A Thing to Wear
July 25, 2021 6:33 PM Subscribe
The KIMONO Project of Imagine One World for the Olympics.
"The project consists of 213 handmade kimonos, inspired by each country’s culture, history and scenery. Each kimono is created by a different artist or studio using traditional handweaving and dyeing techniques."
Personal favorites:
Israel
Albania
Mongolia
"The project consists of 213 handmade kimonos, inspired by each country’s culture, history and scenery. Each kimono is created by a different artist or studio using traditional handweaving and dyeing techniques."
Personal favorites:
Israel
Albania
Mongolia
Ooooh, I love that Canada's highlights Anne of Green Gables! Because not only is it my fave book of all time, but the history of the Japanese love of "Red-Headed Anne" is super-fascinating, so I love that it appears in this kimono!
But so many of these are beautiful; I'm particularly partial to the floral themes.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:48 PM on July 25, 2021 [4 favorites]
But so many of these are beautiful; I'm particularly partial to the floral themes.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:48 PM on July 25, 2021 [4 favorites]
Ooooh, I love that Canada's highlights Anne of Green Gables!
Very appropriate, but I confess that I can't see the reference to Anne in the design. Little help?
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 6:56 PM on July 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
Very appropriate, but I confess that I can't see the reference to Anne in the design. Little help?
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 6:56 PM on July 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
The designs look beautiful, I would love to read the descriptions if I could even copy & paste the text..
posted by bleep at 7:02 PM on July 25, 2021
posted by bleep at 7:02 PM on July 25, 2021
"...the olives drawn on the legs of the bald eagle of the president's coat of arms woven in green use different colors for each leaf. We have devised it. The author's desire for the United States of America to lead world peace is also included in this work."
Me, too, friend. Me, too...
posted by ElKevbo at 7:15 PM on July 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
Me, too, friend. Me, too...
posted by ElKevbo at 7:15 PM on July 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
"Very appropriate, but I confess that I can't see the reference to Anne in the design. Little help?"
Google translate's description of Canada's kimono: "The stage of "Redhead Anne", the flowers of Prince Edward Island are drawn like a wreath, and the surroundings are decorated with graphical maple leaf to emphasize the Canadian character. The autumn colors of Maple on Rocky Mountain and the lakeside are classic Japanese designs. A four-leaf clover is gently drawn as a symbol of love and peace."
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:18 PM on July 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
Google translate's description of Canada's kimono: "The stage of "Redhead Anne", the flowers of Prince Edward Island are drawn like a wreath, and the surroundings are decorated with graphical maple leaf to emphasize the Canadian character. The autumn colors of Maple on Rocky Mountain and the lakeside are classic Japanese designs. A four-leaf clover is gently drawn as a symbol of love and peace."
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:18 PM on July 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
The designs look beautiful, I would love to read the descriptions if I could even copy & paste the text
You can paste the URL into google translate to translate the entire page, including subsequent links. Like this.
posted by rodlymight at 7:21 PM on July 25, 2021
You can paste the URL into google translate to translate the entire page, including subsequent links. Like this.
posted by rodlymight at 7:21 PM on July 25, 2021
Oh thanks. I thought these were really beautiful! It would be amazing to see them all collected at a museum sometime. They could make a traveling exhibition.
posted by bleep at 8:44 PM on July 25, 2021
posted by bleep at 8:44 PM on July 25, 2021
I had a moments’ hope for puffy sleeves on the Anne-ish kimono.
posted by clew at 9:52 PM on July 25, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by clew at 9:52 PM on July 25, 2021 [5 favorites]
Wear a solid obi with these.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:29 PM on July 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:29 PM on July 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
I LOVE the wind power / green energy image on the danish obi!
posted by alchemist at 12:16 AM on July 26, 2021
posted by alchemist at 12:16 AM on July 26, 2021
Little things that are delighting me:
Puffins!
That Ireland, England, and Scotland can't escape looking like the kitschiest of tea towels. The UK one just manages to avoid it.
Look out, Wales is about to attack!
Spain is a minimalist beauty
Popemono?
France's floral wonder
And how the Refugee Olympic Team's is a riot of colour and wonder, but only on the inside.
posted by Katemonkey at 3:47 AM on July 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
Puffins!
That Ireland, England, and Scotland can't escape looking like the kitschiest of tea towels. The UK one just manages to avoid it.
Look out, Wales is about to attack!
Spain is a minimalist beauty
Popemono?
France's floral wonder
And how the Refugee Olympic Team's is a riot of colour and wonder, but only on the inside.
posted by Katemonkey at 3:47 AM on July 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
Since the bulk of the website doesn’t have translations, here is my gift to you: use DeepL instead of Google Translate for machine translation of Japanese to English. It’s usually significantly better overall!
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:02 AM on July 26, 2021
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:02 AM on July 26, 2021
separately, I have a bunch of favorites (Argentina’s has a design based on TANGO RHYTHMS???) but there are a lot that fail what I feel to be a basic test of “don’t just put regular text on there, oh no,” including the otherwise pretty nice Israel one and the frankly wtf Ireland one (was Guinness a sponsor or something?)
