How Sara Sakanaka Is Revitalizing Vintage Kimonos

By Megan O'Sullivan

In her Brooklyn studio, designer Sara Sakanaka keeps a small drawstring bag that her grandmother made for her decades ago. Sewn from textile scraps, the striped pouch is one of Sakanaka’s oldest keepsakes, an heirloom representing a generations-old philosophy. “My mom used to tell me this story. It was about how if we treat objects with love and care for one hundred years, they can obtain a soul,” she shares as pours each of us a cup of Mugicha, a Japanese Barley tea that she grew up drinking. We met at her studio on a gray Tuesday morning, where a collection of silk separates, each made from reclaimed Japanese kimonos, hangs neatly. On a shelf, folded piles of salvaged textiles wait for her to sew them into something new, just like her grandmother once did as a hobby. “There’s this whole idea that objects have lives,” she says. “I like to see every piece as a true considered object in that way.”

It makes sense then that Sakanaka would name her own label Considered Objects. The 39-year-old launched her line—a collection of hand-sewn jackets, dresses, and shirtings that are made entirely from reclaimed Japanese kimonos and textiles—just two years ago. “I never had the dream of starting a business,” she shares. “I was happy working toward someone else’s vision. But at some point, there’s this part of you that wants to explore what you want to say. It took time for me to be able to discover that.”

Sakanaka has a lot to say. With 20 years of experience under her belt, she has developed a design philosophy of her own. “I have no interest in buying new materials or producing with mills,” she says while showing me the intricate, hand-stitched panels of a vintage summer kimono. As she points out its cotton lining and hand-painted family crests (her own paternal and maternal family crests are tattooed on each of her arms), it becomes clear that she is not just making clothing; she’s stitching age-old stories into contemporary garments. “After years of working at different fashion brands, I found that you can get stuck on this hamster wheel. What has always grounded me was the question, ‘how can I not only find true meaning in these things, but how can I offer connection through these pieces?’”

Nick Krasznai / courtesy of Considered Objects

An FIT graduate, the apparel designer previously worked for fashion label Imitation of Christ, luxury line Ports 1961, bespoke womenswear collection Honor, and the Japanese fashion house Foxey. In 2020, after spending nearly four years traveling back and forth between New York and Japan for work, she felt she was ready for something new. “I started to wonder how I would mentally, physically, and creatively sustain. I was burnt out.” she tells me. Around that time, her grandmother, the one who gave her the collaged drawstring bag and taught her how to sew, passed away. “This was during the pandemic, so I wasn’t able to attend her funeral in Japan. I had previously inherited her collection of kimonos and rediscovered them during that time. I had completely forgotten about them, but learning about them became part of my grieving process. Having those made me feel close to her,” Sakanaka reflects.

It was then that she took a page from her grandmother’s book. “Studying these shambled garments and giving them new life through reconstruction was a way for me to heal while reconnecting with myself and my culture,” she says. Preserving the original rectangular panels and stitching style from each kimono, the designer began dismantling and reassembling each one. Her first design? A classic, collared, button-down shirt. Inside each shirt she constructed, Sakanaka sewed a layered patchwork flower made from leftover silk scraps. “That flower, that mark, it was sort of my way of memorializing the whole experience of my creation and of finding closure. It was a way of bestowing my honor upon each piece.”

Nick Krasznai / courtesy of Considered Objects

When Sakanaka was ready to launch Considered Objects with an assortment of silk shirts made from her grandmother’s and other reclaimed kimonos, one of the first people she called was her advisor and friend Johanne Shepley Siff. The two met while at Honor, where Siff was the CEO. After a 40-year career—during which Siff spent 17 years at Comme des Garçons in the 1980s and ’90s and six years at Prada soon after—Siff now consults with emerging design talent. “I was touched by her unique connection to Japanese craftsmanship and how she is imbuing those traditions with a modern sensibility,” Siff says. “She’s coming from a place that is mindful of the past, present, and future. Having worked with (Rei) Kawakubo and Mrs. Prada, two women who could really tap into their own courageous spirits in that way, I appreciate when a designer is willing to do that. That really spoke to me.”

Siff curated Sakanaka’s first fashion presentation, which took place in January 2021 at New York’s Cristina Grajales Gallery. Considered Objects’ first collection, edition 01, was an assortment of fifteen one-of-a-kind, hand-sewn, genderless kimono shirts—the same silhouette she first made. “When you compare traditional Japanese wear with western dressing, you can see how Japanese clothing embraces the body,” the designer explains. “The kimono does not restrict or limit. You’re not bound by age, size, or gender. There’s a lot of freedom in that.” For Sakanaka, the silk button-down shirt is nostalgic. “When I was a kid, I would secretly wear my dad’s work shirts. It was my way of connecting with him,” she says. “I never understood what it meant to create womenswear. I just wear clothes that speak to me in a personal way.”

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Nick Krasznai / courtesy of Considered Objects

Nearly two years later, Considered Objects has expanded to include an array of silk suiting separates: tapered silk trousers, slightly oversized blazers, two-toned vests, draped dresses, and hand-sewn accessories. Each piece in the collection is made from 100 percent reclaimed materials (even the mother of pearl buttons). Inside of every garment is the silk scrap flower and a handwritten tag, which outlines how many hours each part of the design process for the garment took. Most of the current collection, including a long-sleeved silk gown and a black patchwork shirt stitched with traditional white silk thread, are made from kurotomesode, a formal kimono crafted from black silk. “I want each piece that comes out of this studio to honor the maker that came before me,” Sakanaka says. “It’s so clear to me now that I have to embed these values into each piece in order to preserve the original works of art.”

Nick Krasznai / courtesy of Considered Objects

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As the designer and Siff prepare an assortment of silk kimono shirts to be shipped off to a retailer in San Francisco, I notice another small drawstring bag on the table. It’s made from kimono silk, mirroring the colors and patterns of the yuzen-dyed silk shirts hanging on the rack by the door. Similar to the thirty-year-old drawstring bag her grandmother gave her, the bag is made from leftover textiles. “Each shirt comes with a matching drawstring bag to keep it inside,” Sakanaka tells me. “It’s a keepsake that’s meant to be passed on. The one my grandmother made carries the memory of my connection with her. Creating them is my way of honoring her and keeping her close.”