Tag: halloween

Spooky Scary Skeleton Spectre

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This Skeleton Spectre tsuke-obi from Another Date Night had been calling my name for months. I finally bit the bullet and bought it with the intention of doing something for Halloween, so here we are!

I paired it with the rose motif komon I got recently, since I feel like it ties in beautifully with the roses on the obi, and as an added bonus looks a bit like spiderwebs from a distance. The haneri is actually a piece of quilting fabric I bought and I could not be happier about how perfectly they match! I just love how at first glance it looks like a nice and subdued normal outfit but when you look closer it’s a whole bundle of spooky elegance.

I hope you’re having a fantastic Halloween!

Spookybana

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Welcome to ~spooooky weeeek~. I originally intended it to be spooky month, but unfortunately life got in the way as it so often does. Instead, you’ll get lots of Halloween-themed content leading up to the weekend!

First up, Keith found this incredible stoneware hidden at the very back of a shelf at HomeGoods and it was the perfect vessel for a creepy arrangement. I knew I had some gnarled driftwood branches I fished out of Lytle Creek over the summer. Then I found these deep red-black sunflowers and a matching dahlia and the stage was set.

Typically I aim for natural lighting as much as possible to focus on the natural beauty of the flowers I’m working with, and normally I would never leave dropped petals in the photo, but in this case the high contrast and dramatic shadows work so much better than sunlight would have. The arrangement calls for it.

Stay tuned for more eerie offerings in the coming days!

Classy and Creepy

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Happy Halloween! An appropriate day to raise myself from the dead, I think. I’ve just been incredibly busy, travelling and working and whatnot, but I do have some stuff in the works for the next little while.

I knew I had to get this one up today, though. The “obi” is too perfect for a classy and creepy outfit. Funny thing is, it’s not an obi at all. It’s two table runners from Target! One wrapped twice around the body, and one for the musubi. I wanted to keep the rest of the outfit subtle but still halloween-y so my bat menuki obidome and spiderweb haneri, and then remembered I had this lovely piece of soft spiderweb mesh I found in a remnant bin at the fabric store. It makes the perfect shawl, doesn’t it?

I love how this outfit feels seasonal and creepy but totally wearable, and I also love how the two star pieces are both found items that have nothing to do with kimono. The orange accessories were the finishing touch, and they add just the right amount of pop.

Items used in this coordination

Happy Halloween 2022!

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Tomorrow is Halloween! The day we celebrate errant bloggers rising from the grave, apparently. I am actually working on an entry discussing my increasing absences, and a slight shift in the purpose and focus of this blog, so keep an eye out for that. Don’t worry, it’s not bad news!

In the meantime though, I actually have a coordination for you! I bought this piece last time I was in California. I realise it’s supposed to be a sunset over the landscape, but to me it absolutely looks like a spooky forest fire scene. The spindly black trees and bright orange background just felt very Halloween to me and I decided it would be the perfect piece to get back into the swing of things.

I wanted to keep the Halloween vibe relatively subtle, but I did try to amp up the spooky factor with a black and silver spiderweb haneri and brass bat obidome made out of a vintage menuki. The obi is a solid black mofuku nagoya, paired with white and orange accessories.

I don’t have a catalogue photo of this piece yet, but that’s a problem for another day. It is coming, I promise!

Items used in this coordination

Halloween Pumpkin!

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When Kimono Stylist Sala Okabe shared this picture, I was smitten! She didn’t post instructions, but it looked fairly straightforward, some variation on an otaiko musubi and I decided I really wanted to give it a shot. I haven’t been in much of a state to do kitsuke recently; not only am I still feeling worn down mentally, I also took quite a tumble down some stone stairs a few weeks ago. I tore up my legs, twisted my wrist, and bruised several of my ribs quite badly. However, I’m feeling a little better and thought Halloween would be the ideal time to put this together!

The orange hakata side of this chuuya obi was the obvious choice. I paired it with green accessories to look like the leaves and vines of the pumpkin plant, and went with a small-patterned black and white kimono to keep with the “spooky season” colours without being distracting. I would have loved an orange haneri but I don’t own one, but this mustard yellow one is pretty darned close and still fits with the autumn theme.

I also decided not to pleat the obi like Sala Okabe did, because this one is so soft and floppy it’s hard to get it to hold a shape. But I think the woven design does an excellent job of looking like the ribs of a pumpkin! Overall, I think I managed it quite well, considering I had to guess at the obi musubi construction and I’m still not totally feeling like myself. Hopefully my motivation will come back properly soon.

Items used in this coordination