At New Year's or around graduation time, you can see many women, young and old, in beautifully patterned kimono . For weddings and other very formal occasions, married women and men wear black kimono bearing their family crest. A good silk kimono is very expensive. People take good care of their kimono and hand them down from mother to daughter, father to son. It is difficult to put on the kimono and tie the obi correctly.
Many women take lessons in the proper way to wear a kimono .
Similar to the kimono is the yukata , a simple, light cotton robe worn at summer festivals, or when lounging around after a bath. People do not use ordinary socks and shoes when they wear kimono . Young women dressed in formal kimono to celebrate their Coming of Age Ceremony, held in 15 January for all those who will turn twenty during that calendar year. A Shinto Wedding procesion. The bride has a white head covering, and the groom wears formal hakama over his black kimono .