Below we are excerpting here some pictures and comments from our Furusato--Hometown page of this site. We post these here to share how Japanese of today are honoring traditional customs and still doing so with modern twists. Pay special attention to the kimonos and accessories particularly of the girls in these various photos, blending old and new creatively. YokoDana Kimono Owner's Family Photos Japan: 2020 Above -- YokoDana.com's Owner's Nephew's Family: Note the twins in blue hifu  (Hifu is a special hand-made vest for age 3 of Shichi-Go-San Celebration); Hifu Buttons are handmade using the same fabric. Flower buttons are Tsumami-zaiku crafted by Aunt Honami...

Jacket Made from YokoDana’s Vintage Ohshima Tsumugi Silk Kimono -- Carol Lambright Many of our customers are what we call, affectionately, creative types: All have a passion for their craft, whether they call themselves artisans, artists, designers, quilters, stitchers or multi-media artists – regardless of their moniker -- for years we have enjoyed seeing old vintage Japanese textiles we sell by the pound be reborn into something new -- yet old.  One recent feedback that we received comes from Carol Lambright, an Oregon, USA customer. Last year she bought a 10lb package of old Ohshima Tsumugi (pongee) Silks (see more about...

V&A 2020 Kimono Exhibit in LondonKimono: Kyoto to Catwalk, Previews 1800-1830, Kyoto, Photo Credits on vam.ac.uk  If you are lucky enough to be in England or able to travel to London, and share our interest in kimono culture, you should check out this London Exhibition, "Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk" at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which recently opened and runs until June 21, 2020.  The Victoria and Albert Museum, called "V&A" for short, has a Youtube page with a preview of the exhibit (click-push HERE to see it.) Their summary of the exhibition is below: This exhibition will present the kimono...

We love to show off the work of YokoDana.com's customers from around the world who use our  vintage Japanese kimono fabrics in their creative work of all kinds. We recently received fabric orders from Karina Hesketh, a designer from northern England. She is a member of The Guild of Master Craftsmen in the United Kingdom. We saw pictures of some of her work and decided to share them here on our website as another example of how our customers engage in   "re-purposing" or "upcycling" the vintage Japanese textiles they get from us at YokoDana Kimono and elsewhere --  giving these special old...

(Photos: Spoon-Tamago.com) Pictures of fog in Kikuchi Valley, Kumamoto, yokodana.com's owner's furusato (hometown).  Spoon-tamago.com has a wonderful newsletter and this is from a recent one. Kikuchi is close to the village where Yoko Lewis grew up. Just felt like sharing.... (smile)