Yukata
Date2021
Object NameYukata
MediumAfrican wax cotton
ClassificationsFashion and Dress
Dimensions254 x 139 cm
AcquisitionPresented in 2021 by Mimi Hammill
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDMS095723
About MeIn the first week of March 2020 Mimi went on a Creative Aberdeen VACMA funded study trip to London College of Fashion. There was palpable tension in London that week, an awareness that we were on the brink of something huge. The short course was about the design and development of kimono, a subject Mimi has been interested in for more than 20 years. She came home to Aberdeen with grand ideas, to spend 2020 locked away in her design studio, putting in the hours to master genuine Japanese kimono tailoring. What for? Mimi had no idea. Maybe she would deep dive into the story of Scottish Samurai Thomas Blake Glover, maybe one day she'd be skilled enough to design a kimono inspired by Mrs Glover. But within days of returning home, one of her children started coughing and overnight she became full time home learning supervisor. Little did she know this would be her role til mid August. Cooped up with her family, week after week, she needed a weekend project, she didn't have peace and quiet to research or design fabric and most of the fabric printers were in lockdown anyway. But she did have a bolt of African wax print cotton originally destined to be curtains in her (now abandoned) studio. Instead she used it to try and make her first Yukata (an unlined cotton kimono) It was challenging (and frustrating) trying to work with 6m lengths of fabric on the floor of a tiny spare room, particularly as she was no seamstress but those few hours of solitude each weekend to listen to podcasts and wrestle with the details of Yukata construction were a great escape.
