Tag: furisode

Matchy Matchy Mums

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There’s two things “wrong” with this outfit, but when has that ever stopped me? I had another outfit planned for this week’s coordination but when this kiku furisode arrived I knew I had to pair it up with my purple kiku obi. Normally you wouldn’t match the motif of the kimono to the obi, especially not identically stylised ones like this, but the colours and the round mums were just too perfect to pass up. I also tied the obi in niijudaiko, which isn’t a musubi you’d typically pair with furisode, but I thought it added an interesting, more mature feeling to the outfit.

Since I was on such a matchy kick, I ran with accessories that were also perfect matches to some of the colours in the kimono. This outfit definitely feels very autumnal, which also happens to be my favourite season, so of course I love the end result!

What do you think? Do you like to understand the rules but deviate from them now and again, or do you prefer to stick to what works? I think both have merit; so long as you can explain why you chose to break a rule and aren’t doing it in a formal situation or stealing the focus from someone else, sometimes it can work out really well!

Items used in this coordination

Seijin Shiki 2022 – Ice Princess

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Seijin Shiki (Coming of Age Day) 2022 was this past Monday, January 10. I should probably have done this outfit back then, but work kicked my butt. Better late than never, right?

It’s traditional for young adults who are turning 20 in the coming year to dress up. For young women, this means a beautiful furisode and accessories, and because it takes place in the winter, a fur stole is often used as well. These outfits can vary from subdued to very, very bold, depending on both the location and the personal style of the wearer.

My tastes tend to lead more towards the “mature”, which makes sense because I am literally as old as two people celebrating seijin shiki combined would be. So this outfit is more quiet than a lot of options, but I love it nonetheless. I decided to for a wintery, icy pastel coordinate.

I went for my well-loved blue and pink kiku furisode. Since pastel blue and pastel pink together make pastel purple, this lilac and silver obi seemed like the perfect complement, along with a purple haneri and obiage. A pink and silver obijime was the finishing touch the outfit needed, a bit of contrast against the obi while still flowing with the subtle pastel vibe of the whole thing.

I did try to make a more dramatic and showy obi musubi, but this particular obi is so soft and floppy it just would not hold a more structural shape. I eventually caved in and just went with a sort of poofy bunko musubi. It’s not quite what I originally had in mind but I think it worked out alright.

If this combination is wrong, I don’t wanna be right

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I’m back! I’m feeling motivated again and have ideas for plenty of new coordinates using new items and ones I’ve had in my collection for a long time. The little break I ended up taking did wonders for my mental health and I thank you all for sticking around and being patient. 💖

Today I’ve got something really special for you. I have loved this kimono for over a decade, ever since I was lucky enough to wear it during a fashion show at a convention. You remember conventions, right? When thousands of people gathered together, packed themselves into small rooms, hugged, laughed, and shared common interests? Funny how alien that seems in our current world! They’ll come back eventually, though.

Anyway, Naomi dressed me in this stunning chocolate brown furisode with all kinds of gentle foliage and gold butterflies, and I was smitten. Fast forward a few years to when she’s thinning out her collection and now it’s come to live with me! It doesn’t fit me at the moment, but thankfully it looks gorgeous on the mannequin.

Typically, with a furisode like this the obi should be tied in a much larger, showier musubi. However, it’s got a more mature feel than a lot of furisode, and I knew I really wanted to pair this beloved obi from my 53 Stations of the Tokaido collection with it, so I went for a more grown-up style in general. I couldn’t resist adding back a bit of youth and flash with how I tied the obijime, though.

I’m sure I’ll do a more “appropriate” outfit with this piece in the future, but right now I’m really quite thrilled with how this turned out.

Items used in this coordination

Autumn Wedding

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Sometimes a girl just wants to put a wedding outfit on her mannequin for no good reason, right? I received this beautiful vintage maru obi as an extra when I bought the ume hikizuri, and for a while I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. It recently hit me that it’s the same sort of desaturated vintage colour palette as my beloved Taisho bridal kimono, and roughly the same level of flashiness, so it was worth trying them out together.

I really love how these look together, with the pops of red and gold from the obiage, obijime, and kakae obi to break things up. It looks beautifully autumnal, and since it’s snowing today and winter’s creeping up on me, I want to hold onto that fall feeling as long as possible.

It’s not as tidy as it could be, and that is a sad, floppy-looking bunko musubi but I was out of spoons and didn’t want to fight with it anymore (even with my poor long-suffering father helping me out). I figured I’d share the outfit as-is, rather than getting frustrated and not posting it. I’m still not feeling great, to be honest, and there’s a bunch of stuff happening in my personal life that I won’t bore you with. I just want to reassure you that while posting has slowed down somewhat these past few months, I’m still here and I’m not going anywhere.

Items used in this coordination

Furisode Glam

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Ahhhh! I can’t get over the pairing of this kimono and obi! It’s just.. *chefs kiss*. The obi was part of my final Ichiroya purchase and I fully admit I didn’t have any particular pairings in mind when I bought it, I just thought it was pretty. But it occurred me last night that it might look good with this kimono and man, was I ever glad to be right. The pinks tie in perfectly and the dusty navy accents on the obi call back to the hem of the furisode in the best possible way.

I decided to go full modern furisode glam today; a big bold haneri, gold and green kasane-eri, shibori obiage, and bright tasselled obijime. The obijime looks more orange than it actually is in the photo. In reality it’s a more warm salmon-pink shade that works really well with the obiage and the shadowed parts of the lilies on the kimono.

Like last week’s outfit, this coord is very “proper”, but definitely has a much more vibrant and youthful feel. Just goes to show that correct kitsuke doesn’t have to be stoic or subdued!

I followed this tutorial for a big poofy obi musubi and I am thrilled with how it turned out. That homemade sanjuhimo I made a while back works really well. I normally don’t include a close-up of the back of the outfit but I was proud of my work and felt the need to show off.

Items used in this coordination