Osaka

Landing on Kansai-airport, I thought it would be fun to spend at least one night in Osaka.
As the first time there I didn't really like it much. And, it's good to give cities a second change.
Probably due to the weather the firs time I thought Osaka a bit sleazy. But this time, shining in the bright late summer sun, I thought Osaka was futuristic modern and fun.









Going up 40 stories on Umeda sky building is exciting!
And fun to take fashion pictures ^_~

But, skyscrapers really are fascinating to me, as we have none and seeing these immensely huge Japanese cities from above is overwhelming. And so pretty!

This building itself is pretty, I was really stunned. Going up was thrilling with the open escalators and reaching the top, you see this reflection which evokes Tori. Which I thought very clever, combining the old with the new, just by suggestion.
I can see why people get married here, it's romantic.

For me a cup of coffee a view stories lower is romantic enough though ^_^

The old-fashioned pre-WWII Ryokan Houkouso was a super nice contrast.
Sleeping in a tatami room with a view on the small garden.
Japanese style breakfast in the old meeting room at a large table round a big fier place with above. Of which, of course, I forget to take pictures.

Lilac

one crested ro silk houmongi.
I have no idea what flowers they are.
If some one knows... please let me know ^_^
This kimono has been in my collection a very long time, but I never dressed in it, so I felt is was time. Besides, according to the "kimono calendar" there are only four days left for usumono.
Technically from the 20est a hitoe obi is preferred to an usumono, but I do not agree I might have when it's kind of cold. But it is not. And, if it would have been kind of cold, I would wear hitoe. Also, these rules are not that strict, but it is nice to keep some colour sense, autumnal colours for autumn etc.

But now it is still summer.
I think purple is quite nice for late summer. As it is still kind of fresh, but with a warm tone in it.

The obi is ro silk burgundy, or more whine red. Adding more deep colour-tones.
A light obi-jime to lighten the whole a bit.

Light blue obi-age from the flowers.
Lace tabi again and purple zori.

Blue ro Taisho

As dolly is wearing the new susohiki now (photo's will follow) I could wear my soft silk Taisho era ro silk kimono. I kind of (ahum) forgot how difficult it is to dress in these old super soft buttery silk kimono, that is a down side.
But, She's got it all (again). Blue silk, ro, silver stripes done by silver metallic threads, yellow bush-clover (shibory technique) and... longer sleeves.

I discovered this later (after returning home) but kind of thought, ah well lets leave them. Scared there would be discoloration etc. But seeing it on myself I realized making them longer would be much nicer. As just with the lower tied obi, longer sleeves look better when not being so tiny ^_^

Of course I paired her with the nagoya obi I intended for her. It's a ro silk yellow obi with embroidered bush-clovers.
Usually I am kind of reluctant to wear the same pattern on kimono and obi, but was told not to be so strict.
Besides, the size, look and feel of both are quite different.

Blue summer obi-jime and soft green summer obi-age and, lace tabi ^_^

Actually I was going to ask for advice, leave the sleeves, or repair them to their old state...? Here is the picture of one short sleeve one long. But I like the longer best! The only down side is, it needs ironing and a nagayuban with long sleeves *sigh*.

Red Yukata bubbles

My lovely red pink dotted yukata from Ichiroya arrived. And the weather being so summery I had to wear her to work, if only to show everybody there, I do not only have blue ^_~

Paired with a pink and creme yukata obi and pink geta making the whole ensemble even more candy like.

But, with green obi-jime to hold the musubi and to add some spice to the sweetness.

My boss teased me about the low collar: "that's nice, but only for geisha" he said. Yes, yes I know, but it's hot, I'm in The Netherlands, it must be ok!

I told him, Mamechiyo's husband told me it was indeed ok for western ladies (in The West) to wear their collars low, as it is pretty.
He added, when you are the host of a party, it's ok too, but do not show your shoulder-blades (like geisha kind of do).

Ro komon

It promised to be a hot and wonderful day.
Most importantly: dry.
So I choose kimono again. My modern synthetic asanoha ro komon.

This time I paired her with a vintage ro fukuro.
Technically this might be a bit too formal for a komon. But I liked the combination.
In retrospect I think I liked the combination with the ro hakata more. But this was fun to try and also nice and dressy for work.

