Back from Singapore! (again)

It's been a while since I actually came home, but I'm baaaack! I was in Singapore last week for 3 days for a business trip ^_^

Singapore was exhausting. It was a little hard to deal with, especially since so many clients had joined us, and it was my first time actually pitching in a hopefully useful hand on a trip like this, but we pulled through just fine ^_^

We had gone to Singapore on Sunday morning to make preparations for the two-day trip, and I managed to find a little bit of time to sneak off and do a little shopping. I brought a few of us to my favourite lingerie shop, and after I'd paid for my stuff, I left them to run upstairs and check out L'escalier, a shop that sells Japanese items, and occasionally some kimono and kimono accessories. I've bought a fukuro obi and a few obijime from this shop before, and I must say, the quality is excellent!

Anyway, this time around, since I hadn't even visited the store during my September Singapore trip, I picked out three obijime. It's a small picture and doesn't do my lovely obijime any justice, but here they are!!


There is a blue and purple one, a pink and purple one and an orange and white one with multicoloured stripes! So cute!! I paid SGD69 for all three of these. A little pricey, but given that they look and feel brand-new and I didn't have shipping to pay for, it was worth it! ^_^

I'd also bought myself a nice gradiated lilac obiage at the Kokon Tozai outlet in the airport (which I'd finally found!) but I was lazy to take pics ^^;; Maybe next time?

Back from Singapore!

I'm baaack! It was a lovely, relaxing holiday. We shopped all weekend and I spent soooooo much money it isn't even funny! >_<"" Anyway, I'm abit tired and lazy to really post much, so it's going to be in point form, again. This post is mainly for pics. I would post alot more, but it's taken me 2 bloody hours to upload 5 tiny resized pics, and I'm so fed up with the internet here that I can't be bothered to post more. I miss Singapore already. 1) About a month ago, my camera died on me right smack in the middle of a working trip, so my mum got me a new camera. Say hi!

2) On my last trip to Singapore two months ago, I had a day off, so I spent the whole afternoon wandering around Singapore and looking for all the yukata shops I'd seen on SGCafe.net. It was fun! In terms of kimono, I bought a lovely blue hanhaba obi with matching thin obijime, and a reddish sort of obijime.




3) This trip to Singapore, we were given prime rooms with a "great view" in Swissotel! I don't think Singapore is all that pretty in the morning, but at night, when everything is plunged into darkness and the city comes alive with bright lights and music, the view is breathtaking. Singapore is also currently preparing for their F1 Night Race, so the spotlights are all up and everything. On Saturday night, they had a test run of the spotlights, and we could see it from our rooms! Here's a wee picture:


4) I spent soooo much money this weekend. Srsly. Three months' salary wouldn't cover it. Akihabara Japan Products should love me. Here are my spoils! :D

I bought a lined kimono, a yukata, a kasane-eri, a hanhaba obi, a basket bag, one pair of women's geta, one pair of really cute skull men's geta, one tsuke eri, and (not shown in this pic) two obiage. Feel my happiness!!! XD XD XD

I'm very tempted to wear the yukata for this Saturday's TAF event, but I'm not sure... Pink doesn't seem to be much of a night-time colour to me. I think I might finally wear that hanabi yukata ensemble I was meant to wear to Bon Odori all those months ago. Or maybe I should wear that false rose shibori yukata I bought for my sister...? Decisions, decisions!

That's all for now! Toodles! XD

Coordination Comments: Potential Ensemble for Sakura Furisode?

On the IG forums, I was advised to choose more colourful accessories for the furisode I dressed Mich in a couple of weeks ago. I found some hot pink accessories, and decided to put them together to see how they went, and this is the result!



What do you think? Colourful enough? Bright enough? Too much pink? Comments and suggestions welcome!! ^_^

P/S: I really need to find that white han-eri I was talking about.. I can't believe I lost it!! Or did I give it away..? o_O

Outfit Snap: Borough Market pics! +kitsuke

Mel and I went to Borough Market today! It actually opened and closed early today because of some event that's taking place there tonight. Mel and I got there just in time to get our full 2 hours of feasting!

I had scallops, oysters, ice cream and juice, and we shared one of those.. raclettes, they were called? The boiled new potatoes with gherkins and picked baby onions topped with melted cheese and lots of pepper. Yum! Mel also had a double chorizo sandwich.

I bought another wedge of drunk cheese, and a tub of mushroom pate, plus a new type of honey that I haven't tried! The sample tasted really good though ^___^ It's chestnut honey.

