Samurai Mode Jacket -Standard model -

Details

Every detail
has a reason in kimono.

• Make it yours, with haori cords
  or anything else you like

  A traditional haori can be closed at the front with a cord. The small loops that hold that cord are called <em>chi</em>, and we carried them into the Samurai Mode Jacket. Use a traditional haori cord, or fit a chain or a piece of jewellery you like and make the front your own. Japanese or Western, formal or relaxed — the same jacket goes either way. Wear it as no one else does.

• Comfort first: the kimono opening
  called <em>miyatsuguchi</em>

  However sharp a design looks, it is not good design if it is uncomfortable to wear. So we brought <em>miyatsuguchi</em> into the jacket — the opening left between the side seam and the sleeve, unclosed by the outer cloth. It is an old construction, seen in kimono for women and children and not usual in kimono for men. Choosing it anyway opened a path for air, and made the jacket lighter and cooler to wear. With less tension across the side, the arm moves further and the shoulders lose that stiff, braced look. Removing cloth from under the arm also cuts the bulk, so the shoulder line reads slimmer. Even in a room where the meeting matters, it holds you with air moving through it and a measure of ease.

• Three pockets, for the phone,
  the cards and the handkerchief

  Kimono, the garment this comes from, has no pockets. Modern days do not allow for that, so we gave the jacket three. One sits at the left chest, cut to take a pocket square in the manner of a Western formal jacket, so the piece holds up in a formal room. The other two are inner pockets, left and right. For the meeting where cards are exchanged, and equally for the day off with music in your ears — it was designed to come with you, not only to occasions.