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!

Outfit Snap: Birthday Kitsuke! 2011

My dad had made plans to take my sister, her fiancee and me to a nice Japanese restaurant for my birthday dinner today! (My mum is in Singapore for work)

It was a bit of a last-minute decision, but I decided to throw on a yukata. It was really fun! I had only 15 minutes from arriving home (and deciding I wanted to wear yukata) to leaving the house - and I had to coordinate something and wear it in that time!

In the end, I took out my new yukata from the Jusco Yukata Fair. This one was one of the more expensive ones, and you can tell the difference in the way the yukata falls! For some reason, it was much easier to put on, and mistakes were easier to adjust/fix. The fabric is a little stiff, but I think it just needs a few rounds of washing.



I didn't have much time to coordinate, so I chose this matching lilac obi as a fail-safe option. Pairing the yukat with a white obi just looked a little too dull for me today, and dark purple looked too strong against this yukata, as did light pink. I can probably pull together a better coordinate with those colours if I had the time to carefully choose my accessories, but as it is, I'm pretty happy with my decision :)

(Besides, everything matched with this week's manicure! XD /bimbo-moment)

Story: I hadn't even decided on which obi I wanted to wear when I was getting dressed! I just tossed on the yukata and held up different obi to my waist to see the effects hahaha.

Yukata, geta and fan were from the Jusco Yukata Fair. Bag was bought from The Curve I think. Obi bought online.

Btw, I know that yukata is waay to informal to wear to such a nice restaurant, but I didn't have time to dress in a TPO-appropriate outfit >< As it is, I hadn't even slapped on any make up lol!

Sorry for the awful pic, but I'm tired and it's way past my usual bedtime ^^;;

Goodnight, everyone! For those who celebrate, Happy Halloween!

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 :)

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: Periwinkle Rose Yukata

Was feeling a little antsy tonight and had lots of time to spare, so I decided to dress up in one of my new yukata!



A bit of a close-up on the yukata's design:


I'd been dreaming about pairing this yukata and this obi together since I first saw this yukata, and it does go surprisingly well together! I was aiming for a more "cool" look rather than sweet & flowery, which is why I used a pair of black geta rather than blue or purple or pink. I guess I was also kind of hoping to pull in the dark colours from my hair, watch, fan and camera together ^^;

The fan is a little cutesy for this outfit, but it was the only one I had that matched colour-wise.

Nowadays, I always feel that an outfit is too plain if there isn't some form of decoration at the obi, even if it's just a fan tucked into it, so I stuffed by everyday pearl necklace into it for a little something. I reflected the pearl theme with a pearl ring.

The yukata, geta and fan were all bought at this year's Jusco Yukata Fair :)

I'm.... not entirely happy with today's kitsuke, but considering that it took me about 20mins from deciding I wanted to wear yukata to fully dressing in it, accessories and all, it's actually pretty okay XD;

Any C&C on this coordination would be really appreciated! ^_^ What other obi do you see this yukata with? There are so many possibilities that I have no idea what to wear next with it haha.

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 ^^)

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

Closet Feature: Red Yukata & Black Obi

So.... I've finally decided to get rid of this red yukata ^^; I've worn it a few times, so while it's clean and stain-free, it's not in the best condition... But the material is softer now, compared to when I first received it!

I tossed this plain black obi with the yukata (the reverse side of the obi is bright red) because I got it with one of the yukata sets I bought for a godsister and there was no way I was going to let one of my godsisters wear such an ugly thing ^^;;;

I kind of think that if the obi was folded a little in the front to show off a bit of red, it'd look pretty nice with this yukata :)

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

Closet Feature: Black Yukata & Hot Pink Obi

I was taking pics of some yukata I'm selling to a friend of a friend, and thought I'd share the pics here one at a time.

Here is the first of the 8 outfits I've put together:


(Please don't mind the low quality photo - I had to use my phone's camera as my mum is holding my camera hostage at the moment ^^;)

Both the yukata and obi are brand new.

I'm not really looking for critique on coordination - I paired the yukata and obi based on what matched best together from the pile I wanted to get rid of.

I just kind of wondered how much you'd pay for a set like this? I'm selling this to her at cost price because she's a friend's friend, but I was kind of curious to know how much most people (especially Malaysians!) would be willing to pay for this sort of thing.

Good night!

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!