​PASSIONEER

The crepe texture of ichikoshi chirimen created by strongly twisted silk yarns. Fashion designers around the world often use silk crepe. However, traditional Japanese chirimen silk  is almost never used in global fashion. Why is that? The answer begins with the structure of kimono fabric . Kimono cloth is woven as a tanmono  — a narrow bolt of fabric measuring about 38 centimeters in width . This width already makes it difficult to meet the needs of modern fashion design. Gar

Modern coat made with traditional kimono tailoring techniques This coat is built using the techniques of kimono tailoring.Even without wearing a kimono, it is possible to wear the craftsmanship of kimono making itself. This coat is an example of that idea. The outer fabric is Oitama tsumugi , a silk textile woven from pre-dyed threads. Because the yarns are dyed before weaving, the cloth has no true “front” or “back,” making it an ideal material for an unlined coat. It resis

The moment the boundary closes, existence begins. 　A garment is not born at the moment it is cut.Nor at the moment it is sewn.Even when it takes shape, it does not yet fully exist. A garment begins to exist at the moment it becomes capable of movement. In traditional Japanese tailoring, one of the processes that determines this boundary is fuki .The outer fabric and lining are brought together, and the needle advances while the edge is adjusted by fractions. What takes place

Straight-line cutting enables dismantling and reconstruction, preserving garments across centuries. Japanese garments are designed with reconstruction as a premise. When the wearer’s body changed, the garment was dismantled, washed, and reassembled. Sleeves could be replaced, sections recombined, and the fabric given new life. This continuous chain of transformation is the essence of straight-line cutting. In traditional tailoring, this practice is called kurimawashi , a rati

Jun Ichikawa at the 2026 Winter Olympic Closing Ceremony. A reconstructed 1970s fabric transformed into a contemporary dress. The closing ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics. Italy-based actor Jun Ichikawa took the stage. She wore a pink and black dress, a reconstruction of a 1970s fabric. This was no mere "remake." It was a structural transformation. Kimono are traditionally constructed with flat cuts. The fabric is not cut to fit the body; the body adjusts to the fabric. H

An everyday shibori yukata worn by my grandmother, carrying time through washing. Tags In the early Shōwa period, my grandmother wore this yukata.From the early Meiji era onward, chemical dyes became widespread, and labor-intensive natural indigo gradually declined. This piece is no exception. A deep navy dyed with synthetic pigments. Not a garment for outings, but everyday wear. She put it on after her bath. Around the collar was an astonishingly thick cotton sweat guard — s

Scarlet once worn at court. Time reshaped, not erased. The scarlet hakama my great-grandmother wore at court.It is now an obi. This color is too young for me.Too vivid, too alive. Yet this scarlet is proof that she lived.A trace of time that has not disappeared, only changed form. Clothes do not end when they are remade.They continue, quietly, waiting. One day, this piece will be passed on again.Her time will move forward, carried by another body. Time leaves its mark on cl

A kimono partially unpicked and set aside, bearing traces of time and care from being worn and loved.

Once undone, the work of those who came before disappears. 　 A brown mawata tsumugi.An everyday garment, sewn by a seamstress of the Fushimi household for her own son.It is not a fine or luxurious piece. Yet the care embedded in ordinary handwork from the past is immediately apparent. More than anything, it carries the trace of a woman’s hands—hands shaped by years of service within the Imperial Household. That alone makes it a rare garment. It was given to me by a friend of

The structure of a garment expresses the philosophy behind it, before it even looks. Wasai (traditional Japanese sewing) and kimonos are garments that are designed to be re-tailored. They are never intended to be a "one-off" garment. This philosophy is built into every aspect of their construction. The reason they are not sewn with a sewing machine is not out of nostalgia or a celebration of handcrafted work; it is to avoid leaving stitches. Stitches made with silk and hand-s