着物 Kimono and Kitsuke 着付け

Lilac

2009-08-27T19:03:00.007+01:00

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

2009-08-21T12:53:00.006+01:00

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

2009-08-20T09:37:00.000+01:00

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

2009-08-19T19:47:00.004+01:00

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

2009-08-12T19:21:00.003+01:00

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

2009-07-19T19:45:00.010+01:00

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

2009-07-16T21:49:00.004+01:00

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

2009-07-15T18:44:00.008+01:00

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

2009-07-13T14:18:00.005+01:00

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

2009-07-12T16:20:00.006+01:00

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

2009-07-09T13:57:00.002+01:00

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

2009-06-30T19:25:00.008+01:00

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

2009-06-26T13:12:00.007+01:00

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

2009-06-24T13:02:00.004+01:00

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...

Yukata

2009-06-21T19:22:00.006+01:00

My new morning glory yukata.
It's a stiff, new China made cheap yukata.
She is very nice though and the weather is still cool so yukata with underwear and all accessories is ok for now. Better for work I think then yukata just as it is, I am scared to feel "undressed" hihi.

I paired this fresh blue with fresh silver white, sayagata pattern dance hanhaba obi, I like the combination, very fresh and summer-y livened with a bright red shibory obi-age and paired with blue obi-jime, the zori are cheap soft rubber with some kind of fake tatami, which does feel nicer when it's not cold outside.

I tried the "rule" or tip from Shino about not to wear more then three colours at ones. Now my favourites, blue, white and red.
It kind off works, it makes everything very quite, but we knew that I guess.

Still, reading about it did make me think. Because kimono tend to be multi-coloured, especially the older ones. Now I do think, when wearing very bold kimono with lots of colours, you can make it either more bold by adding an obi that is very different or, calming everything down by adding an obi in the shade of the main colours found in the kimono... Let's see if I can make some "project" out of that idea.

Ichiroya

2009-05-28T22:04:00.003+01:00

One of the highlights of Japan was...
Meeting Yuka-san and Ichiro-san.
My long time favourite kimono sellers. Ichiroya
After years and years of e-mail contact I met with them in real life, and that was really special.
It was a long train journey... and so worth it, I hope to be able to go and meet them again.

銘仙

2009-05-18T14:57:00.003+01:00

Red water wave pattern meisen. She was on my wall, longer then it should be there. I try not to have my kimono longer then one month as display, but I am lazy.
Today I finally took her down, in order to change her for a hitoe.
Realizing I never dressed in this kimono I had to try her on.
She's a pain!
Stiff silk and kind of small. After a short struggle I kind of succeeded.
Choosing an obi was hard too, so I went for my black with peony obi, again...
white and red obi jime and a sage green obi age (from the leaves in the obi.
The tabi are black with white clouds pattern.
I wish I had the courage to widen the sleeves, but I feel scared altering an awase kimono. Maybe some day I will...

Strange

2009-05-17T12:13:00.003+01:00

I find it very strange that this wisteria kimono is awase, even stranger that another wisteria I have is an hitoe, the blue rain over here already past it's height, how, and when could I wear the hitoe?
Maybe in Japan the blue rain blooms later? (I can't imagine, because Japan is warmer, but... maybe a different kind?) I don't know and never mind I kind of choose this kimono as my spring kimono as I have this pattern in both awase and hitoe...
I guess the hitoe rule isn't that strong. If it's hot, wear hitoe (not that it helps)
Over here it's so cold I choose to wear kimono very often because it's perfect for this strange kind of weather. I can look as if it's spring (with colours etc.) but still feel warm ^_^

This gorgeous vintage kimono asked for a vintage obi, so I picked my black with white shibory again, this time trying very hard to get the purple flower kind of in front because it looked nice with the dark purple of the kimono.
I tied it in a kind of vintage obi bow. Yes everything collapsed on me... two bicycle rides and an 8 hour + working day did the trick.
Never mind I think it's still not embarrassingly collapsed.

The han eri is Mamechiyo's Homage to Holland Tulip, I love her! I am a bit scared to wear them as they are silk, but I feel it's also a shame to leave them in the closet and just look at them...
same goes for the kimono...

Green

2009-05-10T19:28:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I should have given a kimono class, but nobody showed up, sadly. I decided anyway to dress in kimono and go spring-y.
Green with blue.
The kimono is a tsumugi and feels cool and coarse, very special. A bit too short and because of the stiffness of tsumugi, not very pliable.
I chose the blue obi because I love blue with green and the pink accessories because the hakake and sleeves are lined in pink.
The the tabi are funky yellow green and purple, the zori mustard shibory, I have no green so these where the best match I thought.
I have worn coloured tabi before and one of the language teachers told me not to do that! I thought... hu? Why not? Black is only for men she said. I blushed of course, told her sorry I knew that but thought, modern times....
I told this story to Yuka-san, from Ichiroya and she told me, black is ok now, indeed it is modern. She explained, my teacher probably was a bit older, left Japan a long time ago and still holds to the rules she learned, besides, she's my teacher (well technically she's not) but at least my elder and she's responsible for my mistakes, she at least feels responsible for me learning everything the best(proper) and right way... Well that's what Yuka-san told me, and I tend to believe her so I am back to wearing black (or coloured tabi, though still reluctantly, white seems after all best in most cases...)

