Just Arrived #28

Hello Everyone,

After selling off MOST of my sale stuff at the Japan Fest in Atlanta, I was able to buy me some things that I would actually wear. I have a LOT to show you! I'm pretty excited about all these things, even if I'm not quite feeling up to wearing kimono as often as I used to right this moment.

First up are chuya obi I got. Chuya obi are my weakness, I absolutely love them and simply can't pass them up.

I also got more haori. This one is a gorgeous dark emerald green color, almost the same in shade as the obiage you will see in a moment. In the photo it doesn't look that great, but in person... it's OH MY! The other haori is gorgeous too, even if I can't quite figure out the seasonality.

And here is the obiage and obijime I was just talking about. It's such a deep green color!

I got more nagoya obi too, but I'm only going to keep two of them. Unfortunately they are not in a great condition, but fortunately if I make them into tsuke obi, they will be wearable again.

I'm always on lookout for a ship obi, except I don't particularly care for shusu silk and painted obi. When I saw this obi, I knew I had to have it! It's a gorgeous lavender color with a woven ship pattern! I'm not keeping the other obi.

When I first got this obi, I wasn't sure if I'm going to keep it. I'm simply not a fan of birds, plus I thought this obi is going to be very bright yellows. Well, it turned out to be a gorgeous yellow-green-olive color, plus pretty long for a vintage obi! It was love from first (in person) sight for me! So now this obi is added to my collection and it's not leaving it!

Before coming to the US I sold my favorite black and white kimono to help off set the costs of shipping my cats to the USA, so now I'm hoping to replace it with something similar. This kimono is in no way similar, but

it is black and white, and synthetic. It fits me beautifully! Sometimes I forget how it feels to have a properly fit kimono LOL!

Finally, here is another striped kimono I got! I already worn it to a photo shoot last week.

Told you I got a lot of stuff to show you! :D

~ Lyuba

SALE to fund my secret kimono projects

Some of you might have seen this already on Facebook and Tublr, but I've decided to sell off more of my collection to fund my secret kimono projects. On my immediate To Buy list is a fancy dress form that has both arms AND head. My blog will benefit too, since I'll be able to do coordination posts from now on... because I'm not doing flat (on the floor) coordinations anymore. They are a great pain in the behind to photograph at home and I can't show off my hats that well.

Anyways, here are some of the items I've added. You can click on the caption and it will take you to the item. There are more items in the SALE album, so please check out the rest too! 

Reversible cotton chuya obi

Dark blue nagoya obi

Greyish-olive-green vintage nagoya obi

Magenta hitoe komon

Vintage striped komon
This kimono may or may not appear in one of my secret projects... ;P

Beige stylized roses tsukesage

Orange komon

Beige and orange maple leaf komon

Black and red plaid kimono & haori set

Grey geometric komon

Men's juban

Pink juban

Just Arrived #18

After my work at the Japan Day I've decide to treat myself to some new kimono goodies. I'm always on a lookout for more chuya obi, so when I saw these two come up for sale, I didn't have to think long.

The first obi is deceptively plain, but I do like plain stuff. I love the grey color too. I could probably pair it up with brighter kimono and some funky accessories, and it will look great.

The next obi is a ro chuya obi, and it's actually ro on both sides! Usually when I see a ro chuya obi, only one side is ro but the other is normal, which in my opinion, pretty much defeats the purpose of ro. With this one not only both sides are ro, but both sides are also patterned!

I'm really excited about these two obi!

Have you gotten anything good in the mail lately?

~ Lyuba

Just Arrived #17

This week I got some epic things in! First of all, this juban is actually a bright pink with turquoise, so really striking. I can't wait to wear it! It is also lined, but thankfully we are approaching the cold season, so I shouldn't wait too long to wear it. 

 I also finally got myself a ship obi! This is a vintage chuya (or soft fukuro) with ship design painted on. Usually I don't like handpainted obi because of paint cracking with age, but since the painted surfaces are pretty small, it doesn't look too bad.

 This is probably the most epic purchase in a long long while! Do I even need to say anything?

 Another set of accessories, because there are never too many!

 This datejime is seriously wide. I love it!

 Another obi ita, but this one is getting a spotlight because it's really long. I wonder what's the reason for different lengths?

Have you got anything nice in the mail lately?

Reverse Kitsuke

Hello Everyone,

Lately I haven't been feeling like doing kitsuke much. Last week I went to London to help Hong with her pre-wedding photo shoot where I dressed her up in kimono, so does it count as once a week kimono? This was about the extent of my kimono adventures in August, and I just couldn't bring myself to go anywhere. Sometimes I get tired of going places alone. Yes, I know that I constantly go on and on about not waiting for anyone and just wearing kimono and go for it, but even I get fed up with being the only one in my area. "My area" being the keyword, as I can always count on Hong but that would mean either going to London or her coming to me, which is a whole day thing. Sometimes I want a two hour thing instead.

Anyway, rant over. Today I've decided that enough is enough, and I NEED to wear kimono. My husband had his much dreaded eye contacts appointment, which went MUCH better than we thought it would, and it wasn't raining. So kimono day it was.

I've wanted to wear this kimono and obi combo for a while, but the last time I wore this same kimono, I went with the other side of the obi. Yup, essentially it's a reverse kitsuke. I went pretty low key with the obiage, picking ones that will compliment the colors of my ensemble vs. ones that stand out. Actually... don't I always pick ones that complement the colors of my ensembles? I guess this time I just felt like using obiage that will "blend in" a little more. The idea was to play off the colors in my new Irregular Choice shoes (so comfy too!!!) and a little bit from the haneri.

Everything was going pretty well until I got out of the car and realized that I've gotten car sick. Seriously, that haven't happened to me like... ever! I was the one driving! I think I got overheated (I get motion sick when I'm hot), which was hard to believe since I usually tolerate heat very well. Plus, I wore this kimono to London, on the tube, in the same temperature, with the same obi, and was fine before. So what was different today? I'm thinking it's the combination of humidity, lack of ANY wind, and lack of AC in every place we went to today. I just couldn't cool down no matter what, so I was very thankful that our trip was going to be pretty short to begin with.

The moment we got to the car I took off the obi and untied kimono as much as it was possible without flashing anyone. It seemed to help a little, but I was still feeling pretty wonky for half a day. Seriously though, today just didn't help me get out of my kimono wearing funk at all!

~ Lyuba