Haori

Haori with crows or ravens

Published Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 | By Diane

Kansai_gal sent me this in the box of amazing things that included the bunny geta from the previous entry. She knows my tastes so well, I am totally smitten with it!

On the surface it looks like a plain black three-crested formal haori, but it’s scattered with black urushi birds that appear to be crows or ravens. I suspect it’s also relatively old, it’s quite long (even on my tall frame), and the crests are larger than modern ones, but the sleeves are short, so either it’s from a pre-war transitional period, or the sleeves were cut short at some point. Either way, it’s a beautiful and unique piece that I look forward to wearing, possibly with my crow obi (although now, comparing the birds, I think it’s more likely that the birds on the obi are indeed stylized cormorants, but I will continue to refer to it as crowbi because I am stubborn that way).

Posted in Haori | Tagged bird, black, crow, formal, Haori, raven, Showa, Taisho, vintage | 1 Comment

Kasuri wool komon and haori set

Published Monday, February 7th, 2011 | By Diane

A few months back, Amelie wore this set when we went out for shabu-shabu and I commented on how much I loved it and how I’d been wanting one of these matched sets for a while, but never found one that would fit me. Because Amelie is a total sweetheart and a very generous person, she offered the set to me as a late birthday/Christmas present. I couldn’t say no!

I love wool kimono for their versatility, ease of wear, and comfort. They’re wool so they can be nice and warm, but they’re unlined and relatively breezy so they’re comfortable in warmer months too. They’re also typically woven with bold geometric motifs, so they’re seasonless. They’re a great casual addition to any kimono wardrobe.

This one also appeals to my inner ex-goth (if you’re curious to see how I dressed when going out when I was younger, click here or here) due to the black and red colour scheme. What can I say, I’m easily amused.

Kimono and haori together

Kimono alone

Haori alone

Fabric detail

Not only is it adorable, it’s also more than big enough for me, which really shocked me considering how tiny Amelie is XD. I can’t wait to wear it!

Posted in Haori, Kimono | Tagged black, gift, Haori, komon, red, wool | 4 Comments

Sushi dinner with Amelie

Published Saturday, February 5th, 2011 | By Diane

Last night, I met up with Amelie and we dressed up and went for delicious sushi near her place. I decided to wear my new black komon with a cream hanhaba obi and haori, and Amelie wore her beautiful new pastel bingata-ish komon with a pretty blue nagoya obi.

I got a bit matchy-moo and even busted out a coordinating purse. I do love how the whole outfit came together.

I also tried karuta musubi for the first time and I am totally in love. It’s super easy to tie, and incredibly comfortable if you’re going for a car ride or going to be sitting western-style in a chair for long periods of time. I also think it looks like a cute little bow.

I really love how the blue of Amelie’s obi picked up on the pale blue in her kimono.

And if anyone wonders how one keeps warm in kimono in sub-zero temperatures, the answer is lots of layers and lots of accessories. I wore footless tights under my kimono and tabi and was quite toasty.

Of course, the star of the night was the sushi. We ordered waaaay too much food, but that’s okay. It was delicious!

And a bonus, here we are laughing like idiots!

What were we laughing at? The discovery of what happens when you eat way too much sushi in kimono

(Don’t worry, I am going to fix it for her)

Omake – we came across this really awesome light fixture in a store near the restaurant. It was a branch covered in acrylic Sakura flowers with LEDs that slowly changed colour. It was so pretty!