MultiFest Meet

This weekend we had a meet at a local Multicultural Festival. The day before the meet it was warm and sunny, but the next day was cold and rainy. I ended up totally regretting wearing a yukata. Darn you fickle Nova Scotian summer! For this ensemble I wore my hearts and roses yukata and borrowed an obi from my friend Jessica since I don't have any appropriate hanhaba obi. It's such a cute obi! I found this cute headband at Claires. It has butterflies and yellowish-white and pink sunflowers. I thought it matched the colours in the outfit well. Unfortunately it's hard to see it in the pictures.

We ended up eventually leaving the Festival and making our way to a local sushi/cafe to warm up and grab a bite. I had a lot of fun despite freezing my toes off and can't wait til the next meet! 

Kimono Challenge Week 2

For this week's kimono challenge we will be looking at my most dear kimono items.

How did you find out about kimono.

What are your dearest kimono items.

What are your most used item(s) (not counting juban, date-jime, etc)

What are your least favourite item(s) so far.

What are your favourite co-ordinations so far.

What things do you like and not like about kimono.

Kimono confessions. Did you know that...

Your want to buy list (or would buy if you had money/occasion to wear it)

Biggest fears and wishes when it comes to kimono.

My biggest inspirations in kimono

My kimono collection.

The evolution of my kitsuke

I really don't have anything very rare in my collection, but I really cherish all the items I own. I really don't think I could sell many of them, it would be like parting with old friends.

My first most beloved item is this modern camellia komon that a friend gave me for my birthday. It is so pretty! I haven't worn it yet, but hopefully this winter it can make it's debut.

This komon is so adorable and I love it to bits. The seller listed it as too stained to wear, but I really couldn't pass it up. I lucked out though, when it showed up and was totally wearable. The only staining was the faintest, tiniest yellow stains that you have to have your nose pressed against it to see. (Why would you be that close to my kimono?)

Oh my gosh this haori! I would wear it with everything if I could. I really love the design. it's super long, and it's PURPLE! After I bought this haori I have sworn off the shorter, modern haori. Taisho length all the way!

Hopefully you've enjoyed this week's post. I had a hard time just picking out just a few favourites. If you would like to be updated whenever a new post goes up, please follow my facebook page. 

Harajuku Fashion Walk

This weekend was the third Harajuku Fashion walk, so of course I had to go rep kimono hime! The last time I did the fashion walk in Sept I was the only one in kimono. This time there was four of us! I didn't manage to get many pictures. I am so terrible at that! Fortunately my friend Jessica managed to get some really nice ones so I am reposting those here with her permission. For my outfit, I finally got a chance to wear my ro komon with clouds and cranes. I've been looking forward to wearing it since I got it in April! I also got a chance to wear this purple geometric obi that I've had for a while, but haven't worn for some reason. I added a bunch of my lolita accessories and my duck plushie purse. Here's the finished ensemble.

Under the giant wave on the waterfront. Picture from Jessica.

Group shot! Jessica's picture as well!

There was a photographer at the event that took a few shots of me as well, but I'm still waiting on those. I had an absolute blast and received many compliments on my outfit and accessories. I can't wait til the next walk. Hopefully there will be an autumn one as well. Thank you for looking! 

Fave Friday! Pt 3

Disclaimer: These photos do not belong to me. Most of these photo's are ones I've seen on pinterest or tumblr. I've done my best to source them. If anyone knows a source that I was unable to find, knows a source to be something other than what I provided, or if I have shared a picture that belongs to you that you do not wish to be shared, please send me a message and I will do my best to correct it. 

My kids are always the very first ones to compliment me on my kitsuke outfits. They tell me constantly that I look beautiful in kimono, that I'm a princess and so on. They really are the sweetest and most supportive people in my life and part of the joy of dressing up is showing them the finished product. As you can tell they are very interested in kimono and, my girls at least, have really been asking me to get them their own kimono. That's what this post will be about is kids kimono ensembles. Hopefully you don't pass out from the cuteness. 

Some adorable vintage children. Originally from flickr, but the link seems to be broken.

All dressed up for Shichi-go-san. From here

More casual looking. From here. 

This cute little guy looks less than impressed. From here. 

Bonus picture of this cute family's kimono outing. 

I hope you enjoyed this weeks inspiration! If you haven't already, you can like my facebook page for updates on new blog posts. 

