Wide obi belt

And so, one of the trends in the 2013 season is the Japanese style. And along with it, a wide obi belt, a popular addition, which was mandatory for Japanese women and even served as an adornment. It was the obi belt that was an expensive adornment of the women's national costume.

Obi Belt Aquilano Rimondi

Japanese women have, somewhat different from European, physique. They have an elongated torso and slightly short legs compared to Europeans. And therefore, in their multi-layered clothes, it is unprofitable for them to designate the waist. The obi belt, voluminous and wide, wrapped around the body, and made the figure more straight. The woman in a kimono with an obi belt and traditional Japanese geta shoes looked graceful enough. She walked in small steps and represented the appearance of a mysterious and charming woman. The obi belt was tied with a bow whose loops resembled flower petals or butterfly wings (remember - Butterfly - Chio-Chio-San). The bow was usually located at the back, but sometimes served as an ornament to the front. A beautifully tied obi belt gave the female figure a special touching and tenderness.

Obi belt Damir Doma photo

There were almost no jewelry in the national costume of Japanese women. It was the wide obi belt that fulfilled this role. True, in special cases, Japanese women attached, again to the obi belt, a diamond, a beautiful pearl, or other precious product. Netzuke is another special addition to Japanese clothing. This is a kind of keychain, with the help of which various little things were attached to the belt, because little things are always important for a woman.

Of course, in addition to the obi belt, there were painted and embroidered fans and umbrellas, hairpins and combs for a complex but beautiful hairstyle, which were made of coral, wood, turtle shell, metal, bone. All these necessary elements of the Japanese costume were very beautiful and also served as an adornment for the Japanese woman.

Emilio Pucci and Lanvin

It is unlikely that we would be able to put on the obi belt that used to decorate a Japanese woman, just imagine - after all, a few meters of fabric must be wrapped around the waist ... And what will it be with us? ... However, designers, borrowing from time immemorial elements of national dress, managed to bring them closer to reality.

If you like the Japanese style, use these cute elements in your clothes or repeat the looks that designers suggest to us.

The designers tried their best and the choice is huge - leather, satin, metal belts - which are not available. And Marc Jacobs made a truly phenomenal solution - an ordinary scarf. The last option can probably be used by everyone and literally today, now.