Tailoring for Women

With due acknowledgement paid to Rogers and Hammerstein, I thought this week’s post should be devoted to a garment I am personally becoming quite attached to; the happi coat.

This loose fitting Japanese jacket originated as a lightweight over-garment that became a traditional part of a shop keeper’s uniform. The family crest, shop name or emblem was printed on the back of the coat.   In Japanese restaurants the chefs often wear something similar to a happi coat called a hippari.  However, rather than having the traditional obi tied around the waist it has a small belt that ties inside the foreparts.  Today, happi coats are still used by some shop keepers, however you see them more usually at Japanese festivals.

It is an extremely practical garment that folds, packs and travels well, and no doubt this is in part what lends it such popularity.  The traditional garments can be made in cottons or linens but there is no reason why they couldn’t be made from most any fabric.

I made this one recently for a client.The fabric I used is a hand woven ‘shot silk and its irridescence is captivating.

Flattering, as it drapes on all figures with its soft shoulder line and proportion that skims the hipline, its belt can also be decorated with beads or perhaps something similar to the traditional netsuke.

I received this picture recently from Japan.  This particular happi was a small token of thanks I made for a friend who had treated me to a day of kabuki drama at the Kabuki-za followed by an evening of sushi and sake with her family.  Here she models the finished garment with her arms tucked in to show the shape of the sleeves!

It is made from a length of kimono fabric woven by one of her forebears.  The width of the roll of fabric fits within the traditional standard, around 15 inches, whereby one length would make one of the foreparts, two lengths joined together would form the back, and another length would wrap around the arm to form the sleeve.  This foreward thinking in the manufacturing process eleminates much of the cutting.

I think that there is something almost uncanny about these garments that has also been remarked upon by my clients.  It may well be that the feeling of freedom these garments give somehow encourages a different sense of poise when you wear them.  Maybe it is the way in which this garment highlights the character of the person who wears it rather than it becoming the centre of focus.

Whatever it may be, I now wear them all the time as my signature garment when I am working in the studio.

Photo: thanks to Japanese gifts