I had my camera with me, but I didn't bother taking many photos. Here are the two that we took:

This was taken at Utobeer. This is the advertisement sign haha. Patty and I saw it last week, and we took pics on our phones, but I can't seem to upload pics from my phone, for some reason...The grocery shop next to the Chorizo sandwiches was selling puffball mushrooms!! They're HUMONGOUS! The smallest one is larger than my fist! The huge bugger you can see would make a 7-months pregnant woman feel small.

Okay, so I was being a brat and wore kimono there. I must say, though, that I felt very "homey"! I was wearing a wool kimono to a market and using a basket to put my things in. :D

FrontDetailUpclose detail
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This morning was really chilly, so I thought "Good! The kimono I chose was thicker than yesterday's and will be warm enough!" and it was, but in the afternoon, as I was walking back from Borough Market (I walked there and back - only 40mins in a kimono! Not bad, I think I can halve that time in a shorter skirt), the sun came out and it was soooo bloody hot! So if I look tired in these pictures, it's because these were taken after nearly 4 hours of walking and carrying groceries around town.

The kimono is a green wool hitoe with hints of yellow and pink and a woven pattern of asanoha. The obi is a double-sided cotton obi with pink and white stripes and floral detail. The obi-jime-age set was actually from one of my gray wool hitoe ensembles. I loved the set so much, and thought it would look good with a green kimono that I wore it with this. Looks good, don't you think?

The obijime was woven with pink, purple and yellow strands. That was perfect because that was my colour scheme of the day! The han-juban and susoyoke (half-juban and underskirt) was yellow and the other side of the obi was purple. The cap and the bag just brought it all together I think. Yay to good coincidences! :D

I picked a white obiage, white juban collar and white lace tabi because I felt it would balance the ensemble and make it bright and fresh. Did I succeed? Also, the tabi are lace and not normal tabi because normal tabi seems to "solid" for this ensemble, and the lace in the tabi looks nice with the floral pattern of the obi.

You can see that the hem is a little higher than I'd like it. It's partially because the kimono is too short (I barely managed an ohashori) and partially because I didn't want to dirty the hem at the market. Unfortunately, it looked rather unattractive when I was walking!

What think you? Personally, I just love the puffball mushroom! I want one as a pet!

Outfit Snap: Navy Blue Striped Wool & Green Tsukuri Obi

I've been dying to wear kimono lately. I had put together this ensemble on Tuesday (9th Sept 08) and was supposed to wear it yesterday, but since I went to Soho, I didn't get a chance to. Today, I was feeling restless because of the lull in my kitsuke, so I wore this to go to the post office to buy a box (to post Ling's yarn in).

This kimono is my new navy wool hitoe komon with gray and white stripes. Yes, it's komon and not tsumugi as the design is very obviously not woven once you look at it really closely. The juban is my new ro juban, which is very slippery.

The obi is a double-sided cotton tsuke obi that I bought last year but didn't get a chance to wear till today. I felt that yellow would be a cooler colour to wear than pink or something like that. Plus, yellow accessories make the stripes look brighter. I wore white tabi to match the collar (because I don't have a han-eri that matches) and pale yellow geta. To top it all off, I wore a gray cap (omg, bad pun!) with black trimming and a green bag with white polka-dots.

September is hitoe season for kimono, but still ro season for juban, obi and other accessories. Technically, my obi is wrong (double-sided = awase?) but I like this colour with this kimono so I don't care! Everything else is seasonally appropriate, though :)

By the way, I sneaked into my James's room to take these pictures while he's not around ^^;;; It's because my room is too messy at the moment! Haha.

Front view taken in the mirror. I dunno why, but I like this picture.

Side view taken by camera timer.

Back view. Bad picture, and messy crooked otaiko, but I'm still proud because I took ages to figure out how to use that side of the obi!

Detail.

In that last picture, you can see the komon's pattern. You can also see the little coloured dots on the obi, and the yellow ro obiage and obijime. I used handphone charms for obi decoration: one of a gingerbread man and another of a fat transparent yellow cat. Oh yeah, I did figure out how to put multiple charms on the plastic thing! I tied a bit of string onto the plastic thing and put the charms on the string. Looks cute, doesn't it?

You like? I certainly do!

Coordination Comments: 9 Ensembles!

Yesterday, I mentioned that I would put together a few ensembles today and take pictures. Well, I ended up doing it last night while I was waiting for my hair to dry after my shower. Okay, so I was restless and couldn't sleep too, which is why I stayed up so late.

ANYWAY, I was determined to create an ensemble that would match the triangular Japanese shawl that my sister knitted for me. Here's a picture of it folded, but you can see much better pictures if you follow the link above.

Since I had that gray kimono, all I had to do was choose the right accessories. Of course, I kind of got carried away with creating ensembles, because not all of them match the shawl very well! =^_^="" I did have some difficulty trying to match the shawl and make the ensemble look younger at the same time because the general colour scheme is quite mature, but I think I managed at some point.