Flowery

2009-05-04T18:16:00.006+01:00

Something different, purple flowers!
This kimono was lying in the "to sort" area, I think she's pretty sweet. Also pretty big for a vintage. The fabric is very soft and hard to handle. But I kind of managed. I am not sure about the obi, but the light colour and the blue and green appealed to me. As these shades are also in the kimono. And, it's not flowery.

Purple obi jime from the kimono and a bright orange obi age because I figured, there's a hint of orange in the kimono pattern.
Maybe the orange from the obi age would show the hint of orange more... not sure.
But it turned out all fun and spring-like.
The pattern on the kimono is three seasoned, which always strikes me as a bit odd for a vintage,but that might be stupid, not everybody can or could buy fancy season appropriate kimono. One for all awase seasons might have been enough. Makes sense.
The strange thing is, everything looked better in real live then in photo. Usual it's the other way around ^_^

Geometrics

2009-04-27T13:43:00.004+01:00

Bought in Japan, this fun wool road-map-like pattern. Brown and yellow are both not my colours, but this kimono is so fun and quite good sized too. It even has small sayagata pattern, which I love.
The obi was bought at the same store, kind of intended for this kimono.
Yes, tied a bit weirdly, mmm, I tied it in front and didn't turn it enough I guess, didn't see it after I saw the pictures.
Well, good lesson, always, always check your back ^_^

Ikea and birds

2009-04-22T12:50:00.004+01:00

Again, woven stripes and blue. Bought from RyuJapan. There seems to a trend in my collection...
Today I wore this to work, I usually do not wear silk, as it is a bit scary, but I also feel, all these beauties should she the day light more. I paired this Ikea blue kimono with grey and a hint of pink stripes with an antique painted obi. The obi is lighter blue with a beige brown stripe and some black, patterned with small flying birds.
I added bright yellow accessories for colour accent and then again the pink striped zori (from the pink stripes in the kimono.
First I wanted yellow zori, but that looked real weird.

I think this is quit a fun set like this. Only the han-eri, I want something different but han-eri are diffecult for me, don't know why.
The funniest thing today was when I had my break and walked to Alber Heijn for something to eat, I run into a huge tourist group from Japan, of course it seems they always travel in packs. They where all ladies only two young and all the older ladies flocked around me, softly pulling my sleeve, pointing giggeling, but most of all saying cute beautifull pretty, and asking if I was in japan, finally I could say: yes one time!
It was a happy encouter and I was very pleased the ladies liked it and seemed happy. Now I am just very curious what did they think? What would they tell each otherlater while in the tram...? Well, I had a fun 10 minutes waiting with them in line.

Big hitoe stripes

2009-04-20T07:21:00.011+01:00

This striped hitoe is surprisingly big. Look at the wing-span... It's great, one kimono more I do not need to alter. The length is also pretty ok. The stripes are big too ^_^ This being a very quiet and subdued kimono, black and grey with a purple hue, I decided again for my purple-ish tulip han-eri, the obi is a soft silk, creme with painted purple flowers. Because it's so soft it's really hard to tie, hence the wobbly taiko.

Next time, when I will actually wear this one to work, I will try harder.
For obi age I chose pink for contrast, for obi-jime I chose the colours from the kimono.
When I first started to wear kimono, I couldn't be brought to wearing anything else but obi age obi jime sets, but now I like to play with different colours.
Though, pink would have been nice too.
Zori are of course, pink and black.

Black and flowers

2009-04-19T20:32:00.004+01:00

Sweet black kimono with woven flowers in red, purple and grey.
No idea what the flowers are, but I think they are very nice. This kimono is like most woven ones very nice to wear, not slippery at all, that makes it easy. Because the pattern was quite busy to me I chose this very quiet pink striped obi and to brighten the whole a bit, the tulip han eri I bought from Mamechiyo. Lucky for me I even had striped pink zori ^_^ sadly, no lavender purple obi jime, well, you cant have it all can you.
The yuban sleeves stick out very weirdly, no idea why, if I had gone out in this kimono I would have pinned them out of the way, usually that works quite well.

Kitty bathing

2009-04-16T08:59:00.000+01:00

Completely by chance I found this too funny video of a
Cat thanking a bath
Cute!
My cat would never sit that still in a bath, not that I ever tried, I do not think cat's need to take a bath, but still, this video is funny and the cat is cute. Not sure if the cat really enjoys it though...(?)