KICK OFF YOUR SUMMER IN MADRID GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE JAPANESE KIMONO
A GUIDEPOST Report
Here’s what awaits those who happen to be in Madrid this Summer of 2024: a closer look at the kimono. Free, too!
Venue:
Espacio Cultural Serrería Belga
Calle de la Alameda, 15, Centro, 28014 Madrid
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- “Kimono, Identidad Cambiante: Un Siglo a Pie de Calle (Kimono, Changing Identity: A Century Out on the Street)”
Kimono on the street
This is an exhibition that traces the history of the kimono from the 20th century to the present. By way of 19 complete sets of original kimonos as the Japanese wore them in the streets, the viewer will have the chance to discover how the ancestral kimono has been adapting to fashion trends decade after decade. These changes are almost imperceptible to the Western eye. But they’re there, for sure.
Apart from the 19 “streetwear”, the exhibition also contains a bridal ensemble worn during the Taishō period (1912-1926). Fashion accessories such as bags, footgear and obidome (jewelry), as well as magazines illustrating the evolution of the kimono, will round off the exhibition.
Date:
23 de July – 6 September 2024
Time:
Tuesday – Friday 11:00 – 20:00
Saturdays 12:00 Noon – 20:00
Sundays 12:00 – 18:00
Note: On the opening day, public viewing starts at 15:00.
- Cómo Vestir el Kimono Japonés: Kitsuke (How to Put On the Japanese Kimono: Kitsuke)
Unless you were living on another planet you would know that the kimono is Japan’s national and traditional dress.
Dressing up for a wedding ((kitsuke) with the help of a kitsukeshi, 1950s
You can’t leave dressing up in a kimono to chance. Wearing a kimono is not a hit-and-miss affair. You have to do it by the rules of the “kitsuke” (the right way of kimono-wearing).
Traditionally, the kimono is worn on special occasions such as weddings, graduation ceremonies and the like.
However, the kimono is worn on a daily basis by those who are into Japanese traditional arts like the tea ceremony.
At the “Cómo Vestir el Kimono Japonés: Kitsuke,” a conference-demonstration, Eiko Kishi* and her assistant, a kitsukeshi (a person who is skilled in kitsuke and would be around when someone needed help in putting on a kimono), will explain and demonstrate how to do the kitsuke step by step, the accesories worn with the kimono, the different types of kimono, and other related subjects.
Duration: 1 hour 30 min
Date & Time: Wednesday, 31July 2024, 18:30
Download free ticket starting 24 July at 10:00
*Eiko Kishi has a degree in Psychology and an MA in the same field. She teaches Ikebana of the Mishō-ryū school. She practices traditional Japanese arts like the tea ceremony, origami and calligraphy.
A recipient of an award of distinction from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Eiko is an indefatigable promoter of the Japanese traditional culture in its diverse artistic manifestations. She is a co-founder of the Asociación de Ikebana de España and the Ikebana International Spain Castellana Chapter.
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Images
Featured image (AI generated)/1tamara2, Pixabay, edited.
Kimono on the street/jackmac34, Pixabay, edited.
Dressing up for a wedding (kitsuke)/投稿者によるスキャン, PD in Japan, the United States and other countries via Wikimedia Commons
