Obi-Tastic

I remember about four years ago, the Chinese/Japanese trend shown on the catwalk was taken very literally and high street stores all over the place were selling tacky looking cheong sams’ with godawful prints.  Thankfully, this time round, the Far Eastern trend has been toned down a lot and instead of doing the whole hog and going completely Oriental-crazy, it’s much better to just inject a dose of it.  Obi – the traditional Japanese sash that ties around kimonos in elaborate ways is the perfect accessory to add a subtle touch of the Orient to any outfit.  The more luxurious the fabric i.e. dupion, shantung, brocade, heavy embroidery etc, all the better to wear with just a plain t-shirt and jeans.  There’s also something very strategic about wearing a belt so high on your waist because your torso is instantly lifted up and it pulls in your tummy – like a less painful corset!

I won this one on eBay just now – I really like the strong colours but I’m also on the lookout for something softer….

……something like these.  An eBay seller – mollytabbycat‘s spring summer collection is inspired by vintage and Japanese fabrics and features obi belts and hairbands – I would keep checking for new additions!

Then I saw this really cool and stupidly simple way of DIY-ing an obi belt.  Just buy a piece of super super wide satin or grosgrain ribbon (this one is from VV Rouleaux) and just wrap it around the waist and then tie it round the front.  It’s a lot sleeker than the traditional type of obi and really would hint at the slightest whiff of the Japanese.

I shall definitely be paying a trip to VV’s and get some ribbon projects started up – this one being the easiest of them all!