June 5, 2011

Dress up dolly day

Today it's too hot to wear kimono and too hot to go outside! (103 degrees F right now). One of my projects is finished, so the dress form "Dolly" is free to use for coordination photos. The "Dolly" is borrowed and a bit difficult to use because of it's unnatural figure, so I tried to pad the waist a bit. Dressing a Dolly (Or a willing friend) is much different than dressing yourself but it's really good practice. This Dolly works OK, good enough photographing coordination combinations today without too much effort. I am learning to dress the Dolly...so be forgiving of the wrinkles that seem to be multiplying with each additional obi!

#1: Yabane Overload


This is the ultramarine blue Meisen yabane kimono I got recently. I paired this retro kimono with with a nice beige yabane  hanhaba obi, a rust chirimen obiage, and a cream colored obijime with navy blue and reddish stripes. So there is alot of yabane! The same patterns can work together because the scale is different for the kimono and obi.
The han eri collar is orange and black with tiny flowers and I am using it with each kimono today. The obi looks wrinkled because I could not get an obi ita to fit underneath...probably pulled the obi too tight. So please do not try this at home!


#2: The Grey Potsherd Komon with a checked obi


This komon kimono is wool and has a really interesting pattern that looks to me like potsherds- pieces of broken pottery. The grey background has a subtle print of pink squiggly lines all over it. I think it has a 1950's feel to it. I have discovered that it works with several obi, including a couple I have not worn before!

Here I have paired it with a cute cotton kasuri check hanhaba obi, a light yellow obijime, and a red obiage. (This kimono looks wrinkled in almost every photo though....!)

 #3: The Grey Potsherd Komon with beige geometric/yuzen obi





I got this obi recently from this kimono blogger! I just noticed that it seems to work pretty well with this kimono. This obi is really cool, with a geometric design on one side of the o-taiko section and this yuzen flower design on the other side. I like the flower side out since it's a great color and design contrast with the kimono. This obi is paired with a pale yellow obiage, and a salmon and pale yellow obijime.

#4: The Grey Potsherd Komon with a black bamboo obi


I got this obi sometime last year and the design is really lovely. It's not easy to tie though: the tare is  longer than average and it's very stiff. But the Dolly is very forgiving! I have paired it with a cream rinzu obiage and cream obijime. I think it works OK, but a golden yellow obiage and obijime might be a better choice. Or pale yellow, which I do have. Maybe someday I will have obiage and obijime and every color!
~Reb

2 comments:

  1. Oh wow, I love the reversible flower obi with that pale purple kimono!!! The purple is an almost perfect match. (I myself prefer the yuzen flower side of the otaiko part as well.) It's weird though, I noticed that you had the same trouble as I did getting the design to show on the front....it refuses to wrap so that it's anywhere near the center! ^^; Very nice coordinations all around! Hope to see you wearing some of them ;)

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  2. Nice to see you got to see this one! Yes, the reversible flower obi is kind of weird...I kept trying to center the design in front but it would not obey, so I figured that was it's mission in life. I love the obi with this kimono though, it's a nice contrast. That kimono it's on is actually pale grey but because of the very fine pink squiggle pattern on the background, it's looks purplish. A fun obi for an unusual kimono! I'll have to wait until it cools off to wear this one...it's wool! But I will post photos of course.

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