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Mesmerizing modern houmongi with a delicate spider chrysanthemum looking like constellations in a starry sky

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marvellous

My long awaited trip to Japan was sadly cancelled. To cheer myself up, I decided to allow myself to spend some of the money I had saved for the trip, on something special. And yesterday, I found that special item… Look at it! How could anyone resist!

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Hiyoku-no-tomesode

c. 1960

Gift of Mary V. and Ralph E. Hays

ARTIC

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Tomesode kimono detail

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Great exemple of modern men kimono styling. OP is here wearing a repurposed tomesode with cranes in flight on the skirt.

Kuro tomesode are traditionally the most formal kimono for married women, and hence not often worn nowadays outside of weddings (by the mother of the bride/groom for example). 

Seeing repurposed kurotomesode, especially by men, is always a treat. Those kimono keep the dark colors of traditional men’s wear, but add a welcome twist thanks to their hem patterns - men kimono are usually suuuuper plain!

I wonder if OP retailored this tomesode - shortening the lenght to his height + closing the sleeves to truly turn it into men clothing?

I any case, I truly love this style. Just look at this dashing gentleman rocking a woman houmongi(irotomesode?):

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A three-fer! A selection of my homoungi, 2 of which were gifts! Clearly purple and ume are heavily featured in my collection. !

#stayhome #staysafe #pandemiclife #nofilter #quarantine #kimono #kimonolife #wafuku #kimonocollection #きもの　#着物 #わふく #和風 #きものコーディネート #着物コーディネート #👘 #mytansu #tomesode #ume #plumblossom #purple #purplekimono #うめ #梅着物 #鳳凰 #鳳凰着物 #とめそで #留袖 https://www.instagram.com/p/CDkBd7-AbqV/?igshid=5urs76ds9av5

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Quick sleeves style overview, a handy reference chart by Edo-lover Nadeshico Rin :D You can see from left to right, top to bottom:

Hirosode 広袖 - wide sleeves opened on their full lenght (cuff sometimes closed by drawstring). Inspired by Chinese attires, they started to be used by Japanese nobles during Nara era. Those can be found on court attires such as hô 袍, kariginu 狩衣, suikan 水干, hitatare 直垂, etc

Makisode 巻袖 - work clothes used by men and women alike, worn by farmers, fishermen etc. Sleeves are cut diagonally offering freedom of mouvement.

Zenimarusode 銭丸袖 - lit. “round coin” sleeve, a man style popular in second half of Edo period. Name come from the fact round part of the sleeves was made using shimonsen coins.

Tetsubôsode 鉄砲袖 - “gun barrel” sleeve, work clothes worn by men from Meiji period. Note the underarm gusset for freedom of mouvement.

Furisode 振袖 - long dangling sleeves, which became popular in early Edo period and got longer and longer as time went by. In the past, those sleeves were worn both by girls and boys (before their mariage/genpuku ceremonies). This style is now mainly worn by girls+young women.

Tomesode 留袖 - “cut” sleeves, style worn by married women during Edo. Name comes from the fact it was customary to shorten one’s furisode sleeves when married. This style is now the sleeve style found on women kimono

Tsutsusode 筒袖 - tight tubular sleeves, work clothes worn by men and women alike since Kofun period. Tightness means there is no tamoto 袂 (”pocket”/drop part of a kimono sleeve).

Funazokosode 舟底袖 - “hull” sleeve, a work clothes style found on men and women clothes. The lower part is nicely rounded like the bottom of a boat.

Genrokusode 元禄袖 - Genroku round sleeve. Early 20th brought back some Genroku era fashion including this sleeve style (compare with squarer tomesode).

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It's waaay too hot in the apartment now,

and yukata day is around the corner,

so I learned how to tie the obi in theory, watching 3 YouTube videos.

Well, my memory used to be exceptional when it comes to these kind of things, but we will see...

I may be able to sneak in some practice time before going live if the temperature goes below 26 degrees inside.

