Links Added and Kimono Information Overhauled Friday June 1st, 2012
Posted by evyon25 in Facebook, Kimono Information, Uncategorized, YouTube.add a comment
I changed the widgets on the right side of my blog a little bit, so now there is a link to my Facebook group from which you can receive notifications of new posts if you are subscribed to the group. You can still find the email subscription link at the bottom of the widget bar if you don’t want to use Facebook. I also added the link to my YouTube channel. While it’s pretty scarce right now, there will be more videos to come! Also, at the bottom of the sample Flickr photos, there is a link to my photostream. I’ve also gotten rid of the redundant search bar which I never noticed. If you’ve tried to use it in the past, you might have noticed it didn’t work, but I’ve recently added tags to all my old post, so it should work now.
If you check the kimono information tab at the top of the blog, you will notice that I’ve finally finished the glossary. I will still be adding terms as I think of them. You will also notice that below that, I’ve given a kanji look-up for a ton of words, and defined the individual kanji to help deepen our understanding of kimono terms.
Under the kimono blogs sub-tab, I’ve added a lot of new blogs! If you’re an IG member and you see your blog listed, please state your blog and IG username so I can put a name to the blog. Thank you!
The next thing I’ll be re-doing is the eBay links sub-tab as I’ve added quite a few sellers to my favorite list since I last edited the blog list. After that will be the IG links sub-tab.
Kimono Challenge Tag Round 2 Friday June 1st, 2012
Posted by evyon25 in Kimono, Kimono Challenge Tag, Obi, Pictures.Tags: 3, 4, challenge, four, kimono, least, most, tag, three, used
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This time for the kimono challenge tag, I’ll be covering numbers 3 and 4.
1. How did you discover and got into kimono?
2. Your dearest kimono item(s).
3. Your most used kimono item(s) (not counting jubans, datejimes etc.).
4. Your least used kimono item(s).
5. Your favourite coordination(s) so far.
6. What do you like and don’t like about kimono.
7. Kimono confessions. Did you know that…
8. Your dream kitsuke items (or at least items you really really want but can’t get for whatever reason).
9. Your biggest kimono fears.
10. Your biggest kimono inspiration.
11. Your kimono collection.
12. The evolution of your kitsuke.
13. Your special kimono memory.
3. Your most used kimono item(s) (not counting jubans, datejimes etc.)
My black and white hakata obi. It matches almost everything I own. I usually try to bring the focus of my ensembles towards the kimono, so a very basic obi like this allows me to do that. It’s also all-seasonal.
私の黒と白の博多帯だ。 何事の着物に似合うのです。 地味だから、着物に的を絞る事ができる。毎季節に似合う。
And my plaid kimono, that I’ve already said is one of my favorites. I wear it to every convention I go to.
愛用の着物と言って、私のプラードの着物だ。 毎コンヴェンションでこれを着る。
I almost exclusively wear my white obi-age, as I don’t have many and it usually goes with my outfits.
白い帯揚げをよく着る。 帯揚げはたくさんがないのだ。私の衣装にいつも似合う。
4. Your least used kimono item(s).
My mofuku kimono of course. I have a strange fascination with mofuku and I love my Taisho mofuku, but it can’t be worn anywhere but funerals, and even doing that here in American would be a hard decision.
喪服なんだ。 喪服の変な魅力があるんで、対象の着物が好きだけど、葬式にだけ御着できない事でアメリカにも難しい決定なんだ。
I’ve also never worn this tsumugi komon. It’s small, and doesn’t really suit my tastes anymore. I’m actually looking to sell it ($15 plus shipping) if anyone is interested.
決してこの紬小紋を着なかった。 ちいさくて、私のスタイアルに似合わない。 これを売りたい(十五ドル＋出荷）だれか買いたければ。
Recent Wins 1 Saturday May 26th, 2012
Posted by evyon25 in Kimono, Komono, Buying Kimono, Pictures.Tags: kimono, kurotomesode, kuro, hakoseko, tomesode, shishi, temple, lions, foo, dogs, shisa, cranes
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Just a quick post with some recent wins. First off, I got a hakoseko from Shinei’s website. A hakoseko is very close to what we call a clutch purse; it’s generally smaller, though. They were extremely fashionable in the Edo era, and are now mostly used in the wedding outfit (which itself is from the Edo era as well). These days, some hakoseko have many accessories, including a birabira and a tassel. Here is mine, which has cranes, my favorite motif!
