Just Arrived #8

Hello Everyone,

Looking at my Just Arrived posts you would think that all I do is shop for kimono... well it's kinda true. I just take a while to shop and don't post until I get my hands on the items. I lost couple of pretty nice kimono to SAL shipping, so I don't like to announce to the whole world that I won something only for it not to arrive :(

I'm not a fan of asanoha usually, but this one is an exception... must be the stripes :) Oh, and it's ro too!

This gorgeous fukuro obi will match one of my furisode perfectly!

I was particularly excited about this set of vintage obijime, because they seemed to be one of those "fat" kinds. Sure enough, every single one of them is wider than normal!

These two are my favorites and probably the widest of the set. The top one could be worn two ways, although it might not have been intended that way since the light pink side is clearly more textured. Regardless, I plan on wearing both sides :) The bottom one is so deceptively simple, but in real life it's gorgeous salmon pink & turquoise! Naomi would be proud of that one! Oh, and it matches my nails AND my tshirt that I'm wearing right now :)

  Again, the bottom one could be worn two ways so I'm showing both sides.

 The one with the polka dots is my third favorite. It actually has the leaf pattern towards the ends, and the polka dots towards the middle. I bet it will look gorgeous worn!

 Another sha kimono for me! I could never have enough summer weight kimono.

As always, I could not pass up more dressing accessories. I got a set of different white stretched tabi and another set of obi itas. If only I could be that lucky with winning other types of dressing accessories!

Have you got anything new in the mail lately?

~ Lyuba

Hello Travelling Kimono - First Stop is Cambridge!

Hello Everyone,

I'm sure most of you have heard by now about the Sisterhood of Travelling Kimono project, but if you haven't than check out the link immediately! Basically one kimono will travel to many countries and to even more people, where each person will dress up in that kimono, post photos and pass it on to the next person. For the first round we have 40 people who signed up, so I'm estimating that it will take at least 2 years for kimono to make its rounds! How cool is that?

One of my kimono got chosen as the Travelling Kimono, so I had the privilege to start the journey. Last Saturday I went to Cambridge to check out The Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China exhibit at one of the museums there, and thought it would be a perfect opportunity to wear the kimono. Plus the day was very pretty too, so extra double reason to wear my kimono!

I was talking to Naomi about what to coordinate this kimono with, and she had an image in her mind about me going for the sailor theme, since I've done several sailor themed coordinations  before. I though it was a great idea, and went with it. I don't know about you, but I felt all kinds of pressure, being the first one, AND doing the Travelling Kimono too! I don't envy all the participants because I can imagine they all will have similar thinking, and I'm really glad that I'm all done and over with it. :P

 The crazy concoction of an obi that you see there is my "easy" obi from hell, meaning it's not easy to wear at all! Since it's the only red obi I own, I was determined to wear it, so I've pre-folded it into a semblance of tsunodashi musubi. It didn't turn out as well as I wanted too, but I can live with that. Now that I know what didn't work, I'll take it apart and re-do the whole thing.

It was extremely hot that day, even more so because this kimono is lined. Yes, I wore a lined kimono in 25C weather! But it needed to be done, so that it could go on to its next stop. Thankfully the museum had AC, so I was very comfortable there.

Walking around Cambridge, we came across this pub/restaurant and I just had to take a photo with the sign! How cool is that? Even the surrounding area helped with supporting my theme! Of course the trashcans just added to the general greatness (NOT) lol, but I'm thinking if push comes to shove, I can bribe someone to photoshop them out.

Next stop for the Travelling Kimono is London!

~ Lyuba

Just Arrived #7

Hello Everyone, 

I actually haven't been much in the blogging mood lately, well I haven't been in an anything mood really, so for now I'll just show you my new stuff. 

For some reason I'm on a vintage bamboo obi kick. I think it started after I got this obi (very last photo), and now I want more of them! 

I don't know if I told you all before, but I'm kinda *slightly* obsessed with all the dressing accessories. I seriously hoard them! So when I saw this lot, I knew I had to have it, regardless of the price! Thankfully the price didn't go too high :) :) :)

The very front one is very small, so I think it's a kids one. 

I can never get enough of these kimono girls! 

This reminds me of one designer that always does fabric in this style, but I don't remember her name :(

This one is gorgeous, but so tiny!

This one is the biggest and the widest, so I foresee a lot of use out of it!

I know several people who will drool over this obi ita ;P 

My least favorite of the bunch, but hey it will still be useful :) 

Finally, here is my newest kimono! I'm trying to get more summer weight kimono now, just in case we will be going back to Florida. I knew it was hitoe, but of course I didn't know just HOW thin it was until I got it yesterday! I'm so excited, because it's the same weight as this kimono, and both of them are almost transparent! While I don't think they are sha per se, they are still VERY thin! :)

Let me know what you think about my new beauties :) 

~ Lyuba

Just Arrived #6

Hello Everyone,

WHOOPS! I forgot to post about these items that I got couple of weeks ago. I even wore the Space Apple obi already too.

First is my very first tsumugi AND a grape design obi. I didn't realize just how much I like grape designs until I got this, but now I'm officially a grape design addict! This obi is also very thin, and much much cuter in person. I can't wait to wear it! :)

I named this obi a Space Apple obi, because I think the design looks like an apple out in space. Isn't it just adorable?

Have you gotten anything in the mail lately?

~ Lyuba

I did wear kimono in May!

Hello Everyone,

I've been pretty silent on this blog because I've been pretty busy with various events. I did wear kimono though and here are some photos as proof!

First Hong and I went to the Golden Festival organized by the Cambridge Anglo Japanese Society at The Cambridge Union. I did a kimono talk there, and also sold some of my kimono.

Us, being extra fabulous selves. 

This guy was walking around, and we couldn't pass up an opportunity to dress him in kimono.

I wore my only sha kimono with my super adorable ro obi, which I never had an opportunity to wear until this moment.

We also participated in the Yozakura Party fashion show, which you can see here. I filmed the whole thing while Hong worked backstage making sure everything was nice and smooth going. I can't tell you how happy I was that she stayed and helped me, because saying it was CRAZY would be an understatement. THANK YOU HONG! Unfortunately I didn't realize that everyone will come out at the last minute, and took off the camera off the tripod. The second video is me filming while holding the camera. Had it stayed on the tripod, I could have just pressed the filming button and ran out there with everyone. Oh well :(

Kimono starts at around 4min mark. Logan (the guy in the green kimono), was EPIC! Hong and I are trying to get him to be our model now :) :) :)



Next we also went to the Camcon on May 12, where we were the dealers again and where I did a talk on kimono. I wore one of my favorite striped kimono with my newest obi. I call it Space Apple obi! I don't have any pictures of the back, but trust me when I say that the design looks like a space apple! :)

We saw several artists doing manga portraits, so we requested ours to be done too. The one on the right was done first, but we took one look at it and said it was too nice! So we requested an "evil" portrait too. :) I love them both and will frame them! I also asked one of the artists to decorate my Moo card box, and when Hong saw it she had to ask for her box to be decorated too!

Let me know what you think!

~ Lyuba