Black and Mustard Yellow Sakura Kimono - Outfit 11

So you can create a bustle effect with a kimono but what about 18th century style dress?

If you ever watch Dangerous Liaisons (the one with Glenn Close) then you know the dresses I'm referring to, the ones with the wide hips.

Well with a bit of fluffing this is what you can achieve.

There is one thing about his look, it isn't flattering if you are wide already so I don't think this is one I will try on myself.

Since I want to emphasise on the wide hip part so once again I shortened the kimono and then divided all the extra material evenly to the side and created the arch shape.

I think this will be last time I will use this dress now. Maybe I should find an event to wear the thing.

Black and Mustard Yellow Sakura Kimono - Outfit 10

My chance to use my black corset has come.

Previously I couldn't use it because Miffy was too big for my corset. I never realised how much my corset reduced my waist! Anyway since I removed all the padding and juban from her I could set the waist measurements to the smallest setting and get on with the kitsuke!

The one thing I had to keep in mind was the use of additional ties. I do not think a human being could cope with having koshihimo and a corset wrapped tightly around their waist. So there is only a korin belt (around the chest) under the corset.

So you are wondering, if there is no koshihimo holding up the kimono, how did I arrange the skirt part? Simply, I used a elastic koshihimo to arrange the skirt, then put on the corset before pulling off the koshihimo.

Unfortunately once the corset is on you can't make re-arrangements easily hence the back doesn't look symmetrical but I think I can make it neater the next time.

This outfit give a silhouette that is more familiar for the West and thus is very flattering. Who doesn't look good in a corset.

Normally there would only be a 2-3 inch gap showing at the back but I wasn't about to crush Miffy, she has feelings you know!

Outfit

Dress - Same one as outfit 9.

Corset - Black Voller corset (can't remember which style).

Black and Mustard Yellow Sakura Kimono - Outfit 8

Time to depart from the traditional way of wearing a kimono and try something different.

As my wedding is only 5 months away I have been pondering on what my wedding will look like because I have ordered a Victorian inspired gown. Then it got me thinking, how can I make my kimono more Victorian?

Rather then creating the usual oshashori just under the obi, I decided to use the full length of the kimono. However to create the Victorian look I utilised the excess length to create the tail end.

Of course this arrange would show-off your juban but I didn't want that look so I added my simple black drawstring skirt to preserve some modesty that a Victorian lady should have.

At the time, the only thing going through my head was to tie a fan-inspired musubi but what made me tie this I have no idea.

It is a little bit unstable but with an extra koshihimo it will be fine.

I think with a little bit of skirt support like a bustle, I think this look could be really something.

Outfit

Obi - Black ro nagoya obi

Skirt - Homemade long drawstring satin skirt.

Black and Mustard Yellow Sakura Kimono - Outfit 4

I have a habit of colour coordinating my obi-age and obi-jime so this time I am going to break it.

I use the same gold metallic obi-jime but the obi-age is actually not an obi-age!  A few weeks ago there was a vintage sale and there was tons of scarves to chose from.  I brought a lot for making kanzashi but I also picked up a couple which were perfect for my kimono accessories.

This is a navy blue scarf and it has a white and yellow dot pattern all over it.  Again this ties in nicely with the yellow and hint of blue on the kimono as well as the flowers theme.

And since this is a floral kimono, why not go full out and add a daisy pattern han-eri which was given to me by Shelia.  It doesn't stand out as must as a white han-eri but it gives the outfit a modern feel which is good.

Black and Mustard Yellow Sakura Kimono - Outfit 3

Hmmm what other colour could I possibly use now?  How about bright yellow?

It is not too bad actually.  The feeling that I'm getting from yellow is neutral as it complements the mustard yellow on the kimono and the gold obi.  However it doesn't stand out too much unlike the red co-ordination.

The yellow obi-age is just a plain one with a woven hexagon pattern so there is no way I am going to be able to get photo of the pattern.  As for the obi-jime, it is a sparkly gold one and the other side is silver so when you tie the knot you will get two colours.  I can't decide if I like this obi-jime, don't get me wrong, I like metallic shiny stuff and this obi-jime tick those boxes.  However it is stiff so I am never sure if I have tie it enough.  One does not want their obi to fall apart when you are walking about in public.

Black and Mustard Yellow Sakura Kimono - Outfit 2

So yesterday's out was this one below.

This outfit consist of the a white han-eri, pastel blue obi-age and obi-jime.  There is a shibori fan pattern on the obi-age which you can't see very clearly on this picture but it is very pretty.  As for the obi-jime, it is just pure accident that I own a obi-jime which matches the obi-age so well.

Now outfit number two!

Here you see I keep the same obi and white han-eri but I changed the obi-age and obi-jime.  The obi-age is red and has a lot more shibori on it.  This time the pattern is kiru (I think) and you can see the pattern more easily because of the contrast.  The obi-jime is a dark pink and is one of my widest ones (1 inch) and it is lovely to use.  It is very soft, making it ideal to tie into a square know but it is stiff enough to retain its width so you have a huge knot at the front of your obi. 

This colour combo is more vibrant then the cool looking one of outfit number one.  It is amazing how a change of something so small creates a completely different feel.  

Welcome!!!

Hello there

My aim for this blog is to take one kimono out of my collection and make as many outfits that one can from that one kimono.  

I will use different obi and accessories to prove to myself that a kimono is not one hit wonder.

So first kimono.

Brought nearly 2 years ago it has been sitting in my boxes because I assumed it was too hard to co-ordinate.  Well here is the kimono being worn for the first time last weekend.