Kimono me

Welcome back from Easter holiday, I hope you had a great time. My Easter was the first as a family of 3, it was sunny and we had good food. More about that later, first, there is something I've been dying to share with you.

In high school I was a total Japan geek. Around 10th grade there was an anniversary of Romanian Japanese diplomatic relations and I visited expositions, shows about tea ceremony or kabuki theatre, I went to the opera and so on, I was even hoping to study in Japan. The whole Japanese infatuation continued but to a lesser extent well into my university years where I wrote papers about Japanese management and business styles.

Recently, my husband went to Japan (more pictures coming soon) and brought me a beautiful kimono called Yukata. There are many types of kimono, the yukata is a meant to be worn in summer or after baths and is one of the more common ones. It was surprisingly simple to wrap around: I just followed the instructions in the packaging and I didn't even need extra help.

Talking about packaging, this is how the kimono came. Notice the paper is the same pattern as the cloth? That is attention to detail!

 This is the patter on the cotton cloth of the kimono. The area outside the roses resembles the gift paper it was wrapped in.

 The kimono is very long. Basically it's a one size fits all, 165cm long for my 160cm in hight but it would be much the same length for a taller or shorter woman. When you put it on, you adjust the length so it comes to your ankles and you prevent it from touching the ground by wearing those sandals called geta. You don't shorten the kimono, there is no need. One more thing to notice is the folds, the way the collar is folded especially reminds me of a Japanese art, Origami.

And this is the kimono on me. I didn't have the obi, the sash which goes around the waist, I will have to make or buy one. Any tips on the colour? I was thinking blue. The only scarf I had was this burgundy one but normally red is reserved for children and teenagers. Oh and there is another rule: you wrap the kimono left over right, the other way around is reserved for the burial of the dead.

So, what do you think?
PS If you check on Wikipedia here (and please take time to also support the free encyclopaedia), you will discover all the types of kimono as well as a video on how to wrap the Yukata (the corresponding article).