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Yukata, Japan's traditional wear finds a new lease on life.
After cotton was introduced in Japan, the Japanese came up with the perfect wear to survive the hot and humid Japanese Summers: the yukata, a kind of thin cotton Summer kimono. Simply made, ultra-thin, and easy to wear it was for many centuries Japan's most favorite garb. Until Western fashion trends and air conditioners took over in the 1960's. Sales of yukata dived downwards like a wingless plane.
In 1964 more than 13 million yukata's were sold in the four most populated areas of Japan. By the end of the 1990's this had gone down to as low as 2 million. On a population of 125 million that is an almost meaningless figure. It surely looked as if in the not too distant future Japanese children would only know yukata from old movies and history books.
Then a sudden change took place. In 1998 many department stores in Japan saw their sales of yukata jump up, sometimes as high as 40%. Even though total sales at department stores contracted by 4.9% compared with the same month the year before. Suddenly kids didn't raise their eyebrows anymore when they saw their friends wear yukata. Instead they gave exclamations like 'kakko ii' (cool!).
"The yukata is cheap and starts to look like western clothing," explains Shin Wada, head of the kimono department of Hanshin Department Store. In the 90's famous Japanese fashion designers started to add yukata to their clothing lines. This immediately attracted the attention of trend-conscious youths. "More than 90% of our yukata customers are younger than 30 years old," explains Wada. "Especially high school kids, university students and OL's (women working at offices). These young people look at yukata in a very different way. Yukata used to be made of smooth cotton, often in blue and white. The 'Geta' sandals were made of wood. Even the bags the women carried followed set patterns.
Designers like Kansai Yamamoto, Junko Koshino, Junko Shimada, Comme ça du Mode and others have radically changed these ideas. Instead of geta, they designed special sandals. These look just as cool with Western wear as with the yukata. Soles are no longer made of wood, rubber is more common. Colors are bright. Bags are even available in see-through plastic. Not so long ago this would have been unthinkable.
The yukata itself also underwent a metamorphosis. Blue and white went out the window. Traditional patterns followed them. Instead of them came flashy colors that remind Japanese customers of beach fashion, or more sober colors that carefully follow the seasons. Like Western fashion.
Traditionally sunflowers and cherry blossom were used in yukata design. Now you see lilies, roses, goldfish, rabbits and even Mickey Mouse. The smooth cotton has often been replaced by materials that have come directly from Western fashion: rough hemp, new kinds of cotton, polyester. Nothing is impossible anymore.
The old-fashioned image of the yukata has completely gone. The yukata is now a fashion item for the Summer. Before this dramatic shift took place, yukata were only found as an aside in kimono catalogues. Now many department stores even introduce their annual yukata collections in their catalogues featuring bikini and Summer wear.
Will this new-found popularity last? That is anybody's guess...
Contact kjduits@ikjeld.com if you would like to carry these photographs.
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