The magical kimono is a pain in the buns

So today (finally) I tried on the red "magical" kimono. It's pretty, it's magical, it's silky, it's one heck of a thing to put on! The collars are slipping open all the time! And I need to find a good, calming obi to wear with it. Although I think that in it's spirit it's a rocker, as it seemed to go nicely with the leather tsuke obi.

And because since the Avengers won Best Fight and Best Movie and Best Villain (*Fangirl moment* YES! CONGRATULATIONS MR. HIDDLESTON!!!*end fangirl moment*). Still no progress with the jacket. Phooee on me for working so slow....

Just goofin' off

My bright red, arabesque flower komon. I was just trying to figure out which obi to wear with this one. If tomorrow turns out as sunny and bright as today, it shall be kimono day!

There's something magical about this kimono, I don't know what it is, but when I saw it on Ichiroya, it just grasped my attention and refused to let go. After fighting the buying urge for a week or two, I gave in and home it came.

In my eyes, there's something Harry Potterish in this kimono... but I'm not sure... whatever the mystery is in this kimono, it refuses to share it with me. Which makes it interesting! As it also refused to look good with the obi I was planning to wear it with... Back to the drawing board!

Decorative mon

I uploaded pictures of decorative mons into my flickr while uploading photos of the History of Women's Costume in Japan. I was puzzled about them, because I had never seen those kind of mons before.

See what I mean? I've only seen geometric mons in use, but not these pretty embroidered mons. Which lead me to look back in the book and see what kind of mons where in use before this. There wasn't any mons on clothing. I was a little perplexled, but while getting in info for my last post, I opened the book on the mon section and Liza Dalby writes like this about the history of mon:

The social significance of crests has varied throughout japanese history. Heian nobility used motifs on carriages and personal articles, although not, apparently, on clothing. During the Kamakura era, and with the rise of the samurai, crests were writ large on banners, armor, tents, and other military paraphernalia, indentifying friend from foe on the battlefield. During the Tokugawa period, crests were divided into heraldic and decorative usage. Regional lords and samurai adopted certain mon as family insignia, but at the same time townspeople developed the inherent design possibilities of crests purely for fashionable clothing.

So the decorative mons that have puzzled me in this book, could be the design mons the townspeople of Tokugawa period developed for the fashion of the day. It also explains why I could not find any mons before this time period, because there was no mons in kimonos before this time.

 In the few images the book has about the decorative mons the floral design seems to have been rather popular. Atleast all the images depict a floral motif.

During the same time period there was also the mons as we know them today. If we take Liza Dalby's word for it, this woman is part of a samurai family and higher class than the ladies wearing the decorative mons, if I have understood my reading correctly.

The usage of black accessories

I have long been in the impression that black obijime and obiage are used only in mourning. Lately I have seen a lot of black accessories used with kimono and they have made me dubious of my own knowledge of things.

Black obiage from Kimono Style Book 3.

Black obiage and black/white obijime from Casual Kimono Life.

From kimono style magazines and photoshoot online the usage of black obiage has been increasing, so I was thinking maybe it's the style coming over the mofukuness. But to go down to my facts, I turned into the trusty kimono bible, Kimono; Fashioning Culture by Liza Dalby.

And sure enough, there was an answer:

In the most intense expression of mourning, a solid black kimono tied with a black obi is worn with black obi accessories and sandals. Monochrome, unpatterned kimono can be turned into "light" mourning wear by the addition of a subdued obi and black obi cord. The black obi cord is the last vestige of mourning. When that gives away to an ordinary colored one, mourning has ended. By the same token, black can never be used as a fashion color for an obi cord.

The text says nothing of the color of the obiage except when the mourning is of high intense and paired with mofuku. So maybe the black obiage is not such a "That's funeral wear!" as the black obijime and the usage of it in fashion can be more freely. You tend to see more black obiage than blackish obijime.

The black'n'white obijime the lovely Anna Tsuchiya is wearing in the later photo might be pushing the rule of black obijime a little, as in the second picture you can hardly tell it's black'n'white except for that little white spot on the knot.

So, to my understanding now is that black obiage is ok to wear matched with a colorful obijime, but black in obijime should be used with consideration.

New boots to go with a kimono

My American Duchess boots arrived! Finally! I ordered these from the pre-order sale somewhere around November/December when they were just going into production. Later I also ordered the buttonhook to help getting the buttons closed.

