MAKOTO’S PROFILE プロフィール
Makoto belongs to the 20 to 34 years old age group, she is living in Saitama, is married, and is a housewife. She was born and grew up in Nagoya, and her mother dressed her in yukata every summer when she was child. Makoto’s mother has some kimono but she cannot not wear them by herself.
Makoto started to wear kimono by herself because she entered kimono vocational school. She wished to go university after graduating high school, but her mother worried about her future and suggested getting some skill resulting in a job or money. So she had to look for something to study to get a skill. It was a sudden surprise for her, so she wondered what she wanted to do, but she remembered a kimono tailor girl in a novel that she was reading at that time. The tailor girl was so charming and her age was similar to Makoto’s, so she had an interest in kimono tailoring and it was good decision because she wanted to do something different from other people. During the two years of school days, she learned kimono design and tailoring, as well as kimono wearing and dressing. It was hard for her to pick the job when finishing the school, because she had spent no time to get to like kimono for fun before she studied kimono as to be specialist. She had had no interest in kimono before going to the school. Finally she picked a company where she could work in kimono because she liked most wearing her kimono herself, rather than dressing other people or tailoring. She worked in kimono every day until she resigned.
Her kimono collection is 85 kimono. 90% are casual kimono like komon, tsumugi, wool, cotton or polyester for work, since she did not like to work in western dress. She worked in kimono even on the hot summer days, so 40% are summer kimono including yukata. 60% are second hand kimono she bought or she acquired from acquaintances. 7 kimono are tailored by herself.
Her husband loves her in kimono and respects her knowledge of kimono. Makoto and he go out together in yukata in summer, which were picked out by his wife.
真琴さん、３４歳までの年齢のグループ、埼玉県在住、既婚、現在は主婦をされています。生まれ育った名古屋では、夏になるとお母さまから浴衣を着せてもらっていました。お母さまは着物をお持ちですがご自分で着ることはないそうです。
真琴さんは２０歳の頃から自分で着物を着るようになりました。きっかけは着物について総合的に学ぶ専門学校に行ったことです。真琴さんは高校卒業後は、大学進学を希望していましたが、お母さまが真琴さんの将来のために手に職を付けた方が良いと提案され、専門学校を探すことになりました。急な方向転換で、自分が何をやりたいか分からず、それでも人と違ったことをやりたいと考えていたところ、その頃ちょうど読んでいた本の主人公が真琴さんと近い年齢の女性で、和裁士の仕事をしていて、とても魅力的な人物として描かれているのを思い出し、和裁に興味を持ち、それを学べる着物の専門学校を選びました。
２年間の学生生活では着物の着方・着せ方はもちろんのこと、真琴さんが得意でよくコンクールに参加した着物のデザインの授業や、苦手でいつも遅くまで居残りをして仕上げた和裁等、着物についてトータルに学びました。
就職活動では悩みました。元々着物が好きで専門学校に入ったわけではない上、学校ではいきなり専門的なことを学んだので、着物を無邪気に好きになる暇がありませんでした。それでも、縫うことや着せることよりも、着ることが一番好きなので着物を着て仕事ができる会社を選び、退職するまで毎日着物姿で働きました。
お手持ちの着物は８５枚。洋服で働きたくなかった真琴さんのコレクションは仕事に適したカジュアルな着物が多く、９０％が小紋や紬、ウールや木綿の着物です。また全体の４０％は浴衣を含む夏の着物で、暑い夏も毎日浴衣や夏の着物で仕事をしていました。全体の６０％はリサイクルやいただいた着物で、真琴さんが縫った着物も７枚あります。
真琴さんのご主人は真琴さんの着物姿が大好きで、真琴さんの知識とセンスを尊重しています。夏には真琴さんが選んだ浴衣を着て、夫婦一緒に外出しています。
The Kimono Closet 