Fashion Friday - Hana

For Mother's Day, my husband & sons got me a membership to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  We had a chance to go this past weekend and it was great! I've been going to the MFA for at least 15 years, and I try to go a minimum of once a year.  It's a great collection and is especially strong in Japanese art.

Check out this little gem that I found.

I found a 19th century Japanese paper doll! How funny is that?! This was in the Japanese galleries, a place I always visit when I go to the MFA.  I've probably walked by this a dozen times and never noticed it! Here's a photo of the description that was next to it.

This is especially coincidental since I had planned on making a Japanese inspired paper doll for today.

I am not an expert on Japanese fashion.  Not even a little bit.  I am more than happy to derive inspiration for people who know more than I do.  For this project, I visited Liana's Pinterest board on furisode. If you, like me, have no idea what a furisode is, Wikipedia has a nice little article.  My paper dolls are meant to be teens/young women so a furisode seemed appropriate.

Download Fashion Friday - Hana pdf here

I also had the good fortune to find a bunch of vector Japanese patterns.  Now, I don't know much about the cultural meanings of certain colors or patterns. I did know enough to steer clear of white.  I think this is cute & youthful and hopefully a good representation of a furisode.