From closet to catwalk: How heirloom kimonos are being transformed into modern fashion

Don’t miss the full story, whose reporting from Yuri Kageyama at The Associated Press is the basis of this artificial intelligence-assisted article.

Japan’s traditional kimono is experiencing a creative and sustainable revival, as designers and artisans reimagine centuries-old garments into modern fashion and keepsakes rather than letting them gather dust in closets.

Some key facts:

• A genuine silk kimono can last more than a hundred years and is often passed down through generations like heirloom jewelry.

• The kimono’s design has remained largely unchanged since Japan’s 17th-century Edo period.

• Mari Kubo’s business, K’Forward, is among a surge of services remaking old kimonos into contemporary jackets, dresses, pants, tote bags and dolls.

• Remade kimonos at K’Forward range from about 25,000 yen ($160) for a tomesode — a formal black kimono featuring colorful embroidered flowers, birds or foliage at the bottom — to as much as 160,000 yen ($1,000) for a furisode, a colorful style with long sleeves traditionally worn by young unmarried women.

• Recycling venues in Japan receive thousands of old kimonos daily, as most Japanese now wear them only for special occasions.

• Designer Tomoko Ohkata creates elaborately dressed dolls using recycled kimono fabric, with emperor-and-wife pairs selling for 245,000 yen ($1,600).

• Nao Shimizu runs a school in Kyoto teaching people how to wear and carry themselves in a kimono, saying students can learn to dress themselves in about six months.

• Singer Sumie Kaneko, who performs in recycled kimono dresses, describes the practice as “the recycling of life,” saying a past moment and its colors and patterns can be brought back to life.

READ MORE: Japan’s traditional kimonos are being repurposed in sustainable and creative ways