60 Year Old Kimonos

Hi Proco,
According to the Kimono expert in our house (she has more than 30 and can put it on herself), the top black one is a haori sort of a coat you wear over the kimono. If it is black it should be for a funeral.
The second one with embroidery is for a happy or festive occasion such as weddings worn by family members because it has the family crest on both sides. and in the center on the back. If you were the mother of either the bride or the groom, you would wear a black kimono with embroidery and family crests as that is formal. These should all be silk.

The one hanging in your living room may be modern as we can't tell what material it is and looks loose and droopy.

Interesting that we have the same small chair you have below it.

Enjoy displaying them. It looks great in your home.

Hope that helps.

 

Indeed the period when these were made, exotic fabrics were scarce. When I questioned my mother why all the dresses she wore in her period photos were white (even if they were b&w photos) she told me because they were made from old sheets. At least she had a dress maker. An even more amazing story is that during the bombing of Tokyo, everyone took refuge in the countryside including my mom who was a city girl. There she lived with a farming family learning how to farm and grow their own crops just to survive.

When she came back to Tokyo now leveled after the surrender, she found her dry cleaning man standing near what was his store. She figured none of her kimonos or dresses survived but the dry cleaner had dug a basement and preserved all his customer's belongings, still tagged and ready for pick up. Now that's service !