Fashion Design Stretches across Cultural Divide

Fashion Design Stretches across Cultural Divide
American style met Japanese tradition as students at Parsons School of Design met peers from Tokyo's Yamano College of Aesthetics during a recent design exchange forum at the Manhattan campus.

The Parsons students showed off Western-style garments while the Japanese students explained traditional construction of kimonos. Parsons' teachers brought together the two cultures, demonstrating how to use modern drawing techniques when designing new kimonos.

To be considered a kimono, a garment must be several layers held tightly together by a series of sashes called obi. The outermost kimono and the outermost obi are the most ornate.

Kimonos are now mostly worn for formal occasions and there is a lightweight summer kimono called a yukata that is worn at seasonal festivals, explains David Severance, a U.S. spokesman for Yamano.

A kimono isn't something one throws on like a trench coat. Learning to properly dress oneself in a kimono can take years - something most young Japanese aren't willing to do so they visit a kimono dresser when necessary, Severance explains.

Kimonos are most often made of dyed or hand-painted silk, sometimes with embroidery. They're woven in a variety of ways that produce different textures and the colors range from bright green to muted burgundy.

"Patterns often depict scenes in nature such as