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:04 AM on July 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:04 AM on July 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
How... interesting that the Netherlands version - beautiful as it may be - shows an iconic image of Curacao instead of something in the Netherlands...
posted by DreamerFi at 4:05 AM on July 26, 2021
posted by DreamerFi at 4:05 AM on July 26, 2021
NHK did a documentary on the project that you can see here (48 minutes), besides a bunch of short videos on individual entries.
posted by sukeban at 4:42 AM on July 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by sukeban at 4:42 AM on July 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
(FWIW, I was a bit underwhelmed with the entry for Spain. What I would have loved is a mix of Japanese and the country's artisan crafts. A kimono that mixed flamenco dress dots with kanoko shibori would have been awesome)
posted by sukeban at 4:49 AM on July 26, 2021
posted by sukeban at 4:49 AM on July 26, 2021
Uganda and Dominica are probably my favourites.
I like the use of Aboriginal art motifs in the Australian one. I was expecting more geometric motifs in some of the Islamic countries' ones, though, and perhaps some Kabbalistic iconography in the Israeli one.
The Irish one is a bit heavy on stereotypes. (Celtic crosses and James Joyce? It's almost a prefabricated Irish pub in textile form.)
posted by acb at 6:04 AM on July 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
I like the use of Aboriginal art motifs in the Australian one. I was expecting more geometric motifs in some of the Islamic countries' ones, though, and perhaps some Kabbalistic iconography in the Israeli one.
The Irish one is a bit heavy on stereotypes. (Celtic crosses and James Joyce? It's almost a prefabricated Irish pub in textile form.)
posted by acb at 6:04 AM on July 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
I want to wear them all.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:35 AM on July 26, 2021
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:35 AM on July 26, 2021
→
100% hame-knitted bunnet-husslin' tatty scone vibe.
posted by scruss at 9:48 AM on July 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
… Scotland can't escape looking like the kitschiest of tea towels
100% hame-knitted bunnet-husslin' tatty scone vibe.
posted by scruss at 9:48 AM on July 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
These are magnificent! I wonder if the original plan (bearing in mind that some of these must have been started years ago) was to have them worn by the Japanese escort for each national group in the opening ceremony. I prefer the ones that don't just rely on pictures of landmarks etc. The Irish one is pretty enough, but just a bit embarassing; they just about avoided putting a leprechaun on it. The ones featuring a riot of flowers or whatever with just one Iconic Thing (like China, with its single panda) were much more effective. I noticed that in a lot of cases, the kimono themselves look very Japanese, while the obi has a lot more references to national design styles, especially for a lot of the Islamic countries, which have more geometric patterns.
Thanks for the translation hints, everyone; it will be nice to see a bit more about the techniques used. It would be nice if we could zoom in a bit more to see the details. For example, are those birds on the Israel one hoopoes? Sidetrack - they are one of my favourite birds, and have the best Latin name ever, Upupa epops .
posted by Fuchsoid at 10:42 AM on July 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Thanks for the translation hints, everyone; it will be nice to see a bit more about the techniques used. It would be nice if we could zoom in a bit more to see the details. For example, are those birds on the Israel one hoopoes? Sidetrack - they are one of my favourite birds, and have the best Latin name ever, Upupa epops .
posted by Fuchsoid at 10:42 AM on July 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Ooooh, I love that Canada's highlights Anne of Green Gables!
Anne is weirdly popular in Japan. Popular enough that there was a (now-abandoned) theme park.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:55 AM on July 26, 2021
Anne is weirdly popular in Japan. Popular enough that there was a (now-abandoned) theme park.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:55 AM on July 26, 2021
Some of these are spectacular! The Australian one is.... disappointing (especially compared to New Zealand!). Apparently, to the rest of the world, we are all sydney opera house, koalas and boomerangs. Not super keen on the faux-aboriginal art (maybe reach out to an actual indigenous artist and include their work), and a bit confused by "Ayers rock" in the description, a name Uluru has not been known by for nearly 20 years. Oh well.
posted by neatsocks at 3:13 PM on July 26, 2021
posted by neatsocks at 3:13 PM on July 26, 2021
Yeah, the designs really cover the entire spectrum from "spectacular masterpiece that incorporates kimono design æsthetics and conventions alongside elements obviously distinctive to the country being depicted" to "a ten-year-old had to make a poster about a country for school"
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:06 PM on July 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:06 PM on July 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
There are photos of the kimonos being worn on the Kimono Project facebook page. They are stunning but not labeled with the country names unfortunately!
posted by vespabelle at 6:24 PM on July 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by vespabelle at 6:24 PM on July 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Thanks vespabelle I longed to see them worn!
posted by clew at 11:48 AM on July 27, 2021
100% hame-knitted bunnet-husslin' tatty scone vibe.I understand a third of this at most and am snorting anyway. What’s bunnet-husslin’, beyond being spellchecker pessimal?
posted by clew at 11:48 AM on July 27, 2021
Wow, these are delightful. The descriptions are so interesting as well, giving a glimpse into external images of what makes a country famous in the Japanese eye.
Thank you, vespabelle, for the link to the images of the kimono being worn on facebook. They appear to be using fabrics in the colors of the flags of the countries as the obi-age (the fabric peeking out from the obi). So beautiful!
posted by past unusual at 2:55 PM on July 27, 2021
Thank you, vespabelle, for the link to the images of the kimono being worn on facebook. They appear to be using fabrics in the colors of the flags of the countries as the obi-age (the fabric peeking out from the obi). So beautiful!
posted by past unusual at 2:55 PM on July 27, 2021
Discussion of bunnets, their hustling, and Sean Connery; and of course! Not ragged, potatoes.
posted by clew at 9:40 PM on July 27, 2021
posted by clew at 9:40 PM on July 27, 2021
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posted by janell at 6:41 PM on July 25, 2021 [1 favorite]