Event Aftermath: Kimono Meet @ Tenshi no Cafe

A friend and I have been talking about having a kimono meet for quite a while, and we finally nailed down a date for it! So on Saturday, we met with a couple of other kimono-enthusiast friends at Tenshi no Cafe, our local maid cafe and chatted for a few hours over lunch ^_^

(Hm, the choice of venue - we had originally wanted to go to Tokyo Street at Pavilion, but 21st April was the date where our new King would meet his subjects downtown, so we changed venue to avoid traffic. We voted for the maid cafe instead - my main reason is that I'd never been there before and was crazy curious about it XD;;;)

Here's what I decided to wear for the meet-up:



I felt like wearing spring colours, so I chose to wear my (relatively) new polyester hitoe iromuji. The obi I'd chosen is one of Ichiroya's reproduction Taisho pieces. It had just arrived two days before the meet-up and I was so excited I just had to wear it straightaway!

My sister insisted on pairing this obiage with this kimono, so I matched my juban sleeves and zori to the bright pink. I think the outfit looks kinda cute with the bright pops of colour here and there, though they're kind of invisible in the photos XD;;;; The light green obijime was chosen to balance the outfit a little - I think a darker green would've made it look too heavy, while pink made the whole ensemble seem rather bland.

The toes on my tabi also have bright pink flowers and green leaves embroidered on them, though I didn't take a picture.




I tried a new hairstyle today! It was kind of a cheat's hairstyle haha - I just twisted my hair into a bun, then secured it with a hairtie, then tied one of those scrunchies made of fake hair over the top. Voila! Instant fluffy bun XD;;; I think I ought to get a second scrunchie so I can make twin buns for lolita hahaha.

I'm sooo out of practice - for some reason, my obi is really lopsided at the back, and I completely misjudged the amount I needed for the otaiko, which made it difficult to deal with. My ohashori also kept wanting to flip upwards :/ But other than that I'm actually pretty happy with how my kitsuke turned out hahaha. I mean, I think it's not bad considering the last time I wore full kimono was in September last year!

Here's a group picture of the 4 of us:



On the leftmost, RH was wearing this really cool-looking outfit made up of mostly whites and blues. Even her zori were white (and looked sooooo gorgeous <3)~

On the second from the right, JL is wearing a furisode I sold to her weeks ago. That shade of blue looks absolutely gorgeous on her - especially when paired with those hakama! Very striking outfit, and suits her very well.

On the rightmost, L is wearing a super sweet yukata set! Though the obi is pre-tied, I love the way she and JL tied the obijime at the back - really kicks the outfit up a notch. (And yes, I would absolutely steal that yukata if I have the chance XD) It was also her first time dressing herself in yukata, and I think she did very well!


It's really too bad that we didn't manage to get individual outfit shots for all of us, but we were enjoying ourselves too much XD;;; It's a very interesting experience to dine at a maid cafe - stranger still when one of your waitresses is an old friend from primary school!

It was really fun to just get dressed up, have a meal together and chatter non stop XD I wish I didn't have to go early, but my parents decided they wanted to go to church that evening, so I had to rush home haha.

Hey guys: It was really fun! Let's do this again sometime soon~

Omake:
Very funny story that morning: while I was dressing, I opened a cupboard door to get a datejime out - and my cupboard door (which is actually a full length mirror) fell on me! XD;;;; My dad says it's shoddy workmanship and poor quality glue used on the mirror... I'm just glad the mirror didn't break on me!

Event Aftermath: Girls Day Out! Yukata Dress-Up Session

It's been a really long time since I last posted! ^^;;;;

This post is rather late compared to my post on the IG forums as I was having some trouble logging in through Internet Explorer.... I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me to use Firefox till today XD;;

Anyway! Here goes :)

My godsisters and I have been planning a Yukata Day for the past few years, and we've only recently managed to book a date for it! The hubbies were sent to do some car-shopping and general bro-bonding XD; We think they had fun - we didn't hear anything from them the whole day!

