UNCOMMON KIMONOS SUPPORT FUKUSHIMA TSUNAMI VICTIMS

The desire to help when disaster strikes is beautiful in and of itself, but one French woman gave tsunami relief efforts a moving twist. Isabelle Moulin recruited artists to design striking kimonos for Silk Me Back, a display at Galerie de Nesle in Paris culminating in an auction benefiting victims of the 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster. Using kimonos as an artistic expression was not simply a nod to Japanese culture. Instead, as Ashley Turner at Pink Julep explains, the benefit idea mirrored an event in 1855, when Japan imported 61% of their silk worms to rescue a French silk industry that was devastated by disease.

While some of the 25 kimonos featured more traditional lush flower prints, others were metaphorical responses to the disaster, such as one painted with a stunning representation of the human arterial system made with words from Buddhist scriptures. Learn more at Silk Me Back, or visit Pink Julep or Street Anatomy for more stories and images.