Kimono de Jack at Carnaby Street, London

Yesterday I went to London for our first KDJ of the year. This time the theme was Akira style, chocolate and tea rooms.

I left the house at 9:30 am and this is when the whole trip started to get downhill. When got to Epping tube station, I found out that part of the Central line was closed so I had to take a replacement bus service. I had to do it once before, and I absolutely hate bus replacement services! Of course, I could have just looked up to see if there were engineering works before leaving my house, but since I know where I was going, I didn't even think of doing that. Then, once I got to the tube station again, I ended up waiting for around 20 minutes on the tube just to move, because of the broken train. After that it was a very slooooooooow journey to my destination, with 3-5 minutes waiting at each station. So yeah... I was pretty much an hour late to the event that I myself organized lol.

Once I got to Carnaby Street all was well again, since the annoying tube was behind me, and all my friends were already waiting for me. I hit up Choccywoccydoodah first to see if they were still there by any chance, but they had already left, so I went to Camellia's Tea House where I've made an afternoon tea reservation.

When I arrived at Camellia's, no one was there yet! Turned out they made a detour to Liberty's haberdashery department, so I just walked around and looked at all the various teas that Camellia's had to offer.

We got to try the greatest chocolate tea ever! I'm not a fan of black tea at all, but this one was NICE! I think  most of us bought that tea before leaving too :) I know I will be requesting that particular tea in care packages after I leave UK (in exchange for American goodies of course!)

After we were full of tea, scones and cakes, we went back to Choccywoccydoodah area to take more photos. This is where some serious hilarity ensured, because I pulled out my Akira style beard and started posing for photos. I can't tell you how many people were stopping to look, laugh with us, and just be entertained in general. I could even see chocolate shop employees looking at us though the window, so I made sure to wink at especially cute guy ;P Don't worry, I had my beard off by then haha!

I had a blast and this KDJ was exactly what I needed! The great time IN London definitely made up for the not-so-great time spent getting there and back. I will definitely be going back to Camellia's to buy more tea too!

~ Lyuba

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!

Kimono de Jack UK takes over Harry Potter studio

Sometimes it's hard to believe that Kimono de Jack UK has been going on for over three years now. I know I have a hard time believing and it seems that just yesterday I've read about it on Ichiroya's newsletter and decided that UK should have one too. I'm also pretty sure I've said the same thing last year, during out second year anniversary.

This year's anniversary is extra special to me for another reason. Next year at this time, I won't be in UK any more and probably will never get to attend another anniversary meet up, unless I make a special trip back. Because of that, we wanted to do something mega epically awesome to commemorate my last year in the UK, and so we decided to go to Harry Potter Studio Tour dressed in kimono.

Before selecting which kimono to wear most of us went on Pottermore and got sorted into the houses. Hong and I got Ravenclaw, April go Griffindor and I think Isla and Kornelia ended up in Slytherin. I don't remember if the rest got sorted to, or if they just wore whichever kimono :) Since the colors of Ravenclaw are blue and bronze, I tried to get as close to that as possible. I don't actually own any obi that are bronze, but I do have one that's silver. In the movies Ravenclaw is blue and silver, so I figured that would work too. I also have tabi with owls on them, so I thought it was most appropriate to wear them to the studio.

Kimono de Jack UK Orian Showdown at Hyper Japan Christmas 2012

Photo by Stefan Dahl

I finally was able to go to Hyper Japan again! I missed the spring one because of some engineering works on the Central line which would have put me at 3 hours one way journey, so I was going to do my best to not miss this one.

The theme for our Kimono de Jack meet up was Oiran Showdown, where each one of us dressed up as our interpretation of oiran from Sakuran. I've been dying to wear this orange dance hikizuri that Hong has, so I used this opportunity to beg her to let me borrow it :) At first I was going to do something with my hair, like make some oiran-style hair bows, but at the end I didn't want to bother with it all and decided to go with my normal hair. Instead, I've also borrowed a kitsune mask from Hong and used it as my hair accessory.

Photo by April

Photo by Stefan Dahl

Photo by April. 

St. Patrick's Day Kitsuke

Hello Everyone,

Last Saturday I went to the March Kimono de Jack meet up in London, which also just happened to be the St. Patrick's Day too. Normally, I don't care, nor do I celebrate this day, but I figured I could have fun with the themed coordination.

The coordination came together fairly quick, although I wasn't sure on which haneri to wear. I posted a photo on FB, and one of my friends suggested I wear a pink haneri. I have to admit, that made me raise my eyebrows a little, but at the end turned out a great suggestion. Plus, the haneri I'm wearing also has white lace on it, so it helps to balance out the outfit I think.

I've finally figured out how to tie that stupid tsunodashi musubi! And it actually turned out, from the first try here! It was a good kimono day! :)

Did you wear kimono for St. Patrick's, or do a special themed coordination?

~ 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.

Lyuba's Guide to Starting a Kimono de Jack

Hello Everyone,

Kimono de Jack is taking the world by storm. Well, at least the kimono world. Either way, when it started back in 2010, only 11 people showed up. Now, there seem to be more than one KDJ in every prefecture in Japan, with people showing up in HUNDREDS! Oh how I wish I lived in Japan to attend of their Kimono de Jack. I've never seen that many people in kimono in one place at one time, and I think the experience would be amazing!

Although most of us, Westerners, don't live in Japan, it doesn't mean that we can't have our own Kimono de Jack in whatever country we live in. I started one in UK, and once I leave, I'm pretty sure I will be starting another one in whichever place we end up. So this is my guide on what to do. Take it with the grain of salt though, because YOUR situation might be different than mine (and because all of these are my opinions, and don't necessarily mean that you will agree with me).

