From Asia With Love – Converting a Kimono for a Modern Day Wedding

Bridal Fashion Week started on Sweetest Day, October 17th.

…when she suggested cutting every embroidered piece out and sewing them on, all I could think of was my old Girl Scout sash.

When Gretchen Bourg became engaged, she knew she would not be walking down the aisle in a plain white dress. Active with the Madison Ballet, her life as a dancer led her toward the dramatic. Her first choice? Something red. But when she stumbled upon an Osaka website for a business that converts traditional Japanese kimonos into modern formalwear, the idea for her wedding dress was born.
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Gretchen, this all starts off when you were proposed to – Yay!

GB: Yay!

Normally someone would run to David’s Bridal, or any number of boutiques in town, but you did something different. You converted a vintage kimono into your wedding dress.

GB: As a dancer, I am naturally inclined to costumes and a more theatrical style. My husband is half Japanese and I’ve always really enjoyed the Asian esthetic. I threw out the idea of a traditional wedding gown and started to think about red, or other colors that inspired me. I happened upon a website as I was searching for Japanese customs, a company in Japan that takes kimonos and transforms them into formal wear. I took that idea to a seamstress locally and asked if she could do something like that for me. She had costume experience, and she was game, she was excited about it.

Can you discuss the importance of the kimono and the significance in using that for your wedding?

GB: The kimono I chose is called an Uchikake. It’s a kimono that is worn over another kimono, more like an outside robe or an obi. They date back thousands of years, but the kimono I ended up with is from the mid-Shōwa period. I had only received a vague description of the age of the kimono, so it’s probably somewhere between the 1920s to 1950-1960. I think the Shōwa period actually goes all the way to 1989. These very elaborately embroidered kimonos are used on the outside, a dressing robe for the bride. They were just so gorgeous and had so many colors and patterns that were so inspiring, I thought it would be a really nice way to combine our marriage. An East meets West feeling in my wedding dress.

Did you have a long search to find the piece?

GB: The Japanese company had a lot of information on the website, and a number of styles of gowns. I figured I would pick the colors I liked and have the seamstress help me out. I was ordering it from a company in Osaka, over Ebay, there are tons of them on Ebay. It was really inexpensive. It was about $78 and about the same for shipping, and I got a kimono in the mail a week later. There were a few stains, but it was beautiful. As soon as I got it I thought it was perfect, exactly the colors I wanted. The background I hadn’t anticipated, it was white. I was still aiming for a red dress but I loved it immediately.

I think that is actually more fitting to transform that into a Western style. White is unusual. How is that feeling to finally see it, and then the thought of having to convert that into a dress?

GB: It was a slight panic. A sort of, “What was I thinking?”, “Did I really have this happen?”, “Would people think I was crazy?”. I wasn’t too concerned about the latter, because it was my wedding dress. But I was a little concerned. The company I got the dress from is Ichiroya, and they sell tons and tons of kimonos. They had detailed the stains, but actually getting this huge kimono, I thought it was so gorgeous, but it was only the beginning of nervousness in how to deal with it. I had to bring it to the seamstress and we had a lot of speedbumps in trying to get this into a dress. We really couldn’t go with Plan A or B, we had to go with Plan C.

You mean with the final style?

GB: Yes. On the site I had seen, many of the gowns were fitted, so they didn’t require a lot of fabric. I didn’t really think of that when I envisioned my dress, which was a fitted bodice and a very full ball gown. My seamstress took one look at it and said, “We don’t have enough fabric.” Being a great, ingenious seamstress, she said we could try to add fabrics into the kimono and piece it together. Ultimately she made a silk gown out of fabric I purchased and she appliquéd every single piece from the kimono onto the gown. It ended up being a happy accident, because we were able to place the elaborate pieces where we wanted. There are branches and flowers and pagodas on the original, and by adding them on we were able to highlight favorites and avoid some potentially awkward placements by some flowers and things.

It was definitely a leap of faith. I had this wonderful seamstress that I felt completely comfortable in her hands. But when she suggested cutting every embroidered piece out and sewing them on, all I could think of was my old Girl Scout sash. I was really concerned it would look very homemade, or quilted, or something. She just did an outstanding job. You would never know it wasn’t the original fabric.

How long did the process take?

GB: We started around May, maybe April, and the wedding was at the end of August, so it took a few months. There was quite a bit of embroidery and appliqué that she had to do on the backend of things that she didn’t anticipate, but to be working on this type of project, I think she thought it was worth it.

How did your husband feel about all of the effort?

GB: He was absolutely stunned and pleased. He knew not to expect a white gown from me, but I never let on. My Japanese mother-in-law was very flattered.

Was she in on the secret?

GB: No, she wasn’t. I tried to keep it a secret even from my friends. I thought it would be fun to surprise everyone by not wearing a traditional gown. This was also fun; I worked on my own headpiece. It was inspired by a Geisha’s headpiece, called a Kanzashi, and almost fabric origami. They are either hairsticks or combs. I made my own version, and it was fun to play with that modern day Geisha experience.

Would you recommend this experience then?

GB: I would if you have a great seamstress. This was definitely a two way street, and we talked a lot about what I wanted, and she talked about what she needed. The afternoon we did the appliqué it was about three hours worth just to place the pieces. But it was really fun designing my own wedding dress and having something so original and unique. I would encourage anyone to think outside of the box. Wedding dresses don’t need to be boring.

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If you are looking to get creative with your own wedding gown, start with an experienced seamstress. If you are in the Madison, Wisconsin area, Gretchen is sharing her resource for readers:

Beverly
Just For You
217 S Main St
Verona, WI 53593-1421
(608) 848-3773