The girls met up at my house in the morning for a dressing, hair and make-up session, before we all piled into a couple of cars and headed to Pavilion (a downtown mall) for lunch and light shopping. It was really fun, cramming all 6 of us into my tiny room, with everyone doing each other's hair and make-up, and choosing accessories for each other! XD

 I'm afraid I was rather sloppy with dressing them - too many of us in one place, and I've been really out of practice with dressing others!! I even forgot how to tie alot of musubi, which got me pretty upset ^^;;; I need to practice more!

Group pic before we left the house (because my mum wanted a photo of us on Facebook already XD;;):



We had intentionally decided that everyone should wear a different colour, and the effect is quite pretty! Except for my sister (the second one from the left), they are all wearing yukata sets that I'd given to them as Christmas gifts years ago :) My mum also joined in the fun by accessorizing them once they were dressed and did their hair and make-up!

I did try to convince them that yukata would look much nicer with an up-do hairstyle, but they were more comfortable with leaving their hair down, so I let them do what they liked XD;

We had lunch at Kampachi, because Olivia can't eat much pork, so we couldn't eat at a few places in Tokyo Street. Good thing we decided to eat here too - Kampachi has a better menu selection, so everyone could eat what they wanted, rather than being confined to a restaurant's specialty! (Tokyo Street's restaurants are rather specialized - there's a ramen place, a tempura don place, a shabu shabu place, a tonkatsu place... Kampachi has a bit of everything!)


After lunch, we walked around for a bit of shopping!

Part of the reason we'd decided on Pavilion: Muji's opening day in Malaysia! There are only these two pics outside of Muji because the rest of us pretty much ran in the moment we saw the store, and went mad XD;


Some random snaps while we were shopping. You can see just how sloppy I was with the obi musubi :/ I tied the obi a little too loose for some of them, and the bows were a little too floppy! I wanted to tie more intricate stuff, but somehow my fingers wouldn't cooperate with my mind, so I had to stick to the more basic musubi ^_^;;







Group pics outside Shu Uemura!






As we were rushing to get home in time for a dinner party at my house tonight, we didn't shop very much and headed straight home after buying a few items at Shu Uemura. We wanted to go to MAC too, but there wasn't enough time... We were all inspired to buy make-up and facial stuff after the long discussion about make-up that morning hahaha :)

But we did make sure we had the time for some individual outfit snaps :)

Stella was our main photographer for the day, since she was experimenting with her new camera :) My sister and I chose this yukata for her because she loves animals, and bright and cheerful colours suit her really well!



Sandra is always so sweet and lady-like, so my sister and I gave her a soft and delicate yukata set that suits her personality. Uh, she does have an ohashori, but I'd accidentally tied her obi a little too loosely, so it kept slipping down and hiding her ohashori ^^;;; You can still see a tiny bit of it in this photo!



I couldn't decide on a colour for Olivia, so I asked her outright about the colour that she liked, and she chose purple. I picked this one because it's something that I personally would wear - and she really liked it too! :) I wish I'd thought of lending her one of my yukata obijime, because that would look really good with this obi and yukata set.



The reason why I'd given everyone a yukata was because I'd bugged Carolyn into buying one when Jusco was having their first Yukata Fair two years ago, and when everyone found out, they wanted one as well! This yukata that she's wearing is her second one, which I'd given her for Christmas. It's a little somber, but she doesn't like very bright colours, and I knew she'd appreciate the intricate designs of the patterns :)



My sister's coordinate was a last-minute thing, because I'd forgotten to show her our wardrobe options till the morning of this event. She felt like wearing something monochrome-ish, so she chose this yukata. Since she'd mentioned "monochrome" specifically, I knew immediately that this obi would be the best choice for this outfit, rather than a hot pink or purple one.



I really love this yukata and obi combination! It's very difficult to capture in photos, but this obi is one of the higher quality ones that can also be worn with kimono, with a woven latticework pattern on the plain black side. I feel it really made her outfit stand out. She noticed that there were some purples in the yukata, so she matched them with our newest handbag, and coordinated her accessories around that. She's also wearing black and white geta and a black and white bead flower hairband to complete the look. I think her coordinate was probably my favourite!