I also need some help choosing a hat! I have four hats that could go well with some coordinates, but I can't decide which! Here's a picture of the hats. You can see which ones to choose from in the pictures of each ensemble.

Here are the ensembles I created!


1) Pale blue obi with a pink and red hawk on a gray branch. This one is my favourite, I think. I don't think hawks have seasons, so I can wear this at any time in June and September!

I chose pink accessories to accentuate the hawk. Here is an upclose picture of the details:

As you can see, I have some phone charms on it. I have this handy plastic device onto which I can attach these charms and then slip behind the obi so that the phone charms can dangle from the top of the obi. You can vaguely see the red mushroom attached to it here and tucked behind the obi. The only problem is that I can only put one at a time! Which one should I choose? Or should I find a way to put multiple charms onto it? Maybe tie a bit of string? Hmmm, this requires some thinking...


2) Magenta (or wine-red, I can't really tell) yuzu obi with pink accessories.

The obi and the kimono together matches the shawl very well. I chose pink accessories so that the outfit will feel warmer. A little difficult to see, but the obi accessory is a pink cupcake, the same one in the earlier detail picture. This seems suitable for wearing in late September.


3) Magenta yuzu obi with blue accessories.

In this one, all the colours match the shawl really well. Almost too well, perhaps? It certainly makes for a cool-feeling outfit. I think I would wear this in late June or early September, provided the weather is right.


4) Magenta yuzu obi with dark green accessories.

I'd thought to accentuate the green leaves in the ensemble. Unfortunately, this turned out really dark and dull! I don't think I'll wear this anytime soon (read: within the next 20 years), because the colour seems to be more suitable for a 40 or 50 year old woman!


5) Magenta yuzu obi with white and green accessories.

From the previous ensemble, I was hoping a white obiage would lighten and brighten up the ensemble. Luckily, it did! I forgot to put in a pair of white lace tabi that I would wear with this. Unfortunately, the green seems to clash really badly with the shawl, so I won't wear this with the shawl (i.e. not gonna wear on Saturday). Besides, this is more of a late May ensemble anyway.


6) Grayish pink obi with white and yellow accessories.

Not seasonally appropriate because the embroidered flowers are sakura. I think I would wear this when I'm at home in hot Malaysia and it's sometime in March or April. Here are upclose details of the obi decoration:

If you squint, you can see that the stamen of the sakura are done in deep yellow, which is why I chose a yellow obijime. The obiage is white because a yellow obiage would be too much. The obi accessories are of a pink cupcake, a yellow chick and a brown monkey eating a banana.


7) Pink striped obi with floral detail. OMG I think that if I didn't have to match this with the shawl, this would be one of my favourites, right up there with the hawk obi! I would wear this in Malaysia from March till May.

You can see that the leaves of the flowers are the same shade of green as the obijime, which is woven with strands of pink the exact same shade as the obi! It looks as though they were made for each other! I chose a cupcake and a gingerbread man accessory because the obi motif reminds me of the countryside and country kitchens, which also brings to mind home baked goodies. The obiage is white to balance the colours and to lighten the ensemble. I had placed a pair of pink lace tabi on the picture, but now I think a pair of white lace tabi might be better.


8) Plain white summer-weight obi with blue accessories.

This is a rather cold outfit. Also, because of the lack of motifs on, well, everything, it's very plain and dull. Really everyday-wear, this. I'd thought to brighten it up with a flamingo obidome and three accessories of a transparent yellow cat, a yellow chick and the banana-eating monkey, but it doesn't really do much. Definitely a late June ensemble, this.


9) The final ensemble: the same plain white obi with pink accessories.

Once again, really really plain. The obijime is the same shade of purple the shawl is. This seems to be more of a late May ensemble.


I paired all of them with geta rather than zori because I haven't received my new zori yet. Besides, it's expected to rain this Saturday, so I guess geta would be better.

Sooooo people? Opinions? Which one should I wear on Saturday? Which one do you like best? Any suggestions on improving them?

Yukata set!

Hi again!

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but it's been a busy week. First, Mel and I went to Concord for Reunion weekend. The trip back was horrid, although not the worst I'd ever heard about.

Then I had coursework to finish - just handed it in today. I really really dislike this module - heck the lecturer himself said that we were trying to compress a 2 year module into one term (i.e. 10 weeks)! Crazy. If that weren't enough, our textbook is actually a textbook for MBA students. Go figure.

Anyway, sometime in the course of the past two weeks, I bought this yukata set:

Detail of yukata:

Pretty isn't it??? Plus, I get a free uchiwa fan to go with it!! I haven't got a picture with me at the moment, but when I get it, I'll take pics to show!

