Welcome to Kimono Sheila’s Column

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• Yosano

Hi, I’m Sheila Cliffe. This is my first entry for a new column on Yosano’s Tourism website. I’ll be sharing my love of kimono with readers, and I am hoping that some of my stories or observations about kimono will inspire an interest in Japanese clothing.

It will be on this website because for several hundred years Tango has been one of the locations at the heart of the Japanese textile and kimono industry. The history of the Tango area is a history bound up with threads, weaving, dyeing, silk and kimono.

I was born and brought up in the UK, but I have lived my adult life in Japan. From my childhood, I have had an interest in art and fashion. When I came to Japan and saw kimono I instantly fell in love, because the designs on them are so colourful and beautiful, and the fabric is so soft and smooth to the touch. I learned to wear kimono and how to teach kimono dressing, I did some stencil dyeing as a hobby, and I began to study the history of kimono as well. Once I started, it was so interesting that I could not stop. I found that kimono was a lot more than just pretty designs on soft silk.

I went on to write a Ph.D on kimono and publish some books too. “The Social Life of Kimono” Bloomsbury 2017, is based on my thesis and it shows that Japan has had a fashion system long before western style clothing arrived in the 1870s. “Sheila Kimono Style” Tokai Kyoiku Kenkyuu Jo 2018, is a photographic book, which shows kimono fashion throughout one year, and how kimono can be connected with the seasons.

I continue to enjoy teaching, studying and sharing about kimono as my lifework, and producing small fashion shows and various efforts. I hope you will enjoy this column.