Kimono Advent Calendar Day 1

Hello Everyone,

My friend Hong came up with the idea of doing Kimono Advent Calendar (except that she is SLACKING!), so here is my first entry.

The kimono is vintage komon, I haven't actually wore it out yet. I got the kitty paw obi as a gift from Hong a while back, and it remains one of my favorite obi. The haneri was made fairly recently and you can see how I did it in my most recent issue of Western Girl Kimono Style online magazine. For some reason some people can't open the file, my home computer included, so I apologize in advance for that. I don't know why some people have no problems and others can't load anything.

I am pretty happy with this coordination and I definitely will wear it out one day!

~ Lyuba

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

Just Arrived #25

Hello Everyone, 

With all the Akira style photos I've  been posting, I completely forgot to post about two new items I've received in the mail just before KJD last Saturday. 

I'm a sucker for pretty juban, and my *slight* obsession got much worse after I started wearing vintage kimono almost exclusively. I always feel like I don't have enough, so I'm always looking to get more. When I saw this one, initially I was amazed that it wasn't bought! Then I looked though photos and discovered why. Well, there is hole on the right panel, and at first I was also put off by it, but then I decided that it is easily fixable, and no one going to see it anyway, so I got the juban. 

 This is the terrible hole. When this juban arrived, it turned out not as bad. Now I just need to get off my lazy behind and actually fix it.

 This kimono is seriously bright! I absolutely love it :)

Have you got anything good in the mail? :)

~ Lyuba

Just Arrived #22

After my last week's news I really needed something to cheer myself up. That "something" came in the form of two packages from Japan, because let's face it, kimono always makes the world better!

This kimono is a prime example that even I like floral patterns. I was drawn to the color first (it's a gorgeous teal), and the striking white and yellow peonies second. It's a pretty thin kimono, so I'll have to wait to wear it.

I've been on a hunt for grape patterned kimono for I-don't-know-how-long. I've managed to get a grape obi a while back, but kimono would elude me every time! Imagine my surprise when I saw it listed and NOT sold. I don't think I've bought anything that fast before. In person it's even more striking.

 I could pass up this michiyuki either. This is the only one I own that has vintage length sleeves, so it will fit majority of my vintage kimono.

Finally, I got some more obiage. I'm a sucker for pretty obiage and can never get enough of them!

STRAWBERRIES!!!!

What were your first purchases of 2013?

~ 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