Women's Magenta Haori Kimono 'Yoiyami'

Magenta peonies, wisteria and two cranes on navy, edged in white

The flowers on this haori are the colours of a kimono at a wedding: magenta, pink, plum, lilac and gold, massed across the upper back and both fronts on a deep navy ground. Peonies, chrysanthemums and bellflowers crowd together with teal leaves and pale beige fronds between them. Wisteria hangs from the mass in lilac and gold, dropping toward the hem. Two white cranes with pink-edged wings fly through the flowers on the back. Below everything, pine trees drawn in outline stand on a hem of blue wave-scales, the old seigaiha pattern, and a flat white band runs down both sides of the opening.

It is the richest of the women's haori and the most traditional in its motifs, every one of them borrowed from the formal kimono: peony for wealth, crane for long life, pine for endurance, wisteria for grace, wave-scales for calm seas. Put together on navy, they make an evening jacket that works over a plain dress.

The name, Yoiyami, is the dark of early evening, the hour after the sun has gone and before the lanterns are lit, and it is the hour these colours look best in.

It is printed, not embroidered, with the flowers in flat colour outlined in fine line the way the kimono printers did it, and the white of the cranes kept crisp. The cloth is polyester with a smooth surface and a dry hand, chosen because a navy this deep must stay even through washing and a magenta this strong must not fade, and because a haori this light should hang rather than stand. Three-quarter sleeves, open front with the white band, no fastening, hem at the hip.

At three metres it is a navy jacket with pink across the shoulders and a white stripe down the front. At thirty centimetres the wisteria shows every petal, the wave-scales at the hem line up, and the pines show their needles. It is built for both distances.

The cut is a short open women's haori, square at the shoulder and relaxed through the body. Over a white tee, the white band and the white tee line up and the flowers frame them. Over black, the navy deepens and the magenta glows. It goes with black trousers, white trousers, a plain dress, and plain shoes.

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.