Saturday 2 May 2009

Event Announcement: UNIQLO yukata

They've already been up for sale for at least a week, but UNIQLO has started selling this year's yukata already! Or, at least, they're selling the women's yukata already :)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO SITE

Usually, I'd be drooling over everything, but for the moment, only one or two sets actually appeal to my taste. *determined* I will keep checking for updates!! Maybe they'll have some nicer ones later on in the season :D

They usually sell men's and kid's yukata sets too. I'll post something when they start selling them :)

For those who want to start wearing kimono, these are actually really great. Yukata are the easiest form of kimono you can wear, excluding jinbei, and are the best for beginners. The sets from UNIQLO contain almost everything you'll need for wearing yukata, including an instruction booklet on how to put them on! Plus, they're really cheap ;)

For women's sets, they come with two himo (the ribbons you use to secure the yukata in place), the yukata, a matching obi, and a matching bag. All you need are shoes (you can use nice sandals) and undies, which can just be a spaghetti strap top and a thin knee-length skirt slip. I think the instructions booklet is easy enough to understand, but then again, that may be because I already know how to wear a yukata haha!

I can't wait till they start selling men's yukata sets again. I really really want to buy a nice set for my brother, and UNIQLO sets are always so comfortable and they look good. Here are a few pictures of me and my friends and family wearing UNIQLO yukata:

Liss and I at home, on Christmas hols '07. I think these two sets were from the '06 UNIQLO yukata season.


Christmas yukata~


My sister is wearing a red bunny UNIQLO yukata. The set it came in had a different obi, but this obi is the same one I'm wearing above. I bought this set second hand, so I don't know which season it's from.


Shah Alam Bon Odori 2008


Mel (on the right) is wearing my black bunny yukata set from the '08 UNIQLO yukata season.


Yukata Picnic


I bought this one second hand, too, so I don't know which season it's from either. But isn't it soooo cute???? :D


Yukata Picnic


Some of my most comfortable and most loved yukata too :D I have a second-hand hanabi (fireworks) motif yukata that I bought second hand, but it wasn't in a set. I've got a few outfits for it, and I'm planning to wear it to Bon Odori this year! But I'm not sure if I should keep "saving" it for then. There are soooo many beautiful outfits Hong and I have created out of that one yukata, and it'd be nice to wear it out to London one day....

Anyway, this post turned kinda long, even though I just wanted to let people know that UNIQLO is selling yukata again ^^;;;;;; I hope more non-Japanese people will buy them and post lovely pictures for us to see! (*hint hint hint....*)


9 comments:

Walter said...

Oooh, I like the one with the purple line and the blue flowers.
http://store.uniqlo.com/jp/CSaGoods/201167-76
4700 yen is about 39 Euros, but
it would cost me a lot more ,
since our Belgian MONEY GRABBING customs charge you on anything sent from outside the EC that costs over 22 Euros
. For starters they charge you TVA = 21 % BUT they also add customs charge ( another 12 % for cotton clothes )
AND THEN their real money grabbing scheme kicks in : customs charge you 'administration cost' to process your documents : 30 Euros. The transport company , be it DHL or the Belgian Mail will charge you another 25 or 30 Euros to 'fill out' the necessary request document and send it to customs( you're not allowed to do it yourself ) . It takes less than 5 minutes to look up the taric code for your goods and fill out the document, so for both the state and the transport company it's EASY MONEY
Add it all up and my 39 euro yukata costs me around 110 Euros or 14000 Yen
*sigh* Of course if you buy more at once the administration cost gets spread out across more goods, but still, free international trade ? HAH!
Remember, if you import personal stuff when traveling by plane or sea, it's limited to 430 Euros !

Priscilla said...

Oh, that IS pretty! I hadn't looked at that one upclose! ^^;; The two that I really like are these:

1) This one, because it's so sweet and princess-y:
http://store.uniqlo.com/jp/CSaGoods/201153-54

2) This one, because it's so plain and dark and grown-up :)
http://store.uniqlo.com/jp/CSaGoods/201142-18

Oh my, that is really really horrid!! >____< I never knew they'd charge soooo much! It's really ridiculous D: Hmm, from outside the EU you say? What about from within the EU?

