Excellent
A confident, well-rounded pick.
At a glance
Kimono is a well-maintained, visually focused WordPress theme that delivers real value for independent photographers and creative freelancers who want an immersive portfolio site at a modest one-time cost. Its Elementor integration and one-click demo import make it accessible to non-technical buyers, and the April 2026 update confirms the author is keeping it current. We recommend it to photographers prioritizing clean, fullscreen visual presentation — but buyers needing e-commerce, advanced booking, or a Gutenberg-native workflow should evaluate alternatives before committing.
Best for

The review
4 min readWhat Is Kimono and Who Is It For?
Kimono is a premium WordPress theme developed by Bravis-Themes, positioned squarely in the Creative › Photography category. It is designed for photographers, visual artists, and creative studios who want their work to take center stage — literally. The theme leans heavily on fullscreen photo and video backgrounds, giving portfolios the kind of immersive, edge-to-edge presentation that modern audiences expect from a serious visual brand.
This is not a multipurpose theme trying to be everything to everyone. Kimono has a defined audience: independent photographers, small photo studios, videographers, and creative freelancers who need a professional online portfolio without commissioning a custom build. If that describes you, it deserves a close look.
Standout Capabilities
Fullscreen Photo and Video Backgrounds
The most immediately visible feature is the fullscreen background support for both photos and video. For a photographer, this is not a cosmetic perk — it is a functional necessity. The ability to open a site with a single, breathtaking image or a looping reel sets a tone that smaller, boxed layouts simply cannot match. Bravis-Themes has made this a core design element rather than an afterthought, which is the right call for this category.
Elementor Page Builder Integration
Kimono is built to work with Elementor, one of the most widely adopted page builders in the WordPress ecosystem. This means site owners can rearrange layouts, swap images, adjust typography, and customize pages visually without touching a line of code. For photographers who are skilled behind a camera but less confident in a code editor, this is a significant practical advantage. It also future-proofs the theme to some degree — Elementor has a large developer and plugin ecosystem that extends its capabilities considerably.
One-Click Demo Import
One-click demo import is a genuine time-saver. Rather than building a portfolio structure from scratch, buyers can install a pre-built demo and replace placeholder content with their own work. For photographers who want to be live quickly — say, ahead of a busy season or a client deadline — this feature meaningfully reduces the setup burden.
Portfolio and Creative Use Cases
The theme is explicitly optimized for portfolio and creative use cases, which means gallery layouts, project showcase pages, and contact or inquiry sections are likely treated as first-class features rather than bolted-on extras. This focus generally produces cleaner, more intentional design choices than a theme that tries to serve e-commerce, blogging, and portfolios simultaneously.
Pricing and Value Assessment
At $39 one-time, Kimono is priced at the accessible end of the premium theme market. Buyers receive a perpetual license for that single payment — there is no mandatory annual renewal to keep using the theme. Support and updates from Bravis-Themes are typically included for a defined period after purchase (standard marketplace terms), after which extended support can be purchased separately if needed.
For a photographer just launching a portfolio or a freelancer wanting to consolidate their online presence, $39 represents strong value relative to hiring a developer or subscribing to a website builder platform at $15–$30 per month. The value proposition holds as long as the theme's built-in feature set meets your needs without requiring heavy third-party plugin purchases.
Reading the Rating and Sales Data
Kimono carries a 4.65 out of 5 buyer rating across 37 reviews — a solid score, though the review count is modest. A smaller review pool means a few outlier experiences, positive or negative, can swing the average more than they would on a theme with hundreds of reviews. Our editorial team reads this as generally reliable buyer satisfaction rather than a statistically definitive verdict.
With 807 total sales, Kimono occupies a mid-tier position in the photography theme market. It is not one of the bestselling photography themes on the marketplace, but 807 purchases indicates a real user base with genuine demand. The April 2026 last update is a positive signal: Bravis-Themes is actively maintaining the product, keeping it compatible with current WordPress core and Elementor releases. An unmaintained theme in 2026 is a security and compatibility liability, so a recent update is worth weighting positively.
