Fun at the Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market

This year I have a lot of "lasts" to write about. It's my last year in England, my last December here, and my last Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market. For our December Kimono de Jack we have a tradition of going to Birmingham for the Christmas Market there, and like I was saying before, this year is my last. I'm starting to get a bit sentimental about leaving England. Yes, it's not my favorite place in the world, but I still spent the 4 years of my life here, made good friends and great memories, and I will miss some things about living here.

The day before leaving for Birmingham I picked up Hong from London so she could keep me company on the 2hrs drive. Several month ago we talked about wearing out twin kimono, and this trip seemed like perfect opportunity. I mean think about it! Twin kimono, in dark red, with PINE CONES being worn to a Christmas Market. Could it get any more perfect than that?

In reality, the two kimono are not completely alike. Hong's looks like it's made from chirimen, while mine is from rinzu silk with various designs woven in. Also, the mons are different. It's almost seems like her kimono was trying to imitate mine but whoever commissioned it didn't have the funds to get one exactly the same. We had a blast making up stories about these two kimono during the weekend. So far we came up with a story of two sisters, living during Taisho era. One got married into impoverished samurai family (Hong), and the other into a successful merchant family. They got two kimono made that looked almost the same, except the samurai wife could only afford chirimen silk. The merchant wife was a flamboyant modern woman of her time, so she went all out on rinzu with extra SNAZZ!

Kitacon, April 13-15

Hello Everyone,

This weekend I will be at Kitacon with several friends, doing a kimono demo/workshop on Friday night, and selling our kimono stuff at the dealer's room on Saturday and Sunday.

So if you're going to Kitacon, come say hi to us at the dealer's room. :) I will be happy to answer any kimono questions you might have, and help you coordinate outfits, and dress you in kimono!

If you want to see some of the stuff I'm bringing, check out my FB album. I have a lot more stuff not photographed, and after Kitacon Hong and I will photograph what we have left. For now, if there is anything specific you would like me to bring, just let me know and I will make sure to take it.

~ Lyuba

Kimono de Jack UK goes to Frankfurt Christmas Market Again

On Saturday Kimon de Jack UK went to our second annual trip to the Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market. I wore the same outfit that I wore few weeks ago to HPMSocial in London, and which I loved so much that I wanted to wear it again soon!.

The obi is the star obi from my Obi Lot of Doom that I got last month. I actually didn't realize that it was a fukuro obi!

My mom sent me this fur collar and the cape. I got the velvet gloves in one of the stores here in UK, and combining all of the accessories I felt very Taisho Chic. That is, until you see the whole picture and my very modern boots :) I am a firm believer that kimono really shines in winter time, when we can pull out all the fun accessories that we can't wear during any other time.

Kimono de Jack goes to Cadbury World in Birmingham

Hello Everyone,

It is hard to believe but last weekend I attended the 5th monthly Kimono de Jack event in UK. That's right, the FIFTH event. It might not seems like a lot to many, but to us it means that kimono lovers in UK are becoming a less rare sight on the streets. Yes, we are small in numbers but our enthusiasm for kimono makes up for it.

For this Kimono Jack we decided to go to Cadbury World in Birmingham. I've never been there, as well as several other girls, but it was on my To Go to list before I leave UK.  Because we were going to a chocolate factory most of us decided to wear something washable, just in case :) I wore yukata instead of kimono, but underneath I still had the whole shebang. Those that know me well know I really don't like yukata much, but this one is an exception. I wish, oh how I wish, it wasn't a yukata lol.

After wearing this yukata as kimono, I must admit that I wasn't that impressed. Not sure why, either because it IS a yukata, or because it hadn't been washed yet, but it felt very stiff and not as "flowing" as usual kimono. Wearing it was a pain, and it also clung to everything. I don't think I will ever wear yukata as a kimono again but instead will save yukata for yukata appropriate occasions.

After our chocolate adventure we met up with 2 other people for lunch. I think this also made us to have a record number of people to date, 8 total to attend Kimono de Jack event. Exciting :)

Next Kimono Jack will be in Manchester on March 6th for Manchester Antiques Fair.

~ Lyuba

Kimono Jack in Birmingham

Hello everyone,

I've been kinda slacking on my kimono posts lately. Shame on me! But I am determent to fix the situation as soon as possible :P

Show off. Yup, that's me.

This past weekend our group went to Birmingham for the third Kimono Jack in UK. Most of us stayed at April's house since she is local to Birmingham where we got to meet her two Shiba Inu doggies. I've never seen a Shiba dog before, so I was very surprised at how small they turned out to be. And how catlike! Especially her boy, Mizuki I think? (I'm sorry if I got the name wrong) He reminded me so much of my Echo :) :)  Just a little furry drama queen with a huge ego!

When we arrived on Friday, we had a Birmingham Japanese Society annual Christmas party/kimono demonstration, but that is a topic for another post. On Saturday we got up fairly early, had breakfast, realized that  we only have 15 minutes to get ready and as a result were 30 minutes late to our own event. Good thing that all of us had each other's phone numbers, so we could text and warn about our late arrival.

We were joined by 3 ladies that I've never met before. Kate aka Rubyminky from Immortal Geisha, as well as two girls from the night before. I was busy being a paparazzi and never got to talk to them, so I don't remember their names. :(