And finally - my outfit! ^_^



My outfit was mostly chosen by the godsisters! After my sister had picked out her yukata, we eliminated the ones that were too similar in colour to everyone else's yukata, and they picked out the one they thought looked the nicest. I really really like this yukata, because it's false shibori, has a pattern of grapes, and is in a really gorgeous colour. Unfortunately, I've never worn it before because I'd always had problems coordinating the yukata properly. After going through all my hanhaba obi and even some of my nagoya obi, I got a little frustrated and just threw on a plain white yukata obi.

While dressing myself, I suddenly remembered that I have a few yukata obijime in my collection and decided to break them out - and immediately liked the effect of this bright blue obijime against my outfit! Makes for a really lovely contrast, and adds colour to an otherwise bland outfit :) I coordinated all my accessories around this bit of blue. I really like this ensemble now!

(And by the way, I also really like this photo because Stella somehow managed to make me look thin :P)

It was a really fun day - we are already discussing our next girls day out, though it might possibly be a lolita day next (HAHAHA not XD;;;). It was also fun in the evening when the hubbies came home for the dinner party :)

Thanks for reading! Any C&C on coordinates are much welcome!

Event Aftermath: Jusco Yukata Fair 2011 - Take 2!

I went back to the fair this morning to pick up a few more accessories - after all, with the price I'm paying, it would only barely cover shipping for these items most of the time! So it's really worth buying them now :)



(Psst: I also bought another yukata for my brother and another sweet-looking yukata for myself ^^;)

Event Aftermath: Jusco Yukata Fair 2011

As promised, here is the post on my loot from the Jusco Yukata Fair this year!

First off, the yukata!

I seem to be in a pale colours mood this year ^^ There were way more black yukata than anything else at the Fair, but I just didn't like any of them.

The obi that came with the yukata.

This year has much nicer pre-tied obi that last year! I guess that accounts for the RM10 increase in price.

One more yukata for my brother.

This yukata really called to me because I love Ichimatsu check prints, and this one was in a really gorgeous shade of dark brown. I know my brother never lets me dress him up most of the time, but I couldn't resist ^^;

A kid's yukata.

Just cause it's cute XD

The geta collection.

They're actually brighter in real life.

A lilac-coloured obijime.


Uchiwa!!

My weakness~~

Some furoshiki.

One of the furoshiki came with a DVD on furoshiki!


On the Fair itself:

This year, the obi that were paired with the yukata were much much nicer than the ones last year! Not everything was slapped together with a red&yellow obi - this time, care and consideration were actually taken when matching the obi and the yukata. As you can see in the pictures above, the quality of the obi were also much better this time.

There were still some sets that were sold with the same ugly obi as last year's, but there were only two racks of those (priced at RM129 per set of yukata & obi). A majority of the yukata sets on display were priced at RM139, but there was a good selection of patterns. Most of the yukata were dark-coloured (black, dark purple) but there were a few sweet ones (light purple, pale blue).

(I kind of feel like I recognise some of the patterns - they are definitely similar to some branded yukata that were really popular a few years ago. One of those that I bought kinda looks like one I've been drooling over in a magazine from 2008! XD;)

A small section of higher range yukata was also present (half a rack of these, I think?) but the colours and patterns were just so pretty compared to the others! These ones were priced at RM299 for just one yukata.

The men's yukata section was also much better this year! There were more patterns to choose from and I had a really tough time choosing one for my brother. There were two other striped ones that I really liked, but I had to limit myself to just one yukata ^^;

For women's obi, Jusco brought in a better selection of higher-range pre-tied obi and quite a nice range of hanhaba obi. I thought they were rather overpriced, but maybe I was biased because I already had many of those colours in my closet ^^; The standalone pre-tied obi were about RM139 and the hanhaba obi were RM189.

