Kimono to the Ball

It has been fun attending the Marine Corps Balls here on Okinawa. I had barely been on island when my new friends gave me the phone number of their tailor. They let me know that he would custom make my ball gown! I was excited and quickly gave him a call. He came over a few days later, took my measurements and we picked out my fabrics. Next I gave him pictures of how I wanted my gown to look, a picture of a bow from one dress, waistline from another, sleeves, neckline, etc. At our first Ball on Camp Kinser I was fascinated by the kimonos worn by the Okinawan dates of some of the Marines. I told Ed I wanted to wear one at our last Ball. Ed was in Iraq for our last Ball, so I didn’t end up wearing a kimono. Thank goodness we had the fantastic opportunity to do another tour here on Oki! I had decided I was going to wear a Japanese style dress for our Ball in 2007 and a kimono for our last Ball, 2008. The date quickly approached and I was in somewhat of a panic as I had been pricing kimonos for a few years, very expensive! I finally asked one of my Okinawan friends if she knew of someone I could pay to borrow their kimono as well as pay them to get me dressed. It is quite a complicated process as there are many layers, ties, and padding! I had also learned in dressing Vicki in one that you need to make sure you have it wrapped left side over right, as the other way around is for the burial of the dead! Well, my dear friend Zuzumi gave me the phone number to this little hole in the wall place out in town that would take care of everything for me. I called and after a few questions I was actually able to speak to someone in English! She explained to me that I would need to come down ahead of time and choose my kimono, obi, etc so it would be ready for me on the day I came in to be dressed. It turned out to be the same place I had had the kid’s kimono pictures done! Awesome, I knew right where this little itty bitty place was! Ed went with me and we looked at several kimonos. I told the fabulous little Okinawan lady that I wanted a red kimono in the style that matched my age and status. There are different kimonos for different occasions and status, married, single, age, etc. I wanted to wear a kimono that reflected who I am and where I am in life right now, as well as the event I was attending. She helped me pick everything out to match the look I was going for. Here is just a little about the kimono and everything I would be wearing a few days later……The kimono is the national costume of Japan. I love seeing the Okinawan and Japanese people wear these! I saw this style of dress more often while in Tokyo than I see here on our little island. They always look beautiful, very unique and different. It isn’t often you will see someone wearing matching kimonos. Originally the word “kimono” literally meant – thing to wear, ki, meaning wearing and mono, meaning thing. Now it is basically just a specific kind of a traditional full-length garment. Kimono’s today are primarily worn by women and on special occasions. Some older people still wear a kimono daily. Most often though you will see people dressed in kimono for weddings, tea ceremonies, and other formal and special occasions. Professional sumo wrestlers are often seen in Kimono because they are required to wear traditional Japanese dress whenever appearing in public.
I made my appointment for 5 pm the evening of our Ball. I was also having them do my hair and make-up. She did my make up first, and nooooo, I did not go with the white face! I did color my hair beforehand as I thought my natural darker color would look more authentic than my summer blonde shade. ;) Next, I was able to look thru several hair style books and I chose how I wanted her to do my hair. She didn’t put the Kanzahi, hair ornaments, in until after I was completely dressed. The dressing is what took the longest. One hour to get all wrapped up! A typical woman’s kimono consists of 12 or more separate pieces! What I found interesting was that many Japanese women do not have the skill to put on a kimono by themselves and hire a professional kimono dresser. I wasn’t feeling so lame after all! Especially since I had put Vicki in one all by myself and following the directions in Kongi! (I did have a Mamasan check Vicki before I let anyone else see her to make sure I had everything going the right direction!) So, I had 2 wonderful Okinawan ladies dress me. I began with putting on a hadajuban, it was like a thin undershirt, and this was followed by the susoyoke, which was kinda like a petticoat. You do not wear a bra under your kimono. I was wrapped rather tightly with strips of cloth that I would use as mummy wrappings for Halloween. Following this I had all kinds of other padding put over me and around me. I found this part rather funny. I did not really feel that I needed extra padding as I am round enough, but she said I was going traditionally dressed, soooo, I became rounder. It was also kinda like the Verizon commercial where he keeps asking “Can you hear me now?” Except these two cute little ladies kept asking if I could breathe? They continued to wrap and pull until it was time to put on the hiyoku. This was a full kimono, rather thick with a white collar and small dainty pink flowers. It even had the full floor length sleeves. Next they put on my actual kimono that had the added collar, a eri sugata, you can see the gold layer. The summers are very hot here, so this collar is just that, a collar with the appearance of another layer of a kimono. They tucked in my sleeves from the other kimono into this kimono and pinned them so they would stay in place. It is important to see the layers of kimonos worn, but they must always stay in place. Now it was time for the obi, this is the sash worn across your middle. It is very long and a very thick material. It is the length of my stair case. As they wrapped the obi around me they also inserted a obi-ita which is a thin board placed in the obi to keep its shape. Next came the datejime, it is a thin sash worn around the obi, for formal occasions. I had many koshi himo’s which are this sashes that keep all your pieces place while getting dressed! Now it was time to put on my tabi, the white ankle high divided toe socks. I have bought lots of these socks here in all colors and styles! They are great to wear with flip flops on cooler evenings or hot muggy nights outside when you do not want bug bites on your toes! My shoes were extremely comfortable, even while dancing! Once I was completely dressed my kimono dressers helped me pick out a purse and than they finished up my hair with my kanzashi. I was dressed and completely ready one hour and forty minutes after arriving. Ed came and picked me up and took me home so he could finish getting ready. When I went inside, Jorden reminded me that Halloween had been on Friday, it was now Monday and Ty and Ryan asked if I wanted to borrow any of their swords and Ryan offered to hide weapons in my hair. Vicki did the typical “why mom why?” and our dog went crazy smelling me! My new friends had taught me how to use the restroom in all my many layers, so I went before we left. I was very relieved that I didn’t manage to flush one of my sleeves down the toilet! I rode in the back seat of our van when it came time to leave. Ed got a crash course in hooking up my tabi’s, socks, as the hooks had come undone on the car ride over and it was quite difficult to bend once fully dressed! I was the only American in a kimono and received a ton of compliments on my ball gown! I think every Okinawan there came over and talked to me and had the nicest things to say about me wearing their traditional formal dress to the Marine Corps Ball. I was actually very comfortable and for once was not cold! I also had perfect posture for the night as it was impossible to slouch with how tightly wrapped up I was! When we got home that night, it took Ed quite awhile to get me all unwrapped! I could never have gotten outta that thing by myself! The next day Ed came home and said I was the talk of the Academy where he works. He said everyone kept saying how cool it was that Gunny K’s wife had worn a kimono. That was also the most expensive I have ever been dressed! Tallying up everything I was wearing would have come to approximately $20,000 if I were to buy everything! Wow!