads summer from across the street, because the blues are light and the pattern breathes. Up close it is precise. From a distance it is weather.

The name, Hakeme, is the brush mark, the technique in Japanese pottery where a coarse brush drags white slip across dark clay and leaves its bristles in the glaze. The pale strokes on this kimono are that mark, printed on cloth.

It is printed, not woven, with the lattice kept sharp and the strokes kept soft so the two read as different things. The cloth is polyester with a dry hand and a slight texture, chosen because a pale blue must stay clean through washing and a navy must not bleed into it, and because a summer kimono should hang light.

The obi is included. Cross the fronts left over right, wrap the navy obi twice at the waist and knot it at the hip. The gold edge on the obi is the one warm line on the outfit, and it sits where the eye lands.

The cut is long, falling to the ankle, with wide square sleeves and the room to walk. Worn at home it is a robe for a hot morning. Worn out with pale sandals it is the summer outfit of the range, and it goes with white, cream and any blue lighter than itself.

At three metres it is a light blue robe with weather on it. At thirty centimetres the lattice shows every hexagon and the strokes show where the brush ran dry. The two patterns never blur into each other, which is what makes the print look designed rather than merely printed.

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.