Kimono Hime

Inspired by Kimono Hime. I dressed in my lilac antique iro tomesode. I love this kimono, it’s a wonderful shade of lilac, long sleeves as was the fashion before the world war, beautiful tachibana family crests and a very subtle yuzen painted pattern at the hem with a little embroidery. I think this kimono was meant for a lady a little bit older then me, because the pattern is so low and so subtle. But, I have seen old pre war pictures of women in their thirties wearing kimono like this. So maybe this is a more modern rule. Never mind that I thought to make it younger. The kimono is lovely, but (maybe too old) too short and not wide enough… so I decided to try and wear the kimono in the kimono hime style
This book or magazine shows a new kind of kimono fashion, it is meant for young girls/women to promote kimono wear. Very often antique kimono are used and combined with funky new things and dressed in a surprising style, I love the books they are a great inspiration.

So I tried… I dressed in a long sheer white dress instead of a hadajuban and susojoke over that I wear a beautifully patterned ro silk vintage nagajuban. Then the hitoe iro tomesode with a black ro silk obi and red accessories. The purse and zori are pink (like the nagajuban) and the sole has almost exactly the same warm red color as the obi age, funny and cool,

I feel I could go shopping in this combination!

The way I dressed today is pretty bland, almost boring compared to what you see in the book. Maybe I’ll try later, but I must say, this almost decent way feels more save to me ^_^ Even so, it might be fun to try and be a little more bold…

This kimono is formal, of course with the five family crests I would look quite overdressed in the city center for some window shopping, but, I thought by dressing down so much, using a western dress as handajuban-susoyoke and the non orthodox obi and accessories combination… the whole dress would become informal, the crests just decoration.

Kurotomesode and Hakata obi

I have been searching for pictures of geisha in full formal kurotomesode susohiki combined with a hakata obi... But until now did not find one. Only this picture,
it's from a kitsuke site that doesn't exist anymore. It's a shame really because it was a great site. The kitsuke process (the photo's of it) are in this book It's a wonderful book, it has it all. Kitsuke of formal kimono, informal, furisode, tomesode bride geisha maiko and Heian princess and prince... And many many obi musubi!

Yukata washing

Today I washed my blue yukata EEEKS it was a first for me and I was very nervous.

Because the weather is really gorgeous and I needed to do some serious spring-cleaning; so I cleaned the house and I washed all my winter clothing and bedding, phew, hoping everything would dry very quickly in this warm weather (and it did)

I did wash a yukata before, but that was a white one with blue-ish pattern and I was sure it wouldn't bleed (it had obviously been washed before) But this blue one was completely new and crisp, it had a stiff touch too and it made my underwear blue, so I was very worried. I washed it gentile program very low warmth and soft detergent. and added a little vinegar because I remember my mother told me when I was a little girl this would help the color "stick".

The kimono came out wonderfully ^_^ a little softer then before the wash, but it still feels as if some starch was left in the kimono. After some ironing the kimono looks as new again, what a relief ^_^

Kimono goodies!

Today the postman came at the door with his arms filled with packages! Yay! Three where for me, one with tabi


Sadly the tabi are too big, now I have to try and make them smaller. It's a good thing I did not buy more! One contained a painted soft orangey obi



I think it's really special. It's hard to find good condition vintage, painted obi, and this one is all that! I am very happy; she will look nice with quite a view kimono I think...
and the last but not least zori and a purse, those are soo cute adorable!


pink Zori


Purse

They are made with left over kimono fabric; the fabric is even in the boxes. The zori are in a cute golden box, the fabric is covered with sticky plastic this makes the zori durable and shiny, it's fun to see the left over fabric so I can analyze how they made them.
The purse is from the same fabric only not covered with sticky plastic so it's soft silk really wonderful! I am very happy to have won them, especially since the seller did not put them in one listing (strangely) not even on the same day! Well, I won them and I am happy!
Even the weather is gorgeous today! Happy day!

Ro and Sha obi

From this day on the hitoe kimono of June should be combined with a ro or sha obi.
Like this kimono obi combination:



Hitoe kurotomesode with ro silk maru obi and soft green ro silk accessories.



I tried to make a fan shape on the drum bow, it's suposed to be for very festive occasions, it makes the look slightly "younger" i like it I think it's a sweet look.


Two side views...

This kimono is really lovely and again purchased from Ichiroya They really carry a great collection and their service is just wonderful! Sometimes it's a good thing I do not have more money... I would buy like crazy *blush*
But, the kimono, it's gorgeous, made from soft crepe silk it has a soft very delicate yuzen painted pattern, the patterns are: little boats or rafts fishing nets pine, cornflower (at least that is what I think they are), (autumn) grasses, water waves. There's some fine embroidery highlighting some areas in a very subtle way. The maru obi is also from Ichiroya and is made of a nice soft ro silk, the woven patterns are in the same pastel-y shades as the kimonos are.
It would be great to have a hitoe obi that is formal enough to be worn with a kuro tomesode. But obi like that are really hard to find, at least I do not see them that often and if I see one that I like, its way to expensive...
I do own some hakata obi, they are really fun hitoe obi and strong and they have a very understated feel to them, but, they are informal not appropriate for formal kimono unless... you are a geisha or dressing up as one.




I really do not know why geisha sometimes wear hakata obi with their formal kimono, but they do there are also a lot of geisha dolls for sale that have this look.

New purple kimono in my house

The packages arrived today! One of them contained this kimono. It's purple and old, I love it! Ichiro san labeled her as vintage and pre WWII; when I saw her in real live I was sure, she's old and pretty. The yuzen is really delicate and fine.
It's a three season kimono. I see maple leaves and chrysanthemums for fall, lots of ume (plum-blossom) for late winter and take (bamboo), wisteria and daisies for spring. I see cranes for celebration, tachibana, paulownia, phoenix, there are so many patterns! All of them are enclosed in what I think are clouds, I am not sure for what season clouds are, I thought spring. The fabric is rinzu with woven chrysanthemum pattern for fall.

I am always a little puzzled by these vintage kimono with many seasons reflected in the pattern, because I always thought it was a fairly new invention. Inventions to help women get more wear from one kimono. Most women don’t buy that many kimono these days so it must be hard to reflect the season perfectly, these combined pattern kimono help with that problem.

Something else that occurred to me what could be the case… Since it has been an iro tomesode (the two crest in front are colored so now it only has three crests) I think it might have been made for new years celebration... who knows. Winter in kimono language is very short it’s considered part of spring or autumn, so that could be an explanation for the three season pattern as well…

Oh she's so pretty, *sigh* I'll have to wait for fall and color weather to wear her. I'll see if I can get her on the doll and look in my tansu for an obi that would suite her...

Here is a link to what I think the best book on kimono:
Kimono: Fashioning Culture

The blue hitoe

Before I made the brown stripe kimono I made this blue hitoe kimono. It's my favorite color and I paired it with a chuya obi (again from Ichiroya,) It’s an easy set because it’s all rayon, no problems with water drops or cat hairs ^_^


I tied the obi in a loose old fashioned style bow, because a taiko didn't look right with this soft obi. I like the combination of blue with black it feels very stylish to me.


It's really wonderful to dress in a kimono that fits perfectly. Kitsuke is so much easier this way!