So one of the things I really wanted as a souvenir from my trip to Tokyo was a vintage kimono... after the first few days of wandering round the city I had pretty much given up hope of finding anything even vaguely authentic. Everything was made from cheap nasty polyester material in hideous prints and was basically just seriously overpriced tourist tat. But the gods must have been smiling on us - in our last couple of days we stumbled across this lovely little shop whilst we were wandering around the back streets of Omotesando and went in to have a quick look even though we were certain it would all be far too expensive.
First look... lets go inside!

Ohhh pretty!
The lovely ladies who owned the shop insisted we try one on. It's a complicated process with a beautiful silk undergarment kimono underneath. They are actually quite bulky and heavy, especially around the waist where the kimono is folded up to lift it up from the floor. The long sleeves of the kimono get tied in with the obi and so arm movement is also quite restricted. You definitely need someone handy to dress you if you plan in wearing this sort of clothing!
This was a very antique kimono and cost over £300. Hmmm maybe I'll have a look at some others!
Adele being dressed. I think she bought this one, or one very similar.

So I think we ended up with two kimonos each, a haori jacket each, a kimono for a friend and a cotton men's kimono for Lewis. The prices weren't just reasonable but actually incredibly cheap considering what we were buying, some of the kimonos started at around £30!
So for next time you are in Tokyo looking for vintage kimonos check out Gallery Kawano, Flats Omotesando 102, 4-4-9 Jingumae, Sibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001 Japan. Their website is here.
Here are the kimonos I bought - I will try and take some proper pictures of them soon. They are so beautiful!