Tag: hakama

Rock Lady no wafuku fanart

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Oh look, I’m back on my nonsense of putting queer or queer-coded female characters in wafuku! If you’re not sure what I mean, feel free to check out my old Sailor Uranus/Sailor Neptune or Steven Universe kimono fanart…


Keith and I recently watched Rock is a Lady’s Modesty (ロックは淑女レディの嗜みでして, Rokku wa Redi no Tashinami deshite), which is a huge mouthful and is usually referred to as simply Rock Lady. It’s about four very proper, lady-like private-school girls who secretly get together and form a hardcore instrumental rock band, and it is absolutely fantastic. If you like music-related anime, do check it out.

Two of the characters, Lilisa (blonde) and Shiraya (lavender) are both in their school’s respective tea ceremony clubs and as soon as I saw them in kimono I knew I had to draw this. Of course, the kimono they wear in the show are very subdued iromuji, but I wanted to express their “real” personalities through their ensembles. Throughout the show, each one is represented by a flower so of course those motifs carried through, and then I referenced each of their instruments in one way or another by their motifs; Shiraya the bassist has a repeating pick shape on her obi, Otoha the drummer is holding drumsticks and has a tsuzumi on her hakama, Lilisa the guitarist has a fret and string design on her obi, and Tina the keyboardist has a repeated keyboard motif on her obi and hakama hem. Of course, I had to put them on a stage too.

I really enjoyed doing this, and I hope you like it as well!

It’s a Man’s World

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Today, I finally got my grubby little paws on something I’ve wanted for a very long time. A full men’s formal kuromontsuki set! It seemed like every time I found one it was way beyond my budget. I’m glad I waited because this set showed up for an unbelievably low price and here in Canada to boot so I jumped on it. Originally it was just the kimono, haori, and hakama but the seller was kind enough to throw in an absolutely awesome juban too. All I had to do was find a suitable kaku-obi and I now have a full formal men’s set. I’d love to dress a bride and groom up for photos some day when the world is back to normal!

I cheated and used the same mannequin as usual, I just padded “her” with towels until her tummy protruded a bit more than her chest, and voila! Men’s kitsuke feels odd to me; it’s both very similar and very different from what I’m used to, and I’ll definitely need more practice but I think I did quite well for a first attempt. I do need to learn how to tie men’s haori-himo properly though. I watched a few tutorials and just could not get the hang of it! I’ll try again tomorrow.

Items used in this coordination

Ariel – Disney Princess Kitsuke Project

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🎵Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat?🎵

Six weeks ago, I found a kimono on ebay that was perfectly reminiscent of Belle’s yellow ballgown from Beauty & The Beast. I snatched it up, and thus the ridiculous Disney Princess Kitsuke Project was born. I spent the following weeks plotting out coordinations for every single one of the official princesses. Made a few purchases, but mostly tried to use my existing collection. However, six weeks in, that gorgeous gold kimono still hasn’t arrived. I felt my frustration setting in and my motivation up and running away. I knew the only way to keep myself on track was to work on some of the other princesses in the interim.

Ariel seemed like a good starting point, as she was the first “new” princess of my youth. I definitely identify the most with Belle (nerdy idealistic brunette? come on!) but had very strong memories of Ariel too so she seemed like logical next best thing. I chose my teal green hakama to mimic her tail, a sparkly purple komon to match her purple shell bra, and my shell haneri. It’s not very visible, but of course I had to use my whale hanhaba obi under the hakama, right? Last time I was at the craft store, I kept an eye out for charms and decorative items I could use in this project, and the first thing I found was a cute little shell charm. I figured I could work with that, and then I stumbled across the dinglehopper and couldn’t have been happier! I assembled them together with some silver chain, and some pearly beads and starfish charms finished it off perfectly.

Overall, I think this first outfit in the project came out exactly how I wanted it to. Which is a good thing, because now my motivation is back on track for the rest of them! I’ll likely be aiming to doing one a week, and then a big collective entry when they’re all complete. I hope you come back to see the others.

Items used in this coordination

Princess of Themyscira

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This outfit was inspired by the strong and compassionate warrior whose name is on everyone’s lips these days – Wonder Woman! I’ve had so much fun doing geeky-inspired kitsuke in the past (Star Trek, Bitch Planet, and Star Wars) and I wanted to give Diana her due. My initial plan was going to be a blue kimono and red haori, but I realised the vaguely onna-bugeisha style of a hakama would be much more balanced and representative of her red top and blue bottom. I felt like the kiku motif of this vivid red kimono was reminiscent of the star motif of her outfit, and a navy hakama would have grounded the whole thing. Since I don’t own one, I took the liberty of photoshopping my purple one to navy. Of course, I had to bring in gold as the accent colour of the haneri and obi. The sword seemed like a foregone conclusion once everything came together, and what would Wonder Woman be without her golden lasso (or in this case, her golden obijime)?

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Overall, I feel like this was another ultimately successful cosplay-style kitsuke. I would love to wear this outfit to a convention or something at some point, along with a tiara and bracers. It’s the sort of outfit that would take a minute to “get”, but I think once people recognised it, it would go over really well.

Items used in this coordination

Art Gallery – Spring by Tsubame-Kimonoya

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This precious piece was done by Tsubame-Kimonoya on Tumblr. I love how she was inspired by the adorable dog Luka in my original photo from Gofuku no Hi last year, and added not one but two dogs! The only thing better than one dog is two dogs. And the details in my outfit are perfectly spot-on.

The weather here in Montreal is finally turning a corner. We got snow on Friday but it’s been lovely since then, and this art feels like a welcome breath of the spring that’s to come.