The accessories are ro too, purple and pink.
The zori are also purple and pink, lucky me.
I wish I had some of those gorgeous summer cloth or straw or woven something... type zori, but then the kind of formal ones! They pop-up every ones in a while, so I keep hoping ^_^

Luckily I didn't feel too hot. It was a quiet day so I didn't have to "run around" (I never do) but still, when dressed in kimono on a hot day you do not want to walk up and down stairs too often ^_~

black yukata

Actually, I have nothing to add...
Feeling a bit sick, pfff... come on it's summer-time!
The whole ensemble looks a bit sloppy, I tried to wear an eri-sugata and it didn't work for me this time.
For some reason, the obi became sloppy too.
What happened?
Lucky for me, my colleagues and sister did actually like it ^_^
Me too, apart from the sloppy-ness and the somewhat weird coordination, I like the black white and hint of red. Next time I will dress more properly.

Sha

Bold black sha kimono.
The colours are actually fuchsia with aqua blue (and silver) not blue and red.
Aqua blue hanhaba-obi in Kai no kuchi again.
Hot pink and black obi-jime, too short for me so tied in the back, yes I am missing an obi-dome, *sigh* it's on my wish list, but they are hard to find in something really versatile.
Piece of lace fabric as obi-age.


And a tip I got last year. When you are tall(er), tie the obi lower.
(I probably could have tied it even lower)
But more importantly for comfort (and when you actually have breasts, to prevent those hanging over the obi) tie the obi loose at the top.
So, place the obi-ita low on your belly, about three or four fingers under the navel and tilt the top forward, to help with this I sometimes put a rolled sock in the top of the obi-ita. Now, wrap the obi around quite tight, but only tight at the bottom so the top stays kind of open. Tie everything secure and remove the sock (or what ever you've put there).

The obi is now secure at the lower point and comfortably loose at the top. This way it is still possible to breath with ease, eat something and move around all day.

Also, there is a lot of space now for the obi-age and for what ever you want to put there, wallet, mobile, make-up(bag) etc.
I did exaggerate it a bit to show. But, I must say, when in Tokyo I actually saw a kimono shop owner dressed like that, the top was even more away from her and this huge household wallet fitted perfectly in the gap. As did various kimono ties and who knows what she might have felt she needed.

Yabane

Blue and white yukata with purple yukata obi.
Blue and white obi-jime to hold the knot. Tied in a rose-like bow. I tied the obi in a standard bunko-musubi first, but it felt way too childish, so I tied it again and this time in kai-no-kuchi variation. Ah, that felt better ^_^
BB geta and I was off to work.
I guess my collegues and employers know, by now, I love blue the most ^_^

Blue ro

Fresh blue ro synthetic kimono with a classic pattern, looks like patch-work, all " different" fabrics with a different traditional pattern. Some sayagata, some asanoha etc.
Again the black silk nagoya obi in a course weave .
Lace tabi and soft lilac zori with embroidered straps.

Dolly is wearing a "new" antique ro silk kimono with yellow nagoya obi, both antique silk, both with bush-clover pattern both bought in Tokyo.

I found this kimono in a small store in Harajuku, but was doubting to buy her.
I left the store and went on.

In another store I saw this cute yellow nagoya and thought, she's perfect for that kimono!
So, I bought the (very cheap) obi and went back to the first store and checked... Yes I liked the combination and also bought the kimono.

Feeling happy *sigh*
I found another treasure for my (antique) collection

Big sha stripes

Ikea again!
I love these fresh colours, Ikea colours, blue and yellow ^_^
With some white to add more freshness.

There are a view black stripes in this kimono so i thought a course black summer weave obi was ok.

This kimono is very small, so no ohashori let alone a decent wrist to wrist size.

Still I think it's a fun one, these vintage kimono are so pretty, I really like the long sleeves, though on this one they might be a bit too long for me, still it's ok I think as I am quit tall myself (in kimono world that is) in all other cases I am very average ^_^

To enhance the yellow I used yellow with white summer obi-jime and obi age, the obi-age is actually soft green, but almost yellow in appearance.

Ro Asanoha Komon

Last week I received this cute, bright and bold polyester ro kimono from Ichiroya.
I love her! Thank you Yuka-san and Ichiro-san!
This kimono is large, and I mean really large. She's actually a bit taller hen me and the wingspan is actually ok ^_^
As this kimono is so bright and bold I looked for a calm obi, this soft pink hakata-ori seemed ok. But, I did not want to be boring, so bright purple summer obi-jime and even brighter pink summer obi-age.
I forgot to look for my lace tabi, but plain white seems just ok to me.
Though the lace might add to a summer feel.

