Outfit of the Week: Lily Furi Coordination

, , , , , 0

After deciding to make this a regular feature, I started planning out all sorts of outfits. Seasonally appropriate outfits, special combinations for holidays, etc. And then this lily furisode arrived and all my plans flew right out the window! I couldn’t wait to do something with it. I had this really lovely warm gold fukuro obi with subtle green and pink accents from the obi bundle eons ago, and it seemed like the perfect complement to the rich green of the kimono. I also happened to have just about the perfect obidome for this kimono, a gold oval with pink lilies on it!

Unfortunately, this also reminded me how long it’s been since I tied anything other than a simple hanhaba or nagoya obi, and I ended up having to improvise a sort of large-scale cho-cho/bunko hybrid musubi. It’s not ideal, but I think it worked out alright.

Items used in this coordination

Lily Furisode

, , , , , , , 1

It’s been literally several years since I bought a kimono. I still have ones I haven’t worn, ones that don’t fit, ones that I am too old for. I’d promised myself no more buying kimono.

And then Jess went and put this one up on the market. I have coveted this kimono for as long as she’s had it. I love the rich, dark green colour and the beautiful, delicate lilies. She needed money, I needed this kimono. Clearly, it was meant to be.

It arrived today, and it’s everything I’d been hoping for and more. I can’t wait to dress Tsukiko in it!

The body is a gorgeous rich deep green, intersected with a sort of ribbon-like fluid design and lilies. The hem is navy blue, which I did not realise in the photos!

New Feature: Outfit of the week!

, , , , 0

Everyone, please say hello to the newest contributor to this blog. Her name is Tsukiko, she has no head, and she will be modelling outfits and coords that are either too small or too fragile for me to wear myself. As you probably know, my health is still not fantastic, and dressing myself simply for photoshoots is tiring and not ideal. Hopefully having Tsukiko around will encourage me to post more frequently! I am aiming to do one coordination a week, but we’ll see how long that lasts 😉

Today’s coordination was mostly an excuse to use this gorgeous antique irotomesode/komon hybrid. I have been in love with this thing since I received it, but it’s incredibly delicate and fragile silk and it’s very tiny. Realistically, even if I lost a hundred pounds, it still would not fit me. I paired it with a vintage remake obi I love to bits that’s also awkwardly small, and I love how soft and dusty they feel together. The obiage, obijime, and haneri are all modern, but they have a similarly desaturated pastel feel and I think they look perfect with the kimono. Please click on the images to see larger versions.

Items used in this coordination

Fun With Kimono Dolls, part 3!

, , , , 2

The first two entries in this series were so fun and so well-received I thought that another round would be a fun way to get back into regular blogging. Lots of neat new kimono doll-maker apps have come out since I did the first two, so hopefully you will find one you love. 🙂

I have also gone through the previous entries and tidied them up, removing dead links and adding larger thumbnails.

[table id=dolls3 /]

Par For the Course

, , , , , 0

As you may have noticed, it’s become a bit of a thing for me to dress house-guests in kimono. Several months ago, my dear friend Dino of Alternative Vegan came to stay with me. Our friend Frances came by as well, and I had the pleasure of subjecting them both to the blissful discomfort of kitsuke 😉

I had fun playing with gender conventions here. Dino has a very fabulous and flamboyant personal style, so I put him in a woman’s kimono and obi but dressed in a manly style, similar to my own experiments in otoko-poi style years ago. You’ll notice that he’s wearing the same Victorian Gothic London houmongi that Elise wore when she visited. This tends to be a popular one with guests; I suppose the motif is both quirky and familiar, which makes it accessible to people who aren’t really used to kimono yet.

Frances is wearing a woman’s kimono and obi, but with a very neutral, muted palette and no accessories. They are also much tinier than I am, and even my smallest kimono ended up being big and a little awkward to work with, especially since I have been out of practice so long. Alas! At least they both had fun 😀

Dino’s laughter is infectious, by the way. I don’t think our house has been consistently so full of random crack-ups as it was when he was visiting.

Items used in this coordination