How to Make Graduation Hakama

Finally i graduate from my medical school in this november TwT after three years of struggle, finally it's time to enter the real world! I'll start working in hospital this december, and i personally can't wait for it >_<

About the graduation ceremony, i've decided (after a long time) that i'm going to wear hakama instead of kebaya. I know, it sounds ridiculous since this is not japan, but i want to try something new and since buying new kebaya costs too much this time :') so i decided in the end i'm going to make my own graduation hakama! I know most people might think that i'm not proud of my nationality, but no, that's not it, i just want to try something anti-mainstream in the end of school and also there's no rules that said we must wear kebaya, so why not? xD

Another reason why i want to wear graduation hakama is because the hakama itself has a long history and meaning. The history dated back to late meiji era, and hakama were originally worn by teachers of women’s schools, but gradually worn by students. Another source also told that hakama was a 'revolutionary' clothes, due to the fact that after the meiji restoration, fashion changed so much, included how women dress specially in the newly established girls school, and their uniform was hakama pants that worn over kimono, which makes them easier to do activity when they work or study. However, in this modern era, hakama is only worn in special occasion, for example like graduation. There's also meaning behind the number of the pleats, i forgot where i read it, but i will make sure to search it and put it here once i found the article again :D

but, hakama pleats in general represent the traditional virtues of the samurai and divided into five on the front and two on the back of the hakama.

Front pleats : 

1. Yuki (courage, valor)
2. Jin (humanity, benevolence)
3. Gi (justice, righteousness)
4. Rei (courtesy, civility) 
5. Makoto (sincerity, honesty)

Back Pleats : 

1. Chugi (loyalty)
2. Meiyo (honor, dignity)

And now, let's get started to the basic pattern! Anyway, this pattern is for someone who has a relatively big under bust like me, so if you are small and skinny, you might want to change the size :D also, this pattern might not be historically correct, since i combined the available pattern online and from seeing photos .

My under bust size is +- 82cm, and my hakama length is 98 cm (A + 8 cm) so this is the pattern i made :

hakama pattern

There's total 5 pleats in the front, and 2 in the back, and the pleats goes something like this :

graduation hakama pleats

For the side opening, there's a method to make it neat, you can read it in yousai blog, basically you flip it first to the front, sew it between the creases, and flip it back to back and sew it again in the back, and then it will create something like this.

hakama side opening

After that, put together the front and the back part and sew it~ and for the obi part (i don't know what's the part name actually hahaha) i made it both 300 cm long so i can create a ribbon at the front~

Anyway, a lot of people thought that graduation hakama is a pants, but actually it is more like a skirt since there's no divider inside it *_* 

photo credits to Kyoetsu's Shop

 And voila, after every part is sewn, your own graduation hakama is ready to wear! 

But wait, before that if you want to make your graduation hakama more neat looking and hard, you
might want to starching it first before you wear it!

and here's my final look of my hakama!

Graduation Hakama~!

Finally Graduated !

ToukenRanbu Cosplay Progress : Nakigitsune (Part 1 : Top )

Hello! so it has been a really long time since i wrote in this blog,
my summer holiday is nearly to an end, well i still got 1 month less left but hey finally i could find a new hobby & interest, and it is cosplay!
i really like cosplaying since a long time but due to my insecurity and so on, (and also money) i can't really did it. A few months ago, suddenly i found this unexpected courage and thought that "why not give it a try?" and bam, i got into this cosplay community xD

Cosplaying isn't cheap, nor expensive. It depends on what material you wanna use and how you treat it. I might be a newbie, but this last days i've tried so many materials from fabric, foam to glue. It really interesting how we can turn everyday things into something so creative. I'll explain this later, now let's get started!

I personally don't really like to play touken ranbu, since it's all in japanese, but i really like to watch their cosplay in the net, since the outfits are damn cool and interesting (it's quite complex and the medieval-japanese things are just so me) so i decided to make nakigitsune's costume.

 

There's not much reference of nakigitsune's costume from the official touken ranbu, so i decided to draw the details on the paper. The upper one is from cosfans in aliexpress, it's actually quite cheap if you buy it there, but i like it hand-made xD

 

nakigitsune cosplay

 I'll explain how to make nakigitsune's armor, swords, accessories later so now let's get started to the top!