Anonymous said...

There's a UNIQLO branch in Singapore now XD. But from what I heard they do not have yukata as yet. I do hope they bring in some sets in time for summer though!

Priscilla said...

Ooooh really??? I hope they do bring in yukata!!!! I heard that outside of Japan only one outlet in New York and one outlet in Hong Kong sell yukata in-store :/ I really really hope they start selling it in Singapore!! It'd be soooo much cheaper buying it there than online or in Hong Kong~

Petrina said...

*ahem* Ma and Pa are gonna be in Singapore sometime this month. I might fly down to meet them there after work on a Friday.

Yes there's a uniqlo in SG now. Did I not tell you?? Just opened. Will check it out and tell you.

Walter said...

O h yes , very nice. ( your links are reversed n but I see what you mean )
Very princessy and the other one looks mature ( you'll look good in both of them ), although I think you can do better than the yellow and the black obi that they show.
Too bad I can't read Japanese, how on earth do you figure out the size ?
Ah! If you click on the text in the box below the box with the colour , you get a new page with the size and fabric below.
Hehe. If only you could order them through the UNIQLO shops in the UK ?


Inside the European Union is not a problem , the companies ( including Amazon.co.uk) simply charge you the difference ( if there is one ) in TVA
Again, the 22 Euro limit is for Belgium.
For the UK it's a 22 GBP limit.
You can find it all explained here
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/sectors/consumers/goods-imported.htm
and here
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&propertyType=document&resetCT=true&id=HMCE_CL_001454
Inside the EU you don't need to pay customs etc..
Mind you there is a 340 GBP limit on goods you bring back by plane , except tobaco, alcohol,etc,
read it here
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_PROD_010220&propertyType=document
Bye!

Priscilla said...

Ling> Oh! If you do go to that nice crafts shop in Singapore, get more of those fabrics for me :D And yeah, do check it out! Maybe ask staff if they'll bring yukata in? XP

Walter> Ummm the links aren't reversed ^^;; I think the black one is very sweet, while the maroon one is mature! Haha. But yes, if I got those yukata, I would definitely use another obi for them :)

For figuring out the size, there is this box in the block of text that says "サイズ". This means "size".

They give measurements for:

"身長" - the height range that will fit the yukata

"着丈" - the length of the yukata from collar to bottom hem - this is the size that is most important. For women's kimono, this length should be the same as your height to get the perfect fit. For men, the size should be measured from the nape of your neck to your feet

"裄丈" - the length from the middle back seam of the yukata to the end of the sleeve. This is important to make sure it will cover your arms. To measure if it's a good size, hold your arms in a straight line, then measure yourself from wrist to wrist. It should be at least the 裄丈 - 10cm.

"袖丈" - sleeve length. Nowadays, ready-to-wear yukata and kimono usually come with a standard sleeve length of 49cm.

"袖幅" - breadth of sleeve. It's how wide the sleeve is.

To check if a yukata will fit you, you really need to make sure the 着丈 fits like I mentioned. For covering your body around the hips, the 裄丈 is usually a good indicator. In the case of these yukata, each panel is about 34cm, so multiply that by about 4, and it's about 136cm wide. You will need at least a 12cm overlap to make it fit nicely, so that means it'll fit a person with about 110cm hips or thinner. Of course, this is all for women ^^;;; for men, it should be about the same! Maybe I should post something about how to make sure a kimono can fit someone?

I usually order them through a middleman website, but you do make a good point! Maybe I'll stop by the UNIQLO outlet in London and ask them if they can bring one in to sell to me or something haha :D

Oh, and thanks for all that info on taxes! :) I'm not one to shop much when overseas, so it isn't usually an issue for me hehe ^^ Still, it's good to know all that information!

Petrina said...

Sigh nope we're not going to SG.... Or rather I'm not going there. Ma's doing a day trip with Grace and Pa will also be back on Friday although I'm not sure when he actually goes there.

Ma said to wait until you guys come back then we'll go shopping for a weekend over there.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know a good place to buy yukata from?