Photo shoot with Kenji - more traditional

 The second outfit I choose was more traditional. I had a kimono from Taisho era which was 165cm long which I snapped up precisely because of that, and the stripes of course, that I couldn't wait to wear. It is pretty decent in the wingspan too, and fairly wide too, so it was very easy to wear. Lets just say I'm really happy that I got this kimono!

For haneri I used the haneri I made back in December over at April's house, it's white silk with rhinestones snowflakes designs. Since our weather was all over the place in March, I felt like it was an appropriate not to winter that just wouldn't leave. The obi is my favorite black and white bamboo nagoya that I got from Hong. I also used a turtle brooch as an obidome, but you can't see it that well in photos. Still, it is there and it's super adorable!

Kenji took me to a small village on the way to Bury St. Edmunds that had a convenient phone booth location, meaning it wasn't near garbage bins like every other one around here, and it was in an open area. I've always wanted to take photos in kimono in the red phone booth, and now I have them!

I'm extremely happy with the phone booth photos, especially the very bottom one. I think that photo shows very well how one can still be sexy in kimono without having to show much skin at all! Or could it just be me that looks very sexy in kimono...? ;)

Photo shoot with Kenji - modern

Back in March I did a photo shoot with one of the local photographers I found on Modelmayhem. He was pretty excited for a kimono shoot, and I was pretty excited to be the model for once! Before you start telling me that I'm ALWAYS a model, just look at the gazillion of photos that I have, I mean a model for professional photographer :) .

I choose two outfits, one of them in my usual style and another more traditional. Some of you might remember when I bought this kimono a few month ago. Since then I was dying to wear it, but kept putting it off because the season is not right. For the photo shoot I decided to ignore the seasons and just go with it. 

I'm pretty happy with this outfit, but if I had to re-do it, I would pick a different haneri. Or I would add some white lace to this haneri, to make it stand out more. When I was picking out the outfit, the haneri seemed like a good idea because I figured it will match the tights I was going to wear. Not so much when I actually put it on. The green obiage was a last minute addition for an extra pop of color. I originally was going to wear my favorite white and yellow one, but change it in favor of my dark green shibori. 

My favorite photo is the very first one, with the church and cemetery. The church is located about 5 min drive from my house, and doesn't look like much when you drive by, but it looks great in photos. It is possibly abandoned too, because there were lots of signs of neglect. Funny, but ever since I came to UK and saw all these old churches with cemeteries on their grounds, I always thought it would be cool to take a photo there but never got enough courage to actually do it. Well, now I have one. :)