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Daily Life

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I love this

“I tried to match a short length haori and a leather skirt with a kimono! I like the fact that the short haori gives a long leg effect, and I also like the decoration around the abdomen and the fluttering of the skirt that can be shown without hiding it …!”

Misamaru @ Kimono@misamaru_boc

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source: @thekimonogallery

Ichiyuri, a geisha in Kyoto, Japan. Photographer Edy Lianto.

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Art by Cheng Letian

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Ashikaga Wisteria, Tochigi

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A loot from kimono heaven

We've been to countless kimono-stores during our latest Japan trip, and returned with 6 kimonos.

I had some colours in my mind I desperately wanted, however, I haven't too big of a variety to choose from, considering my unusual, not-at-all-Japanese body type. This means that even if I found a larger size, there is a great chance the sleeves would still be too short.

Semba Center in Osaka, despite of its vastness and infinite neon lights, had a surprisingly good selection of kimono shops, and since the customers are about 98% locals, the shop assistants are knowledgeable and helpful.

I really wanted to have either a vibrant, royal purple or a subdued greyish purple iromuji as my second piece, but they were all too short, the deep petrol green jacquard, however, was perfect, and it really is my colour, so I bought it without hesitation.

My husband wanted to gift me a very beautiful one for my birthday, and encouraged me to look further for a formal piece. We found a slightly greyish shade of purple houmongi with gold pattern and we bought that too.

Chicago in Kyoto can be good for casual hunting. If you are looking for something to actually wear, like, properly wear, the only sizing guide you can go by is S-M-L, and the styles are separated. Otherwise the shop assistants don't put too much effort in properly packaging them for you. As I didn't have a yukata yet, I wanted to buy a cheap one so I have at least one for occasional summer jobs to wear. As the sizings are not so elaborate here, I mostly rummaged through large sizes until I found something that didn't look like a bedsheet. I am not a huge fan of yukata designs, but I found this cute red one one with the bunnies (top middle). Sleeves are too short, obvi, but it's for summer, so I may get away with it.

The black tsukesage at the top left was too cheap (about 5000 yen) to leave there. I have never seen a black tsukesage before, and I wanted it immediately despite probably never being able to wear it due to its shorter sleeves. This will likely be my practice-piece at home.

I was also influenced to visit a larger recycled kimono shop in Kyoto which mostly specialised in yukata and furisode. Well, I already had the former and I can't have the latter (because I'm married), but I asked the very, very old shop assistant lady if they have komon, and they had a few in the back. To my absolute delight, those were washable, polyester ones which are perfect for our not-so-pristine work environment, e.g. pouring sake all over the place. So I purchased the black one with the geometric asanoha pattern (top right).

At this point I considered the mission to be completed, although I still haven't owned a few styles yet. I haven't found any iro tomesode and a kuro tomesode. Chicago was full of the latter, but not the right size, even some stains in too visible places. I decided those would be for another time.

While roaming the shopping arcades of Kyoto on our last day though, I stumbled upon the shop where I bought my favourite obi two years ago and it was calling to me. I quickly went through the recycled selection with the shop assistant lady as they were all gorgeous. Nothing fit me though except the one thing I didn't expect to: the kuro tomesode. Well, normally I would have let it go, as it is such a high formality kimono that I could easily overdress the Japanese Ambassador herself in it, but if was exactly my size for only 5000 yen, a one of a lifetime bargain, with no visible stains or faults.

So that's how I ended up buying 6 kimono despite wanting only 2.

And I haven't even got into the accessories yet, but that's for another post.

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Reblogging because !!!hat!!!

Jenna Ortega wears S.S.DALEY Hand Felted ‘Margaret Dress’ for Harper’s Bazaar, photographed by Willy Vanderperre.

The ‘Margaret’ Dress is hand needle-felted in our London studio using dyed British wool. Crafted over the course of a week by our in-house design team, the piece features a felted image inspired by the early works of Scottish Colourist John Duncan Fergusson — whose paintings played a key role in shaping the AW25 collection’s colour story.