Tag: Kimono

Kabuki Glamour

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For today’s outfit I was inspired by the lush decadence and pure kabuki glamour of the costuming in Kokuho, which I reviewed earlier this week. This astonishingly big and heavy stage hikizuri was the perfect base, and for once I’m actually in season with it. I waffled between my black and white hakata tsuke-obi and this green short han-darari style, but in the end the bling and the drama of the darari won out. I also really like how it picks up the green in the ume branches of the kimono. They feel very theatrical together, don’t they?

Colour-wise, there was already more than enough going on so I figured white accessories with a lot of rich texture would be the best accent, and I’m glad I didn’t add in anything else. I went with my tried-and-true textured kiku haneri, the white and silver maruguke obijime from one  of my bridal sets, and my white obiage with red shibori clouds. I think they make an excellent combo!

This kimono is so big, and the obi so easy to put on, that I am seriously debating wearing this entire outfit myself and going to take photos in the snow before it melts. We’ll see if I end up finding the time and energy. (ed note: Don’t get your hopes up, the writer is tired)

Also one fun note about this kimono, there are still trace of oshiroi smudged onto the red inner layer. I should have taken a close up, now that I think about it.

 

Modern Valentine

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Pink, orange, and black may not be the most expected Valentine’s Day combination, but this is what happens when I’m thousands of miles away from my husband on a day to celebrate love, I guess. No, I kid! I was actually inspired by the incredible modern styling of aedam_furisode on Instagram to pull out a ruffled juban and a big loud furisode. Since the only ruffled juban I own is black, the rest of the outfit had to be built around that. I brought out this bright salmon-pink gosho-guruma (royal cart) furisode, since I knew it had some stark black outlines on it, and then grabbed my trusty orange hakata chuuya obi because it matches the peonies on this kimono so well. If I’m being honest, any excuse to use this obi is a good one.

To break up the tonal similarities of the salmon kimono and orange obi, as well as reinforce the non-traditional vibe and aedam style, I used black cotton lace as a sort of obiage and shigoki-obi, as well as running it through the obi-musubi. It also makes the black ruffles feel more cohesive I think, and brings more attention to the stark black outline of the gosho-guruma motif on the kimono. Without the lace I think this would have just felt confusing and the exposed juban more like an afterthought or an accident, but with the punches of black accessories it pulls everything together. A black obijime tied in a modified kokoro-musubi was the final touch. It’s too short to do a normal one, but if you’re looking for instructions I made a tutorial years ago which you can find here.

Are you doing anything special for valentine’s day? Since I’m so far from Keith, I’m going out for bbq chicken with my folks later tonight. Ahhh, middle age. So romantic. But hey, at least I don’t have to buy him honmei-choco this year!

 

Art Gallery – Spy X Family X Kimono

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What’s this? I drew an actual male character in male kitsuke for once? Alert the presses! I was in the mood to draw more comfy anime kimono fanart, and ended up with these three perfect precious idiots. Very capable idiots,  but idiots nonetheless.

My original plan for this was just to draw Anya because I love her so much. But as I started on it, I realised it would be even cuter if it I took a riff on a traditional family portrait. I like to think they’re celebrating Anya’s shichigosan (even though we don’t know exactly how old she is, we know she’s in the right range).

Once I had that in mind, their outfits sort of fell into place. Anya’s in a bright and cheerful pink furisode (which admittedly I should have tucked at the sleeves as well as the shoulders, but I realised it too late) with a cosmos pattern. She’s holding them in the first season closing credits, and they fit the pink theme well. They’re also said to represent pure and innocent love, which is what Anya feels for her family. If you look closely at her obi and zori, what initially looks like a fairly traditional black and gold obi with a geometric design is actually a tessellation of her favourite snack; peanuts!

Yor had to be red and gold with a rose motif, of course. Nothing less for our Briar Rose Princess. Her updo hairstyle already suits kimono so well, she was possibly the most natural fit for this picture. I gave her a yabane motif obi as a nod to her secret life as an assassin; I know she doesn’t use a bow and arrow, but I wanted something a bit less literal. Maybe she’s got some daggers tucked into her obi?

Loid was a bit more of a challenge, since he’s such a blank slate. In the end, I stuck to the usual colours of his clothing and think it works well. He provides a nice neutral counterpoint to Yor’s elegance and Anya’s vibrancy. Of course, as much as I don’t condone piercing holes in your kimono, I had to include his WISE lapel pin.

Soft blushing pink

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By now you’ve likely heard the viral, catchy, colour-mixing song from Dokodemo Jamboree and either you love it or you hate it. But either way, it’s probably stuck in your head! It was certainly stuck in mine while I was trying to come up with a cute coordination, so I decided to go in a monochrome direction and have a bit of fun making a video to go with this post. I am trying to be a bit more active on short-form reel platforms, but I am old and tired and prefer being behind the camera nowadays. Interacting with my TikTok or Youtube accounts will help me find the motivation to keep up with them.

I have plenty of items in multiple colours I could have “combined” to do this, but soft pink is always a really safe and comforting fallback, and I suspected these two pieces, with their warm blush backgrounds and bright pops of colour, would work really well together. While it’s not really “proper” to have a kimono and obi be the exact same like this, you know I love bending the rules. I just made sure the rest of my kitsuke was as perfect as I was capable of assembling considering how out of practice I am.

Toss in a few more accessories in a deeper shade of the same salmon pink and voila! It might not be vibrant or “PINKU!”, but it makes me happy and nowadays isn’t that the important part? I have to find joy wherever I can. You should too! Whether that be unconventional combinations, making meme videos, putting a kimono on the fake Labubu you found in a parking lot, or anything else people might deem frivolous or silly. If it brings a smile to your face in these dark times and doesn’t hurt others, do it unapologetically.

Also, I’m trying out a new setup for photos that allows me to work in my bedroom instead of taking over my parents’ living room. I might even be able to bring it with me to California because it all collapses down, but I definitely can’t bring the mannequin. Let me know what you think!

 

Art Gallery – Kuromi & My Melody

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Full confession, I am team Kuromi all the way. With her resurgence in popularity lately, I am over the moon with the amount of merch and cute art floating around, even if it does occasionally have her best frenemy involved. I started this piece intending to just make cute papercraft-style art of Kuromi in kimono by herself, but have to admit she felt a bit lonely so I did the two of them. They’re so darned cute together I don’t regret a moment of it. Also, the pom-poms on Kuromi’s collar are actually cute little official My Melody bells. I couldn’t help myself, even if nobody else would have noticed!