Tiger Back Print Haori 'Koyo'

A tiger coming down the back through red maple leaves, its name brushed beside it

The tiger is coming toward you and it has already seen you. It fills the back of this haori from the shoulder to the hem, orange and white with black stripes, green eyes, fangs bared, one paw reaching down with the claws out, drawn in the style of a tattoo back-piece. Red maple leaves fall around it. Grey smoke and cloud curl over both sleeves, and behind the animal a red cloud glows. Beside its head, two characters brushed in white: mighty tiger. On the front, the same head appears again in grey on the left side, like a shadow of the one behind, with the two characters repeated on the right chest and a few more leaves falling.

It is the most aggressive print in the range and the most controlled. The tiger is the only thing in full colour. Everything else, the smoke, the front, the sleeves, is grey on black, so the animal is the single event and nothing competes with it.

The name, Koyo, means autumn leaves, the red maples of October, and it names the season of the print rather than the animal: a tiger in the woods at the end of the year.

It is printed, not embroidered, with the fur drawn in fine strokes and the stripes kept hard. The cloth is polyester with a smooth surface and a dry hand, chosen because black must stay black around a print this bright, and because a haori for autumn evenings should still hang light. Three-quarter sleeves, open front with a flat band, no fastening, hem at the hip.

At three metres it is an orange shape on a black jacket with red falling round it. At thirty centimetres the tiger has whiskers, the leaves have veins, and the brushed characters show where the brush ran dry. Most people see the back first, then turn you round to check the front.

The cut is a short open haori, square at the shoulder and relaxed through the body. Over a white tee, the grey tiger on the front gets a pale ground to sit against. Over black, the front goes almost plain and saves everything for the back, which is the way to wear it into a room. It goes with black trousers, dark denim, and plain boots.

Sizes run from M to 5XL. It is cut to Asian sizing and runs small, so take one size up from your usual. Between two sizes, take the larger.