Outfit Snap: Kofurisode kitsuke

I had spent most of my afternoon cleaning up the flat. The living room, the bathroom and my room are now all clean. The kitchen floor is vacuumed. All that's left is to vacuum the outside corridor and the staircase, and clean up the kitchen!

Despite having done alot of housework in the afternoon, I'd felt really restless tonight, so I decided to try out my new hakama set. My hakama set was bought a few weeks ago, and consists of a polyester kofurisode (that is, a "little" furisode - the sleeves are only 76cm), a yellow hanhaba obi and a maroon hakama.

Unfortunately, when I put on the juban and the kofurisode, I'd forgotten to adjust the length for hakama! And so, I just plucked off an obi from the top of a pile of them. Just so happens that the obi at the very top was bright pink, has lilies, and just arrived yesterday! I thought it'd match well, with regards to colour, but I'm not sure if the patterns match.

My kitsuke is rather messy, as I thought that it'd all be hidden under the hakama. *blushes in embarrassment* (=^_^=") Also, since I wasn't going to wear it out and was only going to put it on for a trial run, I didn't take out the basting stitches.

Aaaaand here are photos! ^_^

I just love how this obi looks from the back!

Don't mind the weird face - I was really sleepy by then.

Actually, I've heard it said that one should never wear a nagoya obi with a furisode. However, this is a kofurisode, which means the sleeves are rather short, plus it has a komon pattern, and is polyester, which means it's meant to be informal if worn on its own, I think. Anyway, to me, it just looks like a komon with longer sleeves! I think it looks cute with an otaiko.

What do you think? Looks good, looks bad? Should I change the obi? Or leave the obi and change the accessories?

I want opinions, people! XD

Kitty!

As promised, this post is about the cute not-so-little cat that visits our flat. Everyone, say hello to Darcy!



Don't mind the bad pictures. Darcy is actually taking a nap on my bed haha.

Anyway, MeiZi told me that if I were to leave the sliding door downstairs open, Darcy may come to visit, and sure enough, she did! She's very friendly; she'll come right up to you and let you pet her! There was once she jumped onto my lap and took a nap there while I petted her for a while. Then she hopped onto my bed and curled up among the pillows and took a nice long nap. She loves the IKEA sheepskin rug in my room; she keeps playing with it.

Of course, like all cats, she meows alot when we enter the kitchen, as though she's asking for food. I've fed her a bit of fish and given her some water, but that's really it. I do have a few sachets of cat food in my drawer, though, just to shut her up if she gets really noisy :P

I wonder how many flats she visits and how many people feed her?

Outfit Snap: *sighs*

One exam down, another to go... I don't really know how today's paper went. It felt easier than the coursework, but then again it was an MCQ paper (with negative marking!) so I might be a little too confident...

ANYWAY! Over the past week, I've only worn kimono twice. I feel proud because I haven't spent all my days wearing kimono even though I really really really want to.

Here is the first outfit I wore!




I was absolutely dying to wear yukata because I hadn't had much of a chance to wear them in Malaysia. Plus, I'd just received my ro obiage and obijime sets, so I wanted to try them out.The yukata is one of those which I got in my lot of 5 new yukata. I'll admit that when I first saw it, it didn't really strike my fancy, but once I took it out and put it on, I was absolutely smitten! I mean, such a gay shade of blue, and stripes!! And it's blue, white and pink too. Gorgeous.

The obi is a summer-weight all-white obi that I'd got on YJA for about USD20. It seems rather dingy and not as bright a shade of white as I'd expected or wanted, but it gets the job done XD

... Oh and I hadn't adjusted the collar properly in front, which is why it didn't stay back at the neck.

Next up is a furisode!! I was flipping through Komomo's book one evening when I had a sudden intense desire to look "that pretty! *points at book*" so I took out a furisode that I'd been dying to wear. The photos were taken on timer from a lower shelf looking upwards, so what little you can see of my face looks fat, and the collar doesn't really show properly. I assure you, though, that I'd adjusted it nicely and it was set almost scandalously low at the back!




I've posted this furisode here a few times already. I've finally gotten all the pieces I need together. Well, actually, I was just waiting for a juban that would fit it ehehe. I still need to find a suitable han-eri for this though.. The juban collar had a stain on it which I think is a make-up stain, but could well be a sweat stain (eww). Whatever it is, it doesn't really show when I put it on, but I'd feel better if I had a coloured collar. Besides, white against cream doesn't really look all that nice!

The kitsuke for the furisode is a little messy. Well, it might have been because it was my first time putting on the whole kit-and-kaboodle with a furisode. I've only worn a proper furisode once, and it was only practice without an obi. This was only my second time dressing in a furisode, and also my second time using a biyo-sugata to tie a fukura-suzume.