The best part about this year's fair is that they started selling kitsuke items! So far, they only have himo (RM29 for a set of two) and datejime (RM59 each), but I'm hoping that next year or the year after, they'll start expanding to obi-ita and yukata slips or something ^_^

There was a smaller selection of fans to choose from this year (or maybe it's just that I got there late) but the ones that were left were pretty high quality :) They also had the same obijime, kanzashi, bag, parasols and obi-kazari for sale. The sheer number of geta was shocking! They stocked more kids' geta this round - I'm sooooo tempted by this incredibly cute pair of geta with light blue gingham check and sunflowers!

I feel like going back there to browse, just for the heck of it :)

If anyone's free and has cash to spare, why not drop by and keep the yukata fair alive for next year? XD

(P/S: There is also a Yukata Fair at Jusco Queensbay Mall in Penang, also ending this Sunday, 17th July ^^)

Event Aftermath: Sleepover Night

A friend and I had a sleepover at my house a few months ago, and while we spent most of the day running around in lolita clothes, we did go for dinner in yukata! :)

Here are pictures of what we wore~

JL:

Front


Back


Peace Sign! XD


She sewed this yukata by herself! Isn't it amazing??? I really really love the sleeve lengths, which she said took some trouble to wrangle out of a normal-length bolt. And the colours and motif of the fabric are sooo pretty as well *____*

I really like the obi and accessories she picked out as well. Maybe it isn't so visible in these pictures, but there are highlights of that bright bright pink on her yukata that the obi really brings out. Also, the pale shade of yellow she uses for the obi decoration softens the almost harsh contrast of the obi and brings abit of playfulness to the colour scheme as well. (And OMG that bag is so cute and to die for XD!)

And now for my outfit:

Front


Back


Silly shot! (No idea what I was doing. Trying to model the bag in a cutesified way? lol)


I was feeling lazy to coordinate, so I just took out the rose yukata I got from the Jusco Yukata Fair earlier this year, and paired it with what seems to be my favourite obi for navy blue yukata - the Barbie pink one ^^; No surprises that I really like how it turned out - it's the same basic outfit formula for all my navy blue yukata ^^;;;;

Really lovely sleepover that night. We had loads of fun and loads of food @_@ I hope we can do it again sometime!! ^____^

Btw, the IG forums are having a friendship swap, and I'm participating!!! I'm quite excited to find out who I'm going to get, and to decide what I should give them! I'm hoping it'll be someone who's posted pictures on the forums, so I can see what kimono I have that will suit them. It'll be quite amusing if I got JL, who also joined the swap, or vice versa XD

Have a great week everyone - last month of the year!!!

Event Aftermath: Kitsuke Teach-In Session!

Earlier this year, I'd convinced my godsister Carolyn to buy a yukata, and gave her all the accessories (hadajuban, obi-ita, himo, matching obi) for her birthday. Of course, once she had all the necessary items to dress herself up, she needed to learn how to put the yukata on by herself.

And so, one Sunday in late August, I went over to her flat for a quick kitsuke session! The both of us put on our yukata at the same time so that she could imitate what I'm doing and learn that way (it's the way I learn stuff best, so I figured it would work).

This is the result. Really amazing for her first ever try wearing kimono, isn't it? Except for the obijime (which neither of us could figure out LOL) she did everything herself! I barely had to make any adjustments, and even for that, she learned how to do it quickly after I showed her.

(Just a note - I taught her how to tie the "kai no kuchi" or "clam's mouth" musubi as it's the flattest one I know, and is easier to drive in)

I really like her ensemble! She isn't a very flashy sort of person, which is why she chose a dark colour with a more muted motif. I had to convince her to wear the bright yellow obi with it, but she did say that it was an excellent choice for the yukata because of the contrast. However, in case she has days when she wants to look more mature or elegant, I also gave her an obi that's dusty pink on one side, and a softer mustard yellow on the other side.

Here is the outfit that I chose to wear (and pls excuse the derpface!):

This yukata was one of my very first, and most certainly the first one I ever bought online! It's an old UNIQLO design. However, as it is all pink, and the set came with a black obi, I've always felt it was too young for me.