My next win I got super lucky with. I scored this kurotomesode for $10. It has some awesome embroidered shishi (temple guardian lions). I think this will be the kimono I wear to my cousin’s wedding in October.
I’m going to try something new. In order to practice my Japanese, I’m going to try to make my posts bilingual. I apologize for any mistakes or strange word choice; my Japanese is still very basic.
最近の買取で早いポストだけだ。一番、しねいのサイトではこせこを買った。 はこせこは、アメリカでクラチイパースが同じようだ。 それは江戸時代中粋だった。 このごろ、たいて結婚式の衣（江戸時代からも）で使ってる。 今日、はこせこは小物があるんだ、なんてびらびらと房。これは私のです。 一番モチフーの鶴があるんだ。
次の落札はとってもラッキーだった。 十ドルで買った。 すごい刺繍された獅子があるんだ。 いとこの結婚式のl日に着るとおもっているんだ。
Yabane and Bamboo Komon Taisho Ensemble Wednesday May 16th, 2012
Posted by evyon25 in Ensemble, Kimono, Pictures.Tags: daiko, ensemble, kimono, mahjong, obi, style, taisho, tsuitake, tsunodashi, tsunodashidaiko, yabane, yagasuri
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I decided to redo this outfit after restoring the sleeves of my kimono, and this is definitely one of my favorite outfits! It’s so summery, I can’t wait to wear it out! ^^ These are my only Taisho pieces, so I’m really lucky they look good together! I was really proud of my tsunodashi (the musubi -tsunodashidaiko) too. I think the musubi and criss-crossing the obi help the outfit look even more retro. I’m really excited about the sleeves, they’re super long and I just want to see them blow in the wind XD This is also the first time I’ve worn a kimono tsuitake (no ohashori) style. So here’s the pictures!
Full set here.
Restoring Taisho Sleeves Wednesday May 16th, 2012
Posted by evyon25 in Kimono, Kimono Information, Pictures.Tags: bamboo, hem, komon, restore, restoring, sleeves, taisho, yabane
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I finally got around to restoring the sleeves on my Taisho komon. The Taisho era (1912-1926) (大正時代 taishou jidai) was known for it’s fantastic bold designs, but it was also when kimono sleeves were their longest. As shorter sleeves came into fashion, people tended to shorten the sleeves of their older kimono. Luckily, my kimono’s last owner apparently couldn’t bear to cut the fabric, so instead, the just hemmed the extra material into the inside of the sleeve. I took pictures as I released the hem and the description of each step is below the picture. After all was said and done, 17cm of extra fabric was let out, making the piece not only, obviously Taisho, but restoring it to it’s retro awesome-ness.
Before:
After:
You can see the crease from the hem her, so from there to the bottom is the difference.
Pitt Spring Fling 2012 Thursday May 3rd, 2012
Posted by evyon25 in Cultural Events, Kimono, Pictures, Stories.Tags: kimono, shamisen, meiji, pitt, university, demo, demonstration, jamie, spring, fling, party
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Several weeks ago, my college’s Asian Studies Department put on a party for students of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. I of course did a kimono demonstration. When I asked for volunteers, my friend Jamie’s hand shot up first. Now, you may remember Jamie; she was with me on our trip to Otakon, so I was really relieved, since I already had experience dressing her:
I wore my Meiji outfit again, which garnered some questions from Takabatake-sensei, who was very shocked to learn I get all my kimono from eBay.
Excuse the picture quality, my friend was able to snap some shots with his phone, and I forgot to tell someone to be the paparazzi for me. I should see if any of my teachers have pictures.
Done! I was dying of heat by the end. lol But I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself.
Plaid Kuro-tomesode with Yukata Dounuki Wednesday April 18th, 2012
Posted by evyon25 in Ensemble, Kimono, Pictures.Tags: dance, donuki, dounuki, formal, kimono, kurotomesode, odori, plaid, wedding, yukata
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So I’ve been wanting to try and use yukata as a dounuki. I wasn’t sure about this outfit at first, but I tried my best to mix the black and blue, and I really like the result. The obi is the chuuya that Kim gave me. I was also feeling inspired by Mokona’s Okimono Kimono where Mokona uses some modern patterns to make a kurotomesode young and fashionable. Depending on the weather, I may do something similar to this for my cousin’s wedding in October (in California). It’s surprisingly comfy, but just a little bulky. It was a little hard to dress in since the yukata was longer than the tomesode, but once you get the bottom edges even, you just do kitsuke as normal.
