Wintertime Love

Not too long ago I watched the A&E documentary on geisha.... Mr. Golden annoyed me *blush* but the documentary is wonderful and the kimono..... *drool* too bad (for me) there where more maiko then geisha portrayed... but never the less... gorgeous!
The geisha interviewed showed some kimono of hers for every season and she showed a wonderful soft green for winter...
He! I have a soft green one crested iro muji, I am going to dress in that one for new years... (Chinese New Year was last Sunday) But I was up North last weekend and did not bring kimono of course not, though maybe grandma would love to have seen me in one? Who knows I never asked ^_^
I love this iro muji, the color is so subtle... I paired her with a bright bleu nagoya obi with Camellia pattern, to enhance the cool winter feel. The white obi age (I know I show to much, but I like this one so much) and the green obi jime look "cool" to me also.
The crest is a stripe (hikiryo) Here is some info taken from the book The Elements of Japanese design by John Dower : "In wartime, Japanese generals of the feudal period surrounded their encampments with huge cloth sewn together horizontally and varying in color (usually white, blue and black) to distinguish the individual general and his followers. The stripe thus assumed strong martial connotations and became a mark of identification on personal military gear as well. In the early fourteenth century the heads of the Ashikaga and Nitta, then the two most powerful clans in Japan, both adopted stripe patterns as a family crest."
The colors might be cool, the kimono is nice and warm... wintertime love... ^_^

Iro...

tja... iro what...? Tomesode. It was an iro tomesode ones. But the previous owner has blotted out the two front crests. So now it is a three crested iro tomesode. Its ok, I love her! She is longer then "normal" and I could wear her with the skirt left trailing, the hem is slightly padded, so that would look nice... But today I decided to go for "practical" and fold the ohashori.
I still doubt what obi would be perfect for this kimono. I was thinking about buying a vintage ed one for her... now I paired her with an orange girls obi, yes it is too small for me and I do not care for this obi, for some reason I do not think it's special *blush* But I do like the color with this kimono and I think the blue in the obi is a nice surprise, it matches the blue in the kimono. I added red obi age and a green. personally I like the green better, a little more contrast, but considering the friezing cold of the moment and the dark purple/red sky outside, the red obi age is quite nice too, it adds warmth I feel...
There is also a crème with green vintage maru obi in my collection that might work with this kimono... Maybe I'll try tomorrow... right now it is to dark for taking any more pictures... A lighter obi might give the ensemble a "lighter feel" for some reason this combination feels a bit "heavy" to me.
Hihi, finally I tried on this kimono... She arrived at my house the 3rd of June... I even made a post about her, but never wore her *sigh*

Nagajuban

So, and now what was under the party kimono...
Party underwear *gigglies*
It's an extra long nagajuban and it was made for dancing. It was sold as a "geisha juban" which could very well be, but of course I do not know. The difference with "normal" nagajuban is that
1- It is longer. And that's why it fits me perfectly other then "normal" nagajuban and that was also the reason why I bought it in the first place.
2- The skirt is closed exactly as with an azuma skirt (which is a closed susojoke used for dancing also). So, this is a nagajuban for dancing. The good thing is the wrap skirt can't open, so you will never show any leg, very decent ^_^
Of course I did not only buy it for the size and the possibility it might have been the underwear of a geisha... I love, love the pattern, color and whole feel of the nagajuban... Swoon... It's also nice and warm.

Party Kimono

For New Years we should dress up in nice kimono and visit family... I didn't... just didn't feel like dressing up and stuff. But today was a beautiful day outside and I decided to dress in the kimono that was my birthday present... It's a real party kimono and good for winter. The colors are so warm and bright!
Maybe too bright for my age, but I do not care, I like it. I paired it with a golden/yellowish obi, orange obi age and red obi jime. Under it I wear a geisha dance nagajuban, very bright... I didn't add a han eri because I wanted to show the pretty color... also it's too long or the kimono too short ^_^ It doesn't matter I wanted to dress in a somewhat loose kimono style... *Blush*