Kimonos Redux for style-conscious women, it's a familiar dilemma: you're heading
out for the night and need something to hold your keys, cash and mobile phone, but all your
bags are either too big or too small. Kazumi Nakanishi, a Japanese expatriate in Hong Kong,
came up with her own solution: Chako (available at boutiques in Hong Kong and London; purses
from HK$2,200; chakotokyo.com), a line of perfectly sized, one-of-a-kind clutches made from
gorgeous vintage kimonos and obis. Nakanishi stumbled upon the idea while working in Boston.
At her request, her mother, Fusako, had stitched together a bag from an old kimono, and
Nakanishi found herself receiving compliments from strangers who wanted to know where it came
from. "But then I got to Hong Kong, where people tend to go out a lot, for cocktails, for
parties. So what I really needed was a more elegant clutch," she says. The mother-and-daughter
team sources their fabrics from weekend antique markets in and around Tokyo (they prefer
keeping their sources secret). The company is also about to become even more of a family affair:
for the fall 2008 collection, Nakanishi plans to collaborate with her sister, an artist, to make
purses adorned with classic obi-domes, the brooches used to fasten obis. - j.c.
