How do I even begin to coordinate with this O.o

spacegeisha · **Posted:** Mon Apr 04, 2011 8:37 pm

Hello ladies and/or gentlemen.

I'm brand new to the forum and thought this would be a fun way to introduce myself. I'm 28 years old (as of yesterday, in fact) and I live in the North Beach neighbourhood of San Francisco. I'm engaged to a young man from Victoria, B.C who spoils me rotten by sending me fancy kimono goodies (which I love because I am a fancy lady).

I own two furisode, one bright green fukuro obi, and a neon orange obiage (fun!) and obijime set (Almost everything I own came from of my stuff from Yamatoku) and frankly have no idea what to do with any of it, but I really really want to. Please help!

Most of the issue is with my silk furisode, and this is mostly due to the fact that it has such an unusual motif. I love the colour etc, but what in the world do you do to match with. Well. Tentacles. :eek:

The item as a whole is a very striking cerulean blue which gradually fades toward the bottom hem to a sort of deep indigo. There are large patches of white as well- this seems to be a very art-deco kind of piece overall. There are even small patches which seem to be shibori-dyed. Heck, the whole thing (with the exception of the metallic print overlay) is probably shibori-dyed. Honestly it's pretty difficult for me to tell. :unsure:

Here is the original image from yamatoku. I would have taken a full photo of it myself, but frankly it is massive and I don't have the floor space in my apartment to lay it out properly. Honestly this picture doesn't really do it justice, but regardless, here you go:

I took a few other photos as well so that you could see the details a bit more clearly. The poor thing is horribly wrinkled, but truthfully it was pretty wrinkled when I got it too, so please don't judge me too harshly. :ermum

If you would like to see other details I have a few more photos, but I'm kind of embarrassed to post them because (again) the poor thing is horribly horribly wrinkled. D:

Anyway, any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you all in advance. :lol:

ume_bloom · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 7:27 am

at a first glance, the green fukuro obi and the orange obiage& obijime set seem to be a perfect match!

If you have any pics of the other item, please do post them; it might be helpful.

Ame · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 3:17 pm

I have tons of coordination ideas coming to my mind!

Soft gold obi with light pink accessories
Turquoise obi with bright pink accessories
Red and pink obi with blue accessories
Blue obi with light green accessories

Have you tried your green obi and orange accessories? It depends on the shades, but it could look good

Like ume_bloom, I'd request pictures if you can!

chibistef · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 3:45 pm

i like the idea of green fukuro with orange oAo if it is the shade in my mind that is x'D
also ame's combinations sound really much like the ones i had in mind too x'Db

also i don't see ANY shibori on this kimono x'D it's yuzen =)b
and i don't think this is a normal furisode, but a kakeshita; a wedding kimono!
since the patterns and colours kinda scream kakeshita to me, and also the hem seems to be slightly padded. Is this the case? since then it really is a kakeshita =)b and metallic details are normally used with furi and kakeshita a lot too ^^ to make it more formal =)

good luck with coordinating this kimono since it is a lovely piece <3

spacegeisha · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 6:01 pm

Ohhhh yeah. It's padded and lined. There's not a doubt in my mind it's wicked formal. ...That and it came to me triple wrapped in the original binding stuff from the shop it was purchased at. Honestly I'm not fully convinced this was ever worn. Aside from the wrinkles it was in fantastic shape. But I digress! I was under the impression that the little detail on the third photo (the light green with the sort of teal spots) looked a bit like shibori. Whoops! :oops:

As for the accessories, I am relatively certain that the obiage and obijime will be fine, but the fukuro obi is a bit of an issue as I don't feel that the motif would really work.

It's not so much the pattern that's an issue, I just think that the it looks a bit too traditional, comparatively. That and it just looks to be not quite the right season, to me. The print on the kakeshita is quite contemporary (I'd date the general design to the mid seventies or early eighties,), and I'm not sure what would look appropriate with it.

BebeTaian · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 8:08 pm

I think you're right about the obi. It's the wrong green, and the motifs don't go together well.

I would probably go one of two routes:

One- look for a modern fukuro obi with sakura designs, largely gold, dark brown or plums, black, to match the details of the flower (sconces? vases?) bases. The minor, smaller details should be in the purples, greens, reds, pinks, whatever. Then, the obiage should pick up on a bright colour found both in the obi and the kimono, like the purple. Accessories could be metallic golds and blues or something that works with the obi and obiage. One of my Japanese friends got metallic mesh fabric and used it as a detail piece with her obiage and obi.

Two- look for a fukuro obi that matches the green with a less traditional motif, and then look at your obiage and obijime for guidance.

I think the real problem is that the modern design so closely resembles those on modern kakeshita, wedding dresses. So it's hard to find an obi that is modern and metallic like most girls' are today, without making it look like you're getting married.

rubyminky · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:05 pm

You could get a sailing ship obi to play up the kraken-tentacles motif?

(I know it's a Nagoya, but just for ideas...

spacegeisha · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:44 pm

Ahahahah! Rubyminky that is amazing. XD

Immortal Geisha · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:22 pm

Oh maaaan...Rubyminky - That's a brilliant idea!

spacegeisha · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:30 pm

No joke, I told my fiance (who bought me this lovely piece) about the boat obi idea and he died laughing. Seriously, fantastic idea. Now to find one! :katana:

Ichiroya/Yamatoku/ebay hoooooooo!

rubyminky · **Posted:** Wed Apr 06, 2011 8:04 am

And a crossed cutlasses obidome, of course