A Guide to : Retro Vintage (Part II)

Hello!

So Bon Anniversaire to my Medical Faculty and congratulation for the successful gala dinner events! I'm thrilled started one month before the events just because i cannot wait for the gala dinner, and specially because the theme : retro vintage.

I always like retro fashion and i thought this is the time to show it off! I bought fabrics, blue and white, then black nets, fur, ribbons, and white gloves.

So what did i wear?

Here's the list : 

• Black Mary Jane shoes by Donatello
• Black Birdcage Hat
• Long White gloves
• Electric Blue retro sailor dress made by me! (yes, it's a handmade)

Black Mary Jane Shoes

Black Birdcage Hat & Gloves

The Sailor Dress

It took about total 10-14 days to finished the dress, specially to sew the white part, the other is easy to sew and quickly done in 5-6 days. But since i still got a lot of things to do, like school and etc, the total time is about one month haha.

the finished look, a photo with my besties~ ( i really like to twirl with this dress!)

 The gala dinner ended up very amazing, we took a lot of pics and i heard a lot of people said that my dress resembled sailor moon (like, i heard someone said i'm cosplaying about hundred times that day, but still, a good compliments) afterall, Modisco13, the gala dinner is such a huge success and a memorable one, i really hope in the future there will be another event with such an interesting and playful, unique theme like this!

A Guide to : Fashion History Timeline (part I)

Sorry for the super long hiatus!

Just about two days ago i got a super amazing gala dinner for my medical faculty birthday with the theme of Retro Vintage, so i just wanna share my experience in travelling, finding the right fashion for that!

So, basically Retro style is style that is consciously derivative or imitative of trends, modes, fashions, or attitudes of the recent past. The term of retro used since the 1940, so, retro fashion refers to fashion from 1940-1990. Retro fashion is a clothing style which consists in wearing clothes commonly used in the past. This way of clothing often includes garments and accessories that are characteristic of such times, and many people use them in an exaggerated way and in combination with current clothing.

Since, there's a lot of things going on in 1940-1990, i'll just make it shorter like this :

early 40's -

Most of the women's fashions during the 1940s were designed with the same squared shoulders, small waist, and skirt above the knee

late 40's - New Look

By 1947, after WWII was over, the "New Look" began to replace the wartime utility fashions. This new style embraced femininity, with rounded shoulders, shapely bust lines, closely-defined waistlines, slightly padded skirts, and full, billowing skirts that hung just below the calves.
early 50's - Dirndl & Poodle Skirt  
Christian Dior's "New Look" of 1947 continued to influence the fashions of the 1950s. The dirndl dress, either sleeveless or with small puff sleeves and having a billowy skirt, became an extremely popular style. This type of casual attire was the hallmark of 1950s fashions. Also, The poodle skirts is famous among teenagers.

late 50's -

By the late 1950s, the long, slim look had returned. Long skirts or dresses were popular, often worn with short jackets.

early 60's - Jackie Kennedy

 The first half of the sixties mimicked the late 50s with shirt-waist dresses , turtle necks , pencil skirts, blouses in pastel colors. The only notable difference is the hem-line shrunk an inch or so above the knee. Women in this era also mimicked Jacqueline Kennedy as their references style.

late 60's - Hippies & Mod 
Hippies and Mod were in 1964-1969. These famous styles were not fully welcomed in the streets until the mid sixties, (64-66). Woman sported box dresses, mini skirts , turtle necks, go-go boots and beehives brought on by the British Invasion in 1964

early 70's - All Bright
Early 1970s fashion was a fun era. It culminated some of the best elements of the 60s and perfected and/or exaggerated them. Some of the best clothing produced in the 1970s perfectly blended the mods with the hippies. There is one common theme throughout fashion in the 1970s: pants were tight fitting 

late 70's - Disco

Color almost completely disappeared by 1979. Earth tones, grays, whites and blacks were back in full force, as people had apparently tired of the super bright tones of the early 1970s. The Disco & sportwear clothes are also popular in this era.

