Category: Mannequin Coordinations

Lush Peony Ikebana

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It’s been incredibly hot and muggy and rainy out here lately. While it’s not particularly fun for me it’s been fantastic for the garden! I managed to catch this vivid pink peony at the ideal time; it’s blousy and open without a hint of decay on it yet. I knew I wanted to balance it out with some foliage, and decided to keep it all to things I could get from the garden. The hosta leaves provide a sense of grounding, and the little white flowers feel sweet and fresh. I will be honest, I don’t know what they are. The vessel is one I found at a thrift shop a few weeks back, and felt cool and refreshing, perfect for a heady, humid arrangement.

Pretty Pastels

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It’s hot out there, you guys. It’s so hot! I really needed to make an outfit that felt summery and breezy to counteract the oppressive weather. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen this adorable card-suit obi that followed me home from California. It seemed like a good place to start. Even before I’d brought it home, I was thinking it would work well with this hydrangea hitoe komon I’ve had for years that never gets enough love. It’s way too tiny for me to ever wear, and I admittedly only bought it because it was bundled with an obi I wanted, but the light colour palette and seasonality of motif fit perfectly with the breezy summer concept I was aiming for.

This adorable shell haneri from Kansai_Gal seemed like the ideal finishing touch for the outfit. Rather than default to my usual standbys for a hanhaba obi (chocho musubi or karuta musubi) I thought I might try to be inspired by Choko and her amazing ability to improvise soft and relaxed-looking obi musubi that would also fit with the airy and relaxed style I was aiming for. I would like to think I’ve succeeded.

A few of us here in Montreal are having a kimono meet-up  this coming weekend and I do wish there was some way I could get this kimono to fit me, but even if I were to lose a huge amount of weight it would still be too narrow across the back and too short, sadly. It would look so cute with pink lace tabi and my card-suit geta, but that’s a coordination for another person on another day. I will likely end up wearing my bunny komon and teal hakama, and you can be sure I will take tons of photos so check back early next week for that.

Items used in this coordination

Princess of Themyscira

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This outfit was inspired by the strong and compassionate warrior whose name is on everyone’s lips these days – Wonder Woman! I’ve had so much fun doing geeky-inspired kitsuke in the past (Star Trek, Bitch Planet, and Star Wars) and I wanted to give Diana her due. My initial plan was going to be a blue kimono and red haori, but I realised the vaguely onna-bugeisha style of a hakama would be much more balanced and representative of her red top and blue bottom. I felt like the kiku motif of this vivid red kimono was reminiscent of the star motif of her outfit, and a navy hakama would have grounded the whole thing. Since I don’t own one, I took the liberty of photoshopping my purple one to navy. Of course, I had to bring in gold as the accent colour of the haneri and obi. The sword seemed like a foregone conclusion once everything came together, and what would Wonder Woman be without her golden lasso (or in this case, her golden obijime)?

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Overall, I feel like this was another ultimately successful cosplay-style kitsuke. I would love to wear this outfit to a convention or something at some point, along with a tiara and bracers. It’s the sort of outfit that would take a minute to “get”, but I think once people recognised it, it would go over really well.

Items used in this coordination

Odori Otoko-Poi

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I bought this dance kimono on a whim a while back, because I loved the graphic quality of it. The seller had listed it as a woman’s kimono but I was fairly certain it was actually a men’s dance piece. My suspicions were confirmed when it arrived. I don’t hold it against the seller, they list tons of items every single day and I’m sure it was an honest mistake. I was still very happy because it’s so fun and bold. I knew I wanted to do an otoko-poi or tomboyish look with it, and I wanted to keep the colour scheme really simple, so I pulled out my tenga obi with a gold side and stuck to black accessories. I would have preferred an all-black or monochrome haneri but since I don’t own one I thought the pink flowers on this one were neutral enough for the time being.

This is my first men’s kimono and I was actually quite surprised by how different putting it on was. I’m so used to slack in the collar, the extra length and ohashori, and the open sleeves that this was much more of a challenge than I’d initially anticipated. Despite that, eventually I’d like to try to wear this outfit, but I’d like a paler gold obi and a solid black collar first. I am curious to see if wearing a men’s kimono feels as different as using it on the mannequin did.

By the way, I am still on vacation, I just took these photos before I left so there wouldn’t be too huge a content gap while I was out of town 🙂 I’ve got a few more things in the works, but this will be the last mannequin coordination until I get home. Thanks for understanding! ❤

Items used in this coordination

May the Fourth Be With You

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It’s no secret that a huge part of Star Wars’ visual identity owes much to traditional Japanese aesthetics. From Darth Vader’s samurai-like helmet to the kimono-inspired robes of both the Jedi and Sith, the influence is apparent in many facets of the Universe. May the Fourth is known as Star Wars Day to many people, a play on words about the date sounding so much like the traditional May The Force (be with you) greeting.

I had been wanting to do a Jedi-inspired kitsuke using beige and brown toned items ever since I did the Star Trek themed one a while back. What can I say, I am an equal opportunity fangirl! I found these two iromuji for a song a while back and thought today would be the perfect day to do it. I tried to keep the actual dressing manner quite traditional, aside from taking the liberty of using a second kimono as a long over-robe, instead of finding a haori. I wanted something I could try to fake the appearance of a hood with, and something that would flow to the ground. I used my spider obi flipped inside-out to get a rough-textured beige obi, and a brown mottled leather obijime to replicate the belts usually worn by Jedi. The finishing touch was one of my Jedi symbol earrings clipped to the obijime as a little decoration.

I really like how well this all came together. It’s really evident to see the kimono origins of the Jedi robes when it’s all set up like this, and now I’m very tempted to adapt this outfit to wear to a convention. Maybe I’ll hike up the hem and wear brown leggings and boots underneath it for comfort and ease of movement. Of course, this means I’ll have to get myself a lightsaber!

Items used in this coordination