Jacob Directed and Edited this short documentary about the kimono designer Sasa Li.
A little more than a month after Sasa Li graduated from Parsons School of Fashion, she decided to post a DIY photo-essay to Reddit—documenting the kimono-making process she had developed in college and was now hoping to make a living from. The post—which ended up being viewed nearly 400,000 times and commented on more than 400 times—was heavily panned as being inauthentic and an appropriation of Japanese culture.
Quite a pill to swallow for someone of Japanese lineage who happens to refer to herself as “The Kimono Kid.”
In the face of such unexpected feedback, Sasa reaffirmed a belief she first came to hold while reconnecting with her forgotten Japanese heritage: "People think they know what kimono is, but they really don't."
That blatant disconnect molded Sasa’s desire to not only educate young Americans to the way of the kimono, but to create undeniably unique clothing that could demonstrate the endless possibilities behind the kimono.
This film documents Sasa’s exploration of individuality in a thousand year old craft with an extremely rigid and exacting set of traditions.