early 80's - Minimalism
 The early 1980s were very different from the rest of the decade, with some carryovers from the late 1970s. The early 1980s saw a minimalist approach to fashion, with less emphasis on accessories, and practicality considered just as much as aesthetics. Clothing colors were subdued, quiet and basic; varying shades of brown, tan, and orange were common

late 80's - Aerobics
Women's apparel in the late 1980s included jackets (both cropped and long), coats (both cloth and fake fur), reversible inside-out coats (leather on one side, fake fur on the other), rugby sweatshirts, sweater dresses, tafetta and pouf dresses, baby doll dresses, jumpsuits, miniskirts, stretch pants, tapered pants, happy pants (homemade pants made in bold designs with bright colors), and opaque tights. The aerobics styled like leg warmers, bright stockings, also popular in this time. 
 

Phew, a lotta style in just 50 years, right?

My personal favourite is actually the 40's era, both for New look & Dirndl. So i decided to sew a little (actually, a dress) and trying to make some accessories for the 40's look. You can see the complete result the dress, accessories i made in :

Part II, A guide to : Retro Vintage

So since this is only a brief history, you can also look up on wikipedia, or retrowaste, or uvm.edu for further reading. I hope this help, thanks for reading!

Fairy Tale Cosplay : Felissimo

 I was surfing the internet when i found an article about a fashion website named felissimo. And it's wrote that they just launching their latest collection of Felissimo's Fairy tale Cosplay. I was sooo ashtonishing with their work just after i saw the whole amazingly-cute-lolita-types of dresses in their latest collection. I just.. *sigh* really wanted all of them!

And here's a pic of them :

As you can see, there are Thumbelina, Pinocchio, Anne of Green Gables, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, etc. Okay, so they're just a slight of their collection, there are still a lot of them, since their buying method is a bit weird. It's noted in the web that you can't choose which dress, but you choose their collection and they'll randomly picked one for you (well, that's why there are a lot of dresses in one collection). But if you want 2-3 dresses, make sure you didn't order them in the same month. (Felissimo will decide the actual design delivered to you. If you order more than 1 set in the same month, same designs will be delivered. If you order in another different month, a different design will be sent to you : from the website)
 
Oh, and should i noted, not just that. Felissimo still have another collection of their super cute dresses, The Sailor Seifukus! Seifuku itself means japanese girl uniform. And this is their collection :

Well, for me, i'm in love with them to death!! I'm planning to work on them (since i can't afford it, i'll just make them..) as soon as i can :'D and i can't wait to wear them to my campus! They're just too adorable!
If you wanna buy it, just click here for the blue one, and here for the white-blue :D

Woman in WWII

Git excited recently because finally i met reenactors in my city. It was such a nice meeting we have (eventhough i didn't wear anything related to wwii) but it's such a honor to meet them! So yeah, after that, i decided myself to pick which one i'll fit into for the next reenactor meeting :3

Deutsches Rotes Kreuz

DRK Schwester

DRK Haupthelferin

I've a big interest in wwii nurse since i was child. probably because i watch so many stories about florence nightingale and i adore renee lemaire from band of brothers (plus, she'll make such a cute couple with eugene roe) so yeah, DRK definitely my first choice in the list. 

But anyway, there's also a lot of choices in DRK uniforms. Many people said that DRK's uniform is dark blue, but in fact, the right one is charcoal grey.

Application for Fashion Lovers

I was surfing the Instagram when i found someone was talking about this application. 

RNA X HAOREBA 2010

I was so curious to find out what's this application for,. 

then i found out that this application really awesome!

Well, it's not like any other dress up games,.. this is just different,..

i love the graphic and the collection, eventhough it's not as many as Looklet

but i do love this application :)

Too bad i don't have any iphone or ipad, so everytime i want to make a collection,

i must borrow Nina's iphone -___-' 

RNA X HAOREBA AUTUMN

RNA X HAOREBA WINTER

You can download it for free here :) 

as long as i know, there's 2 version of this application, The one i use in the above is from autumn/winter collection, and the other one is summer collection :)

Oh, and don't forget to download this application for all of you who loves organizing your closet & loves fashion :)

STYLISH GIRL

not only for organizing your closet into your phone, but this application also provide you the latest clothing from your favourite brand ! 

