Meisen Surpises!

My two Meisen arrived! I'm both pleased and surprised! The hitoe kimono (magenta yabane pattern) is actually sha, a sheer silk fabric for summer. That is excellent, however, now I have to shop yet again since I wasn't really looking for sha!
This illustrates the perils of buying online: sometimes the seller doesn't reveal all of the information you need; there was no mention of sha, just that it was unlined, or hitoe. Because it is sha, it needs a ro (Another type of summer silk gauze with a distinctive Leno weave) or sha summer obi, a summer weave obijime and obiage, and a summer juban in silk gauze or maybe even linen.
My one summer obi (White hakata) doesn't seem to work at all with the kimono. This kimono demands something darker/ more contrast and with maybe a small pattern. And it needs to be in a summer-weight silk. A summer juban with longer sleeves would be nice too! Oh, then there is the color: it looks like magenta and white in the sellers photo but it's really magenta and beige. But it's in beautiful shape. I love it! But I will have to wait awhile before I can wear it.

Surprise #2: the blue Meisen with the orange circle pattern and yellow yabane pattern arrived....beautiful! But the overall color is decidedly more subdued than the sellers photos!

Sellers photo of Meisen fabric

The yellow yabane stripes look more gold, what I thought was bright orange is more like burnt orange. The background color that looked like brilliant deep Ultramarine blue is actually a nice deep blue violet with a dark grey cast to it.

A photo I took showing the more subtle colors.

The cute hanhaba obi I found that I thought would go with it looks a bit brash with it, so I will have to do some more serious coordination this weekend to see if it will work.  But I have a more plain gold hanhaba obi that seems to go nicely. This kimono is also in nice shape and might have been relined.
Sometimes surprises happen and it's always best to take them in stride.
More photos of the blue-violet Meison soon....I'm looking forward to wearing it! Maybe Ikue has some great coordination ideas for me as well.
Ciao,
Reb