Saskia Thoelen

Over the past twenty years, there has been a growing interest in kimono wearing with new kimono producers and retailers developing innovative approaches to kimono making and promotion processes. This article draws on content and narrative analysis from the frameworks of cultural entrepreneurship and sensemaking/sensegiving to analyse the activities of three ‘culturepreneurs’ at the forefront of the revitalization of kimono today: HOSOO, Ginza Motoji and TOMIHIRO. The article argues that these ‘culturepreneurs’ employ five major narratives: identity, making, innovation/tradition, education and community to provide new interpretations of kimono through processes of bricolage that are rooted in their respective company history and identity. In reinterpreting and re-evaluating kimono, these culturepreneurs balance innovative approaches against the essence of traditions, cultural practices and processes of making that are embedded within local and global fashion knowledge and practice, notably, doing so without disrupting the kimono fashion system itself. These stories work as acts of ‘translation’ that help convince their audience of the legitimacy of their new approaches, conveying these new interpretations in an understandable and relatable way that enables their audience to connect on a deeper level. Through analysis of the approaches adopted by these culturepreneurs, this article offers insights into the exploration of patterns of cultural entrepreneurship in kimono fashion and provides an important reference for other retailers and kimono producers for their own activities towards kimono revitalization.