Search Results for: yabane

Birthday splurging.

Several weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able to go visit my dearest friend in Boulder, Colorado. Aside from being a beautiful city with a firm grip on my soul, Boulder is also home to a rather unexpected Vintage Kimono Showroom. Janine, the lovely owner, was kind enough to give me an early start on her holiday sale, since I was only going to be in town for a week. I went on my birthday, of all days, since my friend was stuck at work.

I managed to snag some really awesome pieces. I did my best to not go overboard, buying only things that I found really special. One piece in particular was so special that it’s going to get its own entry soon, I am just waiting on an obi to coordinate it with. In the meantime, here are the other things I picked up, behind the cut!

First up, a great little vintage yabane komon.

Based on the colours and sleeve length, I’d guesstimate it at early Showa. The sleeves are lined in red, but just by a few inches, I think someone may have added it in on their own. The fabric on this one is quite odd, it feels almost like a cotton-silk blend. It’s nice and airy, despite being fully lined, and I feel as though I could almost wear it year-round.

I also snagged two gorgeous haori, including my first-ever vintage one. The modern one is lovely, a thick black silk with karabana (fantasy flowers) in soft pastels. The way it’s dyed gives it a great artsy feel.

I actually wore this out to my birthday dinner, along with a green cowl-neck sweater and jeans, as well as the lovely pearl necklace I got from my friend. No photos of the outfit, but feel free to enjoy a blurry shot of my ugly mug enjoying a stuffed scallop!

The other haori is amazing. It’s a lush, crisp taffeta silk in a great teal, red, black and white stripe. The sleeves are deliciously long, it’s nice to finally have a haori I can wear with my vintage kimono.

The other great thing about vintage haori is the lining fabric they used to use. Often times they were much more vivid and crazy than the haori themselves.

My last addition were two obijime.

A cute, straightforward two-sided red and black casual obijime

And an adorable vivid fluorescent red-orange obijime with pastel hakata detail. I’m really loving these hakata obiage I keep finding. Another great thing about this one is that I can wear obidome with it 😀

Overall, I’m really happy with everything I got, and I am looking forward to sharing the other special piece soon!

Komon Kollection

As this blog develops, I plan to catalogue everything I have. Some pieces, like my vintage furisode deserve their own entries, but for more simple or casual pieces, I figured it would be more straightforward to include them in larger group entries.

When I first started collecting, I was decidedly against the allover-patterned casual kimono known as komon. I thought the patterns I was finding were drab, distracting, and old-lady-ish. Small flowers, little geometrics, nothing with punch. And so, I staunchly avoided them, preferring to stick to the drama of houmongi, furisode, and the like.

Eventually my eyes were opened to the world of large-scale pattern, and a whole new avenue was open to me! Since then I have come to amass a fair number of bold geometrics and big “loud” patterns for casual wear.

Plaid komon
Maybe it’s my Scottish ancestry, but when I saw this weirdo I had to have it. I’ve seen plaid kimono before, but never in such a “typical” tartan-like colour scheme. The kimono itself is stiff and crisp and lush, but too smooth to be tsumugi. It’s a wonderful winter kimono with a vaguely holiday feel to it.

Green swirl komon with red flowers
This was a bit of a shock when it arrived. The auction photos made it look very rich and bright, but in person it’s very soft and muted. That being said, I still love the cool, watery feel of it and the contrast of the soft brick chrysanthemums against the pale dusty green. The silk itself is ridiculously buttery, far too rich-feeling for such a casual piece. Not that I mind!

Bingata-style navy komon with long sleeves
This was a gift from Naomi, a dear dear friend and terrible enabler. ;P I was bemoaning my lack of anything bingata and wham! I was the proud owner of this gorgeous piece that fits really well! Unfortunately, I can’t wear it yet. The sleeves are a lovely but awkward length – too long by modern juban standards, too short by vintage ones, so I am going to have to improvise. Thankfully it’s got a lot of different seasonal motifs, so I’ve got pretty decent leeway for wearing it.