Whole set here.
Comments and/or critiques welcome!
Tekkoshocon X 2012 Monday March 26th, 2012
Posted by evyon25 in Convention, Ensemble, Kimono, Pictures, Stories.Tags: 2012, convention, cosplay, dejavudea, grand, hotel, meiji, pittsburgh, style, tekko, tekkoshocon, windham, X, yukata
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Tekkoshocon, my home town’s convention, celebrated its 10th annivery this past weekend. I’ve been going to Tekko since I was a sophomore in high school, and to my dismay, it’s gone down hill in my opinion. The main reason for this is it’s movement from the David L Lawrence Convention center to the Wyndham Grand Hotel Pittsburgh. Tekko boasts about 3000 attendants each year, which is quite large. The hotel doesn’t really fit that many people well. Things maybe looking up though as rumor has it that it may be moving back after we were able to book all the reserved rooms at the hotel and then some. But I digress. This year was actually quite fun as I had a friend come along with me on Saturday and I met up with a few other friends. As I said in my last post, I also got a nice turn out for my panel.
I didn’t take many pictures this year, but here are the ones I took:
First, I did a Meiji-inspired outfit that I saw in a manga. I used my favorite dance piece with a white polo underneath, completed with hakama and no obi. This is one of my new favorite outfits! It was super comfy and flow-y and I felt like it was greatly my style. I definitely love Meiji inspired outfits and I would love to explore this style more.
I also got to meet Youtube star Dejavudea and she was kind enough to take a picture with me. As you can see, I also wore my yukata outfit this weekend, which I’ve already shown a few times.
As for cosplay pictures, I only have two. The first is a picture of King Kazma, a character from one of my favorite anime movies, Summer Wars (サマーウォーズ）.
Lastly, I got a picture of three awesome cosplayers as white-outfit Marth from Super Smash Bros Brawl, Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII, and Cloud Strife (Dissidia Final Fantasy 012 outfit).
I’m sorry I don’t have more for you, but there a few things coming soon as well as an analytical/historical post to change things up a little.
Tekkoshocon Panel 2012 Saturday March 24th, 2012
Posted by evyon25 in Convention, Kimono, Kimono Information.Tags: convention, demo, demonstration, grand, hotel, panel, pittsburgh, tekko, tekkoshocon, thank, winham, you
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I’d like to thank everyone who came to my panel this year for Tekko! There was a great turnout and I had two very lovely volunteers. I also want to thank Emma who was nice enough to come help me as well as share her knowledge. If anyone has any pictures they took, please contact me; I wasn’t able to get any. It is always wonderful to teach people who have a genuine interest in kimono.
I want to make a very important note. If you are searching for kimono via my favorite sellers method and you are getting a lot of dresses and slutty, fake kimono, you aren’t doing anything wrong. For some people as of late, eBay’s advanced search by saved seller function hasn’t been working. What you need to do is delete all cookies from eBay from your browser. If it happens again, re-clear the cookies.
I’d once again like to thank everyone and remind you that if you have any questions for me, please do not hesitate to ask me!
Friends in Kimono 1 Monday March 5th, 2012
Posted by evyon25 in Kimono, Pictures, Stories, Uncategorized.Tags: anna, chantel, dress, friends, garret, kevin, pitt, university, up
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Ever since I’ve gotten to college, I’ve gotten to dress up a few friends of mine. My friend Anna says it’s a trap: whenever I invite someone over, I somehow persuade them to let me dress them up or check out my kimono. ^^ She won’t let me have the pictures of her in kimono and they’re on her phone, so for now I have just a few to share.
First, my friend Chantel, who I met in Japanese, and I dressed up for the last day of Japanese class last semester. I wore my men’s ensemble and I dressed her up in my Meiji-inspired hakama and yabane outfit (which I thought was appropriate, as we were going to class).
Excuse my derpface..
Her and Anna, excuse my friend Kevin’s photobomb… haha
Next, my friend Garret showed a little interest in being dressed up (big mistake). So I dressed him up in my full men’s ensemble to show what it was like to wear everything at once. I wore my kurotomesode as I wanted to try the obi I borrowed from Kim with it. Here are the results (we ended up looking like a married couple going to our child’s wedding hahahaha!)
I couldn’t get him to pose seriously…
I hope to be adding many more entries like this in the future! It’s a lot of fun to dress up with friends! ^^
