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...

  References to this series of web pages have been showing up in several places on Facebook and elsewhere, so we tracked it down and it turns out to be a remarkably detailed website with multiple pages and instructions on "How to Make a Yukata", by Amparo Bertram, apparently while a student of University of Michigan and living in Japan.  As we are not makers of kimono ourselves, not sure if we should recommend this site, but the sources cited lend it credibility. As so many of our customers and fans are into this sort of information, we wanted to share it...

  We came across these pictures on a Japanese-language website, Youtouch.com. Starting in 2017 and then most recently, they explain how these dresses were upcycled, made from 1950s-1960s vintage kimonos, deconstructed, and made into wedding gowns and other fashionable dresses/gowns; some are then made available as rentals (in Japan). To see full pictures of these lovely dresses, please visit the 2017 blog HERE and the 2021 blog HERE. Also, in early 2020, one of our customers (Below, Pam T., Canada) shared with us her own wedding kimono made from our "A Package" vintage silk women's kimonos:   To see other things made (upcycled) from...

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