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Tutorial: Real or Fake Kimono?
Published: 2011-06-27 03:09:09 +0000 UTC; Views: 103939; Favourites: 2768; Downloads: 973
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Description
(If you are interested in kimono, geisha, or traditional Japan, please also check out my blog, "The Kimono Lady", where I babble on about those sorts of things.
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After the unexpected amount of positive response to my first tutorial "Draw Better Kimono" (thank you!
) I'm back with another one, somewhat less messy. >_>This is the visual quick version of something I always teach as part of my educational Japanese kimono panels: how to spot a fake. There are a ton out there and it's easy to get fooled if you're not familiar with kimono, but I hope this will help cosplayers or anyone looking to buy one to not get screwed.
(It shares #1 with the other tutorial, but I thought it was worth repeating as most low-end fakes use contrasting parts.)
This can also be used as a "things to avoid when making a kimono" if you'd like to sew your own and go for a more accurate look.
Feel free to ask if you have any questions, and thanks for reading!
"Draw Better Kimono" can be found here:
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Onihide's beautiful Flickr account is here:
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(He preferred the Kyoto dialect term "geiko" for geisha, if you look in his descriptions.)
All images copyright Wikimedia Commons, me, or photographer Onihide and used with permission.
EDIT: I can't believe it: I got a Daily Deviation! Thank you so much to those of you who suggested it, and for everyone's comments and faves! This is my first DD ever. XD (I apologize if I don't respond to all the favorites, but I am very thankful for them!)
*****PLEASE NOTE BEFORE YOU COMMENT ABOUT THE LACK OF PHOTOS FOR FAKES: There are no photos of fakes here because 1. I don't want to embarrass some random cosplayer or home sewer by making them the "bad example", and 2. dA doesn't allow photos to be used without permission. I don't think the people from 1. or a company that sells fakes is going to give me permission to use their photos.
Thank you for reading! *****
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Comments: 413
yeah, I know what your getting at. I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of people using brocade and "costume fabric" to make Kimonos and Wa-Loli outfits. it's not a type of cosplay, people!
sorry for getting on my soapbox there, it's a bit of a pet peeve when people lump lolita fashion with cosplay. know what I mean?
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Well, the Chinese fabric is lovely for Chinese outfits, just not Japanese ones.
I think that girls who do "Lolita for a Day" cheap cosplay costumes and recognize that those outfits are costumes are ok, because there are lots of characters who wear versions of Lolita and it's a very distinctive silhouette.
I think the issue is when people mistake "Lolita for a Day" costumes as representative of the entire Lolita fashion, which as you know is an actual daily fashion for some and can include very well-made, gorgeous and well-coordinated pieces. Just like old-school Goth, I believe for many Lolitas the fashion as a whole is about looking elegant and beautiful, if not in the same way as mainstream society might imagine.
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I agree with you there. while i don't mind "Lolita for a day" costumes and such, I think the reason for such misconceptions is non-otaku (as in otaku in the western since) who don't understand the culture the way those who understand it do aren't aware of what separates Fake Lolita fashion and Kimonos from Fake ones.
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This is really interesting! Awesome info
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thank you very much for both of these guides^^
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Thank you! Glad to hear it.
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Why dos it matter if they are fake or real? And I'm still confused how to tell. OTL
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Well, it matters because the Japanese kimono is an actual garment that is part of Japan's culture and history, just like the sari is for India or the ao dai is for Vietnam. Kimono are still worn today, not usually as daily wear minus a very small segment of the population, but they are worn.
To put it bluntly, if you're going to wear a kimono as an actual garment in a real-life (non-cosplay) situation, you need a real one so you don't insult the entire culture and history of Japan by saying "Tee hee, I don't need a real one because you people don't matter anyway LOL!".
Even if you only want a kimono to use as home decor or decoration, it's important to know the difference, because people in the West know very little about real kimono. That makes it very easy for people to make cheap, fake knock-offs and screw buyers over because the buyers don't know any better and pay ridiculously high prices for the knock-offs.
If you're having trouble following the tutorial, it's pretty simple: look at the text with the x's next to it. That tells you what a fake will look like for that detail. The photos are all of real ones. If you don't understand why I don't have photos of fakes, please read the artist comment below the tutorial.
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this is wonderful! my sister in law and I were going to attend a family reunion of hers together and we were sent kimono fabrics and things to make one, but we went sure where anything was suppost to go! your a life saver!!!
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Glad to hear it was helpful! Good luck.
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Congratulations once again on your Daily Deviation! You've been featured in the August 2011 Resources DD Summary . Thanks for sharing your resources with the community!!
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great tutorial! really helped me and my friends!
