So, thanks to her, I have been musing about Subaru's shikifuku, as it's one of those outfits that makes me go 'Oh. My. God. I want that outfit. *_*'...you know, kind of how Clow's robes did. But I did that already (and probably will wear it again, as I love Clow and his outfit fo itty bitty pieces). And I haven't done Subaru's shikifuku. So, I was looking through TB 7 as there's lots of good shots of Hokuto going to Sei-chan in Subaru's shikifuku. I have come to the definate conclusion that the bottom part is a hakama (funky Japanese pleated pants), and not just a long robe. Of course, now I'm unclear on the pattern of underrobes. I thought it was white, then blue, then white overrobe, but now I'm not sure. And the all of the pictures I've dug up are different. The one on Marion's layout has it blue, white, robe, and the picture on Subaru's tarot card shows blue then white at the collar, but blue showing through on the shoulder slits, which makes no sense. Further proof CLAMP is on crack, I guess. But it's not helping me much, as there are very few color shikifuku pics. I'm also unclear on fabric. I know that a lot of Japanese outfits are silk, but I've never used silk before, and have no clue if it holds pleats (which this has lots of) and is shiny (which this does not appear to be). My best guess is that the fabric is similar to that of the fabric in the outfits for shrine maidens, but I'm having difficulty finding stuff on even that (you search shikifuku, all you get is anime sites or pages saying that they're ceremonial robes. Gee, what else is new?). Difficulty. Although, I was able to find a basic hakama pattern on the net, so that's good. And I have a kimono pattern upstairs I think I'm going to modify for the underrobes. Top of the overrobe, no clue.

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...Can you tell how much I love this outfit? How much it sends me into fits of sparking and squealing and oogling? Okay, okay, leaving to go oogle and research where I won't scare anyone ^^;;;;;;