Community Directory

Offering a collection of vintage Japanese silk jackets and long kimono for uniquely
adaptable modern wearing, plus a multitude of silk offcuts suitable for patchwork and
quilting.

Wild Kimono owners Jill & Yoshi Kashima first set up shop in Paddington, Sydney,
when they returned from Japan in the 1980’s with an overwhelming stash of old and
precious silk. They set about up-cycling this into garments more suitable for western
wear, while still honouring the fabric uniqueness.

After several successful decades they moved to Uralla, and have recently opened a
shop at the old NAB bank building in Bridge Street. While they no longer design and
construct garments from kimono silk themselves, they sell both whole traditional
garments and unpicked kimono fabric for others to play with, wear and to reconstruct
according to their own projects. The Wild Kimono by-line “ … wandering the earth,
untethered from tradition …” encapsulates Jill’s attitude to the possibilities of creative
dressing with kimono, acknowledging that there is space for all approaches to these
beautiful things in our modern world.

For those interested in Japanese cottons, the shop has some small pieces suitable
for quilting and also some wearable yukata. Anyone interested in antiques should
make an appointment to see the small range of kasuri, indigo and boro, as this is not
on permanent display.