text Shalini Seth

Couture has never been haughtier as it is when it is touched by the

ethic of the asymmetrical. It is about bringing design back to fashion

– graphic, technical and structural. In the inside-out world of design,

Millionaire meets two personalities who are bringing the Japanese

aesthetic to the world. Sheila Cliffe has migrated to Japan and

discovered beauty in hiding, at times even in innerwear. She can be

found in a café in Tokyo or in Dubai’s Burjuman Centre interpreting

her love for the kimono for the rest of the world

Going

Beyond the Zen of design

kimono

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For the simple-minded, it is the father of Zen and then some. For those inclined towards the subtle, it is the wabi-sabi ethic of beauty – “imperfect, impermanent and incomplete” – that Sheila

Cliffe thinks is at the heart of the Japanese aesthetic. From kimonos to bonsai and haiku, they all carry the genetic

signature of this ethic. So it is not surprising when you ask an academician to explain the hauteur of issey miyake, Kenzo, Hanai mori, Koshinos… in a world where london, Paris and milan have already covered everything there was to say.

“i think it is an extension of the wabi-sabi ethic of beauty, which is about finding beauty in the rough or the understated,” says Cliffe, who works at Jumonji Gakuen Women’s University. She is a proud collector of kimonos, having studied the art of kimono dressing and qualifying as a kimono-dresser and dressing teacher.

if fashion is cyclical, the space age can mirror the ancient and the simple. “i think there is a feeling that Japanese fashion

designers have come of age. Japanese architecture has traditionally been very simple and plain. There are no pictures on the walls or carpets, there is no stained glass or flowered wallpaper. and that simple feeling continues in modern Japanese architecture.

“every kimono is worn with an obi [a sort of belt]. a formal one is at least 410cm long. They are very beautiful and cost as much as the kimono does. you cannot match a cheap obi with an expensive kimono without ruining the look. There is also cotton underwear and then a silk underkimono to wear.

The collar of the under kimono shows at the throat. This can be decorated with layers of other cloth to make it appear as if you have several kimonos on under the outer one. The layering of colours is important. on top of the obi is worn a band of very silky thin fabric, which hides a sort of obi pillow, which gives volume to the obi at the back. This is placed so that you can just catch a glimpse of it at the top of the obi.

across the middle of the obi is a sort of woven silk rope. It can be flat or round and can be tied in various fancy ways. It keeps the obi on, but is equally important as a design feature. The coordination of these obi accessories is part of the fun of wearing a kimono.Jewellery is not normally worn with a kimono, but a small decoration on the obi, like a brooch, called an obidome, is permitted,” Cliffe says.

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Where it is going, and if Japan will lead the way, i really do not know, though i know that many people think it is ahead,” Cliffe says.

in a world gone consumerist, where your self-worth is defined by what size you fit in readymade garments – in other words, whether you fit the clothes, instead of the other way around – the logic of the kimono is strangely liberating, according to Cliffe. “There are many things that i find striking about the kimono. For example, the fact that it has neither shaping nor fasteners. it has no tailoring of its own, and this means that when you dress someone, you actually tailor it to them, [wrap them] in the course of the dressing process. This means that it will fit them well.

“in the West, there are clothes that we can’t wear because our arms are too fat, or the waist too large. But the kimono we just wrap and tie it on,” she says, explaining her fascination with the garment.

But that does not mean that the attitude to clothes, and fashioning them, is any less reverent. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“another thing that is strikingly different is the attitude to the cloth. it is not cut up, with bits left over. all the cloth on the bolt is in the completed garment,” Cliffe says.

and inside it. “it is not only made from silk, but lined with silk too, and some of the colours on the inside are wonderful. The way they are lined, you can catch a glimpse of the lining colour

at the hem and the edges of the sleeves. This layering effect of colours is very important in kimono aesthetics,” she says. But no, it is not about making innerwear into outerwear, the showing of straps, the peeking of the thong. That would be rather like going backwards in time, only not quite enough. “When i first saw a bright red undergarment, i thought it was a kimono. Who could wear such an incredibly gorgeous scarlet robe as underwear, i wondered. it is amazing. i wanted to wear one outside. it is a good job i didn’t!” Cliffe says.

Perhaps it was this wait-and-watch attitude, along with her small stature, that did not alienate the traditionalists. “They think it is weird for a foreigner to wear one, as they believe it expresses something uniquely Japanese. However, when i do go out in one, i get many compliments from strangers, who tell me i look good in it. Partly because i am small in stature, i don’t look as out of place as some other Western women might,” Cliffe says.

“We don’t normally think of the lining as being so important, but Japan has the aesthetic of putting beautiful things in places that are hidden. So, often there is even a flower hand-dyed on the inside of the kimono, or, as in a man’s haori [jacket],

The relationship with nature is very important. “In the West, we have long sleeves and thick fabrics for winter, and short sleeves and thin fabrics for summer. however, in a kimono, the seasons are alluded to in designs and colours as well. In winter, one might wear snowflakes, camellias and pine branches; in spring, plum and cherry blossoms; in early summer, iris and wisteria; in midsummer, designs of grasses and watery scenes; in late summer, grapes, fireflies and dragonflies; and in autumn, pampas grass, the moon and maple leaves,” Cliffe says.