It's free and you can download it here :)

The Girl's Scent Perfume

So this is the 12 Ultimate (my class) girl's scent in bottles of perfume. I created this by recognizing and characterizing their scent while we're in the school. It's really hard to determine their scent, so my friend, Nina helps me to recognize their body scent.

This Perfume is inspired by Perfume : The story of a murderer movie. The story of genius perfumer Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, who seeks to create the ultimate perfume amid the malodorous streets of France in the 18th century. Patrick suskind is the real genius to create this unique story, i'm in love with his works.

Nuff said, please enjoy my perfume! Merci ♥

 1. The Newborn Baby

"The infant was born. It was beautifully fragranced. Something that cannot created by a man. It's soft, milky, sweet, and wondeful -- The smell of Her smell is on her own"

Dedicated for my friend, Galuh Gita Phrameswari.

 2. Boutique de Vague

"And here a girl stood with a dress made from silk. Her odor was hazy, but yet it's neat. The combination of a new fabric and shampoo she used made her luxurious, without being lavish in the same time. Simply stunning"

Dedicated for my friend and partner for this project, Dita Nurina Malinda (Nina)

 3. Voix Forte 

 "Strong, but not rough. Masculine, but not too manly. Her odor was gorgeously balanced. It was the mixture of air and water, of mineral and oxygen, and of mountain and sea"

Dedicated for my friend, Nurul Arifah (Ifa)

 4. Énigmatique

"The scent was enigmatic. It's mysterious but exquisite. Scent of apple and alcohol covered with secret in her body. It's fresh, but not frenetic, Mysterious, without being tense, Tranquil, without being hollow. The perfume seemed to exhale the robust, vivacious scent of life."

Dedicated for me, Monica Rosellini.

 5. Evergreen

"An absolute classic—full and harmonious… The mixture of scent of her clothes from the wardrobe and the morning air. This girl has a classical air. Everyone let her scent speaks to their mind. A simple perfume accented with oxygen and nature”

Dedicated for my friend, Nabilah Zuhairah.

6.  Coeur Tendre

"A girl was taking care of a sick man. Her skin as white as porcelain, and her eyes are as wide as a  cat. An intoxicatingly luscious lemon is spread through her skin, lightening him and soothe him in an irresistibly playful words. She has the scent of any healer have. Gentle and Delight" 

Dedicated for my friend, Wandira Lalitya.

7.  Après la Douche

"Its gentle honey and milk note lends a matte quality to the composition. It is the ultimate scent of a girl after showering. Soft skin, soap smell, and shampoo perfume. She knew very well how to take care of her beauty. Fascinating and Refreshing" 

Dedicated for my friend, Ni Made Ayudita. 

8. The Damsel

"Summer citrus, orange blossom and spice, perfectly done, and as an added bonus, Everyone love the way her scent layers over her character. Her scent is cheerful, but yet it's calm. The composition between fruits, mineral chill and woody warmth dried down to her skin to keep its balance"

Dedicated for my friend, Neny Aryani.

 9. The Wallflower

" Her scent was as good as spring air. The combination of a dozen of wallflowers reflect her fidelity. Seemingly shy folks who often some of the most interesting people if one actually talks to them. It's innocent, and yet it possesses a beguiling and sensual edge"

Dedicated for my friend, Luthfia Ayu Sarasvati. 

10. Sweet Disposition

"Spring began at the end of winter. It's all colouful in the joy of spring. The scent of her body was magnificent. It's sweet and breathtaking. Cherry blossom, strawberry, and raspberry emerge in a one fine odor on her body. The amazing sensuality of her scents really comes to its on when the weather is   fresh"

Dedicated for my friend and my lovely althea's author, Fildzah Raihan Kiasati. 

 11. Pure Beauté

"The mixed of woman's powder and pearls make this perfume come at it's pure beauty.

It was fresh, delicate, and light. The true scent of a girl's body that will make everyone neat on her side" 

Dedicated for my friend, Btari Divergensi.

