Cutting-Edge Kimono Fashion Designer in Tokyo

Hiroko Takahashi is one of Tokyo's top designers

She's known for pushing the boundaries of tradition and using the kimono as her wearable canvas

With the help of her colleague as translator, Heroku explains the inspiration behind her designs

The reason behind the patterns, they're all featured and made out of circles and just straight lines, those two elements

And once she wanted to express through that, is being able to express limitless things

through just the limited elements. And that's the kind of things that she wanted to state

through the patterns that she makes. The mannequins that you have here

they're all on this very strong stance. What's the significance? There's a stereotype in that if a woman was a kimono

they usually stand with their thumb. their thighs inward and they stand kind of, well, tight

And so she decided, I like judo. I do judo. And so that's how I'm going to stand

And that's this kind of strong position that she decided to choose She felt it was a familiar position It goes against a stereotype So it trying to say something and confront that stereotype to say is it feminine Is it really that what kimonos are And

that's not really the case. And the judo position is actually also from the ditees that stand near a temple

And so it's a very, very strong pose that's actually quite common, but not very feminine

And so she's challenging a stereotype at the same time, also relating the fact that it's

I suppose, it's a familiar image to the Japanese people anyway. Upstairs, Hiroko has a wardrobe filled with kimonos and picks out a special one for me to try on

Sticky. It's beautiful. Oh, I love. Well, I can see getting into wearing kimonos because they're so comfortable

Yes, the kimonos made a tini. of soap and that's probably very comfortable

Once you put on the OBE belt, it might be a bit more constricting

Oh, yeah. As varied in their designs as the kimono, the OB is a type of belt or sash

that helps keep the kimono in place. This is my first time trying on a kimono

Oh, really. I guess I came to the right place. Good, thank you