I bought this 'townwear' kimono from Yamatoku. 

Townwear kimono are assembled from bolt silk, so the design is equal in all areas of the garment rather than being placed at the hem. This makes them inherently less formal than furisode, tomesode and other formal kimono such as tsukesage or houmongi.

I was attracted to this kimono because of the sheen of the silk, while the roses were in urushi, which was a technique I already knew I liked. I'm particularly fond of yellow and the balance between the primrose coloured ground silk, the pink roses, the silver lame and the peach lining was very effective.

Roses, incidentally, are considered a casual flower in Japanese art, unlike older flowers such as pawlownia.

On arrival, I fell in love with the silk and contacted Yamatoku to ask what it was. This was when I learned it was Omeshi, a tough crepe silk of almost furnishing weight.  The silver lame threads turned out to be copper-coloured and really quite beautiful.

As ever, the kimono was too long, so I shortened it from the hem so that I could wear it as a kimono.

After wearing the garment regularly for a couple of weeks, it began to soften up and developed a better drape. Around the house, I often wear it with a t-shirt and leggings or tights, with a front-tied obi. To my surprise, although it is a pale colour, it sheds dirt very well and remains surprisingly clean.  

This haori was my first purchase after deciding to start collecting kimono in 2005.

It is a silk haori from Yamatoku which I bought for both its beautiful lining, and its urushi outer layer.

Urushi is brocade weaving with lacquered threads and is my favourite technique in kimono. Sometimes the lacquered threads are coloured, but most often they are in shades of gold, copper and silver. In older kimono they are made of actual metal wrapped around a core thread of linen, but in this more modern garment, they are simply lame.

The black background silk is rinzu - a kind of silk damask used only for women's kimono. Here it is woven with a background pattern of waves. The urushi appears in 'karabana' - Chinese flower-shaped rondels, which are further enhanced with landscape motifs in black, gold and copper lamé. These landscape motifs are called Chaya-Tsuji and date from Heian court literature or Japanese Noh plays.

  The lining of this haori is particularly beautiful and when it was for sale, it was photographed mainly inside-out. It is a yellow print silk with applied gold paint, with a design of maple leaves in red and brown. I wanted a black haori and it was very nice to get such a beautiful example, especially as my first online purchase.

On arrival, the haori was quite different from what I was expecting. I had expected more texture in the urushi and a matter, crepe-like fabric, but this haori was very fine and silky, and the urushi was not very prominent. However once over the surprise, I began to appreciate that it was very beautiful. The rinzu silk is fine quality with a beautiful drape, and the flowers in the rondels are copper-coloured, not red, as I had thought.

Because I had never seen a haori before, I also didn't expect the lower back of the garment to be lined, which haoris always are unless otherwise indicated - this gives the garment better weight and drape. Because it is rinzu, this haori is light weight and is very softly ‘tailored', so it is very comfortable to wear - a great contrast with hitokoshi chirimen haoris, as I would later discover. The lining glimpsed through the sleeve openings is very enticing and when wearing a haori of this type, you feel that it is definitely the equivalent of the Western black evening jacket.

The first time I wore this haori was for Scrabble night at friends and I hardly knew I had it on - this is one of the characteristics of Japanese clothing - because it wraps, it is incredibly comfortable. One of my friends said I looked like I should be wearing a mortar board, but I remained undeterred. The second time I wore it was to a party at a restaurant and I felt equally comfortable and was more heartened by several people commenting how pretty it was.

Over the past few years I've worn this haori a lot for evening, mainly over black knitted pants, black silk pants or a long black velvet skirt. It remains one of my favourites.