Skull and Peacock Kimono Jacket 'Mujo'

A skull, a peacock, a wave and a red sun, all on the same jacket

Nothing on this jacket has been given room, and that is the idea. A white skull grins from each sleeve and a larger one fills the centre of the back, with a blue peacock perched on its crown, its tail feathers running down toward the hem. A red snake coils at the top with its jaws open. A wave breaks in blue and white across the left front and again over the shoulder. A red sun burns behind the snake. Between all of it, chrysanthemums in pink and red, purple flowers, green leaves, a golden cloud, and a red koi at the hem. The only calm is the front edge, a flat band of deep purple that runs down both sides and stops the print at the opening.

It is the busiest piece in the collection and the most tattoo-like, drawn in the style of the Japanese back-piece where every element has a meaning and none of them waits its turn. The skull is death, the peacock is beauty, the snake is protection, the flowers are the season passing. Together they are the whole argument.

The name, Mujo, is the Buddhist word for impermanence, the idea that everything on this jacket, the flowers first and the skull last, is on its way somewhere else. It is a heavy name for a bright jacket, and it earns it.

It is printed, not embroidered, and printed with the dozens of colours the design needs, each kept clean against the next. The cloth is a light polyester with a smooth surface and a soft drape, chosen because a print this dense needs a ground that will hold every line, and because a jacket this loud should weigh nothing. Three-quarter sleeves, open front, no fastening, hem at the hip.

At three metres it is colour, a lot of it, with two pale skulls on the sleeves. At thirty centimetres it becomes a picture you can read for a while, and most people do. The purple edge is what keeps it wearable: it draws a line down the middle and gives the eye somewhere to rest.

The cut is a short open kimono jacket, relaxed through the body and easy at the shoulder. Wear it over plain black or plain white and nothing else with a pattern, because there is no room left. Black trousers, plain shoes, and let the jacket do the talking, which it will.

It comes in one size, cut to drape with an easy fit. It is Asian sizing, so it sits closer than a Western one-size; if you are usually L or above, expect it to fit close rather than loose.