The Ultimate Dress Up Party- Kimono!

In New York, Anne Marie and I had a history of dressing up in random themed outfits (like punk rockers, nautical, white trash, etc.) and then going out and playing ping pong. We took great care in selecting the outfits, makeup, and entourage, so, imagine our happiness in being invited to Oe-san's house for the ULTIMATE DRESS UP party....

Oe-san is a former hairdresser, so she fixed up our hair in traditional Japanese styles with colorful bling and flowers and combs and danglies and puffed it up with fake hair and lots of hairspray and pins. Then they laid it on us... the layers and layers of kimono accoutrements... sashes and robes and underrobes and more sashes and ties and stuffing to make us perfectly round "cylinders" as they like to say.

Anne Marie was wearing one of Kumi's gorgeous yellow silk kimono. They were all shocked at her height (about 5'-10") and how the kimono didn't cover her feet!

Somehow, they thought it would be fine to dress me up in a traditional Japanese wedding kimono although I'm not sure how kosher that really is... I mean, really, we don't go around trying on wedding dresses unless we're planning on getting married! But they were like, no, it's ok, don't worry. You're not Japanese, so it's OK! It was a really beautiful kimono and the white-on-white pattern was really subtle. On top of all that, they put on this super saturated colorful silk cloak with cranes and bamboo and pines and other illustrative symbols.

We were surrounded by bustling ladies in waiting- Kumi and Oe-san, and Ogino-san, and the lady who gave Kumi the wedding kimono, and Oe-san's next door neighbor who ended up giving me and Anne Marie these beautiful silk kimono coats.... And then it was picture taking time- OH! the accessories, the fans, the parasols, the seats! That lasted at least an hour or two.... It basically seemed like an adult (or older women) version of playing with dolls!!! I don't think we can beat that experience in NYC!!!