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all the design is on the inside, and the outside is plain. an american student once asked me: ‘What is the point of that?’ and i answered: ‘The point is that you know it is there.’ Hidden beauty is very important. of course, in the past, it has also given people the chance to be subversive. one could hide one’s political views, or line a kimono with some forbidden fabric, when there were sumptuary laws,” she says.

it is fashion for the conscience. it’s the person in the mirror that shapes the persona. “The inside is as important as the outside because you yourself, or your body, know the inside. So, if you make the inside beautiful too, you feel very good about wearing it. a kimono makes you feel good about yourself anyway.

“Because it is precious, when i wear a kimono i always feel like i am treating myself specially. i will enjoy the process of dressing and i will move in a more careful manner than in Western clothes. it brings a certain sense of self-awareness, especially if it carries something hidden inside. it can be very alluring without being at all revealing; and this is an important part of its beauty,” Cliffe says.

is it wrapping yourself to work each day, taking little kimono steps to the bus-stop? not really, according to Cliffe. For one

thing, no one in Japan does that. That the Japanese wear the kimono all the time is one of her favourite myths to explain away. “if you got off a plane and arrived in the middle of Tokyo, it could be new York or Paris or Dubai. it’s full of people in their business clothes, both men and women. You need to take a second glance to see the kimono-wearers; but they are there if you bother to look for them,” she says.

and then, apart from the fact that you need a specialist to clean it, there is the time it takes to don. “i don’t wear a kimono every day. on average, two or three times a month maybe. it takes an expert 10 to 20 minutes to put one on, depending on the kind of obi that goes with it. a half-width one doesn’t require accessories and can be tied very quickly, but a formal one is big and heavy and more cumbersome to tie. most people do not put on a kimono to relax in. one has to sit up straight, and though it is comfortable when you are used to it, it can be tiring for people who don’t wear it regularly.

“of course, the skill was once passed from mother to daughter, but kimono as everyday wear was finished with the Pacific War, when simple baggy pants and a wrapover top were prescribed. after that, Western clothing took over. now there are kimono schools where one can take evening classes to learn how to wear one. This is how i learned. There is a beginners’ course, where you learn to put on a casual kimono, and then an intermediate one, where you learn to put on a formal one, which is made of softer silk and is more slippery. Then you learn to dress other people and to tie complicated bows with the obi. it takes two

Sheila’s collecion is about 100 years of kimono design. The oldest piece in Cliffe’s collection is the deep-blue tomesode, from the Meiji period. It is over a hundred years old.

“I wore it a couple of times, but I am careful not to treat it roughly. It is very special. It is in good condition for such an old kimono, but the fabric is very delicate. I think this might be the most valuable piece,” Cliffe says.

“The tsuzure obi is also very valuable. To make that kind of weaving, the weaver’s fingernails have to be carved into several slits, through which the threads are passed.

“I really like the mud oshima kimono. It is picture ikat, a crane and turtle. They are symbols of long life. It is dull, maybe, but the rich brown colour comes from the iron content in the mud in which it is mordanted. The threads are first individually marked, and the bits to remain white are covered. Then they are dyed in a kind of tree bark, and then constantly dipped in mud pools to get that rich colour. finally, the kimono is woven together. It is made on some islands near Kyushu. It is very special, and very expensive. It is informal wear. It is beautiful when paired with a bright red, green or yellow obi.”

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years to graduate as a teacher and kimono-dresser. There are some strict exams to pass,” Cliffe explains.

The kimono folds into itself a way of life. “Understatement can be more interesting than loud expressions, and this is true in much of Japanese life. They tend to be good listeners, but do not blow their own trumpets. You find out if you take the time to talk,” she says.

or walk into a room and something that just looks like a dirty brown pot could be a priceless bowl for the tea ceremony, and the decoration in the room could be just one simple flower, which must be freshly picked that morning. “in a sense, the beauty in the rough tea bowl is hidden; only those who bother to really look at it carefully might find it beautiful,” Cliffe says.

What is not subtle is downright contradictory. She says: “From some of the taisho period (1920), kimonos are really stunning in their colour combinations. We don’t often see purple and orange, or scarlet and turquoise paired up, but those very bright combinations from almost opposite sides of the colour circle seem to work in a kimono. There is one with red and turquoise that looks positively punk or andy Warhol. i have some underwear also that is purple and yellow tie-dyed. i also think that we don’t tend to put very close colours together in the West, but several

shades of red could be coordinated, with a line of green or purple in between in traditional layers of clothing, or red and then pink next to it, or red, orange and purple together.”

and the world loves it. When Cliffe held an exhibition in a small northern English town, more than 3,000 people paid to see it. Cliffe says the Japanese aesthetic has found its way in her life, even beyond cupboards overflowing with kimonos. “The colour combinations that occur in kimonos can be quite different from our colour combinations in the West, and two busy designs can be put together. in kimono, however, it works.

i tend to do this with my jeans too now, and when i go to England, people tell me ‘that doesn’t go’; but in my mind it does. maybe my mind has gone kimono!”.

Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centred on the acceptance of transience. The phrase comes from the two words wabi and sabi. It is a concept derived from the Buddhist assertion of the first noble truth, anicca, or, in Japanese, mujyou or impermanence.according to experts, wabi-sabi is the most conspicuous and characteristic feature of what we think of as traditional Japanese beauty and it “occupies roughly the same position in the Japanese pantheon of aesthetic values as do the Greek ideals of beauty and perfection in the West”.a writer summarises by saying: “It nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.”

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