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Miwako Yoshida

Atelier ren Kimonoremake

/Show Day

Apr 15, 2023

/Social Media

Designer Miwako Yoshida was born in 1944. After the birth of her first son, she couldn't find clothes she liked, so she began dressmaking with the thought of "I'll make clothes I want to wear". Fascinated by old kimono fabrics sold at antique markets, she came up with the idea of remaking them into clothes. Over the next 45 years, she continued to create clothes by remaking kimonos. Pursued designs that made women more attractive and that were easy to make, she accomplished the original patterns. She thinks that simply keeping valued kimono fabrics is a waste, and instead revives them as new works rather than throwing kimonos and clothes no longer worn. Her stance has element of SDGs. She turned 80 years old as of January 2023.

The exhibitions and sales in Kasugai City, Aichi prefecture, Japan were a great success every year. Though there were calls for branding or commercializing, it was difficult to massproduce clothes with the same pattern due to the nature of remaking kimonos. Therefore, she has always cherished the exhibitions and sales where she can see customers face-to-face and

talk about the qualities of kimono fabrics.

Atelier Ren's "ren" means "ripples" in Japanese. It was named after the idea of inheriting good old things instead of buying new things one after another and throwing them away, devising ways to make them comfortable for ourselves in the present, and wishing to spread this belief like ripples.

Through the production of clothes by remaking kimonos, Miwako Yoshida would like to convey the spirit of "mottainai" - taking good care of things - and the mind to enjoy devising, especially to senior generations of her age. To young generations, she will also spread the appeal of good old Japanese kimonos and their designs with social media and other means.

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