Boots and buttonhook

Close-up from the hook.

I really want to try something Meiji-inspired with these... Or steampunk... Oh, the possibilities! And they look good with jeans too^^

American Duchess Shoe Shop

The Great Market, Hometown love and hime.

Our town hold a few market days each year, autumn market, christmas market, the great market...etc. In my youth they were held at the market square, but that has not happened for a few years because they are building a shopping centre and parking lot below the market square. For a few years there was a three-story deep hole dug in the ground, but this spring they covered it up and soon they will be able to open it again. Before the digging, there was a shooting accident on the square, of which reminders (paint circles of where evidence was found) are still visible during summer..... A lot has happened in the  square over the years and you could say it's the heart of Kuopio.

Aerial view of the Market Place before the digging started. Image from uusisuomi.fi

The hole they dug for the shopping centre and parking space.

On the left of the Market Square you can see the Market Hall that is open year around. It's the only clearly Art Nouveau inspired building on the centre and one of my favourite places in Kuopio. If you ever come here, that's the place to visit. The Market Square has been in function from the 1818.
There had been a parking space already under the square, but they are making it bigger as Kuopio has grown since it was first built.

Kuopio Hall. Kuopio.fi

For the last few years they've held the Grand Market in the Kuopio Hall. It's nicer in the way that weather cannot affect going. Kuopio Hall is usually used by sports teams for training and sports competitions.

Well, I think that's enough of hometown love for one go. What about the kitsuke? I was inspired by the Go Hime! -project and as I wanted to take part, I went for a little hime-ish design in terms of dressing.

It was so bright out there! It was impossible to get good photos with my face towards the sun. Sorry about that...

It's the return of the green-grey stripe komon! Matched with silver nagoya and bright green accessories to celebrate the (slowly) coming spring! During easter it's traditional to have something bright green and yellow in your homes, so I added the bright green into my kitsuke. I would have wanted to get the Tavistock boots from American Duchess for this photoshoot, but what can you do?

I'm also wearing the shawl I knitted my self a few years back. It's silver grey with sparklies! Goes nicely with the obi. The had is made from the leftovers from the shawl. The hat has a golden ribbon that matches to the gold on the obijime and the obidome. I also wish I had had either a light yellow or green obiage... I think the white doesn't go very well with the rest of the kitsuke... I have teal ribbon on my hair.

Without the shawl and the hat. Being photobombed by our newest family member Veetu. You can see the Lucrezia cosplay behind me.

Yorkshire terrier obidome. Well actually it's a pin.

Bright green collar.

First time wearing one of these... It kept slipping all the time, but it felt nice and warm against my neck. And I kinda like it with this kimono.

And what was our haul? What you really go there to get is market liquorice or metre liquorice and pretzels. The liquorice is not actually metre long, only 0.5. We usually get the 12 pieces for 10e on liquorice with different tastes. This year we went for the bigger pretzel. The pretzel is more like a big bun shaped in the form of a prezel. It's very soft and sweet.

Bag full of liquorice.

The pretzel.

And just end this long post with cuteness: Here's our two kitties enjoying the sunny day.

Kiki

Veetu

As you can see our big boy can be hand fed, but this trick does not work on Kiki. She takes only by stealing it off your plate or from the couch. Here you can see the size difference between the two. Veetu is younger and a male so Kiki (the smaller one) is the Boss.

Adjusting zori thongs

Boo on me for not blogging more.

My black zori for the Loki kitsuke arrived and they had the deal, that with most unused zoris have, that the thongs were too tight for my feet. Luckily I remembered a thread from IG where Kokoro showed how the job is done.

Here you can see the zori and how tight that strap that goes between your toes is. ouch.

 This is where the adjusting starts. First loosen that small metal hook with tools. I used a flat headed screwdriver. White adjusting, keep in mind that those hook end are mighty sharp. They really are.

 Here's what you see inside. By loosening this know and pulling from the straps you get extra lenght. My zori straps where coated with wax, so loosening was a series tugging and pulling and using the screwdriver as a crowbar to loosen the knot. After you have adjusted them to your fit and checked that the knot stays nicely on it's place, push the hook back to it's original place. Mine went nicely into the holes without hammering.

And here's a picture of the loosened zori. If you look carefully, you can see just how much I had to loosen these for the comfy fit.