This Reversible Sukajan Kimono by Tailor Toyo & Yamato Lab Bridges Japan's Modern & Ancient Aesthetics

Historic kimono purveyor Yamato has enlisted its Yamato Lab team and the manufacturers at Tailor Toyo to reinterpret its vintage souvenir jacket design in the form of traditional garb. As multi-generational companies specializing in cultural garments, the kimono purveyor and the sukajan manufacturer’s hybrid garment represents the resilient creative spirit of Japan and its strong roots in ancient heritage.

Born in 1917, Yamato began producing traditional kimonos in Koishikawa, Tokyo, and consistently grew throughout the 20th century. However, the garment’s roots go back much further, during the Heian period, roughly between 794-1192 AD. Over time, the design evolved in construction and ornament, becoming a canvas for vibrant designs and symbolic motifs. Some of these artistic themes inspire embroideries found on modern souvenir or “sukajan” jackets, which were introduced by Tailor Toyo’s predecessor, Kosho in the 1940s.  The idea was to take a silhouette familiar to Americans, the varsity style jacket, and imbue it with Japanese flair through cultural motifs. The style was popular among American soldiers stationed in the Pacific and eventually made its way to vintage shops around the world.

The hybrid sukaju kimono takes the general shape of a kimono and combines it with the construction of a sukaju jacket. Carefully selected from vintage sukajans in Tailor Toyo’s archive, embroidery on the green side depicts a traditional architectural landscape with a mountain in the distance. When turned inside out, the black side shows a golden embroidery of a mythical dragon on the back, and a tiger on the front side. The design utilizes the signature sateen acetate fabric, giving the jackets a recognizable silky sheen. Like jackets from the early 1950s, topal piping on the sleeves follows the black and gold color scheme found on the ribbed hems.

See detailed images in the gallery above.