There’s one question we get asked almost every single day, usually by someone standing between a Handpainted Silk Kimono Robe and a Printed Silk Kimono Robe they love equally. What we hear is usually a version of this: what is the difference between these two? They’re usually not even truly asking about the colors or the patterns, but about themselves. What they’re really trying to figure out is which one will give them the experience they want the most.
It’s a good question and a worthwhile one to ask, but the honest answer is that there are no wrong answers. Both collections are wearable works of art, made to elevate the everyday through a little bit of luxury and a whole lot of beauty. You truly can’t go wrong with either of these signature pieces. However, understanding the differences between collections is the best way to understand which one will give you, or someone you love, the experience you crave the most.
The Handpainted Silk Collection: Time in Every Detail
Every kimono robe in our Handpainted Silk Collection takes a minimum of seven full working days to produce. That number often surprises people and it should. Seven days is not a typical production timeline, especially in our current culture of fast fashion.
The process begins with our talented artisans sketching the design directly onto 100% silk by hand. Then the background is painted using traditional watercolor techniques, field by field, layer by layer. The next layer is the motif. Each stage has to dry completely before the next begins to avoid disturbance and deterioration of each layer of pain saturation. Applying the next layer too soon and the colors bleed into each other, so patience is truly a technical requirement of this generations-old production process.
This kind of intention and artistry produces a kimono robe that is, in the most literal sense, one of a kind. The brush does not move identically twice. The watercolor pools slightly differently in each application. Two robes made from the same design, by the same artisan, on the same week, will not be identical. That variation is not something we consider to be a discrepancy, but rather part of the value and originality of every piece of wearable art.
The weight of these robes adds to their luxuriousness. They are made with a lightweight 100% Grade 6A Raw Mulberry silk that drapes with a fluidity that adds to the whimsical, floral scenes. This is a beautiful choice for a significant occasion, or for the kind of person who treats every mundane moment as magical. For anniversaries, milestone birthdays, or when you need a gift that communicates what words can’t, the Handpainted Silk Collection is a flawless choice. When someone unwraps a handpainted robe and learns what the time and care that went into it, they can feel the difference.
The Printed Silk Collection: Modern Designs Inspired by Heritage
Our Printed Silk Collection starts with the same premise, attention to detail, and design intentions. Renee and Tiffany, sisters and co-founders of KIM+ONO, design each and every pattern to merge the tradition of heritage with the beauty of modern life. The patterns chosen for this Printed Silk Collection adapt the traditional kimono into a modern, wearable work of art that feels fresh and yet rooted in heritage.
The production process here uses precision printing of our botanical designs onto 100% Grade 6A Raw Mulberry Silk. It’s the same lightweight at 16mm, with a liquid drape that sways with you as you walk. The designs in this collection update the motifs of the traditional kimono for the modern individual. For example, the traditional meaning of cherry blossoms is crafted through artisan techniques to imbue a centuries-old reference of impermanence and fleeting beauty onto a kimono robe that slips just easily over jeans as it does over a little black dress. It’s just one way to bring vintage traditions into an elevated, modern style.
This collection is also where our plus size robe silk offerings are most extensive because of their popularity. The 100% Grade 6A Raw Mulberry Silk drapes generously and beautifully across a full range of figures, and the kimono silhouette itself, open-fronted, unstructured, adjustable, is a comfortable fit that feels tailored to every body.
Photo by Ashley Streff
How to Choose Between Two Good Options
One way to think about it is this: the Handpainted Collection is for those once-in-a-lifetime moments. The Printed Collection is for celebrating the everyday.
A long silky robe from the Printed Silk Collection is the one she reaches for on a Monday morning, wraps around herself before the house wakes up, or wears to the farmer’s market on a Saturday. It is the silky robe that becomes a fixture of her daily life so naturally she stops thinking of it as a luxury and starts thinking of it as a necessity. It works poolside, over a one-piece, layered over a dress for a dinner she wants to dress up.
The Handpainted Silk Kimono Robe is for the unique moment she wants to mark: a wedding where she is dressing for photographs she will keep for decades, a holiday morning that deserves a touch of the extraordinary, an anniversary gift chosen specifically with symbolism and story in mind. These are the pieces that become living heirlooms.
Both collections work for gifting, and both work for keeping. The occasion and the person are what tell you which direction to go. Someone stepping into a new chapter of her life, a retirement, a significant birthday, a hard year finally ending well: the Handpainted Silk Collection meets that moment. Someone you want to give daily beauty to, the friend who needs reminding that ordinary mornings still deserve a little self care, the woman in your life who gives generously to everyone and rarely receives: the Printed Silk Collection elevates the everyday.
Both Collections Share This
The production processes may be different, but the intention is the same. Both collections were designed by women who believe in bringing more beauty to your everyday and that self care is a radical act of self love. Every piece in every collection was made with the same belief: you deserve to feel as beautiful as you truly are.
