New Kimono Coat, New Obi, New Haircut "Moga Bob" 20091212

I got my year-end bonus recently from my university, yay! It would be nice to have a new washing machine, one that washes and dries, and uses hot water. It would be nice to have a space heater, because right now I have the heat on full blast and my hot-carpet on, and I am still shivering in my apartment, and next week is supposed to be even colder. But, I hate wasting money on necessities. The only necessities I do waste money on, is high quality Japanese sake, Japanese tea, Japanese bean-sweets, and going out to my yakitoriya-san to be with my friends. So instead of adding my bonus to my funds for retirement or buying a house, I bought a new kimono coat and a new (used) obi.


The used obi wasn’t very expansive, but the coat was. Being the impractical person I am, I decided I would rather have a kimono coat, than a good wool coat I really need to be appropriate for wearing to the university. This coat is in a retro style, in an A-line with flared sleeves (for wearing with kimono). I believe it is a gabardine fabric, but would need to check with Mom about the fabric name to be sure. It is in a beautiful “is it brown? is it maroon?” color I so love. I finally decided to purchase it, after visiting it several times at the department store, because I can get away with wearing it with Western clothes as well. In fact, I was so taken with it, that when I purchased it, I had them bundle up the coat I was wearing and wore this home instead with my brown corduroy slacks. This Saturday I got to wear it for the first time with kimono, and rather think it goes quite nicely with my Oshima kimono, which is actually a deep brown-black. Is it not just too adorable, or what!? I just love the collar of the coat too!


So, the day I bought this coat, on the way leaving the store, I spied this obi, which was tied on a mannequin for display. I thought I better think a little more before spending more money, so left without it, only to return the next day to purchase it before it was sold to someone else. In the used-kimono section of the department store, none of the staff that I know were there and they just kind of ignored me until I actually had to ask for help (rare in Japan that you have to ask). The sales-staff lady complimented me extensively for my taste in choosing that obi, perhaps just desperate to make a sale, or to make up for having ignored me earlier? It is a high quality weave of fabric with gold threads in the centers of the camellias, and also has the seal of the weaver subtly woven into the fabric at the tail of the obi. Since the obi has gold threads, and was displayed with a komon kimono, I asked the sales staff if it would be appropriate to wear with a komon kimono, I didn’t actually have the nerve to ask if it would go with a Tsumugi. The staff person kind of avoided answering my question by saying it would even go with more formal kimonos, even an iro-muji or hōmongi. The fabric is also mildly shiny and very soft, the latter in keeping with my Tea sensei’s advice (see previous kimono post).


I thought it would look very good with my Oshima kimono, which is what I bought it for, the shiny-ness and camellia flowers accentuating the floating wheels in the kimono. Also, bright crimson-pink camellias are in flower right now around the Tokyo area, so I thought it would be nicely seasonal. I had planned to accessorize it with a crimson-red obiage-sash and obijime-cord, for a winter Christmas-like motif, but my crimson-red obiage-sash and obijime-cord turned out to be too strong a color and overpowered the obi. So instead, I accessorized it with my dusty-lavender bunny obiage-sash and reversible pink and yellow obijime-cord. I am wearing as an obi accessory a little purple bell I got at the Mitsumine shrine in Chichibu (just outside Tokyo), when one of my drinking buddies took me there last weekend in his Jaguar.


I am really not great at tying a Nagoya obi, partly because they are not as stiff as a longer doubled-over Fukuro obi, and partly because I am usually in a hurry and don’t spend enough time doing it. This here is actually one of my more successful attempts. I like how I got the lavender camellia in front just slightly off-center, because I prefer asymmetry. The placement of the camellia and the knot of the obijime-cord is just perfect, as a composition in my opinion. Also, rather fortuitously, the design of the lavender camellia on the lower part of the obi in back, nicely matched across the fold. But somehow, I can also never get the fold across the top of the Otaiko bow (a rare fairly decent attempt here), and the fold at the bottom straight with a Nagoya obi. The fold along the bottom, actually was straight in real life, but because one side unfortunately puffed out more than the other, it doesn’t look straight. I really don’t know why I often have one puffy side, always the same side, I think. Advice welcome.



* Opps forgot. The hairstyle is a 1920s-esque retro Moga Bob, “Moga” an Japanese abbreviation for “Modern Girl.”

Comments

1. Posted by Jezebella   December 14, 2009 09:38

Looking cute as ever, chica! I like your philosophy on spending bonus money, too.

2. Posted by auberginefleur   December 14, 2009 11:19

Yeah, well you would think I would grow up some time.

Completely unrelated but what's "Apartment Therapy," a TV show or something?

Re: http://yoredux.blogspot.com/2009/12/open-letter-to-apartment-therapy.html

3. Posted by Lisa E.   December 18, 2009 10:21

I love the coat!

4. Posted by auberginefleur   December 18, 2009 13:40

Me too! Thanks for the compliment!

ps. love your picks of Tokyo on Flickr