Kimono!!!

Three days ago, on Thursday, my host parents invited some friends of theirs over.  Their friends are professional kimono ... dressers? lol so they came over and dressed me in a kimono.  I think it took about 20 minutes.  It was sooooo freaking complicated.  First, my host mom did my hair.

It's basically braided and then tied into a loop.  Then my host mom put flower pins in some places and attached fake curls to my hair.

Then my host parents' friends started putting the kimono on me.  First I took all of my clothes off except my bra and underwear.  Then I put on 3 full body layers.  First like a thin night slip that went to my mid thigh.  Then a pink, flower patterned layer.  It was pretty much a kimono but a little thinner and a little shorter.  And then I put on the actual kimono.  It was super thick and heavy but very pretty.  Both the second and third layers had super long sleeves and the sleeve of the second layer kinda fit into the third layer's sleeve.  Lol hard to explain.  After the three body layers, they wrapped about 10 layers around my waist.  The materials included cloths, sashes, ropes, belts, plastic guards, towels, and other unidentifiable objects.  Basically I could barely breathe or bend my waist or even lift my legs more than 4 inches.  I also put on traditional Japanese socks that had a separation between the big toe and the other toes.  That was really uncomfortable too.  Yeah... but it was fun.  And the dressers were so fast!!! It was like BAM BAM BAM Snap Zip Twirl Tighten Choke Tie Straighten Tuck Done.  After putting on so many layers, I was sweating so much! Even in the air conditioned room.  Thank goodness I didn't have to wear it around outside for anything other than a couple pictures.  The final product:

The whole experience was super fun.  And I really hope I have a chance to do it again sometime.  And yes kimonos are as tight and uncomfortable as they seem >_<