The Sleeping Surface
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There is a garment that most people who have never worn a kimono have never heard of. It is the nagajuban — the underrobe worn beneath the kimono, next to the skin, invisible to everyone except the wearer and, on formal occasions, the person who helps with dressing.
The nagajuban is typically white or ivory silk. In formal contexts it is plain; in more personal or private contexts it may be subtly patterned — small crests, delicate botanical motifs, geometric repetitions that will never be seen by anyone who looks at the wearer from outside the kimono. The pattern is entirely for the wearer.
This is what I mean by the most private form of luxury. Not luxury as status signal, but luxury as personal knowledge — the quality you feel but do not display. The coolness of silk against skin on a warm day. The particular weight of a well-made underrobe that moves with the body rather than constraining it. The knowledge that beneath everything visible, there is something made with care.
The nagajuban pieces in our Kimono & Garments collection are occasionally available — white silk of extraordinary fineness, some patterned, some plain, all from the period when these were made for women who wore them to ceremonies of genuine significance.