The Japanese Wedding Kimono

     It's common knowledge that weddings require proper attire. Black suits and long, white dresses are most common here in America. Elsewhere, however, you'll find there to be an incredible amount of varied traditional articles of clothing for the big day. Take brides in Japan, for example. There, a traditional wedding kimono, also known as a uchikake, is worn by the bride. It's a long robe, longer than the everyday kimono in Japan, meant to be worn over a regular white kimono, a kakeshita, and sash, a obi. 

     Before the Meiji era, these wedding kimonos were worn by the female members of royal or samurai families, only. Nowadays, however, the kimono is strictly for weddings. Recently, a new style of the uchikake has been introduced, the mai curren uchikake, and has since then been gaining more and more popularity amongst weddings in Japan. It has, unlike the original wedding kimono, an unpadded hem, a train, and shorter sleeves. Mai curren uchikake are good at portraying modern Japanese design elements, what with their angular cut sleeves and thin hems, however they lack the symbolic meanings of the original uchikake. All in all, it's clear that a long white gown won't satisfy just anyone; everyone has their own tradition or custom to keep up, even if it is only a dress.

By Julia Dankov