Album Series 3: Traditional Clothes : #2 BENGATA & KIMONO - Japan

The kimono (着物) is a Japanese traditional garment worn by women, men and children. The word "kimono", which literally means a "thing to wear" (ki "wear" and mono "thing"), has come to denote these full-length robes. The standard plural of the word kimono in English is kimonos, but the unmarked Japanese plural kimono is also sometimes used.
Kimonos are T-shaped, straight-lined robes worn so that the hem falls to the ankle, with attached collars and long, wide sleeves. Kimonos are wrapped around the body, always with the left side over the right (except when dressing the dead for burial), and secured by a sash called an obi, which is tied at the back. Kimonos are generally worn with traditional footwear (especially zōri or geta) and split-toe socks (tabi).
Today, kimonos are most often worn by women, and on special occasions. Traditionally, unmarried women wore a style of kimono called furisode, with almost floor-length sleeves, on special occasions. A few older women and even fewer men still wear the kimono on a daily basis. Men wear the kimono most often at weddings, tea ceremonies, and other very special or very formal occasions. Professional sumo wrestlers are often seen in the kimono because they are required to wear traditional Japanese dress whenever appearing in public.

 

 

 

 

Album Series 2: Traditional Clothes : #2 MARIMEKKO - Finlandia

Marimekko is a Finnish company based in Helsinki that has made important contributions to fashion, especially in the 1960s and 1970s. They are particularly noted for brightly-colored printed fabrics and simple styles, used both in women's garments and in home furnishings.

History

Marimekko was founded in 1951 by Viljo and Armi Ratia, after the former's oilcloth factory project failed and was converted to a garment plant. Armi asked some artist friends to apply their graphic designs to textiles. In order to show how the fabric could be used, the company then designed and sold a line of simple dresses using their fabric. It came as an early recognition of fashion as an industrial art and of Marimekko's role in the process when Finland's leading industrial designer Timo Sarpaneva invited the company to present a fashion show (albeit canceled at short notice) at the 1957 Triennale in Milan. The garments were eventually showcased in the nearby Rinascente upscale department store under its then store display manager Giorgio Armani.
Marimekko was first introduced to the United States by the architect Benjamin C. Thompson, who featured them heavily in his Design Research stores. They were made famous in the United States by Jacqueline Kennedy, who bought eight Marimekko dresses which she wore throughout the 1960 US Presidential campaign.
In the mid 1960's, Crate and Barrel began a relationship with Marimekko, which continues to this day, utilizing their designs on textiles sold in their stores. Crate and Barrel also uses Marimekko patterns as display backdrops in their stores to add color and seasonality.
By 1965, the company employed over 400, and the company was in every aspect of fine design, from fabrics to toys, dinnerware, even completely equipped small houses. That year, Armi Ratia told Pan Am's Clipper magazine that she was "against success--it is a sick word. Too many side effects." In the interview by R.E. Smallman, she also said that she did not like "hats, corsets. There is almost no more bra or even pants--no elegant woman will wear stockings, perhaps even no shoes. The world changes quickly, and this is expression of the new society."
In 1985, the company was sold to Amer-yhtymä. In the beginning of the 1990s, Marimekko was in a bad financial condition and was considered ready for bankruptcy. It was then bought from Amer by Kirsti Paakkanen, who introduced new business methods in the company and is generally seen as having saved Marimekko.
Later on the 90's Marimekko achieved publicity in the hit series Sex and the City. The fictional main character of the series, sex-and-relationship columnist Carrie Bradshaw, wore a Marimekko bikini on the season 2 and later on, a Marimekko dress. On the fifth season the series also introduced tablecloths with Marimekko prints.
In 2005, Marimekko's revenue had quadrupled since Paakkanen's purchase, and its net income grown 200-fold. Kirsti Paakkanen remained CEO of Marimekko and owned 20 % of the company via her business Workidea. In 2007, Paakkanen announced she would gradually hand over her ownership to Mika Ihamuotila, who will be the new CEO and biggest owner of the company.
In 2007, Marimekko began opening individually-owned Marimekko Concept Stores in the United States and Canada. Currently there are stores located in New York, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Oxford, Mississippi; Miami, Florida; and Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Marimekko name has been adopted within business and the management consultancy industry to refer to a bar chart where all the bars are of equal height, there are no spaces between the bars, and the bars are in turn each divided into segments of different height. The design of the 'marimekko' chart is said to resemble a Marimekko print.

 

Album Series 1: Traditional Clothes : #1 BATIK - Indonesia

Batik (Javanese pronunciation: [ˈbateʔ]; Indonesian: [ˈbatɪʔ]; English: /ˈbætɪk/ or /bəˈtiːk/) is a cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique.
Javanese traditional batik, especially from Yogyakarta and Surakarta, has notable meanings rooted to the Javanese conceptualization of the universe. Traditional colours include indigo, dark brown, and white, which represent the three major Hindu Gods (Brahmā, Visnu, and Śiva). This is related to the fact that natural dyes are most commonly available in indigo and brown. Certain patterns can only be worn by nobility; traditionally, wider stripes or wavy lines of greater width indicated higher rank. Consequently, during Javanese ceremonies, one could determine the royal lineage of a person by the cloth he or she was wearing.
Other regions of Indonesia have their own unique patterns that normally take themes from everyday lives, incorporating patterns such as flowers, nature, animals, folklore or people. The colours of pesisir batik, from the coastal cities of northern Java, is especially vibrant, and it absorbs influence from the Javanese, Arab, Chinese and Dutch culture. In the colonial times pesisir batik was a favourite of the Peranakan Chinese, Dutch and Eurasians.
UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on October 2, 2009. As part of the acknowledgment, UNESCO insisted that Indonesia preserve their heritage.
Batik or fabrics with the traditional batik patterns are also found in several countries such as Malaysia, Japan, China, Azerbaijan, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and Singapore. Malaysian batik often displays plants and flowers to avoid the interpretation of human and animal images as idolatry, in accordance with local Islamic doctrine

 

 

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