The idea of coming up with different ways to wear a kimono came to me when comments were coming in on our popular casual outfits for summer, and I realized that I hadn’t been wearing my kimonos all summer.
Quote of the day: “We all have different gifts, so we all have different ways of saying to the world who we are.” Fred Rogers
One of my superpowers is to transform the clothing we have and make it truly versatile. With that, I decided to create a couple of innovative ways to wear a kimono.
I had a comment on one of my social channels that you should just wear the piece the way it was intended. And there are those who think that way.
As I always say, there is no right and wrong with our personal style. It’s called personal for a reason.
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In my way of thinking, we should always be the boss of our clothes. And what helps me figure out these tricks is remembering that our clothing is just material with certain seams sewn in them. Using them to make other clothing items is what I consider a good use of our wardrobe.
We have discussed how amazing kimonos are many times on this site as well as tricks that can be used with them.
- This same kimono styled with different color combinations
- Ways to make bigger kimonos more fitted
- Kimono as an option for summer funerals
1-Wearing a Kimono as a Skirt
By taking the kimono by the shoulder seams and wrapping it around my waist, I have created a skirt.
For this example, I used my Maggie’s Magnet (found on Amazon) to secure the 2 ends together.
But you could easily hold them together with safety pins.
Insider tip: I used a second magnet to hold the other end of the sleeve down so it wouldn’t pouf up. With a print kimono like this, the magnets are basically camouflaged.
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2-Make a Dress Out of Your Kimono
Depending on how long your kimono is, you could use my method of wearing it as a skirt and hike it up under your armpits to create a dress.
For this example of ways to wear a kimono, I turned it around and had the back print for the front of the dress. Again, the ends are held together with my magnets.
Insider tip: Another option is shown by Lesley in this post where she just belts the kimono shut and wears biker shorts and a tank top for modesty coverage.
3-Shorten Your Kimono to Be a Wrap
You can easily shorten most kimonos by putting them on upside down. I created this video to show how this is done.
Of course, you could just tie up the front panels to make it shorter if that’s easier.
4-Ways to Wear a Kimono as a Top
This option for ways to wear a kimono could include many different varieties depending on how you fold, tuck, and hold the ends together.
Basically, you want to fold the kimono into a manageable piece of cloth (similar to a scarf) and then wrap it around your body.
No surprise that I used my Maggie’s Magnet to hold the pieces together.
Insider tip: If you have more material you could also scrunch the material together and use a clear elastic to keep it in place.
5-Scarf Magic
Just think about your kimono. It’s basically a large scarf with a couple of seams. So that means you can easily wear your kimono as a scarf.
Insider tip: On the flip side, here’s a video to create a kimono from a long, rectangular scarf.
Just wrap/fold your kimono into a manageable piece of cloth, and wrap it around your neck.
Insider trick: If you don’t like the ends being so thick, place clear elastics in a couple of places to tame the material as you can see I did on the left side.
If you like these ideas of transforming your clothing, then you’ll love these articles
- Wrap silk skirt worn many ways
- Ways to wear a skirt and only one is the intended way
- How to wear a blouse in the summer
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