Ronin Hakama - Red

浪人 (rōnin): "a masterless samurai."

At shrines across Japan in the first days of January, students hired for the New Year rush sell charms and good-luck arrows dressed as miko, shrine maidens, in a white kimono top over scarlet hakama. Those red trousers are hibakama, from hi, an old word for scarlet, and they go back to the women of the Heian court, who wore red hakama beneath their layered silk robes.

This red is a muted brick, deeper and softer than shrine scarlet, in a crinkled cotton-linen. Two big flap pockets ride high on the front, the harem legs round out wide below the knee, and the hem splits into curved flaps that overlap like petals and stop above the ankle.

Brick red is louder than black and still easy: black tee and sneakers calm it down, white ones make it a summer outfit. Wear it to the festival, the gig, the first warm Saturday. On quieter days there's black and gray-green in the same cut among the rest of the hakama.

• Fabric: cotton-linen blend, lightweight and breathable
• Waist: elastic
• Pockets: two front flap pockets
• Leg: wide harem cut; split, layered hem cropped above the ankle
• Sizes: jeans-style waist sizes 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36
• Size reference: 6 ft 2 in, 172 lb wears 32; 5 ft 11 in, 198 lb wears 34

Measurements for every size are in the size guide.