Antique shibori haori w/ sayagata and Aoi leaf

Description

Antique shibori haori w/ sayagata and Aoi leaf

This lovely antique haori has a tie dyed shibori pattern in purple on white silk of an overall sayagata with additional Aoi, or hollyhock, leaf pattern. It comes complete with the original haori-himo braided silk ties.

There are some very slight colour shifts to the dye, but it does not affect the wearability of the item, and they are quite faint. The areas are indicated in the photographs. In daylight they do not show as much as under a flash in the photos.

It measures 122 cm from sleeve to sleeve, is 84 cm long, and is in quite good condition for the age. It dates from about the mid 1950’s.

• Haori: A kimono shaped jacket, designed to be worn on top of a kimono. Originally worn by men only; women were allowed to wear them after the Meiji era and women’s ones became all the rage in Taisho era (1912-1926). Haori are versatile garments, as they translate well into western-world outfits too, looking good when worn either dressed up for the evening or dressed down with jeans

• Himo: Braided ties, usually silk, used to hold a haori jacket closed. Women’s ones are tied and untied but men’s ones are too complicated to tie, as they have a different knot from women’s ones, so they are hooked on and one side is unhooked to open the haori

• Sayagata:  the manji  is often found as part of a repeating pattern. One common pattern, called sayagata in Japanese, is made of of interlocking manji, left- and right-facing manji joined by lines. As the negative space between the lines has a distinctive shape, the sayagata pattern is sometimes called the “key fret” motif in English.

• Shiborizome: More often known as just shibori. An intricate tie-dye method of making a pattern on fabric. Tiny sections of the fabric are tied or gathered and stitched before it is dyed. The bound area does not absorb the dye, so, when the thread is removed, it leaves a pattern of white dots. A completely shibori kimono can take an entire year to produce. Shibori is greatly prized by the Japanese, who are aware of how painstaking it is to create. Shibori has been made around the 4th century B.C.