Who Should Look Elsewhere
Kimono is purpose-built for visual portfolios, and that focus is also its boundary. If you need a theme that doubles as a WooCommerce storefront for selling prints, or one that includes a robust blog with editorial layouts, you may find Kimono's feature set too narrow. Photographers who operate large studios with complex booking workflows or multi-photographer team pages may also find they need heavier customization than the theme anticipates. Similarly, buyers who prefer the Gutenberg block editor over Elementor should confirm compatibility before purchasing, as the theme's builder dependency is a real workflow consideration.
Finally, buyers seeking a theme with thousands of sales and an extensive community of tutorials and third-party resources may prefer a more established title. Kimono's community footprint is smaller, which can mean fewer answers available when you run into an edge-case problem.
The trade-offs
What works, what to weigh
What works
- Purpose-built for photography portfolios — no bloat from unrelated use-case features
- Fullscreen photo and video backgrounds deliver genuine visual impact for image-first sites
- Elementor integration enables code-free customization accessible to non-developers
- One-click demo import speeds up launch time significantly
- Actively maintained with an April 2026 update, signaling ongoing compatibility care
- Competitive one-time $39 price with no mandatory subscription renewal
What to weigh
- Modest 37-review base makes the buyer rating less statistically reliable than larger titles
- Elementor dependency may not suit buyers committed to the Gutenberg block editor workflow
- Smaller sales volume means a thinner community of tutorials, add-ons, and peer support
- Narrowly scoped — lacks built-in WooCommerce print sales or complex booking layouts out of the box
- Post-purchase support is time-limited; extended coverage requires an additional purchase
Signal by signal
Editorial scorecard
Strongest: design
Watch: support
Scores are our editorial team’s assessment from marketplace data, feature scope and update history — independent of the affiliate relationship.
Questions, answered
Frequently asked
Do I need coding skills to set up Kimono?
No coding experience is required. Kimono includes one-click demo import to get a working site up quickly, and its Elementor Page Builder integration means you can customize layouts visually through drag-and-drop. Buyers who are comfortable with WordPress basics should be able to launch a polished portfolio without writing a single line of code.
Is Kimono actively maintained and compatible with current WordPress versions?
Based on marketplace data, Bravis-Themes last updated Kimono in April 2026, which indicates active maintenance. Regular updates are a strong indicator that the author is addressing compatibility and security issues, though we recommend always confirming WordPress version compatibility in the theme's full marketplace listing before purchasing.
What does the $39 license actually include — are updates and support covered?
The $39 price is a one-time license fee, not a subscription. Standard marketplace licenses typically include a defined period of author support and lifetime access to updates, but the exact support duration is set by the marketplace's terms — check the listing for current specifics. There are no recurring fees to continue using the theme after purchase.
Is Kimono a good fit if I want to sell prints or take client bookings through my site?
Kimono is built primarily for visual portfolio presentation, so it's an excellent choice for showcasing photography work. However, our editorial assessment is that buyers who need robust e-commerce (such as print sales) or advanced appointment-booking features should verify plugin compatibility carefully or consider a theme purpose-built for those workflows, as Kimono's core strengths lie in fullscreen visual display rather than transactional functionality.
How reputable is this theme given its sales and review data?
Kimono has earned 807 sales and a 4.65 out of 5 rating across 37 buyer reviews on the marketplace, which reflects a solid track record for a focused niche theme. While the sales volume is modest compared to multipurpose themes, consistent high ratings from real buyers are a reliable signal of quality and author responsiveness in this category.
Can I use Kimono if I prefer the Gutenberg block editor over Elementor?
Kimono's highlighted feature set centers on Elementor Page Builder, meaning the full design experience is optimized for that plugin. Buyers who prefer a Gutenberg-native workflow may find the theme functional but won't get the same depth of visual customization that Elementor users will, so this is a genuine trade-off worth considering before purchasing.
Our verdict
Kimono is a well-maintained, visually focused WordPress theme that delivers real value for independent photographers and creative freelancers who want an immersive portfolio site at a modest one-time cost. Its Elementor integration and one-click demo import make it accessible to non-technical buyers, and the April 2026 update confirms the author is keeping it current. We recommend it to photographers prioritizing clean, fullscreen visual presentation — but buyers needing e-commerce, advanced booking, or a Gutenberg-native workflow should evaluate alternatives before committing.
Topics & features
About the author
- Reviewed by us
- 1 theme
- Avg editorial score
- 8.1/10
- Marketplace sales
- 14K
- Selling since
- 2021
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