Taking Japanese fashion way old-school

Always impressive Monocle magazine recently did a video feature on the work of Genbei Yamaguchi’s new collection for United Arrows.

It’s unusual to see kimono’s being warn in Japan these days, except on rare occasions such as traditional festivals. What Genbei has done, is a really classy modern take on the traditional Japanese kimono, which may successfully revive kimono culture with the young generation. Well the rich ones anyway.

Genbei is a traditional kimono maker from a 270-year-old family business which specialises in the production of Obi(belt for Kimono). United Arrows is a Japanese high-end casual wear label and retailer, who is often a favourite of Monocles.

Kondaya Genbei 10th Yamaguchi Genbei grew out of the wholesale-oriented business, and decided to engage in the production of Obi, of which he puts much emphasis on his own design image.As making the most of traditional Kimono culture on our time culture, Kondaya Genbei has been challenging innovatively to produce Obi with new sense of values.“Mentally, I’m always hungry. If my imagination starts to stagnate, that’s the end,” Yamaguchi Genbei says.

Check out the video here

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