Silk, flowers and red lips

What am I talking about? Well, about kimono's, of course! I have quite a lot of kimono’s to date, but one of them has always need to be the first. Because I could write chapters about by costumes and I don’t want to drown you in a flow of words, I will write the introduction in this post and continue in a next, as to give the illusion I'm not blabbering everything at once :)

I introduced Laura to you in the last post: the friend with whom I made a lot of costumes. In 2007 we first watched Memoirs of a Geisha. We instantly fell in love with beautiful image of a white-painted girl with red lips, wearing a kimono. Now I know that the image the movie sculpts of a Geisha life is false, and the hairstyles aren’t even correct. While the movie still has a nice story and beautiful atmosphere, I now know a lot more about the true geisha life – but that is after 5 years of being interested.

A kimono is so different from all our Western clothing, vintage or contemporary. While Western clothing mostly accentuates natural body curves – or creates a different curvy shape with a corset – a kimono mostly does the opposite. There is no tiny waist or ample bosom and hips. Instead, a kimono creates a straight line, and wearing a kimono well can be a challenge if you do have a curvy body shape. If I want to wear one well, I need to “pad” my waist and hollow back with a towel. Anyone who is well endowed in the busty area can have problems with getting a good fit. But the Japanese body shape is more straight than ours, of course, so it’s not so weird that their national clothing fits that.

The first kimono I ever made isn’t really something that earns the title “kimono”. It was a “small” costume I made for Castlefest 2007. “Big” costumes are usually reserved for the Elf Fantasy Fair. I had gotten a large carton box filled with fabric from my grandma, and one of the fabrics was this shiny, golden fabric with a flower pattern near the sides. There wasn’t enough to make a long kimono, so I made it knee-length. I didn’t know anything of the right proportions – I just started to learn how to best use google – so the sleeves are to broad, for example. Anyway, it was a good practice on how a kimono works and that while the clothing piece itself isn’t very intricate of shape – it is difficult to wear right.

After we watched the movie, Laura and I decided to make a maiko – apprentice geisha –  costume for the Elf Fantasy Fair in 2008. While we did do a lot of research on google, we failed at several fronts. The fabric is real kimono silk we bought in a bolt on ebay. A maiko wear a special type of furisode kimono, a kimono that has long sleeves. The bolt we purchased is to make a tsukesage kimono, a kimono with short sleeves that is the equivalent of a nice dress you might wear at a party. To compare, you can say a furisode is like a fancy evening dress, reserved for unmarried women attending very formal occasions. Anyway, I still really love the pattern on it (I'm the right person). Since I don't think it's all that well made, I'm thinking of re-making it into a Victorian bustle dress. I've seen it on a few examples, were kimono fabric was used to make the bustle, and I really liked the result.

We did find how to tie a obi – the sash around the waist – but we made it ourselves. Just as you have a lot of different types of kimono, there are as many different types of obi. The obi that a maiko wears is a sash of about 30cm wide and 7m long, much longer than the length of a normal obi of about 4m. They are called darari obi and are incredibly expensive, even second hand. I really would like one, but I’m afraid my wallet won’t allow me such purchases.

Another thing that is such a hallmark for a maiko is her hairstyle. We wanted to buy one of the wigs, but they are as expensive as a darari obi. So, we needed to make do with our own hair. Laura’s hairdresser had graduated on the hairdo’s of a maiko – can you imagine the luck? Then we had a second problem: black hair. In 2007, I was in something I now call my Emo Phase. I just dyed my hair black, no problem. Laura wasn’t crazy enough and sprayed it black instead. The last asset to our coiffure was a kanzashi, the dangling fabric flowers. We made those ourselves, and while I made a lot more now, I know the way I made them then is still a bit crappy. As I said before, you learn from your own mistakes! We also bought a few vintage hair pins from ebay, beautiful pins I cherish still.

Next, came the makeup. White face and red lips, and black-rimmed eyes. No problem. We bought oil-based theatre makeup that wouldn’t get runny in warm weather because of sweat. Still, it wasn't the best smooth coverage that you could get and my cheeks were a little too red, I think we did an okay job, overall. In the photo right of here, you can see me in the advertisment of the Elf Fantasy Guide. Well, I'm still a little proud of that, even though the kanzashi you see is rather ugly. 

Then there is one final part that needs telling: the shoes, or okobo. We made there ourselves! We found a tutorial on the internet and Laura and her father did most of the work. When I look back upon them, their shape is entirely wrong, they are much too massive and just not elegant as they are supposed to be. Recently, I made a new pair over at my father's place, painted them black, and I absolutely love that pair. 

Just to let you know the true value of a kimono, I will show you a picture I made on my holiday to Japan. Here you can see a beautiful red furisode (one I wouldn't mind to own!) for sale for 180.000 yen, or about 1800 euro. I'll tell you this is one of the cheapest I've see, for I have seen a beautiful obi (so just the sash) for sale in the most expensive warehouse for more than a million yen, and kimono for 880.000 yen and the likes... Alright, the process to make one is very time-consuming, to dyeing and painting the fabric and the sewing itself, but well, they are a bit of a luxury item ;) I can say that I probably own more kimono than half of the current Japanese girls! But mine, of course, are not new.