Coordination Comments: Two yukata coordinates!

I was feeling rather restless tonight, as I'd had a very heavy dinner, and when I'm too full, I can't sleep. I didn't want to shop online, and I was afraid to do my coursework, in case I made some major mistake in my calculations through my sleepiness.

So what did I do? Put together some yukata ensembles, of course! (^____^)V

I've been dying to wear an outfit that was more "otona" (adult/mature-woman/etc) with an otaiko bow. I'd even set my one ro juban aside for it, but the juban turned out to be much to small in the shoulders for the yukata, so I had to forgo having a juban collar. (Note: "Ro" is a type of weave of the cloth that makes it semi-transparent. Very good for the summer, as it is very cool to wear. Most of the better-quality yukata are made of cotton ro material.)

Unfortunately, I only have one obiage and obijime set here in Malaysia, and it isn't a ro set. It isn't even an informal set! Noooo, it's a formal pink shibori obiage and a wide (more formal) pink obijime. Nevertheless, I highly doubt anyone here in Malaysia would really be able to point out the difference (except for the residents of the Japanese flats near my house maybe), so I think I'll wear it out anyway.

Here is the first set:

The yukata is one of the first yukata I've ever bought online, and is from UNIQLO. It came as a set with a white hanhaba obi (which I love to bits!). I'd bought this odori (dance) obi ages ago, and hadn't any idea what to wear it with till I thought it would match this yukata. I was thinking that the pink of the obiage and obijime might be a little random and startling in this ensemble, and I'd actually love to wear a green or maroon set with this, but navy and pink seem to be worn together often enough that this is possibly forgiveable.

And up next is the second set!

This is another yukata from my first online purchase, also a yukata from UNIQLO. It was featured in one of the fashion magazines the year after! I was soooo excited to see that I had a yukata that actually appeared in a magazine *laughs*

Anyway, this yukata came with a black hanhaba obi. For coordinating this set, I'd stuck to the same general colour scheme because I wasn't quite sure what else to put with this. I like that it's all black and pink, but I have one tiny (okay, MAJOR) problem with this outfit - the obi is MOFUKU!!!! (Note: "Mofuku" is funeral-wear for those in mourning. It refers to any item that is all black. Obi have a black-on-black motif, and kimono will be all black with 5 family crests. Even the accessories like the obi ita and obi makura are black!)

I actually hadn't realised that it was mofuku when I bought it, because all the pictures indicated that it was a black obi with a gray pattern on it. I was understandably shocked when I received this in the mail, but it wasn't the seller's fault that I'd misunderstood his description (read: hadn't read the description thoroughly).

Although I like this outfit better than the navy one (in terms of obiage-obijime-matching), I'm still very hesitant to wear such a glaringly obvious mofuku item out. On the Immortal Geisha forums, there are whole threads dedicated to arguments for and against wearing mofuku items out. Some forumers say that different people tell them different things: it's a big faux pas to wear any mofuku item out, one should use little mofuku items in everyday kitsuke to get more use out of it, it's alright to wear a mofuku obi as long as the accessories are colourful. It all makes me dizzy!!

I think I wouldn't mind wearing it out (after all, I've seen pictures of people doing it in Japan), but I'm horribly afraid I'd offend someone with it.

What think you? Wear it out, or keep it in the closet?