Video: How to Put on a Nagoya Obi (Japanese)

A friend of mine was telling me about this really good Youtube clip of a woman explaining how to put on a Nagoya obi in 10 minutes - including a really detailed explanation of all the steps.

I've only just watched it and thought it was worth sharing!

Unfortunately, it's all in Japanese, which isn't really helpful for understanding her tips if you don't know the language, but I think just watching the movements is enough to help with many usual problems people have when putting on an obi!

I really like that the clip has two points of view, which gives much more perspective of what goes on "behind the scenes", so to speak, when putting on an obi.

I think my absolute favourite thing about the clip is that she doesn't do every step absolutely perfectly like in the magazines (for example, the top of the otaiko looks a little crooked in some angles, etc), yet the obi still looks straight and perfect once she's done!

Ta~

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!

Video: Kimono & Obi Dressing in 5 Minutes

I'm getting a little bored of the closet features and book scans already hahaha.

I found this video years ago, and was just amazed at how fast this woman can dress a mannequin in kimono and obi - and so neatly too! I've been aspiring to be able to dress as quickly and neatly :)

My favourite part about this video is that the woman demonstrates a particular obi musubi that I've found particularly difficult - tsunodashi musubi. It's a very casual musubi that should only be worn with komon (I think of it as one step down from otaiko but one step up from hanhaba) but I really like how it looks with vintage kimono and obi.

Enjoy! :)

Kimono Know-How: Furisode Musubi, pg 44-45 from Furisode Daisuki! 2006 - 2007

Following last week's post on three-section himo with elastic bands, today's post is on two of the pages in Furisode Daisuki! 2006 - 2007 that features obi musubi for furisode using them. (Pages 44 to 45, to be exact)

These pages are featuring variations of the popular tateya musubi. My favourite musubi is the one on the top left, with the orange furisode and teal obi!


(Click here for a larger image!)

Source:

振袖大好き！２００６－２００７
Furisode Daisuki! 2006-2007
I Love Furisode! 2006-2007
ISBN4-418-05141-4

Video: How To Dress Yukata & Kimono Part 2

Hmmmm..... It seems that after posting part 1 of Ichiroya's YouTube video on how to dress in yukata, I'd completely forgotten about posting part 2! How embarrassing!! =^__^="""

Anyway, here is part 2 to Ichiroya's instructions on wearing yukata:

(Best part: the video is in easy-to-understand English!)


(Click here for my post on part 1)

As mentioned in my part 1 post, Ichiroya's video is one of the best I've seen, with clear and easy instructions at a decent pace. I love that they show many small but important things, such as a complete list of items needed to wear kimono, padding and the proper kimono silhouette, and important tips to keep in mind when wearing kimono.

Absolutely great video for beginners :)

Kimono Know-How: Fancy Obijime Ties from Furisode Daisuki! 2006 - 2007

Following Saturday's kimono know-how post, I figured it'd be nice to match the fancy obiage knots with some fancy obijime knots.

So here is the page from the same magazine on tying obijime for furisode.


(Click here for a larger image!)

Source:

振袖大好き！２００６－２００７
Furisode Daisuki! 2006-2007
I Love Furisode! 2006-2007
ISBN4-418-05141-4

On a separate note, Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim readers! For my Malaysian and Indonesian non-Muslim readers, Happy Holidays! :) I'm certainly looking forward to this long break haha!

Ta~

Kimono Know-How: Fancy Obiage Ties from Furisode Daisuki! 2006 - 2007

Just thought I'd share a picture of one of my older furisode magazines on how to tie your obiage in nice fancy ways.


(Click here for a larger image!)

Source:

振袖大好き！２００６－２００７
Furisode Daisuki! 2006-2007
I Love Furisode! 2006-2007
ISBN4-418-05141-4

Outfit Snap: Sweet Roses Yukata

After conversing about kimono with a few people for the past few days, I've been feeling particularly inspired to wear kimono.

I only had an hour of free time to dress up today, so I couldn't do a full-blown kitsuke with my new obi and juban, but I did coordinate something with one of my new yukata from the Jusco Yukata Fair.

The obi I chose is really similar to the one that came with this set, but I decided to use this obi instead because it's a softer, less obnoxious shade of purple. Also, it has a matching theme of roses! I think this obi gives the yukata a softer, more mature sort of feminine feel, as opposed to a bright, young coordinate using hot pink as its main colour. (Besides, the obi in the set is a pre-tied obi! ^^;;; I'm.... not fond of pre-tied obi at all haha.)

I also happen to have a pair of geta that are the perfect combi of purple and pink, and a new pink uchiwa. To accent a little more of the pink, I wore dainty pink flower earrings and tossed some soft pink flowers on my hear. I used a basket bag with white accents because a pink or purple bag would be a little too much colour in the outfit.