Kimono de Jack is an event for people who love kimono and need more reasons to wear it.

1. If you find yourself thinking "Oh how cool, UK has KDJ. New York City has KDJ. I wish SOMEONE would start a KDJ in MY area!!!", stop thinking that and START ONE! 
Yup, be the one to do it! Even if you have no friends, and know of no kimono enthusiasts in your area. Kimono de Jack is meant to be just another reason to wear kimono, so wear kimono, call it KDJ, go hang out in the bookstore or whatever place you like to hang out at. If you do it often and regularly, people will start asking questions and who knows, maybe you will meet new kimono enthusiasts that way. I know I did back when I lived in FL, and spend all my free time in the bookstore and I didn't even try to start any KDJ.

2. Contact Akagi Mihiro, the founder, and get his official permission.
You can find him on FB, or on his website KimonoJack although it is in Japanese and I'm not sure if it has a "contact me" button. Either way, it's not that hard to get a hold of him and he will be ecstatic for another foreign KDJ, trust me!

3. Agree to follow three simple rules:
- Do not try to sell anything at Kimono de Jack.
- Do not use KDJ as platform for discussing or promoting religion or politics.
- Let the headquarters (aka Akagi Mihiro) know about your events (see #5).

4. Create twitter account (and add all the foreign KDJs, because I'm tired of my twitter feed being filled with Japanese, which I don't understand - optional to add me, but highly encouraged).
The very first KDJ was advertised on twitter, and I believe it is still used as the main advertising platform. So by getting a twitter account, you're following the tradition set by the Mighty 11!

5. Create a Facebook group. 
This is actually optional, but chances are your KDJ will never reach hundreds of people, so FB offers a nice way of organizing events and interacting with the members. It is also a nice way of letting Akagi know about your events, because you can just add him to the group and voila, he will get automatically invited to every event!

6. Create a blog and a website, and update it before and after each event. 
I consider this to be very important, because your blog will reach people who might not have Facebook. It will probably show up in searches too. And you can point people you've just met to your blog, instead of FB (because what if they don't have or don't want a FB account?).


7. Decide on how often you want to hold KDJ.
I admit, I am hung up on the once a month thing, but that's just me. You don't have to do it that way, you can have it once every 3 month, or twice a year. I also have to admit that I strongly believe that KDJ should be more than once a year, because holding it just once a year doesn't leave that strong of an impact. People forget, and you want to keep KDJ out there and fresh in memory.



8. Decide on a place to meet.
Yes, YOU decide on a place to meet. Don't wait for other to do it, don't even ask their opinion because you will never get a definite answer. At least do it for the first KDJ, to get things started. After you get a group of people that you know you can count on, then ask. Until then, it's all on you.


9. Get a business card and carry it with you EVERYWHERE!
I have both business cards and postcards made for KJD, and I carry them everywhere with me. I can't tell you how many times I had an opportunity to start a conversation about kimono, or KDJ, or Japan, and at the end I just hand out my business card so people could follow up if they wanted. Or contact us.

Here is the design for our postcard. The business card is the same, except smaller, but I find postcards work better for giving out at events because they are bigger. And because they are bigger, they have more space to write on the back!

If you want that creepy monkey logo, you can ask Akagi to email it to you. Or you can ask me and I will be happy to pass it on.

10. Prepare to be disappointed. 
People will not show up, that's all there to it. Even people that expressed OMG I WOULD LOVE TO COME WHEN IS THE NEXT ONE will just leave you hanging out by yourself. I've had to hang out with just me, myself, and Starbucks once, and yes, I was upset. It taught me a lesson. So now I don't go to that area anymore, and instead just plan on either specifically hanging out on my own (because KDJ can be with just ONE person), or make sure that at least some of our regular people can get to the area.

11. Prepare to commit. 
If you are the organizer, BE THERE! At least at the beginning, when you just starting things out. I don't go to every KDJ now because some of them are just too far away from me, but I know that my other group members will be there for sure. Until you get to the point of where you can count on other people, it is all on you to show up. Even if you experience #10.

12. Don't plan KDJ just around Japanese events in your area.
 I admit that it is easier to do it if your KDJ is only twice a year, but if you decide to go hardcore like me and have it every month, chances are you will run out of the events to go to. If that's the case, then go to NON-Japanese events, or don't go to any events and just hang out in kimono and take photos.

13. Become friends with the Japanese organizations in your area. 
Ask if they will let you leave some business cards there, get on their mailing lists to get all the latest info, talk non-stop about kimono and KDJ, etc...

14. Get in the habit of searching your city's events calendar and keep an eye out for any possible places to go.
Even if they are not Japanese (see #12).

15. DON'T GIVE UP AND KEEP GOING!

That's all I have for now. If you think I need to add anything else, or just have a comment about this guide, just let me know :)

~ Lyuba

Hanami Picnic in London

Last weekend I went to my very fist Hanami picnic in London. After living for almost 2 years in UK, I just now realized that there are whole bunch of cherry trees around! Call this a very DUUUUUUH moment, but I'm glad that I figured it out later than never. Now I see them everywhere, and even around the area where I live. If I wanted to hold Hanami locally, I totally could! Maybe this is something to consider for next year, because even on base we have a lot of them :)

For our April Kimono de Jack meetup we decided to hiJACK Japanese Conversation Group's  annual Hanami picnic in the Hyde Park. Being the polite person I occasionally am, I emailed them to warn them about our coming. And even got a reply and a promise to send out email to all members, in case anyone wanted to wear kimono too.

We arrived at the Hyde Park a lot earlier than anyone else, and promptly set up under the cherry trees because we were hungry and anxious to try out all the food  we cooked the day  before.

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