Iplehouse Toyko Story dolls discussion! New SID boy Storm & SID girl Soo

Top three! Dooood! Congrats on the sword, too.

Wellll . . . to be perfectly honest I've seen a lot better kimonos for BJDs *ducks*. The fabrics they chose don't have the right weight or something, they don't hang that well. Soo's kimono is in a fabric that's a bit too dull for me, it looks too . . . cottony? They're certainly good enough for the price they're going for, however. If I were going for one of the boys I'd get them fullset, it's less noticeable in their outfits. And it's entirely possible I'm a kimono snob .

BTW, I have now officially started thinking of this version of Tedros as Mr. Tedros Brown. Awesome ufufufu . . . (Bad bad Tedros Brown, baddest man in the whole damn town . . .)

 

I second you timid-san about those kimono. There are a lot left from material to color, but then I am a jidaigeki (a genre whrere everybody's in kimono) freak. Iplehouse has done a decent job, and I am just too glad to see kimono & katana in right EID/SID size. With all my EIDs doing away with small sized things, full set Tedros and Asa with geta sounds pretty good

EIDs in rather small kimono holding wrong-size katana
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g248/manjushage76/tedros-in-kimono.jpg
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g248/manjushage76/hina1.jpg

 

I actually love the materials they used for the men's kimonos and Soo's. ^_^
I have a friend in Japan who sends me little bits of fabric every once and a while, and Soo's is pretty spot on. The material is a fairly thick, somewhat stretchy cotton. This is modern kimono fabric mind you.
I was really impressed with the pattern size for the men's fabric. It's very hard to find patterns in the right scale!
I think Asa's is the only one that is a bit fanciful. The fabric on her kimono is a bit more chinese in feel, but it's pretty, so I don't really mind. Hehe. ^_~

 

Lady Ravenswood san - I would not have had problem with Soo's kimono either, if it were yukata or more ordinary day-to-day type kimono with short "sode" (flip part of sleeves). It just feels odd to see furisode (formal kimono with full fledged long sode) in that kind of fabric. This is one side effect of being jidaigeki-fan watching people in kimono daily & occasionally wearing one myself, but there are points from where a sewing line should be, stitches shouldn't show, what is absent (as in obiage), and how certain kind of people would wear kimono - that are off. None of the Tokyo Story characters look perfect.

But so what? They clearly show the amount of study went into them. I was very much impressed with the overall work when I went to the fairyhouse store the other day. Dolls look good in those kimono, and that's what it counts

 

It's true, they are are not 100% correct, but I tend to like BJD clothing with a bit of fantasy to it too. ^_~
Besides, having tried to sew some, I happen to know that kimonos are super hard to make! Hehe. And I shudder to think of trying to do all the proper folds that go into an obi at BJD scale. I have a hard enough time trying to do them at human scale. >_<

 

Wow! I'm loving this discussion about the kimonos! There's obviously much I don't know about them--which isn't a huge surprise, since they're not something I encounter much at all, being born & raised in the US...where, apparently, ppl aren't 'encouraged' to honor or respect other cultures, but I digress....

I can see what people mention as 'flaws' in the kimono now that they're pointed out to me, though. I've seen some gorgeous work from Pure Drop in the way of kimonos, but I haven't seen much that would fit an EID doll, which was mainly why I was interested in Iplehouse making them. Hopefully, though, some of the makers of doll-sized kimonos will pick up on the interest in EID sized garments after the release of these dolls, though.

ETA: looking at the pics again, I'm noticing that the women's kimonos appear to be fully-lined, & I'm sure that is part of the issue of them not 'hanging' properly. Considering the texture & 'weight' of the fabric they used for the outer kimonos, it would be really difficult to get such a small amount of fabric to hang or drape in a way that would look realistic.

 

I'm not able to go on the Iplehouse website today.
I'm alone with this trouble?

 

I couldn't either.

 

I haven't had any trouble... I wonder if it's just certain regions.

 

The site works for me! D:

 

I was able to access it this morning, and I could just now. Hm...?