On a really random note, I actually chose this yukata because of yesterday's pedicure - my toes match the yukata! ^^;;

Ta~

Outfit Snap: My Brother & His Girlfriend - Friday Night Dress-Up!

My brother asked if I could help him with his yukata ensemble for this year's Bon Odori, so I took out one of the new ones I'd gotten for him at last year's Yukata Fair at Jusco (it has stripes and bats on it!) and paired it with his black pre-tied hakata obi and the skeleton-themed geta I bought for him two years ago.

We had a test-run of his outfit after coming home from dinner earlier tonight!

After seeing him dressed up and flipping through a couple of my yukata magazines, his girlfriend also asked to get dressed up :D I showed her my whole collection and let her pick one yukata (well, she was torn between this one and another, so she let my brother choose) and a matching obi.

I put her in a pair of navy blue geta and tucked a dark blue fan into her obi to match the navy blue dragonflies on the yukata. I also tossed in the bag and the hair accessory to make the outfit look more complete.

This is the end result!



One of the magazines they were flipping through had a feature on couples' yukata and how to match them with themes, so their outfits are also somewhat matched together! Both yukata are light-coloured and have some sort of stripes on them while their obi also have some form of stripes ^^

Aren't they so cute together?? :D

Outfit Snap: Navy Blue Yukata & Seafoam Green Obi

After working on my blog for a while and surrounding myself with kimono for practically the whole weekend, I had the urge to either buy more kimono or have a dress-up session to distract myself from shopping.

So..... I had a dress-up session! ^_^

I wanted to just throw on something easy, but I had a very specific obi in mind to wear today, so I grabbed both the obi and another yukata that was just lying around.

Here is the result! ^_^

(Please don't mind that the photos are really low quality! My mum is holding my camera for her business trips so I had to make-do with my phone)



I'm carrying the umbrella because.... Well ^^; It matched the colour scheme and it was just there. It's actually an RM5 bit of nonsense that I bought from Daisou just because it was cheap and cute.



I really like that both the yukata and obi have a rose theme :) I also kind of like that the pearls on the obi are a little similar to the false shibori dots on the yukata.



Today's obi musubi was chosen because I was actually experimenting with wearing yukata without any padding and I needed something large that will hide the lower back area of my yukata. I did have to stuff a whole towel underneath the obi to keep the musubi perky, but a few clever folds and some manipulation of how the obi falls and you'd never notice :)

On wearing yukata without padding: I have to say that it does do wonders for managing the heat! I can see now why people say that yukata are cooling to wear. I had to tie my yukata a little looser than usual so that the himo don't cut into my body, but it just makes for a more comfortable kitsuke.

I have to keep practicing this to improve my kitsuke without padding! XD

Outfit Snap: Yellow Polyester Komon

I went out for lunch with a friend today and we had both decided that it would be a dress-up day! Neither of us could seem to decide on what theme we wanted (kimono or loli), so eventually we just agreed to wearing whatever we felt like ^^

I was feeling pretty determined to wear kimono because I've recently received a bunch of new pretties. I'd also bought myself a nice new bag from Coach when I was in the US (was there for over a week for work, but naturally, we had one Saturday at a factory outlet XD), so I really wanted to use it! Unfortunately, the bag was teal - a colour that I generally find difficult to wear in kimono. I do have a hakata obi that is only just a shade darker than my bag, but add in the bag's accessory (strawberry coin purse), and that is one hell of a colour combo I had to find and match in my kimono closet!

Eventually, I couldn't get the right combination for either colour, theme or weather, so I changed the accessory from the cute coral strawberry coin purse attachment to a grapefruit one (colour scheme: yellow and pink). I'd only decided to change my outfit this morning, so I was scrambling to get an outfit put together in time.

(Luckily, I woke up at 4am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I had like 7 hours to prepare XD;;;)

Eventually, I came up with this!

I'm wearing a yellow polyester hitoe komon with stripes, pink roses and some sort of leaf (a new komon I'd bought from Shinei during one of their sales sometime last year). To introduce teal somewhere in the outfit to match the bag, I paired the kimono with a teal summerweave hakata obi.

I chose a pink ro obiage and yellow summerweave obijime to balance out the colours a little because the obi looks kind of like a sudden break in the outfit - too striking! I hope the yellow obijime softens the harsh contrast...

