着物月 Kimono Tsuki

Montreal Japanese Language Centre Spring Matsuri

Diane Saturday, April 17th, 2010 Friday, October 29th, 2010Ensembles, Events, Kimono 7

Today I went to the Montreal Japanese Language Centre Spring Matsuri. Of course, I used the opportunity to wear kimono. I decided to pair up my new dusty pink iromuji with a gorgeous burnt-orange obi with irridescent pastel flowers Naomi gave me. The flowers feel like tulips to me, so it seemed appropriately spring-like. I know they’re probably something else, but shush! It was a little too warm for a haori, but too chilly for nothing, so I borrowed a cute shawl from my mother. I think I look like a dope in these, and a little rumpled, but they’re the only full shots of my outfit, so there you go.

I told my friend Nick, who I mentioned in this entry about it, and he came to meet me there along with several other friends. He wore his yukata again, and looked snazzy as always.

While there, I ran into Akane, a lovely young woman I met last summer at the O-Bon Matsuri. She’s always wearing beautiful, feminine outfits and always looks elegant and effortless. She actually remembered meeting me before, and I was quite chuffed about that! Isn’t she photogenic? Also, check out those great red high-top Chucks in the corner!

Here’s the photos of her from last summer – they were taken before I started this blog.

I also met a lovely woman named Serene and we chatted kimono for a bit. She had on a lovely komon and had a great personal style. She made her own obi, and it was adorable applique-work and I wish I’d thought to take a photo of it!

The festival itself was more like a garage sale than anything! Lots of tables with cute little things for sale. Sadly, no kimono or related items, but I did pick up a little fiction book with no relation to anything Japanese and a little handmade bag with a fish on it that I’ll probably wear with a kimono later. I also had a delicious hamburger bento, some umeboshi onigiri, and the most delicious strawberry mochi I’ve ever had, with half a fresh strawberry inside it!

Aside from the vendors, there was a great performance by Arashi Daiko and demonstrations of Aikido and Nunjutsu.

I tried to capture a video of the performance, but my phone is miserable. Watch at your own risk!

And a few photos.

Why being my friend is dangerous

Diane Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 Saturday, May 30th, 2020Ensembles, Kimono 3

My dear friend Anlina was in town and came to visit me at work yesterday. We then went to dinner, and they came to crash at my place afterwards. We talked and got giggly and silly, and at some point the idea of dressing them in kimono came up. I’ve honestly never dressed anyone but myself before and thought this would be a great chance to practice. Anlina is lucky, they have a great body for kimono. They’re not wearing any structural undergarments here, merely a snug tank top.

My only stipulation was that they choose an outfit involving a tsuke-obi (pre-tied obi) as I’d been working all day and was tiiiiiired and not up to tying anything. I think we pulled together something cute, even if the formality is all over the place.

And of course, Tribble had to get involved.

So, what do you think, good first try for dressing someone else? Outfit cute, even if it makes no sense? Isn’t Anlina adorable?

Items used in this coordination

: Asanoha and Ume

: Dainty Vines

: Leaf Green Shibori

: Green Round

It wasn’t a rock! It was a rock lobster!

Diane Monday, December 21st, 2009 Friday, October 29th, 2010Ensembles, Events, Kimono, Obi 6

This weekend I was invited to a holiday party at a friend’s. Initially, I’d planned to wear kimono but the bottom dropped out of the thermometer and it was nearly -15 so I scrapped those plans. I waffled about what to wear for nearly an hour, had a mini-breakdown, and decided to go with the kimono anyways, since I’d be in a warm car and a warm house for the bulk of the evening. Boy am I glad I did!

I decided to pair my awesome spiny lobster nagoya obi with my red and white yabane komon. I added a black and gold haneri, a red obijime, and a black obiage with red polka-dots. Unfortunately not visible in any of the photos are black tabi and red and gold zori. I pulled together what I feel is a rather Mamechiyo Modern style outfit.

Closeup of the awesome obi:

And my hamcat:

To keep warm, I put on my huge ridiculous snowboots and an adorable brown fleece wrap with pompoms. It looked cute, fit over the kimono, and kept me toasty warm. I think I am going to need to invest in more of these!

The outfit got a great reception from many of the party guests, including someone who had recently attended a Japanese wedding and said my outfit brought back fond memories for him. I also matched the hostess’ decor!

The coolest part by far though, was meeting a couple of awesome fans of Japanese culture and chatting with them. Emilie is interested in getting into kimono and I hope to help her along with that, and Nick already owned a yukata that he ran home to change into when he saw my outfit! In the freezing cold weather! We couldn’t resist geeking out for a few pictures 🙂

When fandom hand-gestures collide! Turns out we’d both watched the new Star Trek movie the night before. Clearly, this kooky kimono meeting was fate XD. Pardon the wonky Vulcan gesture on my part – my pinkies have been dislocated so many times due to my own clumsiness that they don’t move correctly.

All in all, it was a great evening. It’s one of the first times I’ve worn kimono out to a large gathering of people unfamiliar with my hobby, so I’m quite pleased with the positive reactions! Expect more pictures of social events in the future!

Kimono Meetup with Amelie

Diane Monday, August 31st, 2009 Friday, November 30th, 2018Ensembles, Kimono 0

After months of discussing, planning, and failing on my part, Amelie and I finally got to spend the day together yesterday 😀 She is super sweet, as is her fiance, as are her cats. It is really nice to find a friend nearby to practice kitsuke with, go to kimono events, and of course loan and swap items. Not only that, but we have many other obscure interests in common.

Of course, we had to share kimono and get dressed up and go to dinner.

I wore my new red tsukesage with french-knot embroidery and my red and cream Stations of the Tokaido hakata obi, Ame wore my green iromuji (which looks and fits waaay better on her than it does on me, it pains me to say) with an adorable cream tsuke-obi.

I apologize for my appearance in these pics – My hair was being really poofy and weird and I wasn’t able to put on any makeup because idiot cat bit me in the eye early in the morning. Yes, my cat is an asshole.