Event Aftermath: Yukata Meet @ KLCC

Just a quick post on an old meet up ^^;

Early in May this year, a couple of friends and I had a yukata meet at KLCC! It was the first time I was going out with friends in yukata in Malaysia since 2007, so I was understandably very excited ^^;;;

We managed to schedule our meet so that it coincided with Isetan's Food Fair, so we of course headed there for lunch after having a picture-taking session at the KLCC Park. After lunch, we headed to Kinokuniya and shopped (and talked :P) for 2 hours before retiring at a cafe.

It was short, but still enjoyable! ^__^ It was nice to make new friends~~ :)

Anyway, pictures now!

I'd seen this little area in February and thought it looked nice, so I insisted that we went there to take pictures ^^;;;


We did manage to get someone to take pics of all 3 of us, but it's floating somewhere in my friend's Flickr, and I'm abit too lazy to find it ^^;

I was so amused by the fact that the flowers kind of matched me that day!

We stopped by to rest a little.


I've always been rather fond of "walking pictures"... :P"


I figured that since we were already at KLCC, we might as well take pics with the Twin Towers! Also, I always seem to take pics in Piccadilly Circus in London, so taking pics of another famous monument :P


I'm afraid we only bothered with our cameras a very little bit in the park, and rather forgot about them after that ^^; So no other photos ahahaha~

Just a little bit on my outfit:

It's a ro-weave yukata that I had bought from Oh!Japan's stall in last year's Japan Charity Bazaar & Fiesta. It was a little more expensive than I expected for something that feels like a cotton/poly mix, but I figured that it was for charity, so it's okay.

I very much like the fact that it's ro, so it feels easier to dress it up as a kimono. I tried hard to coordinate it so that it looks like a cool outfit, as we had been having a heatwave at that time. (And as cooling as the outfit looked, I was really boiling in it!!)

I was quite happy to find that my electric blue summerweave hakata obi matched it perfectly! It felt a little to stark and dark for my liking, so I paired it with white and light blue accessories. The light blue han'eri I'm wearing was a Christmas present from my kimono buddy in the UK, Chantal :) Thanks, Chan!

To complete the kimono look, I paired it with navy blue zori and white lace tabi.

My kitsuke was ok that day, but not great. I woke up late and had too little time to dress nicely, and my juban was very slippery! Since I got to KLCC early, I ended up retreating to a toilet and re-tying my obi there... ^^;;;

Next up would be a post on Bon Odori 2010 :)

Suggestions?: Obi-Matching Dilemma

As mentioned in my earlier posts, my godsis Carolyn bought a yukata at the Jusco Yukata Fair. Since the fair didn't have any proper undies or even koshihimo (shocking!) and she hated the obi her yukata came with, I decided to get her a proper matching obi and yukata undies set for her birthday. (Don't worry about my posting this in public - she already knows what she's getting for her birthday :P)

My only problem is deciding what colour obi I should get her. Her yukata has a base colour of dark purple, with lighter shades of purple and white, and a motif of sakura. I can see it matching with so many colours - mustard yellow, pale yellow, pale green, light blue, all sorts of pinks, white, lilac.... I just don't know what to get her :/

I did ask her what sort of colour she'd like, but she said it'd be very difficult to decide without actually seeing the obi in person. Also, her taste is generally a less bright and more sedate sort of colour combination. Her favourite motif is sakura, but I'm afraid of accidentally turning her outfit into a sakura overload ^^;;;

Soooo..... Any suggestions?

Event Aftermath: Jusco Yukata Fair 2010 - My Finds!

As promised, here is my post about the stuff I bought at the Jusco yukata fair!

1)Pale blue stripes and spots yukata. I found this pattern quite adorable, and I don't have any pale blue yukata.

I'm not entirely sure what sort of obi I'd like to wear this with, but I think the one in this photo makes for a rather refreshing combination. I'm not too fond of the idea of wearing such a plain yukata obi with this yukata, but the colours are really spot-on for my taste...


2) Brown with bunnies yukata. I was really happy to have found this! I haven't any brown kimono or yukata or even obi, so this was a very nice surprise. Plus, the saleswomen told me that they have only one yukata of this pattern, and they all remembered me for buying it ^^;;

I found this one obi that seems to be a great colour match for the yukata. It contrasts the darkness so well, and at the same time, the roses match the bunnies quite perfectly. I think it lends a rather cute appeal to a yukata that is otherwise slightly too old for me. Any ideas on other colour combinations? I think I might try a pale yellow or something.


