Coordinating With What You've Got #1

Hello Everyone,

I'm going to *attempt* to start a new series called Coordinating With What You've Got. I say attempt because I'm not very good with keeping up with any series I start, so we'll see how long this one lasts. The idea is to wear this outfit tomorrow or Friday, provided it's not raining.

I actually build this outfit around the boots, because I haven't worn them in a while and I felt like I kept wearing my red and purple boots too much lately. Brown ones needed some love too! I've got this kimono a while back, and when it came in I was surprised by how much darker it was! In the seller's photos the brown was the same as the brown in my boots, but it turned out to be this gorgeous dark brown-plum-almost-purplish shade, and the green turned out to be turquoise. I figured this kimono needed some bright obi, so I've pulled out this vintage tsuke obi I have.

You probably can't see it very well in the photos, but my haneri has tiny brown & white flowers. Obiage is supposed to match the haneri, and obijime is a belt I got few days ago. I just couldn't pass up the daisy design :).

I completely forgot that I had this beret until I was walking upstairs to look for a hat, and saw it laying on top of one of my comic book boxes. I took it downstairs, and sure enough it was almost the exact shade as the brown in kimono. Guess it was meant to be. I threw the red gloves there to play off the red in my juban, which will be visible in the sleeves once everything is worn. Depending on how cold it is, I might even be adventurous and wear one of my red tights, but if it is pretty cold then I'll be back to my trusty black HEATTECH leggins.

The fur collar might not actually stay for the final outfit... because pretty soon THIS will arrive at my doorstep! Guess we'll just have to see.

I'm pretty interested to see how the final outfit will turn out, because I'm never set with my coordination. Meanwhile, let me know if you have any suggestions for me.

~ Lyuba

Kimono and snow go very well together!

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Hello Everyone,

I didn't believe it at first when I saw the weather forecast that promised heavy snow in our area. I pretty much said that I will believe it when I see it, because for the past 3 years that I've spent in UK, our area doesn't really get much of ANYTHING in terms of weather. I call this curious phenomenon a "Lakenheath Bubble". Well, yesterday I was proven wrong because we got a LOT of snow!!!

I couldn't wait until morning so I could put on one of my kimono and take some photos (and walk around in the snow wheeeeeeeeee!!!). I had a kimono in mind, and even took it out, but when I woke up there was a LOT more snow than I expected. Instead, I've decided to be safe and wear my wool kimono. Incidentally, it is very similar to the kimono that I wore a few days ago, but I promise you I'm not on a yellow kick. I simply have only one wool kimono, and it happens to be yellow.

Look how much snow there was!

Since I was going to be walking around in the snow, I've decided to give my trusty old Sketchers Shape-Ups boots a chance. I've never wore them with kimono, and I never thought I would, but today they sure saved my outfit. Not only that, but I successfully managed to get them completely wet (the outer layer) too. I found a brown hat in the depth of my collection, and a scarf that I've bought back in Florida! I paired up the kimono with my Ane-sama ningyo, which happens to be my favorite pattern, patterned hanhaba obi and long red gloves.

It actually wasn't that cold, about 1C outside, but for the sake of fashion (and my exposed neck), I wore a cape and a scarf on top (I also wore UNIQLO's HeatTech leggings and sweater under my kimono). After taking plenty of photos, I went for a nice little walk to a grocery store.

When I came back, I let the kitties outside again and tried to take some photos with them. As you can see, both of them were not impressed with being kitty models. Both of them were shivering so much, but still insisted on staying outside and exploring the white fluffy stuff. They were simply adorable in the snow.

If you're in UK, did you take this opportunity to wear your kimono in the snow? If not, have you ever worn kimono in the snow? Show me your posts or photos, I would love to see them! :)

~ Lyuba

Kimono Challenge #13: My Special Kimono Memory

Hello Everyone, 


Finally I am at the end of this kimono challenge. Today's topic is one that I've added myself to the original challenge, because I believe that everyone has a special kimono memory. My special kimono memory is meeting Yumi Yamamoto at the Japanese Art Festival in 2010, and since I've never wrote about it on my blog, it's time to fix that. 

I don't have a good relationship with the Japanese Art Festival, because from the one time I went there it was a big waste of time and money. When I hear Japanese Art Festival, I expect at least some degree of traditional arts... Instead, most of it was Anime, anime, and more anime. Although every time there is a kimono fashion show, you have to survive hours of anime, anime, and anime before that. Needless to say, I never actually seen the fashion show during my first trip there, and I'm pretty sure I spent the grand total of 5 minutes walking around the place before bolting for a Japanese restaurant for lunch. This time, it was different because Akemi managed to get a kimono designer, Yumi Yamamoto, to attend! I was still not convinced that I would go, but then April told me that Akemi sent out a call for models for the fashion show, and the models were to wear Yumi's kimono. I was so in! 


I exchanged several "fun" emails with Akemi, trying to figure out what time to show up and what to bring, and finally I was set to go with several bags packed full of kimono items. When I got there, it turned out that I didn't even need all of those stuff, because Yumi was going to provide everything for her models. At the end, I was still glad that I lugged all the stuff, since the other models ended up using everything. 

Yumi dressed her models in kimono, and we set out to figure out how to walk and pose, which was a lot of "fun", considering I don't speak a word of Japanese and Yumi's English is not that great. But somehow we managed to understand each other (I'm telling you, kimono has a universal language build into it!), most likely after I pretty much took over and told the models what I THOUGHT Yumi wanted. She didn't argue, so either I was right, or she couldn't say otherwise ;P.