Outfit Snap: Patrick's Birthday and Furisode Dress-Up Pics

So yesterday was Patrick's birthday. He turned 18. Congrats, Patteh!! He went out with a bunch of friends, but I was feeling really ill, so I stayed home. Oh well. At least we sort of celebrated the day before! I took him out shopping and we bought LOADS of clothes for him!

I asked him how he felt, and he said "no different". :D We're of the same wavelength, alright!

He went back to Concord today. His luck with trains seems to be improving - no delays or sudden changes this time! :D

Anyway, two Thursdays ago, Mel's sister Michelle was over at our flat after Borough Market. For ages, she's been wanting to dress up in kimono, and I keep promising to do it, but we never have time. Since we had loads of time that day, I decided to dress her up in furisode so that she'd have a good experience wearing kimono and would feel pretty! I had two spring furisode for her to choose from, and let her decide which one she wanted. Having good taste, she chose the nicer (and more expensive) one XP

Here are pictures!!!

Doesn't she look so cute??? :D We didn't know who was more excited about this, her or me :P

The furisode is very pale pink with grey clouds and stylized sakura (cherry blossoms), cranes (the purple birds) and phoenixes (the orange birds) as its motifs. This furisode was relatively cheap for being so pretty, unique, modern AND in perfect condition! In fact, considering that it's just about the perfect size for me, it's really really cheap!

This obi is one of my more expensive ones, and is brand new from Yahoo Japan Auctions. Doesn't it match the furisode perfectly??? The colours and the patterns, not to mention that shiny gold sheen on it!! *hearts* You know, everyone who sees that obi falls in love with it. Mel and Mich most certainly did! :D

I decided to tie it in a fukura-suzume, which means plump sparrow, and I thought it was cute: the furisode had a pattern of birds and flowers, while the obi had a pattern of flowers and was tied in a bird style! However, I also think that a tateya musubi (diagonal arrow style of tying) would look very nice with this :)

I was really proud of my obi-tying skills, because this was only my second time tying a fukura-suzume onto someone else, and I did it completely from memory! YAY! And, uh, it isn't quite as lop-sided as it looks in the photos :P

For the accessories, I used a hot pink kasane-eri (that pink stripe you see at the collar. It's to give the impression of multiple layers) to highlight the bright pink bits. I hadn't coordinated a proper obiage and obijime for this furisode and obi set, so we had to make-do with what I had. It doesn't look too bad, but I've already bought a cheap but very pretty formal obijime for this. It's bright pink, like the kasane-eri, to highlight both the kasane-eri and the pink parts of the furisode. I haven't decided what obiage to match this with, but I'm still tossing bits of fabric about to see what looks good before I buy something :)

The juban is a little off, because I don't have a juban with sleeves that fit this. Still, I think it looks okay... Right? Anyway, if I ever do get a juban with sleeves to fit this furisode, I think I'll have to get something in a colour that matches! Pale pink is the most common colour and really would match, but something like hot pink or pale gray would be nice too :) Or maybe I can make fake juban sleeves? :P

I didn't use a han-eri, but I've decided that when I put together the full complete set, I'll sew my white han-eri with gold sakura decorations onto the juban! White han-eri looks nice with this ensemble, and I believe the gold decorations will suit it perfectly :)

What do you think? Do you like it? I can't wait to wear it myself!!! :D