2 Minutes
Geta for wearing with yukata
black zori for attending funerals
I’m sure that many of you are familiar with geta & zori, as well as other types of traditional Japanese footwear, they’re mostly worn with kimono after all.
Your choice is almost endless when it comes to the type of geta or zori that you could wear with your ensembles. Shapes, sizes, colours of the hanao (thongs), the height of the base as well as the colour of the base. You name it.
You are probably aware that I have almost exclusively worn flats with kimono when going out to meetups etc due to a wart underneath one of my heels.
Earlier this year, I got myself two fitting pairs of zori for wearing with casual kimono so that I no longer only have to wear flats because I’m too much in pain otherwise.
But did you know it’s perfectly okay to wear western footwear with the more casual formalities when it comes to kimono? Yes! Absolutely ^^
Even that cute pair of heels can be worn with kimono if you style your ensemble accordingly. Boots, for example, can easily be worn with hakama, something I tend to do with my own female hakama due to my long legs.
Some styles of kitsuke allow the use of western accessories more than others, traditional ways of wearing kimono sadly don’t seem to as much. Wearing your kimono hem hiked up is an another example where one can easily wear some western footwear.
Kitsuke with a higher hem and heels
Whether you can or can’t wear western footwear largely depends on the event too, not just the formality of the ensemble that you would like to wear.
If you have an event where there is a certain dress code and you have the freedom to style an outfit you like, this is a perfect occasion for you to wear western footwear instead of Japanese footwear.
With informal meetups where you gather with other kimono lovers, there usually isn’t any dresscode (unless the meetup has a theme) so one can wear whatever they like and is usually encouraged to do so. I myself have worn anything from yukata to furisode, to kurotomesode and even hikizuri to these meetsups. 95% of those ensembles I wore with flats instead of geta or zori !
I would say though that footwear like flipflops usually aren’t worn with kimono, regardless of which formality. Perhaps you could get away with a dressier kind of flipflops when wearing yukata but I wouldn’t suggest wearing those cheap foam ones with yukata.
Footwear that I do highly suggest wearing with yukata are sandals, any kind of them actually. They’re often considered more stylish than flipflops and look so much more feminine too.
Don’t be afraid to experiment a little with your ensembles, you may end up having more fun than you think ^^
Thank you so much for reading!
Love,
Youandi
Chayatsuji Kimono
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