If you have never heard of Chayatsuji Kimono (茶屋辻着物, teahouse landscape) allow us to introduce you to a delightful source of knowledge about kimono dressing, with a wonderful sense of classical taste for traditional Japanese culture. The woman who is the powerhouse and brains behind Chayatsuji Kimono is Youandi, a young Dutch woman. Through her kimono dressing style, she expresses her own creativity and delights in learning more about kimono and sharing it with others. For years Chayatsu Kimono has been a staple of the international community that celebrated Japanese kimono online. Typically her blog and online tutorial videos are packed full of helpful tips and tricks for wearing your own kimono while gently encouraging the viewer to explore their own love of kimono. On July 1st she posted the first of what would be many photos of her 100 Days, 100 Obi Project. The objective is fairly simple, to post 100 days worth of kimono and obi combinations. Previous projects of hers include seasonal challenges and instructional videos to help demonstrate kimono dressing techniques.
If you are looking for a delightful Facebook page enrich your social media feed we highly recommend following Chayatsuji Kimono on Facebook. Her youtube channel includes fun videos such as kimono unboxings, and more helpful instructional videos which include topics such as the formality and coordination of an iromuji, and even unique male obi types such as the Ronin Musubi Variation.
Chayatsuji Kimono Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/contortionist104
Chayatsuji Kimono Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Chayatsujikimono/
Kimono Blog: https://chayatsujikimono.wordpress.com/
Below are 3 from her project, and below each photos if is in her own writing insight and information about each kimono set. Most of these kimono coordinations observe a more traditional sense of style. In the coming weeks, you can expect us to feature additional Days from her project in our kimono blog. Truthfully every coordination posted through the project is worthy of praise which made a selection of our top 20 favorite kimono sets that much more difficult. All the same, we picked out our favorite 20 kimono coordinations and will be sharing them here with her permission.
Day 1/100
Type of obi: Fukuro
Formality: Formal
Colour: Orange
Motief: Butterflies
Season: Spring
Year of puchase: 2011
Grayish lilac houmongi
Orange metallic butterfly fukuro obi
Light green full shibori obiage
Green/white/pink floral flat obijime
Starting off with my very first obi, purchased almost 9 years ago when I was still a young an innocent girl at the age of 18. I can't really count how many times I've worn it, it held up really well too. Coincidently I've paired it with one of my latest purchases, the wisteria houmongi. Perhaps in a wish to combine my first steps on this journey with my most recent ones? ^^
Day 23/100
Type of obi: Nagoya
Formality: Casual
Colour: Turquoise
Motief: Butterfly in shibori
Season: Spring
Year of purchase: 2014
The obi is so short but I just love it so much. Blue, with light blue & turquoise in particular, is my favorite color and I recall being so stoked that I found this one. I don't know what I paid for it but the average was about 1-2 dollars for the obi at the time
I did have a hard time coordinating this ensemble, I'm not too sure about the obijime but I LOVE the bold pop of color of the obiage * _ *
Day 21/100
Type of obi: Yukata hanhaba
Formality: Casual
Colour: Light pink (reversible, two different shades)
Motif: Checkered and dianthus
Year of purchase: 2014
White bingata-style yukata
Light pink yukata hanhaba obi
Talk about BRIGHT! This ensemble, sort of, resembles what I used to wear in the first few years of my kitsuke journey. "The brighter the better" is quite the accurate description of my style. It is still on the bright side but I have a lot of darker shades in my collection too I'm not sure if you can actually see the different shades of pink in the pictures, the difference isn't very big in real life either
In the coming weeks, you can expect additional updates and features from this project. Most of all we hope her sense of style and joy inspires you to wear your own kimono and play with your kimono dressing accessories.