Of course, I was actually stupid enough that I put on the furisode first, then attempted to tie the obi onto the biyo-sugata. I struggled and struggled with the obi until I finally managed a bow. By then, my furisode was all messed up :( And I still wasn't satisfied with my fukura-suzume either! It might look alright, albeit rather lop-sided in these pictures, but from the side, you could still see all the gadget-y bits.

I think part of the problem might have been that I was unused to the obi - it was really thin! The first time I used the biyo-sugata, the obi was rather thick and stiff, so I had some problems, but at least the obi hid all the "unsavoury" parts from view!

The next time I wear a furisode, I must remember to:
1) Practice with my biyo-sugata. Maybe try a different bow that isn't fukura-suzume!
2) Practice fancy obiage styles.
3) Practice fancy obijime styles :P
4) Remember to sew on a han-eri and a date-eri.

That's all for now folks! Next post, I'll talk about our new cat! *squeals* (okay, okay, not our cat, per se, but rather the cute cat that visits us. I've got pictures too!)

P/S: What do you think of the colour coordination? I originally wanted a yellow obiage and white-and-gold obijime to go with the furisode, but the green set was right in front of me that day, and I thought "why not?" although it is a little unusual compared to what I originally set aside for it. Opinions?

Coordination Comments: More yukata coordinates

I was in Pavilion for dinner last night, and when we were walking around the lower ground floor before heading towards the restaurant, I happened to see this stall selling really really cute bags - all yukata-style! Of course, I couldn't resist and bought two of them. They were good quality, well-made and cheap too - RM127 for two bags! Think about it - that's only £20! Waaaaay cheaper than anything I'd find in London.

So of course, once I got home, I just had to play around with my yukata to see what goes with my bags. Despite being absolutely sotted with the lime-green bag, I have yet to find an ensemble that I'm equally as ecstatic about. There are two which look passable, but they look far better in real life than in the pictures, and compared to the other ensembles, they're rather odd. Anyway, onto the pictures!

... By the way, all these yukata are from my UNIQLO collection ;) I just played around with the various yukata obi I have.

In this one, I thought the white in the yukata and the bag's polka dots would come together with a white obi. The green goes quite nicely with the yukata leaves, so this is one of the more passable ensembles, but it's.... brighter and more colourful than what I'd normally wear:

I don't really know how I feel about yellow and pink together on an adult ensemble, but I do think it looks cute with the bag! Maybe if I let one of my younger cousins wear it? I certainly wouldn't!

This is the original obi that came with the yukata. The yellow bag looked odd next to it, so I thought of the green, but it also looks odd. Maybe I should just stick to a black bag?

This is also the original obi that came with the yukata. Makes for a sweet outfit, doesn't it? I love this bag with this yukata!

This yukata with a yellow obi certainly makes for a brighter outfit. This is one of the better ensembles.

I tried playing around with the colours of this ensemble, and since there was a little red in it, I thought red wouldn't be too bad a colour. Since there was yellow on the other side of the obi, I thought that if I were to show the yellow side, the yellow flower bag will also match.

Original obi with yukata. Nice mature outfit, but the bag gives it a bit of "youth". I quite like this, actually. Lime green and navy look so cute together. I will probably spruce up the obi a little with some green accessories.

The final ensemble I put together! Navy and yellow are always a good match for yukata!

So, what do you think? The pink yukata is sooooo hard to coordinate with! I doubt I'd ever go out in some of these ensembles, especially the pink and yellow one, but oh well. Just thought I'd post these ideas and see if anyone likes them haha.

Which is your favourite?

Coordination Comments: Two yukata coordinates!

I was feeling rather restless tonight, as I'd had a very heavy dinner, and when I'm too full, I can't sleep. I didn't want to shop online, and I was afraid to do my coursework, in case I made some major mistake in my calculations through my sleepiness.

So what did I do? Put together some yukata ensembles, of course! (^____^)V

I've been dying to wear an outfit that was more "otona" (adult/mature-woman/etc) with an otaiko bow. I'd even set my one ro juban aside for it, but the juban turned out to be much to small in the shoulders for the yukata, so I had to forgo having a juban collar. (Note: "Ro" is a type of weave of the cloth that makes it semi-transparent. Very good for the summer, as it is very cool to wear. Most of the better-quality yukata are made of cotton ro material.)

Unfortunately, I only have one obiage and obijime set here in Malaysia, and it isn't a ro set. It isn't even an informal set! Noooo, it's a formal pink shibori obiage and a wide (more formal) pink obijime. Nevertheless, I highly doubt anyone here in Malaysia would really be able to point out the difference (except for the residents of the Japanese flats near my house maybe), so I think I'll wear it out anyway.