 

I couldnt get on under AOL but under Internet Explorer I did get on.

 

Today I finally ordered Tokyo Tedros fullset with layaway!!! I'm soooooo happy!!! Still so much time until he is full paid off and arrives, but I feel like in heaven already

 

Iplehouse is dead for me.
Today it is the same thing like yesterday.
I dont understand.
I can go on korean website but not english.

 

*giggle* I second your digression.

I've learned a lot more about kimono than I would ever have anticipated, in the last couple of years - and have come to the conclusion that between my sewing skills and the incredible complexity of and number of layers involved in a proper kimono, I shall make do with a reasonable facsimile on the dolls. I don't think I'd be able to get them all fastened properly anyway...

manjushage, your fabulous boy looks gorgeous even if his outfit IS a little small!!

 

I think it is a fabric weight issue, even the guys' outfits are in too lightweight a fabric . . . and that the way they've sewn in the white collar linings and such. As was pointed out, Asa's kimono fabric looks more Chinese than Japanese, and while Soo's would be fine on a more casual kimono, a furisode kimono is always going to be in silk. Another issue is that they haven't padded the girls' waists or otherwise filled in their curves. The ideal kimono shape is actually a cylindrical body shape - the bras you buy for under kimono are flattening , and you can buy various little pads and pillows to fill in your lower back etc. There would also be more layers underneath.

However, this is all nitpicky! I collected kimono for a while so I'm overly sensitive about it . . . For the price these are nice. For authenticity, in-scale and appropriate fabrics, you're likely to pay easily twice as much from a Japanese dealer. (I know a person with an EID got the dealer Pure Drop to make her an outfit, but that was from talking to her in person at a Tokyo event ^^;.)

Oh, and I had no problem getting on Iplehouse's site just now with Firefox.

Sadomina, congrats on your order!

 

Hehe, I can understand Iplehouse not wanting to diminish the wonderful curves they made on the EID and SID women. ^_~

I don't know, I've always gone with the general assumption that not everything that looks good on a human would look good on a doll (many layers being one of the top points on that list). It's certainly true that people couldn't pull off everything that the dolls wear! Hehe. I've never really been a stickler for exact accuracy though. I'm happy if something gives you the feel from the general appearance. Though I can completely understand how the details would bother, the more you knew about said style. ^_^

 

I'd actually noticed this, too. It's one of the reasons that I'm willing to sigh very hard and set Asa aside for now, and hope I can get one in RW later with a custom faceup in this style, and make her a wardrobe on my own. The '...but that's a Chinese brocade' issue is dead on -- it's not just you. It's still lovely enough for me to be incredibly tempted. (Well, that and even if I can make it myself, it doesn't necessarily mean I want to.)

 

The English Iplehouse site is working for me now.

Generally with BJD's, people are more interested in the overall effect than historical accuracy. It's a little leeway in a fantasy world!

From the things I have read about kimonos, they really need to be sewn by hand to drape properly and of course that isn't very practical for a production doll.

I ordered Soo with the small bust! I'll judge the fabric when she gets here, but at least she will have something to wear!

I'm still trying to decide about Storm....

 

I think you're right about overall effect vs historical/cultural accuracy. Also, I wonder if they're taking into account that, perhaps, the bulk of their customer base is from non-Asian regions, so maybe they really were more concerned w/the general look, rather than the fine details.

Tedros Brown, bare & bald makes my stop all on his own, & in his full 'Samurai' regalia, it's just that much better. The Asa fullset as-is has the same effect on me. That said, I'd still love to have accurate kimono for these dolls. I think that level of attention to detail would make them that much more awesome.

I wonder if Pure Drop might make EID sizes part of their 'standard' line if they got enough requests for their kimono in this size?

What browser do you use? I think someone mentioned having trouble on AOL or Internet Explorer, but I haven't had any trouble using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.

ETA: maybe Asa's parents are Chinese, but they raised her in Tokyo, & so that's why w/the Japanese Kimono w/Chinese embroidery? Yes? No? *runs & hides*