What is the difference? The photos in upper row are showing "Yukata" and the photos in lower row are showing Kimono. It looks similar, but "Yukata" is always made of cotton and it is a single layer clothes. On the contrary, materials of Kimono can be anything. It can be made of cotton, silk, wool, and even polyester, and "Kimono" always has two layers or more and you can tell it by checking the neck. When people wear "Kimono" they show the layers clearly on the neck. The neck of the first layer tend to be white, but if a kimono has more than two layers people can add more colors and it can give nice color accents as you can see in the lower center photo. The neck of Kimono would be one of the parts people can show their fashion sense or color coordination.
Moreover the difference between "Yukata" and "Kimono" is not only the material and structure. The usages of them are also different and it is actually shown in the Chinese characters of each. The Chinese characters of "Kimono (着物）" means "Things to Wear", so it is a general word for clothes/wear. On the other hand, the Chinese characters of "Yukata (浴衣）" actually means "bath-cloth" since it was originally for home-wear/bathrobe although nowadays people wear it to go out to festivals and events during summer.
Therefore people still separate the two and "Yukata" would be considered as a very casual wear compared with the recognition that "Kimono" is a proper/formal wear. In the photos above, the upper left end photo and lower left end photo are both showing Hachioji Geisha ladies. Geisha is one of the jobs people always need to wear traditional clothes, but when they show dance or play instruments, which are their main work, in front of people they wear "Kimono", and when they just show up at some summer events or during their private time, people probably can find them in "Yukata". Maybe it is like the difference between wearing suits with a white shirts and wearing a T-shirts with a short pants?
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