12. Potion no.15

"No one can describe how her scent is. But the only thing that people knows is her scent made from her house scent. It's stunningly mysterious. The crisp of woody amber from her furniture laces the velvety heft of the composition, rendering it airy and radiant. It feels familiar, yet I cannot seem to solve its riddle"

Dedicated for my friend, Nadia Amani.

The Vintage Fashion

HD Time!

I rarely got my painting in HD version, so i got a lil bit excited when i scanned this today :

The French Lady Style.

Maybe not all of them are french, but i'm pretty sure women (in many different eras) use style like this.

I mean, everything is possible in France, since France is the most fashionista country in the world. 

Then let's take a look at this doodle i made for French Style :)

Vintage Fashion Style

1) The Brooks
Popularized by Louise Brooks, this looks is look alike what Audrey Hepburn from 'sunday at tiffanys' style, but ofc it's different (but still i think it's look alike) black short dress and cloche hat with some furry for the accessories.
2) The Petite
Usually wore by little french girl, around 1917. Big bows for hair accessories and white dress is typically used in this era, just like porcelain doll.
3) The Marie antoinette
of course, this style come from The Queen Marie Antoinette century (probably the most fashionista queen i've ever seen) Which means, from the 18th century. Ball gown, corsette, and big up-do hair.
4) The Evacuation
If you watch Narnia, then you'll now exactly what's like The evacuation style. It's all abut the double breast coat & the suitcase. you can read it more here
5) The Revolution
This one i saw it from HUGO movie. The style is very simple & very urban. Simple blazer, warm clothes and  berets (hat). You can found it mostly used by children.
6) The Outdoor
Boater and simple gown for take a walk, you can read it more here
7) The Bookclub
19th century style. Usually worn by teacher or women with education ( i didn't know more about this style). Try search hellen keller and you'll find more about this style :)
8) The Vogue
You'll see a lot of style like this in 1945-1960, usually in most woman magazine. You can see Anita O'day, Audrey hepburn and a lot of actress in this era worn this style :)
9) The English Noble woman
Loves Sherlock Holmes? Knows Irene Adler? Then you probably know a lot about this one. around 1870, and characterized by a gradual return to a narrow silhouette after the full-skirted fashion. There are soo many movies use this noble woman style and it ain't just sherlock holmes.
10) The Winter's Night
Maybe not as mainstream as double breast coat, but i think it's from the same century.
11) The French Army
No Details, you know what it's like army uniform in the World War II, right? if not, then you should go watch some WWII movies or Captain America.
12) The Maiden
Maybe you watch Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and see catherine linton is using the same dress like this. Nah, that's called Morning/evening dress. The morning dress in the 1800s was designed to be worn primarily at home. Society ladies engaged in a series of social calls in the morning, calling at one anothers' homes. and fashion was an important part of the day. Ladies clothing styles featured the "Empire-line" silhouette. Empire-line dresses were closely fitted just below the the bustline with loose folds below.

Vintage Fashion :
from up (left to right) : Louise Brooks, French little girls, Marie Antoinette,
Susan & Lucy Pevensie (NARNIA) , Chloe Moretz (HUGO), Grand duchess anastasia of meckelburg

Vintage Fashion :
Hellen Keller, Anita O'day, Irene Adler, Woman in fur cape, Peggy Carter, Girl in Morning Dress

Maybe this list isn't accurate as you think but,..

Enjoy this ! :D

French Fashion : Hat

This is dedicated for all of my class members, ultimaters because we're going to head a Carnival themed 'French Style' next Month. I already googled all around the net and i got so many tutorials to make a western hat (which i've discussed in the previous post) just because we didn't want to spend a lot of money for these, so we decided to make by ourself.

Um,.. just to remind all of you, the hats option are :

Cloche Hat

Wide Hat with Accessories added

Straw Hat

Boater Hat

Top Hat

Stuffed hat

and this is the tutorial,..

HOW TO MAKE CLOCHE HAT :

HOW TO MAKE TOP HAT :

notes for ULTIMATERS : 

please let me know what's your choice. You can comment on the below or just message me in the inbox/ text. Oh, and again for all of you who's going to help me make the hats, Let me know! 

Thanks :)