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Glad to hear.
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I'm sure I've commented before but you completely deserve the daily dev for this. It's so useful for those who haven't the slightest idea about kimono, and it's so neat and concise! Great job!
~ Kyasarin of IG
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Masterpiece. This work is commendable!
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Because this is is a vs. tutorial, I'd really like to see examples of the fake examples so I can compare.
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I can't post pictures of fakes here because 1. I don't want to embarrass some random cosplayer or home sewer by making them the "bad example", and 2. dA doesn't allow photos to be used without permission. I don't think the people from 1. or a company that sells fakes is going to give me permission to use their photos.
However, if you go to Ebay, search "kimono" and then click on the "Cultural and Ethnic Clothing" category, you can see quite a few fakes, which will be pretty obvious after looking at this list.
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Very helpful for future reference!
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This is amazing and so utterly useful! Thank you!
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You're welcome, and thank you!
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Very difficult to understand anything here because you did not visually show us any fake examples. You merely explained fakes and genuines with a lot of japanese terms, leaving it extremely confusing for people who don't already know these words.
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Thank you for your critique. I couldn't show any fakes because 1. I don't want to embarrass some poor random cosplayer or home sewer by using their photo as the "wrong" example, and 2. dA requires me to get permission for any photo used. I don't think the people from 1. or companies that sell fakes would give me permission, you know?
Which terms did you feel were not explained clearly in the tutorial or through context? I didn't explain "kimono" and "obi" because most people are aware of them. Please let me know and I'd be happy to clarify.
Also, all the photos are of genuine ones. After you see these, fakes become pretty apparent no matter what they look like.
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This is so helpful. I bought a lovely blue kimono and a dark blue kimono at a garage sale. I never was sure if they were real or not. They didn't come with obi. Thanks to this tutorial I now know that they are indeed real and have an idea of what cloth to use for a complimenting obi for both.
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Awesome, glad to hear this was helpful.
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Very interesting! I only wish some of the "fakes" could be shown by the real ones, just to see the contrast. Loved reading it regardless, very informative!
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Thank you very much!
I left off photos of fakes for two reasons: 1. I didn't want to embarrass any random cosplayer or home sewer by using their photo for a "wrong" example, and 2. dA requires I have permission for any photos used. I don't think the people from 1. or a company that sells fakes is going to give me permission to use their photos.
However, if one were to go to Ebay, type "kimono" in the search bar and then click on the "Cultural and Ethnic Clothing" category, one might find plenty of fakes to look at mixed in with real ones. O
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Ah, that's quite understandable!
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May I just ask if you have ever read or seen Memoirs of a Geisha? Because I am thinking of rereading it now and when descriptions of kimonos appear in the book I think I'd like to refer to this, so I have a better idea at what it looks like.
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I've read the book but haven't seen the movie.
However, everything I've heard about the movie in terms of costuming makes me shy away from it: the costumers specifically sexied up the kimono for a Western audience by changing the construction to a more hourglass shape, they did away with the traditional hairstyle and messed with the makeup because "Western audiences wouldn't like them", etc. I'm not saying it's automatically a bad movie, but this topic is something I've learned about for so long it'd be really hard for me to turn off that part of my brain.
I have a site that's even better for you to look through as you read, though, if you just want to get your imagination going: Onihide's photostream.
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I believe the only hair style they made nontraditional was Hatsumomo's, because they felt she was a rule breaker and so would have lengths of hair down instead of having all her hair up in one of the traditional styles. The rest of the changes you mentioned though are definitely there for no other purpose than for the reason you gave. I was especially noticing them last night when I re-watched the movie, while also having your guide freshly on my mind. Though still it's an excellent adaption to the book, at least as far as the story goes. One part in the film that may interest you greatly is after Japan becomes a tourist spot for the American troops. You can suddenly see this clear cut line between the "real" geisha, and the "fake" geisha. The fashion change is great as the fakes are wearing the wrong and cheap kimonos you spoke against in your guide.
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That's interesting about the post-war "fakes", as that did actually happen. Thank you for sharing!
Regarding the hairstyles, from the photos I've seen most of them were altered. Here's Sayuri from the movie:
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Here are some hair shots of real maiko (the first is a new one, hence only the bottom lip being painted). As you can see, the costumer designers apparently took out a lot of the supposedly "weird" elements like the camellia oil used to make the hair shiny and stiff, the wings off the side covering the ears, and most of the ornaments.
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Here's Mameha:
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And real geisha:
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Again, if people like Memoirs, that's great! I consider it a nice "gateway drug" to kimono and geisha.
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Thanks for all the links, and yes it certainly is a gateway drug. The book more so than the movie.
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