Kimono photos

It was a beautiful morning, my cherry tree in the back garden was in full bloom, so I decided to take advantage of the lovely weather to finally get round to taking some photos of myself wearing the kimono that I bought in Kyoto in 2013. This is where it becomes clear how far in advance I start planning and writing my blog posts - this cherry tree is in flower in mid-April rather than mid-May! But my other cherry tree does flower about now!

This is only the second time that I've made a proper effort to get dressed in my kimono. It's a lot of work, and it's not easy doing so on your own! I don't have a proper collar to wear under it, so I just used a length of fabric folded over, which got a bit scrunched up as I was dressing myself, and I can never get the neckline to stay back from the nape of my neck like it's supposed to! And my obi was just tied any which way at the back to get it to stay in place - that's the most difficult bit!

After spending ages on my hair and makeup, and getting dressed in my kimono, I headed out to the garden. It was really bright, so it was difficult taking the photos. I did take a parasol out with me to try to shade my face in some of them.