Autumn Fairy Tale

Both this kimono and this obi are nearly impossible to coordinate. I’ve used the kimono before, but despite having had this obi in my possession for nearly a year now, I’d never found a good way to use it. Last night it came to me while I was soaking in the bath, as many great ideas do.

They both have a sort of fantastical, storybook, decidedly un-Japanese vibe to them. The kimono has always reminded me of The Moomins and other Scandinavian childrens’ books, and the obi has a vaguely Middle-Eastern fantasy feel to it that wouldn’t be out of place in One Thousand and One Nights. I also thought the green and brown would complement each other very well, and the gold accents would echo each other nicely too.

Was I right, or was I right? I’m over the moon with how these pieces look together. I decided go with pink accessories to make the pink trees in the kimono stand out a bit more, since they can get a bit lost against the white hill. They also help to add a touch of light and contrast between the kimono and obi, which are both quite dark. It worked very well, I think. From a distance they almost read as white, just like the trees do, but when you get close you get this lovely surprise. There are also tiny pink and gold botan on the haneri, which are decidedly out of season but the colours worked so well I had to run with it. Next time I might add a gold date-eri to break things up a little further, but I think it works fine without it too. It also just occurred to me that my pink lace haori would look amazing with this too, so I will have to try that sometime.

Another neat thing about this outfit is that all the items aside from the obijime are significantly larger than average, which means I might be able to wear it if I ever have the energy to dress myself again. Something to look forward to, maybe?

Items used in this coordination

Kiku The Bucket Ikebana

Behold, proof that I have not kiku’d the bucket. I’m sorry, that was a terrible pun but you put chrysanthemums is a lovely bucket-like container, that’s what you get.

I have been in southern California for the past few months and will be here a while longer, which is why I haven’t updated in so long. I don’t have access to my mannequin or any of my kimono, but I do have a few things I can share now so be prepared for more regular updates again!

The first is this charming ikebana I arranged after not having done one for so long. I have to say, it felt really good and I regret not sticking more regularly to it. The vessel, while looking very Japanese-inspired, is actually from a local ceramic artist who unfortunately does not have any sort of online presence (I did suggest he consider at least setting up an instagram or something, but he was, in his own words, “old and set in [his] ways”, alas). I saw it and fell in love, and had to buy it. I had no idea how much it cost, but when he said I could have it for twenty dollars I was over the moon.

The rangiku were actually from Wal-Mart, of all place. Mixed in with all the generic flower bundles were these little darlings and I knew they’d be absolutely perfect in this particular container. I’m so happy with how they combined!

I might try to do more ikebana in the near future, but it will likely all be in this container because I don’t have others with me XD

Spring Fling

I have a confession to make; I used to hate shibori. I suspect it was due to my aversion to certain textures and patterns. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve learnt to appreciate the beauty and incredible craftsmanship that goes into it, but it still wasn’t something I had much of in my collection (aside from some obiage). I also named my pet uromastyx lizard Shibori, due to the spots on his back.

This fully shibori beauty with pink botan and fans showed up on ebay, ending the same night as the rangiku piece in my previous entry. I found it with only minutes to go and only one bid. I threw out a ridiculously low bid and to my shock I won it!

It’s absolutely lush and gorgeous and I am completely in love with. What I was not expecting was how difficult it would be to coordinate!

The olive accessories were a given, they coordinate perfectly with the leaves on the kimono. However, this shade of warm salmon pink clashed with… basically every obi I could find. I settled on this silver one with tiny pink accents and it’s… fine? I guess? I don’t hate it, but it’s not as punchy as I would have liked. I’ll definitely have to hunt down the perfect obi for this piece and coordinate it again soon!

Have you ever changed your mind drastically on a colour, technique, or motif? Something you hated at first but have grown to love?

Items used in this coordination

(I haven’t had the chance to catalogue this piece either yet, but it will be added eventually!)

Dancing Queen

This is one of those coordinations that’s been on my to-do list pretty much since the day the kimono arrived. I love this dance piece and I really wanted to pair it with the orange hakata side of this vintage chuuya obi and do a fun odori-influenced outfit. For some reason the photographs don’t capture either orange properly, they’re a much better match in real life.

I decided to go with an ochre haneri to kind of reflect the gold of the kimono, a gold and silver obijime for the same reason, and this red shibori obiage was to draw attention to the red date-eri that’s sewn into the kimono. A simple bunko musubi literally ties it all together, a fairly standard one for odori outfits.

Also, every time I hear or think of Dancing Queen by ABBA now, this ridiculous video gets stuck in my head. If you have a few minutes and need a good laugh, I can’t recommend it enough!

Items used in this coordination

What’s Old is New Again

This kimono has always been one of my favourites, but for some reason I’ve never paired it with anything other than an orange obi. Don’t get me wrong, it looks great with orange, but I wanted to diversify a bit. I realised it had the same kikkou pattern on the shoulder as my green darari-style tsuke-obi and I knew exactly where this coordination was heading.

Red accessories because there’s a bit of red in the obi and it helps make the lining pop, and red accents always make an outfit feel a bit more vintage to me! I debated using a dark red haneri shigoki obi as well but it ended up feeling more balanced without it. Even if you’ve planned an outfit entirely in your head, it’s always good to be flexible when you finally get things laid out together. Never feel like you have to stick entirely to your original plans, and that doesn’t only go for kimono coordinating.

Items used in this coordination