I got it all for US$60 - about US$15 more expensive than my previous UNIQLO sets, but this one comes with geta (the slippers)! And a free uchiwa... AND a nicer bag! *squees* I can't waaaaait ^______^ Ooooh, I wish summer would hurry up and arrive just so I can wear it out! *giggles evilly*

Just to point out - you see the obi? How it's all tied up already and with that weird white hook? That's a tsuke obi. Very easy to use. Just wrap the long piece around your torso, and tie it in place (with attached strings that will be hidden), then hook the metal bit into the back of the strip and secure the bow in place by tying it with strings attached. A little difficult to explain, so I'll post a demonstration of how to use it when I get it and can take pictures.

I'm still contemplating buying the yukata sets from Kamoya. If I do, I'll have it sent to Malaysia - after all, that's where I'm gonna wear them. Plus, my sis likes them too, so there will be more people wearing yukata! *yay to spreading the love of kitsuke around!*

I've been having this really really odd craving for blueberry muffins lately, so I baked some just now. I just happened to have a box of Bisquick in my cupboard and a bag of blueberries sitting in the fridge, so I whipped these up:

Not very sweet, but bursting with blueberries! Yumminess. I think I'll go have another one, with a glass of milk. Bye people!

What is koshihimo?

Koshihimo (pronounced koh-she-he-mow) are the long narrow strips of cloth with which you secure (tie) your kimono with. These are always hidden from view, and it is considered to be a major faux pas for it to be showing.

These handy little strings are very useful - not only are they used in tying your kimono, but they are also very useful (almost necessary in fact) when tying most obi styles! They can also be used to tie your sleeves up when doing housework so that the sleeves are not dirtied by water/oil/etc.

This item is one of the absolute musts to have when one wishes to wear kimono, even if it is the simple yukata.

What is tabi?

Tabi are the split-toe socks one wears with kimono (though not with yukata - that is too informal for tabi). They are usually the first thing to go on after one has put on certain undergarments (except for juban - there are undergarments to protect juban from the skin too, usually made of cotton) because it is difficult to put them on once the whole ensemble is on.

Tabi is an important part of a kimono ensemble, and any ensemble would look incomplete without it (once again, except for yukata). Tabi are traditionally a plain white, but may come in various colours, patterns and types of cloth. They may be a patterned red, or made of lace. Plain black tabi are usually worn for funerals only.

Closet Feature: Kimono Item of the Week~~

Alright, this time it's a little different, cos I thought I'd post one of my yukata sets instead. Now, I'm only posting this as a set because this was the way the seller posted the picture :P Yes, I bought it 2 n a half years ago as a set, and it came like that as well as with 3 koshi himo. The whole set is actually in Malaysia at the moment cos I wear it the most often there. I just noticed I typed the word 'set' once in every sentence in this paragraph. LoL.

This may be one of my favourite yukata of all those that I have. I really like the colour of the dark blue and white together, and since I rarely wear dark colours on my actual clothes, this makes for a nice and refreshing change. Also the cloth is good quality and feels lovely against my skin, plus it's so breathable! To come to think of it, I've worn this yukata more often than any of my sets altogether! o_O

I will also admit that I really love the obi, mainly for the fact that it's plain white and will look good with any of my coloured komon! The joy ^______^ Maybe I really should've brought it back to London, just so I can wear kimono more easily.. (otaiko obi is much harder to tie compared to hanhaba obi!) Just as a small note, hanhaba obi = obi where the width of the whole obi is around 6" or 15cm.

I have pictures of me wearing it (in fact, I'd just worn it less than a month ago!) but those are in my brother's laptop and I forgot to take the pics from him! Oh well... Next time then! ^^ Turrah!

Closet Feature: Kimono Item of the Week~~

This was the third part of my birthday kimono set. This item here is a nagajuban, which is the layer that goes under the kimono. It is made of silk and the patterns on it (the description said 'treasures' o_O) is woven. It fits very nicely with my momiji kimono, as the measurements (except for the entire length) is just 1cm shorter than the kimono, so the fabric does not scrunch up. The length is perfect for me at 130cm so that it does not need extra tying at the waist, and yet is not too short so as not to feel uncomfortable.

I really love how just a hint of the juban's redness shows from the openings in the sleeves, complementing the orangey red parts of the green obi in the ensemble. Together with the red zori, obiage and obijime I chose, some brightness is added to an otherwise subdued outfit, making it look refreshing and younger.

I have worn this outfit once, and I do have pictures, although not very good ones, since my kitsuke that day was very messy. I will post pictures of those next week after I have posted the obiage and obijime and maybe the zori too.

Till then~