Tag: mustard

Stepping out of my comfort zone

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In the more than two decades I’ve been studying, collecting, and coordinating kimono and Japanese arts and aesthetics, one thing I still find myself struggling with is Japanese colour palettes. I studied graphic design before I fell into this little rabbit hole, and my colour sensibilities are innately Western.

 

It’s possible you’ve seen this adorable little A Dictionary Of Color Combinations book on some fashion and personal style social media accounts lately, it’s gone somewhat viral, and for good reason. It’s less a book and more a collection of colour palettes that appeal to the Japanese aesthetic. If you’re ever stuck for inspiration, it’s a fantastic place to start. You can either open a random page and go from there, or if you have a piece in your collection you’re unsure of what to do with, there’s a handy index at the back. Find the swatch closest to your piece and then view all the options! That’s what I ended up doing here, with this gorgeous early-Showa komon I picked up at the Palm Springs vintage market a few months back.

 

 

I found this palette with the colour “Eugenia red”, which was about as close as I could find to the kimono. The complementary options were “Sulphine yellow”, “Green Blue”, and “Raw Sienna.” The obi is nearly spot-on for the sulphine yellow, and the other two colours show up in the obi motifs quite nicely. Would I normally have paired a red kimono with mustard and green accessories? Not in a million years! Was it successful? That’s for you to decide. I think it works, but it’s definitely not my favourite thing I’ve ever put together. I will definitely keep trying combos from this book though

Also if you’re curious about my manicure in the book pics, it’s Zoya Midori stamped with this Maniology sashiko plate. I was going for “matcha latte” vibes.

 

Items used in this coordination

 

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Lovely and Soothing

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I’ve been feeling incredibly uninspired lately. Mental health, physical health, the state of the universe in general, they all weigh heavy on us right now, don’t they? In an attempt to get myself out of a rut I decided I would just reach blindly into my “tansu” (revamped armoire, really) and build an outfit around it.

I’m so glad I did, because I cannot get over how well these two pieces go together. They’re both the same lovely, dusty, desaturated palette and the flowers complement each other so well. I can’t believe I’ve never thought to pair these up before! I should do this impromptu coordination thing more often.

As much as I love the really bold and vivid pieces that came out of the Taisho era, there’s something to be said about these delicate, painterly ones. There’s just something incredibly soothing about outfits like this where everything just flows harmoniously from top to bottom and nothing really “jumps out” at you.

Items used in this coordination

Timeless Elegance

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Thank you so much for being patient while I was out of town, and settling back in. I apologise for the lack of content, and if you’re curious as to why I’ve been relatively radio silent there’s a bit of info at the bottom of this post. Feel free to skip it though.

I knew I needed to get back into the swing of things, and decided to do something with the gorgeous, timeless elegance of this vintage irotomesode. Like a lot of other pieces from this era, the designs on it are incredibly soft and dusty and subdued, and I wanted to make sure the obi didn’t compete or overwhelm in any way. As you may know, I’m of the mind that hakata obi go with everything and anything, so this very pale pink and white one seemed like the ideal complement to the dusky pastels of the kimono.

I’m trying to branch out and do more interesting things with my kitsuke, so I tried doing kouken musubi and I think it turned out quite well for a first attempt! Olive green accessories and a coordinating haneri helped give the whole outfit a bit of weight and contrast, which I think it definitely needed.

It felt good to get this done. While I was down in California, two separate tragedies struck at times when I felt helpless to do anything. My friend Dan Howard, the incredibly talented and sweet and funny artist who drew this portrait of me, lost a hard-fought battle with pneumonia. The following day our tiny, grumbly, loveable cat Tribble (whom you’ve definitely seen if you’re a long-time reader) succumbed to a very aggressive form of cancer. My folks made the humane choice to end her suffering but I was thousands of miles away and couldn’t say goodbye. So I was already not in a great place mentally or emotionally, and leaving Keith always makes me sad. On top of everything else, the trip home was long, full of incidents and delays. All these things have compounded to put me in a pretty bad state of mind. Distracting myself with something as familiar as kimono really helped today.

If you read all that, I apologise and I thank you. But I’m starting to do better, and we’ll be back to a more regular schedule from here on in. 💖

Items used in this coordination

#Monokimono Challenge – Mustard Yellow

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Anna of KimonoTEKA recently came up with the #monoKIMONO challenge; the last weekend of every month in 2018, challenge yourself to make a monochromatic outfit! I am always up for new kitsuke ideas, and I know I can handle one-a-month type challenges, so you know I’m going to go for it!

My first thought was red or pink, but as I was flipping through my collection for ideas, this odd mustard yellow colour jumped out at me. You might remember this kimono as my emergency backup piece for Belle that I ended up falling in love with. It’s not a piece I’ll ever be able to wear, even if I were to lose an unhealthy amount of weight it would still be too narrow for my broad back and too short for my giant self. Also, this particular colour looks lovely on a lot of folks, but utterly terrible on me. However, I’m always excited to find ways to coordinate it, and I realised I have a vintage obi that’s nearly the exact same colour. A few similarly ochre-toned accessories and voila, a beautiful, wearable, vintage monochrome outfit.

This whole outfit pulled together so smoothly and easily, I hope it’s a sign of things to come for both the challenge and the year as a whole. Are you participating in the #monoKIMONO challenge? If so, I’d love to see your coordinations!

Items used in this coordination