Here is the first set:

The yukata is one of the first yukata I've ever bought online, and is from UNIQLO. It came as a set with a white hanhaba obi (which I love to bits!). I'd bought this odori (dance) obi ages ago, and hadn't any idea what to wear it with till I thought it would match this yukata. I was thinking that the pink of the obiage and obijime might be a little random and startling in this ensemble, and I'd actually love to wear a green or maroon set with this, but navy and pink seem to be worn together often enough that this is possibly forgiveable.

And up next is the second set!

This is another yukata from my first online purchase, also a yukata from UNIQLO. It was featured in one of the fashion magazines the year after! I was soooo excited to see that I had a yukata that actually appeared in a magazine *laughs*

Anyway, this yukata came with a black hanhaba obi. For coordinating this set, I'd stuck to the same general colour scheme because I wasn't quite sure what else to put with this. I like that it's all black and pink, but I have one tiny (okay, MAJOR) problem with this outfit - the obi is MOFUKU!!!! (Note: "Mofuku" is funeral-wear for those in mourning. It refers to any item that is all black. Obi have a black-on-black motif, and kimono will be all black with 5 family crests. Even the accessories like the obi ita and obi makura are black!)

I actually hadn't realised that it was mofuku when I bought it, because all the pictures indicated that it was a black obi with a gray pattern on it. I was understandably shocked when I received this in the mail, but it wasn't the seller's fault that I'd misunderstood his description (read: hadn't read the description thoroughly).

Although I like this outfit better than the navy one (in terms of obiage-obijime-matching), I'm still very hesitant to wear such a glaringly obvious mofuku item out. On the Immortal Geisha forums, there are whole threads dedicated to arguments for and against wearing mofuku items out. Some forumers say that different people tell them different things: it's a big faux pas to wear any mofuku item out, one should use little mofuku items in everyday kitsuke to get more use out of it, it's alright to wear a mofuku obi as long as the accessories are colourful. It all makes me dizzy!!

I think I wouldn't mind wearing it out (after all, I've seen pictures of people doing it in Japan), but I'm horribly afraid I'd offend someone with it.

What think you? Wear it out, or keep it in the closet?

To "anonymous" :P

To the person who'd left a comment on my blog> "Ohh 2 years my senior, eh? ^^; I'm sorry to say that I never really knew any of my seniors except for a few the year above mine and in my sister's year (2 years your senior) ._."" The only senior I remember from your year off the top of my head is Lee Aaron ^^;; Maybe I'll go and have a look at my school mags from 2002 and see if I could guess who you are ;P"

That was my reply to your comment :P I thought it'd be easier to reply out here than in there, because I'm lazy to scroll all the way down to check!

5 Sigma 2002? I just looked through the book and there isn't a 5 Sigma that year! XP

Outfit Snap: Yukata pictures~

I just got these pictures from my sis, so I thought I'd (finally) post pictures of myself (and my sister) in yukata!

First up is Bon Odori 2008. I'm on the left, wearing my beloved furisode yukata, and my sister is on the right, wearing my red Uniqlo usagi yukata.

I'd actually planned to wear an eri sugata (with a yellow haneri sewn onto it), and tie a double-obi knot using a larger pink hanhaba obi in the background with my yukata. However, despite practicing for a week, I really couldn't tie a satisfactory knot that looked decent, so I decided to forgo the double obi knot and used a plain purple chocho musubi. I'd also forgotten to bring my eri sugata from London, so I couldn't wear it. Please excuse the messy skirt - I hadn't realised it was folded in when I was taking the picture!

Next up is an outfit I wore to dinner on Friday night. We had to buy chocolate for the chocolate fountain we'd promised at a family dinner tonight, so after work, Ling, Pot, Patty and I drove to Bangsar Village to have dinner and buy the chocolate. I've been dying to wear yukata lately, so I wore this outfit to dinner, which we had in Mizu. For a food review, I'd expect my sister to post one up soon! (hint hint)

I thought to try a more pop-style that looked like it stepped out of the Yukata Daisuki magazine, but I'm not sure I did it right x_x It certainly is incomplete!

Do I look over-embellished or too busy? I was really in a rush, so the earrings I picked out weren't as bling as I thought they were and I hadn't the time to pick out other accessories like rings and bracelets (my hands look too plain compared to the rest of me). I did put on large earrings, a belt (that's the white beads), black lace tabi and a really cute bag that's white satin with black lace, diamante and feathery fluff on it. Oh! And I'd used a pink sensu that matches the pink on the yukata perfectly too.

It's a little hard to see, but I'd also put a really big flower in my hair like I sometimes see in magazines, albeit in a rather tame hairstyle. The belt was also something I'd just dug out of my mum's belt collection (the belt, earrings and bag were all from her closet). I thought they looked slightly odd on the yukata, but without them, the yukata looked even odder.

What do you think? Over-embellished, under-embellished, or should I scrap this outfit completely and wear something more normal? Any other suggestions as to how to wear this yukata would be welcome! ^^