Tag: gold

Hello Dolly, Goodbye Dolly

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When Dolly Parton passed a few weeks back, it hit me hard. She was a (literal) shining beacon of hope in these dark times. Even if it felt like nobody else out there loved you, you knew Dolly loved you whether she’d met you or not. She was a voice for the voiceless, and damn, what a voice that was. She stood for the smallest, the most downtrodden, the most overlooked of humanity with a smile and a sparkle, and the world is a lot dimmer without her rhinestones and glitter and kind, loving voice.

Even if you didn’t like her music style, there’s at least one Dolly Parton song you probably loved. Whether it was Jolene, Nine to Five, or I Will Always Love You, her music was at the forefront of pop culture regardless of how niche, dated, or “cringe” country music might be.

My original plan was to do a tribute to her as soon as possible, but I was swamped and not in a great state physically and was having trouble motivating myself. So when folks online began suggesting September 25th as Dolly Parton day (9/25 – Nine To Five) I knew it would be the right time to pull something together.

My original thought was pink, pink, pink, to go with her colourful, bubbly, and feminine style, but then I remembered this furisode with butterflies. Dolly identified with butterflies for most of her life, and they became something of a personal emblem for her. That, combined with the colour scheme of this kimono, which feels a bit like autumn in the Great Smoky Mountains, made this feel like the perfect choice. I draped it hikizuri-style and left it trailing dramatically, because that felt right for such a flashy stage performer.

I went with a similar palette for the obi and tied it in a great, fluffy, ornate sort of musubi. The obiage might look a little incongruous but I had to include a rainbow for her longstanding love and support of the LGBTQ+ community. Also, it ties in nicely with the uchikake.

While the uchikake itself isn’t exactly suitable or a great match for this outfit and it’s certainly a lot flashier than the one in the song, I couldn’t leave out my own personal coat of many colours, now could I?

In honour of Dolly, I encourage you to do something kind and positive for yourself and for your community. Personally, I will be making a small donation to the Imagination Library.

Items used in this coordination

Birthstone Ensembles – July – Ruby

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Another month, another beautiful birthstone! For July, we have the bright and bold ruby. If you saw my sneaky little addendum to the series last week, you’ll know that I just did garnet for January, and I wanted to make sure Ruby was a much flashier and more vivid ensemble despite them both being red.

I was also feeling the urge for a bit more contrast, since so many of these outfits have been very monochrome. Of course the kimono had to be red, so I took the opportunity to feature this vintage komon again. It’s bright red with a hint of a magenta undertone, just like an actual ruby. I had this black, gold, and red nagoya that still hasn’t been used much, and I though it would tie in the black and gold accents on the kimono and bring some metallic sparkle to the outfit. Red, black, and gold accessories to finish things off, including this haneri that I use way too frequently. In fact, I think I may have used it last time I used this kimono. Oops!

Seasonally, the motifs here are somewhat wintery (ume, tsubaki), which doesn’t exactly suit the July theme, but eh. This is more of a vibe project. Maybe next year I’ll focus on seasonal/birthday flowers and see how that goes!

It also reminds me of a more casual riff on the very first kimono and obi I ever purchased. That kimono is still one of my fondest treasures and I really should get her out and feature her sometime soon.

Items used in this coordination

Birthstone Ensembles – June – Alexandrite

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Alexandrite is my favourite of the birthstones, and it holds a special place in my heart. Not because I’m a June baby — far from it, my birthday is in November — but because I love the unexpected intersection of physics, chemistry, and aesthetics that cause it to change colour so much that my engagement ring and wedding band feature it heavily. Many stones have a sort of iridescent shimmer or glow to them, but few legitimately change colour the way alexandrite does. The main stone in my ring is typically a rich indigo, looks teal under fluorescent lights, bright purple in the sun, deep plum in candlelight, and on the rare occasion I’m under direct UV light (gel manicures, the occasional round of day-glo mini-golf) it beams an impossibly eerie neon red.

Of course, I knew I had to reflect as many of these colours in today’s coordinate as I could, and this houmongi has them all aside from the neon red. The shapes of the… windows? around the hem also remind me of cut gemstones, which made it even more perfect. While the actual gemstone does not have a propensity to shine yellow, there’s already yellow accents in the kimono and they reminded me of gold so I ran with that for the accessories. The obi also looks faceted and shimmers between blue, green, and teal, so that was a no-brainer as well.

I tried something funky with the obi musubi but to be honest I’m not sure it worked. At least the pieces all work well together otherwise!

Items used in this coordination

 

Wisteria Chocolate

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I’ve generally been pretty good about not buying kimono lately, but when I saw this absolutely lush warm-brown houmongi with wisteria – a motif I’ve been wanting more of – on Etsy for a fantastic price I had to have it. I also got another piece I’ll be featuring soon, more on that later.

I love how elegant and subtle this piece is, it feels very “quiet luxury” to me. The silk is rich and thick and heavy, the gold decoration is not overdone, and it has an almost monochrome quality to it that I feel ads to the understated feel of the whole thing. If I ever manage to lose all the weight the medical debacles of the past decade have put on me, this will be one of the first things I wear I think.

I specifically chose this gold obi because of the seafoam accents it has. That may seem like an odd choice, but there are flecks of nearly the exact same minty colour in the hem of the kimono. I couldn’t believe what a fortuitous match it was!

Once I had these pieces next to each other, I ran with similarly coloured accessories and realised the whole combination reminded me of a box of expensive chocolates, reinforcing the whole luxury vibe I had in mind. It was an accident, but a happy one!

Overall I’m very happy with the coordination, even if I am slightly less happy with the actual kitsuke. The collars were giving me grief but I knew if I kept fighting them I would get frustrated and give up. Perfection is the enemy of done, after all.

Items used in this coordination

The Seventies called; they want their outfit back

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I haven’t used this gorgeous showa-fabulous houmongi Sophie got me for my birthday a while back anywhere near frequently enough. I decided to have some fun with it today, and realised this obi (which I nearly sold! what was I thinking?) is the absolute perfect seventies-style match for it.

As timeless as the shape of a kimono may be, the patterns and colours are just as susceptible to trends as western clothing is. This particular shade of orange, especially paired with gold, and the big warm-toned and almost pop-art flowers, are very emblematic of the middle of the second half of the Showa era, from the late 60s to the early 80s. I could just as easily see this general colour and pattern scheme on a polyester pantsuit as I could on this particular coordination.

I decided to keep things relatively quiet with the accessories, since the kimono and obi are so flashy already. This soft leafy green picks up the green accents in the design so it seemed like the best choice, but the obijime did get a bit lost against the obi. Then I remembered this padded, decorative little cord I picked up at the Daiso last time I was in California. It’s a bit too thin and delicate to be a functional obijime by itself but it’s absolutely perfect wrapped around as an accent. The black and bold colours just call back to the kimono so well and I’m so happy I remembered I had it!

Items used in this coordination