Coincidentally I was reading a kimono blog, do not remember who's and she told being happy it was July (first) so she could wear ro and sha. She also mentioned that this wearing ro and sha is not as strictly anymore as it was. This, she added because of global warming, but she also mentioned, she still kept the first of July as the ro/sha changing date. Funny I just received Yuka-san's news-letter also talking about this season of ro and sha being allowed earlier and longer, not only July and August, but from mid June till till mid September! Lucky me ^_^ (though, I am a little bit like that Japanese girl, liking that first of July date...

Eggplant coloured yukata

sadly, it's cold again.
On the other hand, perfect for wearing kimono to work.
I chose my eggplant coloured yukata with Morning Glory pattern.
Paired with a green hanahaba for yukata. I did wear nagayuban as these china made yukata have fake collar-guards so I can't slit an eri-shin in. Normally I loosen some threads in the side to insert one, but now I flt being in a bit of a hurry that wasn't the best idea.. Nagayuban works too.
It is also possible to tie the kimono in such a way the nagayuban isn't seen, I could have done that, but it occurred to me only when I saw the pictures and realized it's too formal this way...
Because of the hanhaba obi tied in a "real" yukata musubi. And, everything looks absolutely collapsed after the whole day in the store and two very windy bike-rides, *sigh*
Then the tabi, it's all a bit too much of a mismatch. On the other hand, I was comfortably warm and everybody in the store liked it, so I should not be too hard on myself.
But... next time I am in japan I will buy this special cute obi-makura I saw for yukata musubi and a back obi-ita, I like those!
I just couldn't remember why I liked this yukata so much the first time I dressed, and then I remembered, I paired her with a soft sage green hakata ori, that looked way more dressed.

Black ro

Black ro red swirls....
This poly ro kimono I bought from Ichiroya, of course, again.
The kimono is bigger then usual, but also needs to be taken out at the arms. I sometimes think Japanese ladies just have short arms... even when the kimono is long, the wingspan is short... or we western ladies have long arms ^_^I found my ro silk hakata ori. It's just fabric *blush* not a finished obi, but this one seemed best this morning.

So, hoping not to run in to Japanese tourists today I took the change. And *phew* I didn't, no body noticed ^_^
I do not like the accessories, too white. But I could not find any really dark ro and the dark closed weaves looked way too heavy, this was my best bet. Next time I'll try harder.
It's really hard to dress in the morning, knowing you have to get to work in time, especially when the outfit wasn't put out the day before ^_^

I did get a little hot while biking to the store, but after an hour underneath the cool air blower I was ok and actually felt quit comfortable.
The nagajuban is really nice. It's ro weave silk with a bold wave pattern and really long!
I wore geta even though I thought zori would have been more fitting with this kimono... these colours where best.

Oh, and my dolly is wearing a hitoe blue meisen with dragonflies. Which I bought in Japan. Paired with a ro silk maple leave patterned obi I think she looks very cute. Her accessories are better too ^_^

Blue yukata

As the weather is so gorgeous I wanted to wear kimono again.
Yukata, more as it should be.
With no nagajuban.
But I couldn't resist the accessories.
This musubi is getting boring ha... ^_^
But it is so easy!
This blue is really nice I like it a lot.
Though the yukata is not the best quality, it is still nice

I did not want to wear a white obi again so I opted for this aqua hitoe obi, sadly, in real life the colours are a bit better... ahwel you can't have it all. This was a nice and fresh choice for the warm day it turned out to be.But I should have chosen a lighter obi-jime.
Augh, you can see my arm with hadajuban sticking out from under the sleeve...
How to prevent that? I do hope this wasn't too much the case while working... *blush*

Meisen again

I bought this meisen kimono from Ryujapan, I had too...
hihi. Because I love meisen and this one was big, really big.
Also, I love colours like these. Rich and bright and the big bold pattern.
Lucky for me I had this striped hanhaba obi in almost the same colour as the flowers. For me, I like it best when the kimono is very flower-y to have an abstract obi.
So, that was lucky.
The accessories are just light and easy as is the bow, as I wore it to work I like the simple knots better. Makes life more easy.
All in all I like the overall look, bold but still understated.
Too bad my employers weren't back yet, as I dress partly for them ^_^
Very partly, but if you saw her smile, you'd understand...
Oh, and I also dressed in this one when we went to the Kimono Exhibition in "De Kunsthal" but did not take pictures that time so that's why it did not show up here that time. That day I chose it because the exhibition was about Taisho kimono, this seemed appropriate...