Well they’ve all reacted better than my retarded borderline-racist coworkers. Grrrr. While I’ve heard a few stories from other kimono-wearing-gaijin, usually the reaction is good. Personally I tend to always get asked ‘where did you get it?’ (mostly eBay) and ‘did you dress yourself?’ (yup) And then they go on about how good I look.
Besides getting chopsticks at Midori, the last time I went to sushi with my mom we got pens and mugs. Really nice pens and mugs. Oh and one time I was wearing a hippari (Japanese peasant top) and obi, an older (white) lady asked me some questions and thought it was really cool. That’s about it. I usually just wear kimono around the family so I don’t get many chances for reactions.
Kimono are great, but I’d like to see more people going old-school. (That’s me in Heian period clothing for a historical reenactment-- I always intended to wear it to our favorite local Japanese restaurant, because they knew about our historical geekiness and would have loved it. Now that we live in Bangkok, though, there would be a double dose of weirdness wearing that on the street.)
Seriously, those are some very pretty kimonos, and they look great on you! Good on ya for wearing them out and about. I stand in awe of people who do modern kitsuke (kimono-dressing)…my husband and I can party like it’s 999 to 1599, but I’ve never wrapped my head around the modern “rules”!
I’ve noticed you always refer to it as ‘wearing kimono’ and the like instead of ‘wearing a kimono’ or kimonos (which I would imagine would be a plural). Is that just a difference between japanese and english or is my grasp of grammer horribly off?
Just like in English with words like deer, scissors, or Swiss, Japanese does not differentiate between singular and plural. One kimono, fifteen kimono, all kimono.
I’ve long thought that kimono were a lovely, elegant piece of clothing, though the intricacy has intimidated me. Does anyone make plus size kimono? How much does a “beginner” kimono cost? Cotton? Silk? Is linen available?
Have you ever done the full kit with the wig and everything?
I don’t know if it’s a particular quirk of mine or of all kimono-wearing people (or at least the one’s I’ve met on Immortal Geisha), but ‘kimonos’ looks REALLY weird to me. It’s like pokemons or animes. Yeah, our conversations end up sprinkled with a lot of Japanese words and all of them are treated as both plural and singular (like pants or sheep)
So mostly I tread kimono like a collective noun. Like clothes, except a bit more specific. Japanese lession of the day! Japanese clothes = wafuku (including kimono, mompei, hippari, etc). Western clothes = yofuku. Kimono literally just means thing to wear (mono = thing, kiseru [I think] = to wear), but it’s gotten a more specific meaning over time.
It’s a quirk of language. I think part of it is that ‘a kimono’ implies just the kimono, while kimono implies the whole package - (in order) hadajuban, juban, kimono, obi, and possible haori or michiyuki. ‘Kimono’ also includes yukata, which, as far as I know, isn’t technically kimono. I’m not entirely sure what exactly makes it not kimono, except for the history and material.
They’re really not that intricate. Most of mine are polyester. The nicer ones are silk. The other common material is wool. I don’t think linen would hang right (I dunno, I’m no sewing expert)
Yukata are made of cotton. They’re for summer only and are super-informal. You don’t wear a juban (under kimono) with them, just a hadajuban or sports bra and a slip. They don’t have all the accessories of normal kimono either - no obi-jime or obi-age. The obi is easier to tie too (it’s actually the only one I can tie) Fortunately for me, for less casual kimono you can wear the hanhaba obi too.
I’ve seen larger women (both Asian and non) who look really nice in kimono. I know if you’re taller it’s much harder to find kimono. I assume if you have a larger hip measurement it’s harder as well.
Most of my kimono wear 20-30 dollars off eBay, plus a juban, obi, and accessories. To get the kit the first time, it’s about $100, but you can make a lot of it yourself. If you’re interested there’s a great message board on ImmortalGeisha.com with people who know a lot more than me.
Normal people don’t do makeup or wigs. There’s some people on ImmortalGeisha who do Maiko and Geisha cosplay, but I’ve never been interested.
My question, which you have every right not to answer, is what part of your clothing budget is $600? (Especially given that you mostly wear kimono around the house). Do you spend a lot on clothes in general? Or no, not really, and this $600 is really part of your entertainment budget.
I don’t really have a budget. After rent, bills, and groceries, I don’t spend a lot of money. I tend to be more of a saver, although I have to watch out for eBay and book stores.
This came out of my tax refund check. I don’t tend to buy new (western) clothes except every couple of years when I need something. I don’t really enjoy it. Kimono doesn’t take a bunch of trips to the dressing room. I just go on eBay and say ‘yup that design looks good, yup, it’s between 155 and 165 cm long, k, bid!’ Or in person I wrap it around me and see if it’s long enough.
Seriously nice Kariginu sugata. Me, I’ve been hankering after kannôshi sugata, if only I could get the fabric. Damn Dharma Trading doesn’t deliver to SA, though.
I asked you in another thread, tounge half in cheek, about the Japanese undies. Is there really that much of a difference from the stuff you could pick up at Vic’s?
Or is it special kimono specific undies?
ps- I hope I’m not perving you out. I’m just curious. And, really, isn’t a fixation on a young ladies underwear very Japanese?
There’s traditional Japanese underwear, I believe, but I don’t remember what it looks like. The main problem for women is that the ideal look is cylindrical. For larger women, that means padding certain areas and compressing others. Some women end up wrapping their breasts. I get by with a sports bra.
Also under the category of ‘underwear’ is your hadajuban and juban. They’re both to keep your body oils from getting on the kimono. The juban also adds another hint of color around the sleeves and color. For the longest time I was getting by with just a pair of bloomers (along with my sports bra) for the hadajuban. The lady I went with this last time used a slip. Traditional hadajuban can be one piece or two, depending on your preference.
Looking for pics for you, I found this, which while focussed on wedding is exactly the same up until the uchikake.
And thanks Autolycus. I knew I could rely on someone more knowledgeable than me coming by to correct me.
I am so jealous. I wanted to get a kimono while I was in Japan but, being a very large male gaijin, I’d have had to get one custom made.* And, Tristan, thanks for giving me a question to ask my friends. And and, yes, the ladies undies thing is very Japanese.
She’s a wonderful resource-- one of our friends, and a fellow SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) member. She has worn modern kimono on occasion, once to a Firefly “shindig” for Halloween.
