Japanese Clothing

[urocissaornata]

I'm a bit of a lurker but I have a burning question and need some resources, and I figured you guys might be just the experts I'm looking for.

I have posted a fic at AFF, called "The Hair Ribbon" and it was my first foray into writing adult fanfiction. Now I have the bug, and I'm working on a much longer Rurouni Kenshin fic centered around the time in the immediate aftermath of the Jinchuu arc.

The problem: I probably got some of the details of clothing wrong in my published fic, and I need to know a lot more details for this long fic. If Kenshin is going to be undressing Kaoru, I want to know exactly what he's peeling off.

It's proving to be a real stopping point for me, and I know I can't even get this fic into a suitable beta format without this knowledge. Plus, I'd like to fix my previous fic.

Does anyone have any good resources that describe each layer of what Meiji-era Japanese women and men wore? I'd like to know the name (and even fabric content, if possible) of everything from underwear to outerwear, and everything in between. I can read hiragana and katakana, and a few kanji. If anyone has pictures, that'd be doubly welcome.

I really appreciate any help you guys can provide. Thanks in advance for your time!

Edited October 31, 2007 by urocissaornata

[Peldor]

I found two good resources,

KIMONO ENCYCLOPAEDIA - KIMONO

and

Kimono - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Both explain the different parts of a Kimono and how to actually wear them as well as the different types of kimonos and the terms and situations in which they would be worn.

Hope this helps!