On that day, I really really wanted to wear this yukata, but I also wanted to make it look a little less young. I chose a sort of dusty maroon (I'm tempted to call it "dried blood colour" XD;) obi that I feel gives some form of contrast to the yukata, but isn't as startling as black. I always think that overly dramatic contrast makes an outfit look younger. A bonus point was that the obi highlights the dark petals of the flowers on the yukata without matching their colours perfectly. I'm also wearing a matching pair of maroon geta.

I love pearls alot, but have never really incorporated them into casual outfits before, but with my new faux pearl obi-kazari, it was easy to glam up the outfit just by adding some pearl earrings and a large white rose ring. Uh, the bag is an old Prada one that I'd been using as a briefcase XD; I chose it that day because it matched the outfit, and was big enough for me to stuff my usual bag's contents and clothes.

Oh, if you're wondering about where we are - after getting dressed, we went to meet her parents and niece for a short while, then we went to Bangsar Shopping Centre for a nice lunch ^_^ These pics were taken in the mall's gourmet food section, which is just about the whole ground floor of one wing.

I left one of my kitsuke books with Carolyn, and she's been using it! She did try to dress herself again, and try new bows, and they always turn out looking great ^_^ Now, she's mentioned thinking of getting a 2nd yukata... And I'm getting her one for Christmas XD Actually, I've bought it and received it already hahaha but I won't post pics till she's received and seen the yukata :) I hope it's to her taste!

I feel really happy that someone close to me has started liking yukata. Ever we showed these pics to friends, other godsisters of mine have been asking if they could dress up, so I've promised them that after Christmas, we'll all have a girlie night out, yukata style! All I really need is just some yukata for their daughters and we're all set XD

I can't wait for Christmas to come - kitsuke buddies in the form of close friends and family members would be the best present I could ever get! :)

Event Aftermath: Bon Odori 2010, Shah Alam, Malaysia

I managed to go to Bon Odori this year! It seems like I'm only able to go every 2 years (2004, 2006, 2008 and now 2010) ^^; How odd!

But honestly, after this year's Bon Odori, I highly doubt I'll be going there again ^^;; Just a liiiiiittle too crowded and hot for my tastes, and I don't really need another excuse to wear yukata out - if I wanted to, I'd just wear it :P"

I met up with a few friends - at first, it was a few friends from my high school (all of whom I haven't seen in at least 5 years!!), then later on we split off to look for other friends ^^; I met up with Hayashi, a kimono buddy of mine, and we managed to squeeze in the final round of dances together XD

I didn't get any good pics, so I'm just posting a few pics of Hayashi and me ^^

Hayashi...



Me...



Both of us together after the final round of dancing...



Crowd photo!



Just a little bit on my outfit...



This yukata is rather special to me, because I first saw the blue version in one of my sister's fashion magazines in 2004. I fell in love instantly but never actually tried looking for it because the price tag on the magazine page was ridiculous.

When I started buying from YJA, I thought of looking for the yukata and after months of searching, I found this one going at a decent price in a whole set (yukata, obi, geta, bag & obijime). So of course, I fought for it and managed to win it in early 2009 XD Yay!~ *happiness*

For Bon Odori 2010, I wore it with its matching obi, which has a motif of goldfish woven into the fabric. I didn't quite want to wear the full set, so I paired it with a pair of green geta, obi kazari with orange and green beads, and orange and green earrings. I'm also using my favourite bag for yukata.

When I was getting ready, my sister and I randomly decided to go to a hair salon and get our hair done. I was meant to leave the house for Bon Odori at 5pm, but went to the salon at 4pm - and finished at 5.30pm ^^;;; Luckily, I still managed to get home and change and leave by 6pm!!

Anyway, this is what the hairdresser came up with:



Pretty nice, isn't it? I was really happy with how she did it! My sister and I just told her I was going to wear a yukata, so she could do whatever she wanted ^^ I'll definitely ask for her again the next time I go there.

That's all of the pictures - the rest that I took were mainly crowd pics that had yukata outfits in them haha. Not really worth the camera space, now that I think about it.... ^^;;;

Goodnight!

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 :)