by parhessiastes At the start of last term, Mr M got kimonos and happy jackets for us to wear in class. There were adult and children kimonos. There were also some colourful happy jackets. Some of the happy jackets had waves or the map of Japan on the back of them. The kimonos were pink, blue or white with a lucky cat pattern on it. The kimonos came in all different colours, sizes and patterns.
The original meaning for kimono was ‘clothing.’ Now it refers to a piece of traditional clothing. Kimonos were designed to be suitable to wear in all weather. They could also be worn in layers to keep people warm in winter. They were made of linen for the summer. People started to combine different colours in to the design of the kimonos to represent the different seasons of the year. During the Kamakura period (1192- 1338) and the Muromachi period (1338-1573) men and woman started wearing brightly coloured kimonos. Warriors wore the colours of their leaders and sometimes the battlefield was as colourful as a fashion show!