I tried to add in a little more teal with my earrings and wanted to wear teal zori, but I don't have any blue or green zori in anywhere near the right shade.... So instead I wore a pair that matched the kimono! I'm also wearing tabi with matching flowers embroidered on the toes ^_^

Today's kitsuke was pretty easy because the kimono is made of a very crisp almost chirimen-like polyester that holds its grip really well. I was also using a two-piece juban with chikara-nuno to hold the collar in place - and my collars didn't move at all today! XD

I also used an obi aid (I think this one is called kairyou makura?) and it was really easy to create an almost-perfect otaiko with it really quickly! I'm always amazed everytime I use this obi aid. All of my obi miraculously fit, and there's no need for me to struggle with putting on the obi at all XD;;;

What do you guys think of this coordinate? The colour combo is a bit disconnected compared to my usual matching preferences, but I kind of like how yellow & teal look together. Any suggestions on how to improve this coordinate? So far, all I can think of is wearing teal zori and adding a teal hair accessory... Maybe something with the han'eri?

Oh btw, we forgot to take pics of ourselves at the restaurant... We did get alot of stares and some comments though XD;;;; My friend was dressed in loli with the cutest hat! Loved her coordinate today!

Random note: My sister chose the location for the photos because the flowers in our kitchen match my kimono XD;;;;

Closet Feature: New Red Sakura Furisode

New Red Furisode, originally uploaded by shira.C.

A while ago, I was trying on a juban to show a friend and I thought it'd also be nice to show her how the juban would look under the furisode, so I tossed on one of the new furisode that I got at Yamatoku's furisode festival last year.

I really love this red one! I've been looking for a red furisode for a long time, but most that I see just aren't too my taste. This one was perfect in every way, from the shade of red to the pattern and the colour scheme and most importantly - the size XD;

I'm not dressed in a full outfit because I have yet to stumble across the perfect obi for this furisode. I saw something that was nearly close to perfect, but the colour scheme of the obi wasn't 100% perfect, so I let it go. I'm still waiting and biding my time, though... XD

(If you're only here for the kimono and not personal updates, you might want to leave here ^^;)

It's been a crazy few weeks at work~ My company was organising a conference and it's finally over!! *phew* My team was working 18 hour days for 2 weeks, including weekends - and before that we were working 14 hour days for a month haha. Some of the others didn't get any sleep at all... (I made sure I got some sleep - I'm a complete grouch if I don't get enough sleep XD;)

..... And now, there is another conference coming up on Tuesday, and yet another one in the US in less than a month's time. Not really looking forward to it! XD;;

This year's schedule is looking pretty busy... but I'm still hopeful for more kimono outings with friends XD; I'm hoping this year will be a more active year with kimono and blogging for me!

I'm just re-starting my Tips & Tricks (T&T) post on kimono fit that I promised in my last T&T post, but it's taking abit of time because I keep deleting and re-drafting it haha. It's turning out to be more annoying that I thought! I'll most likely have to split it into three parts - one for measuring kimono to see if it fits you, one on how to wear kimono that are too small for you and one on how to wear kimono that are too big for you (not that I have much experience in that area!!). Hopefully it'll be out before June at this rate XP;;

Bye, and a solemn Good Friday to you all.

(Omg just realised that I'm posting a red kimono on Good Friday ^^;;; I guess it matches the vestments for today's Mass?)

Outfit Snap: Pink Plaid Kofurisode

This afternoon, I was working on something that was starting to give me an awful headache by 5.30pm, so I decided to stop, rest and take some time to myself.

And.... here's the result XD

I've been feeling particularly inspired to wear kimono for the past few months but never found the time, so I thought I ought to take the chance now when I have the house and a few hours all to myself.

I've been eyeing up a couple of Kitsuke Challenges on the IG forums, namely the Stripes challenge and the Stop Buying, Start Wearing challenge. This kimono just happened to fit both! I've been feeling particularly girly lately, so the pink colour scheme was perfect.

I actually had a couple of other outfits for this kofurisode that used a white obi and purple or yellow accessories, but I felt they were a little bland today, so instead I whipped up another outfit that felt bright and girly enough for today. I chose this dark purple hakata obi that Hong gave me a long time ago because, well, it's hakata XD I paired them with pink accessories because I wanted a really girly outfit, and the original yellow I wanted to wear didn't seem so attractive to me after a while.

The loose side-braid was for a more feminine feeling (that, and I was lazy to do a bun), complete with purple accessory at the end of the braid, and I'm wearing matching grape-shaped purple earrings. The bag was a free gift that just happened to match the colour scheme.

I'm always told that kofurisode shouldn't be worn with otaiko musubi (something that I do way too often), but this kofurisode's pattern is so informal that it seems weird to me to wear even a bunko musubi with it!

