Category: Mannequin Coordinations

A Ship in Full Sail

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I’ve been itching to do something with this incredible black ship obi I got from Lyuba since it arrived, but somehow other things just kept getting in the way. Until today! I started with an iromuji that’s always kind of reminded me of tropical waters. It leans a little too far onto the mint green side, but it’s still in that watery family, and the thick textured rinzu totally looks like little rippling waves. It’s also very neutral, and since I wanted this incredible obi to be the focus, so that worked out quite well.

I went with soft accessories in the same colour family as the ship to help echo it without being overpowering, and an obijime that matches the iromuji to (literally) tie it all together. The result is a coordination that feels cohesive and thoughtful while still keeping nearly the entire focus on the beautiful hand-painted detail on the obi, which is exactly what I was aiming for.

Items used in this coordination

The obiage is quite new and I haven’t had time to add it to the catalogue yet, which is why it’s not in the item list above. My next Big Project is to finish photographing the stragglers and get all the obijime done. Hopefully over my next long weekend!

Pretty Pastel Princess

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I’ve been behind on mannequin coordinations lately! Hopefully this pretty pastel princess outfit will make up for it. I’ve wanted to do something sweet and girly with this furisode since I used it for Cinderella, and I finally decided to stop procrastinating and just do it.

I really wanted to play up the pink accents in the kimono, so I chose pink accessories and a silvery white obi with pink details and everything ties together so nicely. Despite all the pieces being relatively flashy and youthful-feeling, somehow the coordination still feels gentle. I’m not sure how I feel about the choice of obijime, since the blue doesn’t quite match the kimono, but I’ve been wanting to use this beaded one since I got it and couldn’t resist.

Since this was a dressy furisode outfit, I used the opportunity to practice my fukura suzume (chubby sparrow) musubi. I really do need to branch out and work on more interesting musubi in general, and I am going to try to make a habit of it in the future.

Overall, this coordination came together pretty much exactly how I’d been imagining it in my head and that makes me really happy. And while it’s certainly not as big as my new modern komon, this kimono nearly fits me properly so one day I’ll have to put this outfit on myself. Since the kiku is my birth month flower, maybe I’ll wear it for my birthday when next November rolls around.

Items used in this coordination

A Wild Diane Appears!

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You guys! Look at this! Recently a friend drew my attention to the fact that Kimonomachi shop on Rakuten now carries a selection of modern poly komon in size 4TL. Even when I was thinner, it was nigh-impossible for me to find kimono that were actually long enough for me. Now that I’m also significantly overweight, I’d pretty much given up wearing a kimono comfortably as a lost cause, but this one borders on being too big for me. Isn’t that wild?

Sadly, I only noticed my obiage had slipped off my makura after I took the photos. Oops!

It feels so good to be able to dress myself again, and so easily and comfortably too. It’s amazing how much of a difference the proper fit makes. I’d love to buy myself another one, but these kimono are not inexpensive at ¥ 14,000. I managed to get this one for significantly less because I had Rakuten points a PayPal gift card that needed to be used. I may cave in and buy myself a different pattern if I get a large tax return this year. We’ll see.

For reference, I am 179cm (5’10”) tall with a 121cm (48″) bust and a 36K bra, a 91cm (36″) natural waist, and 120cm (47″) hips. I typically wear a size 18 or 1X in North American clothing sizes. This kimono wraps easily from hip to hip, a full one and a half times my widest measurement. So if you’re a similar size and looking for something that will actually fit you properly, I cannot suggest these enough!

I paired the kimono with this moorish arch nagoya obi that couldn’t match better if I’d bought them together. The rusty orange-red of the obi makes the red accents in the kimono pop, and the turquoise base colour of the obi is the exact same as the arches. Looking at the photos, it’s quite clear that a standard otaiko musubi done with an average-sized nagoya obi just looks disproportionately small and odd on my frame, so whenever I actually wear this kimono out to an event I will likely go with a hanhaba or chuuya obi tied in something I can control the size of better. Vibrant lemon yellow accessories made everything pop, and I couldn’t resist using my obidome with snails on it. It’s too cute for words, and ties in with the warm creme colour on the flowers of the kimono.

As a final note, a little reminder that the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. I dressed myself in this outfit last Thursday and took photos, with the intention of posting it on Fudangi Friday. I transferred, edited, and uploaded the photos. And then on Friday morning I settled in at work, and during a quiet moment started drafting the entry. It was at that point I realised I had the kimono on backwards. Somehow I’d managed to dress myself and then take and edit photos without ever noticing! And as much as I encourage playing with rules when it comes to kimono, wrapping it backwards (right side over top of the left) is only ever done for a body being prepared for a funeral, and it is not a rule I would ever consider breaking unless it was for a very explicit purpose like a costume. So I scrapped my initial plan and re-dressed myself today. Honestly, I’m glad I did, because I managed to tie the obi much more neatly and the lighting was a lot better as well.

Items used in this coordination

#Monokimono Challenge – Rose Pink

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This certainly seems to be the month of pink! First there was the pink ikebana, then there was the pink sakura artwork, and now for this month’s #monokimono challenge, an experiment in pink and texture.

For the first one, I focused on pieces that had a lot of pattern going on, but had the colour in the background. This one, I decided to use pieces that were essentially solid, but all in the same soft dusty rose pink tones and lots of varied texture. I started with my iromuji with the really thick watery rinzu, and then the reverse side of the pink-and-grey sakura chuuya obi. It’s solid and smooth and contrasts perfectly with the rich texture of the kimono. Then this amazing new lace haori, which is slightly less saturated in colour but adds yet another layer of really thick, tactile interest. Throw in a few more shades of pink and interesting textures in the accessories, and I think this is a very successful monochrome outfit. It feels both timeless and modern somehow, and could be worn to so many different events.

Items used in this coordination

Since I’ve nearly completed cataloguing my entire collection, I thought I would add this little mini-feature to coordination entries. I still have obijime left to add, but once that’s done I will be going back and adding these detail images to entries over time. What do you think?

Adjusting obi width to your proportions

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Recently, a discussion on the Immortal Geisha facebook page got me thinking about folded obi width and size. Typically, a fukuro obi is folded in half before wrapping it around your torso, and for the average Japanese frame this looks balanced and proportional. However. many of us are not lucky enough to have a typically petite, slight build, and sometimes a narrower obi can make us look oddly cut-off or silly.

So what I thought I would do was take multiple pictures of the mannequin at differing heights, in the same outfit but with the obi tied at different widths. Obviously, this can only be done most easily with a full-width or unsewn obi, but the principle can be applied to tying a hanhaba or nagoya obi as well; just overlap the wraps to give the impression of a wider or narrower band.

The following two sets of photos have the mannequin set at approximately 167 cm (5’6″) and 180 cm (6′). The first obi on each is folded to roughly 12 cm (5″), the second is folded in half at roughly 16 cm (6″), and the third is folded to 20 cm (8″). As you can see, the obi width changes the overall balance of the outfit without being obviously “incorrect”. It’s a subtle difference, but if you’re very tall like I am, or very short, adjusting your obi can make a significant difference.

Love your height, be it “too tall” or “too short”! We’ve all got our challenges, and there are always tricks to making things work. 🙂

Items used in this coordination