Social Distancing Party, May 16!

Another weekend, another hot Saturday, another chance to hang out with a friend and have a drink and some snacks under a ramada. This time it was at her house and she'd made a wonderful salad platter. We brought our own drinks and pizza this time. Outside of a Zoom meeting at work, this is the only times I see friends- on the patio. We usually switch off locations each weekend.

The yukata? An odori (dance) yukata, half white and half indigo and a deep red hakata obi. A fancy zig-zag haneri (collar), white studded belt and colorful sandals complete the cool, fresh look. The twisted aluminum earrings are by one of my favorite local jewelry designers (And my friend) Angela Rose. A classic look and really appropriate colors for Memorial Day, but why not now?
Thanks for looking.
Arigato,
R

In front of my friend's mud adobe wall and brilliant blue door. 

Social Distancing Happy Hour Party, May 9

Another party with drinks and snacks on the patio, another reason to wear kimono! This time, we met at my house. Another hot day requires a yukata, so I wore my vintage (70-80's?) yukata featuring hibiscus with yellow geta. I call it my 'red bean' yukata because of the color. I have a very open weave ro opened Nagoya obi that I was creative with- folding like a fan and belting it to create something new and fun. I have never worn this obi before and thought I didn't have anything to go with it until I saw the colors in the yukata! And of course leopard pretty much goes with everything. Let me know what you think!
Arigato,
R

Social Distancing Happy Hour, May 2

Hello again
My friend and I had another social distancing happy hour get together at her home this time on Saturday, May 2nd. It's starting to get hot here, so another yukata was in order. I put this outfit together rather quickly because of the heat! I wore the green butterfly yukata, same one as I wore to the Seattle obon last year. This time, I dressed it up with an orange heko (soft) obi and a zebra print belt and some fun jewelry by on of my favorite jewelry designers, Sally Bass. 
The flowers adjacent to my friend's patio seemed to be the inspiration for my outfit....or was it the other way around?
Until next time!
R

Big-ass sunglasses!

Social Distancing Happy Hour, April 25

Another weekend, another chance to wear kimono and have a drink with a friend. I have this yukata that I was going to sell....I'm not so sure now! It's just too amazing. Look at the sleeve length! 

The design is very abstract and doesn't look too flowery and girly, which I also really like. 

I've been experimenting with folding obi rather than tying and it's really nice- easy to do and looks really good when you have a fun belt! It's a trend I have seen on Instagram quite a bit, especially in Japan. One other advantage- it works well with a too-short obi. 

I think it looks modern and very chic and looks best with an obi with contrasting colors or patterns on each side. 

I wore western-style sandals this time, I think the yellow looks works well with the yukata. Plus they are more comfortable than my yellow geta. 

Photos taken at my friends adobe home in the desert. 

Ciao ciao,

R. 

Social Distancing Happy Hour, April 18

Another weekend, another social distancing party!
This time I'm wearing a pale grey yabane pattern hitoe kimono (washable poly!) and a fabulous chuuya obi featuring a kingfisher catching a shrimp on one side.

The obi design is really amazing- very subtle colors of blues and gold-tan, a woven design. The other side is black with yellow and lime green shibori tie-dye, which looks like this. 

There are various water plants, waves, and even a suggestion of shells and a fishing net depicted. I picked up some of the tan with a gold obiage; the obijime is blue and white stripe. Zori are grey-blue polka-dot with grey tabi sox.  The haneri is from Ichiroya/Kimonotte and is actually for summer but I couldn't resit the fish and wave motif!
Enjoy,
R.

The sun was starting to go down....