Swirl/arabesque Komon
Up until recently I referred to this as my White Whale kimono. The kimono itself was an easy and impulsive acquisition. Too bad I never thought about pairing it with anything! I was convinced I would never, ever find an obi to coordinate with it, and it became a bit of a mania with me, hunting down the perfect piece XD. I’d pretty much given up on it when I stumbled across a gorgeous rich plum nagoya obi with gold embroidery on the drum end on ebay, and picked it up for a steal. No pictures yet, sadly, as it’s still in the mail. 😉

This piece never ceases to amaze me when I look at it. There are so many delicate and intricate patterns in each wave/curl/stripe/whatever. Flowers, geometrics, you name it. All carefully highlighted in gold.

Red Asanoha and Ume Komon
Considering my earlier statement about not liking small, “drab” patterns on komon, this one may come as a bit of a surprise. However, I love me some asanoha (geometric hemp-leaf/star pattern) and was totally captivated by the size shift in the ume that, from a distance, make the kimono look like it’s covered in clouds. It’s so subtle, it’s almost like magic. This is also another piece whose silk is so supple and rich and buttery that I can’t stop petting it when I have it on.

Red and white yabane
Yabane is one of those traditional patterns I have always wanted to have in my collection, but I always seemed to miss out. As luck would have it, Ame had one that was far too big for her and was looking for a good home. It fits me amazingly well, and I love the contrast of the red and white.

Black, white, and red wool
Wool is one of those other things I was unsure of, I imagined them to be bulky, itchy, heavy, and uncomfortable. I picked one up on sale for a few dollars (because I am a goon and cannot resist a bargain) and realized my preconceived notions were entirely incorrect. They are breezy, warm but not overly hot, and very very easy to wear. When I saw the listing for this one, my inner mallgoth cried out in dark, dark glee and I had to have it XD

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Brick wool komon
This was my first wool kimono, I purchased it mainly because it was on sale. However, I love the cool hits of icy blue and green through the warm background. This is a great fall kimono.

Synthetic ro komon with hydrangea
This came in a mixed lot and my first though was “Oh, no! Now I need to buy ro accessories!”. My immediate second thought was “Yay! Now I have to buy ro accessories!” Such is the life of a kimono addict! I love this kimono because it is ridiculously long and easy for me to dress in. I admit synthetic ro is not quite as breezy as silk ro, but it’s still comfortable even in the muggy Montreal heat.

Thus concludes my ramblings about my current komon. Until I get more!

About

in Taisho Furisode, 2009

in Taisho Furisode, 2009

My name is Diane, I am a woman with a passion for wearing and collecting vintage kimono. I’ve been studying kimono and Japanese traditional arts for half my life, and writing about it here for just over a decade. I’ve also been a moderator on the Immortal Geisha forums and Facebook group on and off for just as long. My learning is primarily self-driven, bolstered by occasional online courses. The internet has been an incredible resource and I’m happy to share any useful things I learn.

My favourite motifs are yabane, kiku, and anything with the 53 Stations of the Tokaido prints on them. My tastes tend to lean towards the large scale and bright colours of the Taisho and early Showa eras, and I love that these styles are coming back into vogue so I can now buy modern pieces with the same look and feel to them.

In this blog, I hope to catalogue my collection, share interesting information about special pieces, and record coordinations and outfits. If you want to know more about me or any parts of my collection, please don’t be shy to ask.

I also plan to discuss the challenges of collecting and wearing clothing made for the typical lithe Asian physique 50 to 100 years ago, when you have a western hourglass figure and are 5’10”, as well as review books I find interesting and relevant to the subject, and share tips and tricks for shopping online.

For health reasons, I don’t wear kimono nearly as frequently as I once did, but I still have a mannequin to dress, and will continue to discuss and review kimono, books, and traditional Japanese crafts. Eventually, I hope to be able to wear kimono regularly again, but until then I hope you will stick around!

in Modern Komon, 2018

in Modern Komon, 2018

A note on the name: “suki” means a love or strong fondness, so “kimono suki” (着物 すき) can be interpreted as “kimono love”. My nickname online is Moonblossom and typically shortened to “Moony”, and moon in Japanese is “tsuki” (月), so “kimono tsuki” (着物月) is a play on that. You may also see variations of “tsuki no hana” (月の花) or “tsukihana” (月花) scattered through out which is a literal translation of “flower of moon.” The proper word for a moonflower in Japanese is “yuugao” (夕顔) but I always thought tsuki no hana sounded nicer.