3) Yet another navy blue roses and false shibori yukata! I love that sort of combination. The roses here look really elegant, I feel.

For this photo, I paired this yukata with a plain white obi so that I can show off my new obijime :)


4) Navy blue and gold yukata obijime. I bought this because the colour is quite hard to get right on screen, so it's more difficult to find the correct shade when shopping online.

I didn't really know how to tie the obijime properly, so I just fudged it ^^;; I think it turned out looking rather well!


5) All the obi that came with the yukata! (and one extra from my godsis, who also hated the obi)

I'm still not sure about what I'm going to do with all these... I think I might keep them to lend out to people who want to wear yukata, but can't tie an obi. However, if you want one, I'd be willing to trade! Just send me a message or leave a comment XD


6) One of the three pairs of geta I bought.

At RM20, these were really worth it. Even my godsis Carolyn, whom I dragged along and convinced to buy lots of stuff at the fair, bought a couple of pairs and said they were really comfy for everyday wear!


7) Navy blue uchiwa fan.

I'm of the opinion that you can never have too many fans! XD The fact that this fan matches my new navy blue yukata doesn't hurt either :P


8) Pearl obi kazari.

I've always wanted one, so I thought I'd just buy one to see. I ended up buying another one when this one worked so well ^^;


9) Kimono stickers!

These weren't actually from the Jusco yukata fair. However, I did bump into them at Art Friend, Gardens when my godsis and I went to the fair. I couldn't resist such cuteness!! I can't wait to start using them the next time I send a card or a letter to my kimono friends :)


These actually weren't all the items I bought - I also have parasols, more geta, more obi kazari, a child's yukata set, and a couple of items for my brother..... But I got lazy to post all of them :P

Bon Odori is this weekend (zomg forgot to post about it!) so I might wear one of my new pretties there ^_^ If my brother goes with me, he'll be wearing one of the yukata I bought for him yay! I can't wait 8D

Hope you enjoyed seeing what I purchased XD I certainly had a good time shopping haha!

Toodles and goodnight!

Event Aftermath: Jusco Yukata Fair 2010

As promised to a few people, I took pics of the Jusco Yukata Fair :) Here's a not-so-small post about it!

In anticipation of Bon Odori, which is growing more and more popular every year, Jusco decided to have a yukata fair this year. I don't know if they've had it before, but when my friend told me about it, I definitely had to go and check it out!

The fair wasn't held at all Jusco outlets. In KL, it was only held in the Mid Valley outlet - which is incredibly convenient for me, since it's so near my office!

The location in the outlet was quite easy to spot - from the Center Court entrance, you can already see some pretties to entice you in.


Then you just walk straight in and you'll be greeted by a couple of mannequins in yukata.


Walking along the perimeter of the area, which is quite large. This side is showing more of the kids' yukata.


The screen was playing a video on how to wear yukata. It gathered quite a crowd when it was still on! ^^;


Just look at the amount of choice we have for women's yukata! *sighs dreamily*



This set was one of the more complete, but also more expensive sets.


I took a picture of the area that displayed lots of nice parasols, geta and bags, but I didn't take pics of the area for men's yukata, obi kazari, kanzashi, obijime, fans and other random deco stuff.


The price range was pretty decent for some of the stuff! I'm just going to put up a price list for reference if they have another fair next year XD

Women's yukata set (yukata + tsuke obi) : RM129 for most, with some at RM399
Men's yukata set (yukata + kaku obi) : RM129 per set
Kids' yukata set (yukata + obi, type of obi varies with age) : RM89 each
Folding Fan : RM29
Uchiwa Fan : RM10
Parasol : RM39
Geta : RM29
Decorative lace for obi : RM119
Obi Kazari : RM69
Obijime : RM49 - RM59

I'm afraid that's all I remember ^^;; I didn't buy any bags or kanzashi, so I don't remember how much they cost. I hope they'll have another one of these next year! It sure saves alot of hassle from dealing with Paypal, shipping and customs, and is pretty decently priced, considering the quality of some of the items!

Ok, I think this post has gotten quite long enough. I'll stop here for now, and will post on my purchases later ^_^ (I'm currently working on that, so it won't take too long before I post it, I hope!)

