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Kimonos

Wednesday, 7 September 2005, 10:10 | Category : Costuming
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As promised, kimono pictures!

Here’s mine:

The long sleeves are the mark of a wealthy, unmarried woman – she can afford the luxury of the longer sleeves, because she is not required to cook or clean or do other menial labor for which the sleeves would be an annoyance. When a woman gets married, she cuts the sleeves shorter so they stay out of her way while cooking.

When this was explained to us, I looked at Bradon and laughed. I think I’ll be keeping the sleeves, even in the event of marriage. Bradon does 95% of the cooking in our home.

And, of course, here’s Bradon’s:

He’s such a good guy, to pose for pictures right before bed, when his hair’s all wonky.

I tried to get pictures of the fabric, but it’s so shiny that I couldn’t manage to photograph it without getting massive glare. The fabric on mine is covered in embroidered butterflies in violet and green and gold, and his is embroidered in gold and green and red and violet medallions. Just gorgeous.

Of course, we’re still not sure exactly what we’re going to do with these beautiful kimonos. We bought them because 1) they’re gorgeous, 2) they fit us (shocking…we’re both quite a bit bigger, in all directions, than most Japanese people, and we figured we’d never find kimonos that would fit), 3) they were very reasonably priced, and 4) we costume a lot. We’ll find a reason to wear them.

What? Hats? What hats? I don’t know anything about hats. *guilty look* Last night was not such a good night. Bradon’s hard drive crapped out last week, and the (not-so-bright) tech finally came out last night to install a new one (which either Bradon or I could have done ourselves. Blindfolded.) Imaging the drive proved to be a major pain in the arse, with many phone calls back to the (not-so-bright) help desk, so Bradon was pretty stressed out. We’re still working out what we’re going to do (and to what lengths we’re willing to go) to pull the data off his old hard drive. On top of that, I had my own, personal, emotional spaz-out (fallout of this), so…not so much with the knitting. However, I still have a whole day of work ahead of me, and it seems that my useless cow-orker has actually managed to do a smidgen of work today, so I expect I can get them done before I go home. *crosses fingers*

4 Comments for “Kimonos”

  1. 1Wonder Woman.

    wrote on 19 March 2009 at 18:53

    You need an obi. The material is so shiny that without one it looks like a bathrobe(for the lady) I have a yukata and it does not look right unless I wear an obi with it.

  2. 2Wonder Woman.

    wrote on 19 March 2009 at 18:55

    oh, yeah about the comment that you thought you guys wouldn’t fit into the kimono, kimonos are made longer and wider than they should be, one size usually fits all.

  3. 3Svana

    wrote on 29 August 2009 at 22:38

    What’s an obi?

  4. 4Gavi

    wrote on 19 November 2009 at 11:29

    An Obi is a wide belt used to keep a kimono closed. It is often more ornate than the kimono itself and can cost just as much or more.

    Every kimono must have one to be worn properly. Even the hotsprings informal yukatas are worn with one.

    Marisa’s and her guy’s kimono are made of non standard materials. They shouldn’t be made of satin ever. They usually made of cottons, hemp, silk, and other natural materials. They are never shiny unless it’s the embroidery that is shiny.