It's been sooooo long since I last wore kimono! (Well, kimono outside of yukata at any rate hahaha). I think it's been about 10 months since the last time I tried to tie an otaiko on myself! That would kind of explain why my back is so ugly today... :P (=no back pictures! :P)

Today's kitsuke is not as neat as my usual standards, but I suppose for not having dressed in 10 months, it'll have to do XD; Still, I'm happy with the way it turned out, even if it did take much longer than usual :)

P/S: I've been meaning to post something about the Japan earthquake, but at first, I didn't know how to put my thoughts into words, then came that incredibly embarrassing ordeal with Berita Mingguan and the PM's wife.... well, I really had no idea what to say then! I can only offer my sincerest apologies to all who were offended :/ Please believe me when say that no one I know agreed with either of them, and we were all mortally embarrassed to be called Malaysian when we found out as well.

Japan, we're all praying for you! :)

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!

Video: How To Dress Yukata & Kimono Part 1

I think I've rather been neglecting my blog ^^;;;

As an apology, here is an English video on how to wear yukata, posted by the owners of Ichiroya.com, one of my favourite kimono shops. The people who appear in the video are Yuka-san (Ichiro-san's wife) and their daughter.



The video is quite easy to understand and is very helpful! It does show many important things, such as a complete list of items needed to wear kimono, padding and the proper kimono silhouette, and important tips to keep in mind when wearing kimono.

If you are learning to wear kimono, I would recommend that you start with wearing yukata, since it is simple and easy to wear. This video is the best English video on yukata-wearing that I have seen so far, and is highly recommended!

For those of you who would like to buy the entire video series, Ichiroya is selling a DVD on how to wear kimono on their website (link available at the sidebar) ^^

I hope that this video was helpful to those who are just starting to learn how to wear kimono!

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 :)

Outfit Snap: Dinner @ Iketeru

I've been a little tense and irritable lately, so I felt like I really needed to relax over the weekend. Since my sister had recently found out about the new spring menu at Iketeru in KL Hilton and my parents were away for the weekend, the three of us (me, Pig and Pot) decided to try it out on Saturday night. My sister had also wanted to test out her new camera and lens on good food pics :P

I saw an opportunity to dress up in kimono and snatched it up right away! Here are some pictures of my outfit. These were taken after dinner.

(Sorry the yukata is so rumpled... ^^;;;)

Near the pool-bar-area thing. (So articulate)


Again, near the pool.


Back shot. Yeah, it's a walking-pose, but just standing there was so boring, and the pics are really blurry if I actually walk ^^;;


Outside the lift. I really like this shot! The colours are more accurate here, and you can see my musubi more clearly. I think it kind of looks like it's pre-tied LOL!


It took us forever to take this shot of me pouring the dobinmushi (a type of soup) into the serving cup! By the time we were satisfied by the pics, the pot was nearly empty XD Funny how the best-looking one ended up being one of the earlier pics!

We had fun setting a time limit for my sister. "Take the pic, take the pic, take the pic! Oh... The cup is full... So who wants some soup?"

My ensemble on Saturday was a second-hand UNIQLO yukata that I got on YJA. It actually came with a maroon obi, but I wanted something different this time. Green and purple is one of my favourite colour combinations, especially for kimono, so I thought I'd go with it. I think it kind of brings out the colour of the wisteria. The bag and earrings are from my mum's closet, and the fan is a cheap buy from Daisou, with a pattern of bunnies.

I uhhh really meant to wear proper kimono, but my sister's boyfriend and I were playing Prince of Persia on the PS3 and we got carried away ^^; I didn't start getting ready till too late, and (shockingly) I hadn't even decided on an outfit to wear! So I just threw on the simplest thing I could find and put together in a few minutes ^^; Then again, given the recent heatwave, it was probably for the best.

I was really pleased with how neatly my kitsuke turned out, given that I haven't dressed up in two months. It took me about half an hour to dress, which is shockingly long - I must be getting out of practice!

I didn't really realise that just wearing kimono would make me feel so relaxed. It's like any stress just melted off me. And to think that I haven't worn kimono just to go out and have fun in 4 months! Therapeutic, it is.

Of course, the moment I stepped into the office yesterday, whatever stress relief I had was all zapped up immediately haha :P Hmmm, another excuse to dress up and go out again? XD

Anyway, just wanted to share some random food pics:

My sister's starter course.


Her sashimi course.


Her garlic fried rice.


The ice cream looked better than it tastes haha.


Rommel's dessert course from his hanami bento.


My choices were kind of boring for photos, and other photos didn't turn out so well, so just these pics.

I'm really sorry you can't see how nice the pics really are, coz they go rather wonky once we shrink them, but we have to shrink them - our house internet can't take the stress of uploading very large photos ^^;; So, we're stuck with small not-so-nice pics *sigh*

Ta, people! I'm off to eat dinner.