At this point I have enough kimono and obi that when I buy new items, I try to justify them by pairing them with an item I already own. Lately though, I’ve been making ridiculous impulse purchases with no real forethought about coordination. The first such purchase was a purple komon with silver lamé designs of nadeshiko (pinks), hagi (bush clover), and waves. These are all typically high-summer designs but the kimono is thick and fully-lined, so it’s likely for winter, to evoke the warm feeling of summer.
The auction photos made it look like a fairly soft, dusty purple with some faint silver patterns, so imagine my shock when it arrived and was a bright, vivid, grape soda colour with incredibly reflective and irridescent designs all over! My first thought was “Wow!” My second thought, however, was “what on earth am I going to wear this with?!” Thankfully, one of my other recent impulse purchases was a vivid, fire-engine red reversible hakata obi. It arrived yesterday and today, after a horribly long and harrowing work-week involving threats at my store, the police, and my grandmother being hospitalized, I decided it was high time to relax with kimono.
I paired them up with my blue and red shibori obiage and a blue, red, and pink hakata obijime. A red vintage juban with a white and silver haneri and silver zori and some glittery red lipstick and nail polish completed the ridiculously metallic outfit. One thing I did not bother doing was binding my breasts, so I apologize for the less-than-smooth line. I was only wearing this outfit as a test run, not actually going out, and I’m currently experiencing some… um… time-of-the-month tenderness that makes binding somewhat uncomfortable.
It was very windy in the yard today!
I am very pleased with how these play off each other. They’re both dramatic enough to hold their own but not so busy that they clash. I’d never intended to pair them up, but it was serendipity that they arrived so close together.
Bebe Taian
CHOKO Blog
Gion Kobu