2023, New Year’s Revelations

Happy new year! This year I’m not going to make any resolutions, because I’ve learned that life always gets in the way. Instead, within the next few weeks I will be sharing a road map for the future of this blog. Don’t worry, it’s not going anywhere and it’s not going to stop being about kimono. It’s all good news, I promise. I just need some time to formulate my thoughts.

In the meantime, starting the year off with a new coordination seemed like a good way to open things up. My initial plan was going to use my usagi shifuku tsukesage but I couldn’t find it. This relates back to my aforementioned plan and roadmap. My collection is that much of a mess.

I decided instead to use this kurotomesode with the tagasode motif, which seemed like a good kimono-related omen to start the year off with. I paired it with a gold obi with a celebratory tabane-noshi motif and white accessories, for a more traditional coordination than I usually do. I feel like these combine for an outfit that invites good luck and celebration of kimono for 2023, which I need right now!

I apologise for the lighting in these photos, up here in the wilds of Montreal it gets dark very early in the winter, so I don’t have much light to work with. I still think they convey the essence of the coordination so I’m happy enough.

This will be my only coordination for a few months, as I’m flying out to California again on the 7th. I’ll still be updating though! See you soon!

Items used in this coordination

Seijin Shiki 2022 – Ice Princess

Seijin Shiki (Coming of Age Day) 2022 was this past Monday, January 10. I should probably have done this outfit back then, but work kicked my butt. Better late than never, right?

It’s traditional for young adults who are turning 20 in the coming year to dress up. For young women, this means a beautiful furisode and accessories, and because it takes place in the winter, a fur stole is often used as well. These outfits can vary from subdued to very, very bold, depending on both the location and the personal style of the wearer.

My tastes tend to lead more towards the “mature”, which makes sense because I am literally as old as two people celebrating seijin shiki combined would be. So this outfit is more quiet than a lot of options, but I love it nonetheless. I decided to for a wintery, icy pastel coordinate.

I went for my well-loved blue and pink kiku furisode. Since pastel blue and pastel pink together make pastel purple, this lilac and silver obi seemed like the perfect complement, along with a purple haneri and obiage. A pink and silver obijime was the finishing touch the outfit needed, a bit of contrast against the obi while still flowing with the subtle pastel vibe of the whole thing.

I did try to make a more dramatic and showy obi musubi, but this particular obi is so soft and floppy it just would not hold a more structural shape. I eventually caved in and just went with a sort of poofy bunko musubi. It’s not quite what I originally had in mind but I think it worked out alright.

Terrific Texture

As much as it pained me to remove last week’s coordinate, it was time to change the mannequin. I thought for today I would focus on textures, an often-overlooked facet of kimono style and construction. This outfit may have no real variation in colour, and yet it’s anything but boring!

I paired my richly-textured mint iromuji with a tone-on-tone dusty pink hakata obi. Not only do these two pieces play well together texture-wise, the muted colour palettes complement each other perfectly. I emphasised the texture aspect even more with this haneri with a thick woven kiku design, a white shibori obiage (which is a bit too formal for this coord but it worked so well thematically) and a a white beaded obijime to introduce one last texture without adding more colour. I even arranged the obiage so the ruffled hem was visible, just to add one more layer of interest. Typically that edge is tucked away out of sight, but I thought it was a nice little touch.

I really like how this all came together. It’s very simple but also feels very luxurious, due to the nature of all the fabrics together. It’s even more effective in person, but you’ll just have to take my word on that!

Items used in this coordination

Blushing Valentine Bride

I absolutely intended to do this yesterday, but the universe clearly had other plans. It’s never too late for a little bit of winter romance though, so here we are! For February and Valentine’s Day, I decided to do a bit of a non-traditional wedding coordination. Generally, wedding outfits will be either all white (or white with metallic accents) or boldly coloured, depending on the time, location, and whether it’s for the ceremony or reception. This time though, I decided to go white with one bright accent colour; what could be more romantic than rosy pink?

I used a pink iromuji as the under-layer, since the colour was a perfect match, and I’m glad I went for it. I love the solid colours but play of texture – the kimono has a subtle sayagata rinzu, the iromuji is much more heavily textured, there’s the nubbly shibori of the obiage, the smooth flat surface of the obi, and even the shiny bumpy quality of the beaded obiage. Everything plays against everything else to create an outfit that despite being only two colours still remains visually very interesting.

Typically, a bigger musubi like tateya or something fancy created by a bridal studio would be used with a wedding ensemble. However, this obi has no stiffener and is very floppy, which really reduces the ways it can be tied without looking sad and anaemic, so I went with a very timeless soft bunko musubi. This also seemed like the perfect time to use the heart obijime knot (tutorial here). Since beaded obijime tend to be a bit slippery and often shorter than usual I wasn’t able to do it perfectly, but it’s still quite cute I think!

I’ve also gone ahead and reactivated my Patreon account. I know times are tough and money is tight for just about everyone, so I’m not expecting anything. But if you’ve got a few dollars to spare and enjoy the content I provide, please consider pledging! Every penny earned from there will go directly back into this blog, to cover new pieces, new reference materials, website hosting, and the like.

Items used in this coordination

Sea Day by Emi Nishizuka – Life Imitating Art

Before we get to the entry today, I have to speak out on what's happening in the United States (and really, around the world) right now. I've always aimed to keep this blog positive and apolitical, but it's reached a point where saying nothing is complicit with the racists. Black lives matter. Here in Canada we also need to acknowledge that Indigenous lives matter. As a white person, I need to use my voice to amplify and uplift the voices that are being silenced at a terrifying rate. Things need to change. The police need to stop killing black people indiscriminately for perceived offences while privileged white folk walk free after documented atrocities. If you're at a loss for ways to help and can't attend rallies or protests, please visit Black Lives Matter for information and resources, and consider donating to the NAACP or the ACLU. Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you feel the need to argue this, tell me it was unnecessary, or tell me that "all lives matter", please unsubscribe and unfollow.

Way back before the flood in my room, COVID-19, and my life (and the whole world, really) going sideways, I found this beautiful little drawing entitled 海の日, Umi no Hi, or Sea Day by Emi Nishizuka and realised I had quite similar pieces, especially my beloved octopus obi. Right away I knew I wanted to try to do the first entry in a new featurette here on the blog, where I plan to reproduce kimono ensembles from artwork. Now that I’m back into the swing of things, I figured it was time for me to give it a shot.

The pieces aren’t exact; the water on the kimono is from a different perspective and less saturated, the obi is purple instead of black, but as a whole I think I did a good job of emulating the mood and feel of the coordination quite well. Also, I’d somehow never noticed before but this kimono is a five-crested houmongi. All my other houmongi are either uncrested or have only one crest. I wonder what sort of event it was intended for.

Doing this coord was a lot of fun, and I look forward to doing more of them. I won’t make any promises or stick to time frames, because I know that’s a surefire way to turn me off from something, but keep an eye out for more of these in the future!

One final note; I have officially lost my job for good. I worked at the same small specialised toy store for almost thirteen years, but unfortunately it has become a casualty of the economy and the coronavirus shut-down and will not be reopening. So for the time being, you will be seeing a lot of older, familiar pieces being reused in new and hopefully interesting ways. My budget is a little tighter than usual so I can’t run around buying new pieces.