K004 - Wedding Komon Kimono

Vintage Silk Wedding Kimono (Komon) : Dark Purple / Wax Batik Stripe Flowering Plants Water Splashes

Komon (小紋, lit. 'small pattern', though the patterns may in fact be large) are informal women's kimono. They were the type most often worn as everyday womenswear in pre-war Japan. Though informal, komon with smaller, denser patterns are considered a shade more formal than komon with larger, bolder patterns.

Komon mostly have no kamon (crests), and the sleeves are fairly short. They are made with a repeating designs, though the repeat length may be quite long. Designs can be made with any method; woven patterns, prints, stencilled patterns in alternating orientations, freehand painting (yūzen) or tie-dye patterns (shibori). Traditionally the direction of the fabric was alternated in adjacent panels (necessary due to the lack of shoulder seam), so patterns were generally reversible. If the pattern is the same way up on each panel, the komon is more formal, approaching tsukesage-level formality.

Woven geometric patterns (such as stripes) have no season, but others show images representing the season in general. Woven non-geometric patterns (kasuri) are common. Small, dense patterns are often used; this is practical, as fine-scale patterns hides stains.

Komon are made with informal materials such as tsumugi (slubbed silk), cotton, linen, ramie, and hemp. In the modern day, synthetic blends and synthetics are often used; rayon (jinken) and polyester are common.

Now that kimonos are not typically worn as informal clothing, komon are not worn as often as formal kimono, though they have a wider range of suitable use. Edo komon are the most formal type of komon; they may have one to three crests, with a small, fine pattern that appears to be a solid colour from a distance, and so resembles the more formal iromuji.