wafuku: fashion or history?

Hey
I am writting about the use of wafuku (yukata, kimono ect) and about its use in Japan today. How is the view on yukata ect. today- is it okay to wear it everyday or only at festivals? Im especially interested in hearing from young japanese people. (In japanese is fine)
What are peoples personal oppinion on wafuku - would YOU wear it or is it too old fashion??
Please give me your full oppinion on this.

Regards Carina

didn't you notice the post near yours about kimonos and Yukatas? here is one answer from that post:
"Kimono and Yukata:
Kimono is made of silk and can be very costly. It can be worn as formal clothes or daily clothes(depends on a kind of kimono) Men wear Kimono too.
They are in solid dark colors and usually they don't have any patterns on it.
Yukata is made of cotton, used as a sleepwear. It used to be that you were not supposed to wear outside the house( it's like pajama) but that has changed over the years, and people sometimes wear yukata to go watch fireworks at night. Some conservative people still don't like people walking around in Yukata in public.
Men's yukata that people wear outside the house are usually in darker colors, but tend to have more patterns than on Kimono"

have you been to Japan? one see people wearing kimonos daily, perhaps more so in smaller towns and in Kyoto than in Tokyo, but one see them often. Mostly women and children, but I have seen men and young people wearang them in the street, public transit etc.

I think that wafuku is a bit of a boom nowadays (past several years). I am seeing more and more "recycle kimono" shops being opened, and they sell second-hand wafuku.

If you go out on a Saturday afternoon in greater Tokyo, you will see many teenage girls wearing yukata just for a regular date or something. And they have their unique fashion for the new generation. They would wear the yukata a bit shorter, and wear ordinary high heel sandals instead of geta. I'm seeing more and more boyfriends wearing yukata together as well.

Of course, since wafuku does not allow you to move around as freely as modern clothes, no one wears it to the office or schools, but on their days off it's not too unusual to wear them.

Btw, I think that yukata has always been more like sweat pants rather than pajamas. It's not appreciated in formal occasions, but it's normal casual wear and can look fancy depending on the coordination.

If you can read and write Japanese, you should post on a Japanese forum. You'll get better resonses.

yes, Red frog, I saw the post, but it refers more to what yukata and kimono is made of and not what kind of influence it has on the youth today!-therefore my question. And yes, I have been to Japan, but it was difficult for my to understand weather the young people wear kimonos because it is fashion or because it is tradition to them.

Carina

In mid-summer it's part tradition, part fashion to wear yukata to fireworks displays, festivals and even friends' parties. Fashion is involved because popular colours and designs change over the years. Yukata are only worn in July and August really.

There is also an element of fashion for the same reason in the kimono girls wear to their coming of age day ceremony in January- the hairstyles they have done to go with the kimono are quite modern.

I have met a few (mostly older) women who wear kimono almost every day, not as part of their job but because they like kimono. It is partly I think to maintain tradition, partly because they think kimono are beautiful. With actual kimono I think there is less variation from year to year in what is fashionable with colours and designs than yukata, but I'm not an expert.

One of my students was wearing kimono every time I saw here, which was twice a week or so, but she looked very uncomfortable in summer and was sweating a lot.