the japanese kimono

I've had a fascination for kimonos since reading Memoirs of a Geisha years ago. It boggles my mind how expensive a well-made silk kimono from Kyoto can be. Our friend Mikki wouldn't say exactly how much a kimono costs but revealed that a high quality silk obi can cost over $80,000. Can you imagine that??? I can't.

Anyhow, the main reason that we went to Tokyo was to attend the wedding of our friends Masa and Yuki. We weren't present at the actual ceremony but went to the wedding reception where all of their friends were invited. Yuki hails from Kyoto so her kimono was gorgeous of course.

Isn't she just breathtaking? I swear, I'm really starting to think that Western brides get the short end of the stick after seeing what Indian and Japanese brides get to wear!

A few nights after the wedding, I had a conversation with our other friend Murayama Yuka, about kimonos. I was just raving about how beautiful I think kimonos are and how amazing the workmanship is. The next day, we were hanging out at their house when Yuka came to me holding a yukata (a casual cotton summer kimono) that she wore when she was in her twenties. She said that she couldn't wear it anymore because the style was too youthful, so she wanted to give it to ... ME!!! Oh my god, I was so happy, I had to restrain myself from jumping up and down. Yuka showed me how to put it on and thankfully gave me printed instructions because I think I was so giddy that I didn't really absorb any information.

How did I fare as a wannabe Japanese yukata-wearing twenty-something?

Ok dearies, that's about all I can muster up today. Just got back into New York on a ridiculously long series of flights at 6:45AM and am gonna try to squeeze in a short nap before I head to work. More updates soon I promise! I missed you all!

now that's a bride

Who came up with the idea that brides have to wear white? Before that little fashion more was established, couldn't the powers that be have checked out how people in, say, India dress their brides? It would be so much more awesome if standard bridal attire looked like this:

The beautiful bride in red is my future shopping buddy, Rupi. I attended Rupi's wedding in London a little over a week ago. The gorgeous lady in pink is my best friend Sonu. Unfortunately, I missed Sonu's wedding in Canada two years ago because of visa issues. But I pored through Sonu's wedding pics just as I gawked all day at Rupi. I have to say, Sikh brides have got to be the most beautiful I have ever seen.

According to Sonu, "Most brides wear red or a variation of it (pink, maroon, fuschia) as it's the auspicious bridal color....we consider white for widows."

I am just dumbfounded how beautifully detailed these dresses are. But the gorgeous beadwork comes at a price. Rupi's skirt alone weighed 17 kilos. 17 KILOS! (That's 37.4 pounds for those not on the metric system)

In the UK, the practice is for brides to be in full regalia from the temple ceremony to the reception. In Canada, the bride and groom get to go home, change into something more comfortable, and then get down and party!

I am IN LOVE with this outfit of Sonu's. When I buy my sari, I want it to look like this! This is me being oblivious to the fact that this dress probably costs as much as my rent. Oh well, my honey insisted that the next time we attend an Indian wedding, I HAVE to be in a sari. So maybe I'll just slip the bill over to him? *evil grin*

Oh well, at least we mastered the dance moves this wedding. We'll get to the outfits in the next!