Stripes on Hakama

[Shimazu Nobuhisa]

Hi Everyone!

I found some great fabric that I'd like to use for Hakama. It has uniform grey and black stripes on it. The stripes are a little over an inch wide.

I was going to have the stripes running vertically on the hakama, but after a little movie marathon yesterday looking at everyone's hakama, I found some with smaller stripes running vertically, but the only wide stripes on hakama I saw were running horizontally. I know that there are often lots of mistakes and mixing of time periods in movie costuming, but it got me thinking.

At first I thought horizontal stripes might look a little strange, but now I'm thinking that the horizontal stripes might better suit the Japanese aesthetic of the time.

What do you think? Should the stripes run horizontally or vertically? I'm shooting for Late Sengoku period hakama.

Thanks!

[Saionji Shonagon]

Is the stripe vertical or horizontal on the bolt? I'm only asking this because it could affect the wear. (I have a kosode I LOVE that I can't wear any more because the fabric keeps tearing along the grain horizontally.)

Aesthetically, however, you are correct that horizontal stripes were fairly popular in that period.

[Shimazu Nobuhisa]

Thanks very much for your input. It is drapery fabric, so it runs vertical/parallel to the bolt. I hadn't thought of the "grain" direction of the fabric being an issue so I'm glad you brought it up.

It has a nice thickness and seems pretty strong. I was hoping it could be dual function, so I could wear under armor but still look nice just walking around.

I'll show the fabric to a couple of people more knowledgable than myself and see if they think it can go horizontal.

[Saionji Shonagon]

May 17, 2013 11:29:02 GMT -5 Shimazu Nobuhisa said:

It has a nice thickness and seems pretty strong. I was hoping it could be dual function, so I could wear under armor but still look nice just walking around.

Sounds like it should work fine. (Mine was a rayon-ish blend of Dubious Fiber Content and it just didn't work out for me.)

[Kitabatake Genjiro Katsunari]

I'm Running into a similar issue. I bought some fabric I really like for a pair of hakama and was planning to have the stripes on it running vertical but because of my leg length the length of the fabric does not divide nicely with my leg length (a curse of long legs). Then I got thinking it might look ok if not more period to run the stripes horizontal as the fabric width is my desired panel length. The fabric pattern is 2" olive green and 1/2" tan stripes separated by a row of white stitches. What do you think Tousando, should I do vertical or horizontal.

[Saionji Shonagon]

As mentioned earlier in this thread, horizontal stripes are fine. Go for it.