Kimono through History - at Dalgarven Mill

There is an excellent exhibition of Japanese kimono on at the moment at Dalgarven Mill, Kilwinning, until 15th December. As kimono are so varied in design and it is very rare every to see two identical designs together (even for modern kimono), another person's kimono collection is always a 'must see' for fellow kimono collectors like myself. Before we went, I'd seen a few photos online, but somehow had failed to spot the owner and curator of the exhibition - Sue Selwyn, who was one of my original group of sashiko students at The Studio, Loch Lomond, back in 2013, and we were in the same class for our City and Guilds Patchwork and Quilting Diploma class at Gillian Cooper's studio a few years ago. I knew about her kimono collection, but I didn't know how many she had. Sue has a very good eye for design and, since she began collecting about 10 years ago, has assembled a beautiful collection on numerous trips to Japan.  The exhibition shows mainly the more formal end of kimono, houmongi and up in formality levels, with a focus of yuzen and embroidery. This kimono, with yuzen dyed aoi (hollyhocks) leaves on a very large scale rinzu silk damask, with embroidered details, is early Showa era (1930s).

There is plenty of information about each kimono. Some are displayed on tailor's dummies while some of the more fragile ones were hung at the back of the displays.  Everything was raised on on staging and well lit, so the details are easy to see.  Below, two uchikake, wedding robes - the white one with the cranes and plum blossoms is 1960s while the red one, with peacocks and pine boughs, is 1990s.

Heisei era houmongi (below) with sparkly lurex in the weave and tsujigahana tie dyed decoration.

A beautiful example of meisen dyeing (above).

Late Showa era furisode (left above) and houmongi (right) - the darker furisode has Bingata inspired designs, while the shibori tie dyed houmongi looks like it was originally furisode, but had the sleeves shortened when the original owner married.

Late Showa era red bridal furisode, with machine embroidered designs (below).

The green furisode below is 1960s, while the pink houmongi in front of it is very early Showa era.

The crested houmongi on the left was stunning.

This Heisei era houmongi has quite modern embroidery.

The earliest kimono in the exhibition were late Meiji era.  There were many very fine examples of delicate yuzen dyeing.

Worth a visit if you can get there!

The mill has a large costume collection of its own and a complimentary exhibition of export kimono and kimono influenced robes, with parasols and other accessories made for the Western market, was in another gallery upstairs.   There are also extensive exhibitions of rural life, including room sets, on the upper floors.

This 1/16th scale dolls house was in the kimono gallery. It was completely hand made for the owner and is a modern build, but with great details.

The museum owners have just finished restoring another building on the site, which may be used for other events or as a gallery, and we are talking about having a boro and sashiko exhibition there sometime in 2021. As soon as we have something arranged, I'll let you know!

Landscape on Kimono - the virtual exhibition - part 1

I have promised quite a few people I would put up a virtual version of this exhibition. Rather than have massively long blog posts, I am going to deal with each section as a separate post - they'll still be long posts, but considerably shorter than doing the whole thing in one chunk! As usual, please click photos to see them all at a larger size (there are a few detail photos that won't appear much larger). I have added extra comments that weren't on the captions in purple. Have fun!

Landscape has been a major influence on the decoration of Japanese kimono and obi since the introduction of techniques like yuzen (rice paste resist) dyeing in the late seventeenth century. The mountains, forests and towns are similar to the landscape around Llangollen. Let landscape on kimono freshen your ideas on how to interpret the landscape closer to home.

All the kimono and obi shown are women’s, ranging from formal tomesode (five crested) and furisode (flutter sleeve) kimono to more casual komon (small pattern).

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Mountains and Mist

(left above) Furisode (young woman’s long sleeved formal kimono) karinui (tacked kimono fabric), silk rinzu (damask), 1970s.

Traditional abstract mountain design in yuzen (rice paste resist dye). Some mountains have gold stencilled yosōku designs (ancient patterns of the Heian Court - detail below). The rinzu pattern is higaki (a woven bamboo fence).

This karinui still has its original price ticket - a mere 250,000 Yen. That would have been £1000 when I worked in Japan (1991 - 92) but over £1600 on today's exchange rates. Luckily the blue dyed areas of the design have got yellowed dots of patina all over them (very tiny and hard to see) which meant the price had dropped to a really tiny fraction of the original when I bought it.

Some of the mountains on the left front are outlined with kinkoma (gold couching).

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Houmongi (visiting wear), silk rinzu (damask), contemporary

Pine trees on mountainous islands among mist, clouds and waves, yuzen (rice paste resist dye). Mist is traditionally represented by stepped horizontal bands. The design may be a stylised reference to Matsushima (pine island), a famous beauty spot.

Although it looks black in some photos, the background colour is definitely a very dark, mottled blue. One for remaking - there is a lot of extra length in the horizontal tucks across the front and back.

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Kurotomesode (black formal kimono), chirimen (crepe) silk, c.1960

The exotic foliage design and black silhouettes are typical of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The yuzen (rice paste resist dye).is highlighted with painted gold outlines.

The shading in the yuzen motifs is really beautifully done on this kimono.

Now turn right - my pink hemp/poly blend hitoe is on the table and there is a furisode karinui on the chair.

Kurotomesode (black formal kimono) karinui (tacked kimono fabric), ro (open weave) silk, last quarter of C20th

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An autumnal mountain landscape with hand embroidered details and kinkoma (couched gold) accents. Ro weaves for summer often depict autumn motifs – advanced seasonal motifs are a sign of good taste.

I would like to sew this kurotomesode to wear myself, although I'll never have the correct occasion to wear it (closely relative of bride or groom at a Japanese wedding).

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Nagoya obi (kimono sash), silk brocade, mid C20th

Mountain motifs as a continuous pattern. Informal Nagoya obi have the part that wraps around the body partly sewn in half, so it is easier to tie the obi.

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Haori (formal kimono jacket) karinui (tacked fabric), silk, contemporary

A scene of minka (farmhouses) in a rugged landscape, in yuzen (rice paste resist dye). The minimal colours emphasises the rather bleak scene.

This karinui hasn't had the collar cut yet, so I might make it into a non-traditional garment, perhaps a longer coat based on the douchugi (a traditional travelling coat for kimono, which fastens across the front, often with a Chinese style button & loop fastening). I already have enough haori to wear!

Next section coming soon!