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Kimono Challenge Introduction Post

A few years ago there was a kimono challenge that went around the community for some time. I really enjoyed reading everyone's posts to the questions, but didn't participate since at the time I didn't have a blog, or even much experience with kimono. Now that I've finally got my blog up and running I hope you will enjoy reading my answers to the challenge as much as I enjoyed reading others' all those years ago. There is only one rule: You must post at least one pic or video per question. Here are the questions:

1. How did you find out about kimono.
2. What are your dearest kimono items.
3. What are your most used item(s) (not counting juban, date-jime, etc)
4. What are your least favourite item(s) so far.
5. What are your favourite co-ordinations so far.
6. What things do you like and not like about kimono.
7. Kimono confessions. Did you know that...
8. Your want to buy list (or would buy if you had money/occasion to wear it)
9. Biggest fears and wishes when it comes to kimono.
10. My biggest inspirations in kimono
11. My kimono collection.
12. The evolution of my kitsuke

Thanks to Kira Kira Kimono for starting this challenge

I'll start with question one this week. How did you find out about kimono.

Memoirs of a Geisha. I suspect this is how many people first became interested in kimono. I remember seeing the trailer for the first time and thinking how beautiful the whole movie looked. Before that I had had interest in anime and manga and while I had noticed some of the characters wearing kimono, I never really paid much attention to it. When MoaG came out I rushed out and bought the book and read it in a matter of days. I then rushed out and bought the DVD and watched it so many times. I was obsessed with it and in love with everything about it. My 16 year old self dreamed of moving to Japan and becoming a geisha and wearing those beautiful kimono. I began scouring the internet and almost right away found Immortal Geisha Forums and Naomi's blog . I soon learned how incredibly inaccurate MoaG was, but I did learn that wearing kimono was entirely possible.
Not that I bought any at that point. I didn't take the plunge into buying kimono items until 2010. This was my very first kimono

Red omeshi komon with floral medallions.

I hope you've enjoyed this first post. I hope to post these challenged weekly You can like my facebook page to get updates on new posts!

Fave Friday! Pt 2

Disclaimer: These photos do not belong to me. Most of these photo's are ones I've seen on pinterest or tumblr. I've done my best to source them. If anyone knows a source that I was unable to find, knows a source to be something other than what I provided, or if I have shared a picture that belongs to you that you do not wish to be shared, please send me a message and I will do my best to correct it. 

Since summer is coming up here, I thought I'd share some fun yukata pics! I really love yukata! They are so comfy and relatively easy to dress in. They also come in a huge variety of prints and designs, which I love!

Pic from this shop, but it appears the yukata has sold out 

A somewhat traditional looking ensemble, but punched up with that funky obi-jime knot.

There is so much going on here that I love! The purple and yellow checks. The rose cut-out obidome. the almost rockabilly looking chidori. The hat!! From here

I love how romantic this look is. The soft pastels in the kimono, the soft looking, flowy updo. I can picture wearing this yukata and taking a romantic stroll down a boardwalk!

Thanks for looking! See you next time!

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Fave Friday!

Disclaimer: These photos do not belong to me. Most of these photo's are ones I've seen on pinterest or tumblr. I've done my best to source them. If anyone knows a source that I was unable to find, knows a source to be something other than what I provided, or if I have shared a picture that belongs to you that you do not wish to be shared, please send me a message and I will do my best to correct it. 

For this week I will be sharing pictures that have a funky, modern kawaii feel. Something you may or may not know is I also dress in lolita and have a keen interest in fairy kei and hime gyaru. I also try and incorporate these aesthetics in my kimono ensembles, which is why you will see a lot of headwear, bows and accessorizing in my outfits.

Found on this page

I adore this obi!

My favourite lolita model in a gorgeous furisode, from here

An adorable gyaru in yukata. 

I hope you enjoyed this feature! I had a lot of fun scrolling through my old pinterest saves!

  

Gofuku no Hi Kitsuke

This past Friday was Gofuku no Hi which meant I HAD to get dressed up. Our local Kimono de Jack decided to set up a meet at a local boardgame cafe and have a fun game night. It was super hot that day so I went with one of my few hitoe pieces (definitely need to get more of those).

I also dressed up a friend of mine in her kimono. (I am so jelly of that kimono, it is gorgeous!)

And here's a group shot at the cafe of all of all of us dressed up.

I had a total blast and I can't wait for the next meet!