How to Tie a Silk Kimono the Easy Way

Traditional Japanese silk kimonos are notoriously complicated to tie, and they get more complicated the more formal the occasion! Normally made of silk (the lighter weight cotton variety made for summer time are called Yukata), teamed with special undergarments and various ties to secure the kimono before you even get to the Obi. In fact there are so many variations designed for different events there really is no one way to tie the silk kimono.

The ancient aesthetic is to create a cylindrical shape which is why the Obi is a long length of fabric that gets wrapped around the mid-section. To make putting it on more simple, we've taken the liberty of modifying the design to suit us with our own version as a silk kimono dressing gown!

As you can compare in the pictures above, we've kept the traditional pattern with the wide open square sleeves and the overall shape is the same. The main difference is that our Obi is a very long belt, stiffened slightly at the middle and tapering at the ends so it can be wrapped around the waist twice and secured at the front. It is known that tying your Obi at the front was a no no, but as our silk kimono dressing gowns are a contemporary variation feel free to wear your Obi tied at the front as shown.

One more point to remember is to make sure that you wrap the left side of the kimono over the right, because the opposite way is used to dress the deceased at funerals!

Traditional silk kimonos are made very long in length, and the excess fabric is folded up and hidden underneath the obi. This means you can get the perfect length to suit you, but to avoid all the excess fabric wrapped around your midsection we have kept our kimono a flattering knee length. Watch out for our next collection of full length organic cotton yukata!