Johnny Was Kimonos: Silk, Rayon Blends and the $2,600 Question

The kimono is the piece Johnny Was is known for, and it is also where the brand’s pricing spreads widest: $328 to $2,600 within one category. The product pages give you everything you need to navigate that range — exact blends, care instructions, garment measurements for a size Medium — and the labels tell a story the prices do not. The single most useful fact on this page: the 100% silk kimono is the only one in the current line-up you can hand wash.

The silk paradox in the care labels

The Aphra Kimono ($445, 100% silk) says turn inside out, hand wash gently, lay flat to dry. The Wide Hem Kimono ($398, 82% rayon 18% silk), the Shakri Short Kimono ($498, 72% viscose 28% silk) and the Velvet Cropped Kimono ($398, 82% rayon 18% silk) all say dry clean only. If low maintenance matters to you, the pure silk piece is paradoxically the easier owner experience than the cheaper-feeling blends. Note also what the rayon-heavy blends are not: they wrinkle faster than silk and cost nearly the same here. Ratings on this page are editorial — each pick is scored on fabric, care burden and price against the rest of the line, because the brand publishes no user reviews of its own.

Product	Fabric	Care	Price
Aphra Kimono	100% silk	Hand wash, lay flat	~$445
Wide Hem Kimono	82% rayon, 18% silk	Dry clean only	~$398
Shakri Short Kimono	72% viscose, 28% silk	Dry clean only	~$498
Velvet Cropped Kimono	82% rayon, 18% silk	Dry clean only	~$398
Melba Boucle Kimono	100% polyester	Dry clean only	~$328

The one we would skip

The Melba Boucle Kimono is the cautionary line item: $328 for 100% polyester, with a dry clean only label. A synthetic boucle at this price is paying for the print alone, and dry cleaning a polyester garment compounds it. Reviewed’s 2023 review of the brand, by Liv Birdsall, landed on the same conclusion from a different angle — after a month of weekly wear she found the construction fine but the quality not clearly better than budget brands, and flagged that the brand’s kimono category sits on borrowed design language without acknowledging it. We agree with the first point and note the second as context for what you are buying.

Where the $1,800 to $2,600 goes

At the top of the range, the Aziza Reversible Long Kimono, the Ines Kimono and the Long Kimono are all 100% silk patchwork constructions at $1,800 to $2,600. These are reversible, lined where the shorter pieces are not, and cut from multiple prints per garment — the price is fabric volume times handwork, not a markup on the same cloth. Unless a patchwork silk long kimono is a specific wardrobe goal, the Aphra at $445 delivers the same fiber in a wearable cut.

Product	Fabric	Care	Price
Aphra Kimono	100% silk	Hand wash, lay flat	~$445
Wide Hem Kimono	82% rayon, 18% silk	Dry clean only	~$398
Shakri Short Kimono	72% viscose, 28% silk	Dry clean only	~$498

Sizing runs oversized on purpose; kimonos are the most forgiving category the brand makes, and the published measurements (a size Medium bust of 43 to 48 inches across the line) confirm it. Size for the drape you want, not the number.

For how silk and rayon behave over years of washing, our fabric guide: clothes that last covers the fiber science, and how to read care labels explains the obligations behind a dry clean only tag. The same label-first treatment applied to the brand’s dresses is in Johnny Was dresses.