Toodles~

Review: West Side Story the Musical

I promised (and wrote!) this a really really long time ago, and I thought I ought to post it before I started posting the other in-progress stuff ^^;;;

My sister had been hearing alot of good things about West Side Story, so when they came to Malaysia, she was understandably excited. And so, as the story goes, my family and I went to watch the musical on Saturday, 15th May 2010.

My review:


Location: Um, my knowledge of Malaysian geography is really awful (I only know how to get to Mid Valley and my office and maybe Jalan Sultan Ismail from my house LOL) so I can't comment much here ^^;; It was held at Istana Budaya, if that helps at all.


Music: The music was so-so. There were a few good songs that I quite liked, but some other songs weren't really to my liking while others were just lackluster and not very memorable. My sister, her friends and I all agree that the singing really wasn't up to our expectations. I felt that the only one who had a particularly striking voice was the female lead, Maria. On the other hand, if you took away all the lyrics and the singing, the instrumental music was gorgeous!

(On a random note - the song "I feel pretty" sounds much much nicer in Spanish than it does in English!)

Storyline: Well, the storyline is meant to be a modern-day Romeo and Juliet. I will admit that it is probably a favourite basis for many stories, and I can see so many ways in which this basic idea could be an emotional and touching story. However, the way in which the script was written made West Side Story absolutely corny and lame to the core (and not in a good way), not to mention that it sounded like something a hormonal 14 year old would write for fanfiction - and I would definitely be able to recognise that sort of story, having been one of those hormonal fanfiction-writing 14 year olds myself. (:P)

As time goes on and I think back more on the musical, I begin to see more clearly that some parts that I had hated did tie in with the story and give an appropriate background for the setting, but it still doesn't change that they were badly done. Alot of the characters don't have any background story, so I feel like I don't know the character well enough to emphatize with/hate them or understand their side of the story. I also rather felt that the American side of the story was more developed than the Puerto Rican side, which made it seem rather lopsided.

Other comments: The pace of the story is quite odd. It starts off at a slow pace, with alot of contemporary dancing and dialogue, and seems to get even slower as the musical goes on, until it suddenly climaxes and spins to a stop within ten minutes of the end of the musical. Rather too abrupt an ending to be enjoyable. (But there was this very amusing moment where Maria screams like she's that girl in the Exorcist. It was meant to be a solemn and serious moment, but the instant I heard it, I just had to giggle!)

Speaking of Maria, my sister and I found her accent very annoying. Once again, we understand that it's meant to reflect her non-American roots, but still.... we really could do without it! Maria was quite a whiny character too. Maybe it was the whining rather than the accent that got on my nerves!

On another note, there were too many contemporary dances for my liking. Don't get me wrong - they were very beautifully choreographed dances, but my sister and I didn't quite see the point in alot of it. I felt like they were just there to bulk out the performance. As my sister said, it feels more like we're watching So You Think You Can Dance? rather than a musical.

Recommendation: I honestly wouldn't recommend this to anyone. A friend has told me that the movie was really good, so perhaps that would be a better alternative. But at least I can now say I've watched it, and will avoid this musical for the rest of my life.

Event Announcement: Yukata Fair at Jusco Mid Valley

Just a quick post ^_^

There's a yukata fair at Jusco Mid Valley (Ground Floor - just enter from the Center Court entrance and walk straight, and you'll bump into it). I went there yesterday to check it out, and they have quite a large selection!

Prices are quite decent - a yukata and obi set are RM129 for men and women, and RM89 for children's sets. You can also get an assortment of accessories - RM10 for an uchiwa fan, RM39 for parasols, RM20 for geta... There are also some bags, obijime, obi kazari and hair accessories, which really completes each set. I noticed some decorative lace for obi too.

If anyone wants to check it out, please do it soon, because it's only there till this Sunday, 4th July 2010. This is really a great opportunity to get some cheap yukata for Bon Odori or anime/cosplay conventions :)

I've bought two sets for myself and one for my brother already! I also got one for my niece, but it's a little big for her age, so I'm going to have to go back and look for another one her size XP And I got 3 pairs of geta, a fan, one obi kazari and two parasols. I'm in love! I'm planning to go back to buy more ehhehehe~ XP

On a side note, I've been pretty dead coz I was in Singapore for a Summer Wealth Management Program by Merrill Lynch for two weeks. It was really fun! Made loads of new friends XD Didn't really learn so much new stuff, but got to see another aspect of the wealth management industry hehehe. Will post on it sometime soon, if I remember!

Toodles~