Preparations For The Senior Prom

The transformation begins... with a visit to Danny, a coiffeur virtuoso whom will convert Katrina's straight hair into something with an Asian flair.

Here she sits, ready to undergo her metamorphosis.

He begins by brushing out her hair, then he braided it. It took a couple of trys to get the braid to come out the way he wanted it to.

Katrina's hair was so light and fly-away, that it took quite a bit of hairspray to tame it down a bit.

As he twisted it around into a bun, Katrina made a couple of faces about the tension he was placing on her hair (oh, the things girls put themselves through in the name of beauty).

After several bobby-pins, Danny was able bring her hair under control.

Occasionally, Danny would pore over some images that we had printed on a sheet and brought in.

Meanwhile, Paul asked to see a picture of Katrina's kimono, so Luann handed him a print we had made earlier and brought in to show Danny too.

At this point, Danny inserted the rosewood hair sticks in her hair to see how it looks.

A little bias to the right and the Feng Shui is balanced. You can see the test sprays that Danny made on the lavender cover sheet on Katrina, before using the can of blonde concealer spray to hide a black hair tie inside the bun.

Next was the application of the Kanzashi flowers and more concealer spray.

Here is a closeup of the Kanzashi flowers we put together for her hair. Danny used the blonde powder-spray to conceal the green frame and tape.

It is always interesting to watch an Artiste at work...

Ah, the masterpiece is complete. Time for the final inspection.

She likes it! Hey Danny! Thanks for the 'up-do', she looks great!

At some point, we went looking for a little clutch-bag for Katrina and we couldn't seem to find something that was just right, so Katrina asked if I could make her one. I decided to make it a drawstring style so she could wear it on her wrist up inside of the furisode sleeve of the kimono so nobody would know she was carrying a purse on her. I carefully made it so the dragon was showing on one side...

...and the phoenix bird was showing on the other side.

My cousin Karen arrived to do the makeup for both Katrina and her friend Melissa. The necklace Katrina is wearing was made up so she could still wear her ring to the prom without having it interfere with the styling cues of the kimono.

I think Karen was having her share of fun in all of this...

Well, it looks like final parts of the 'Prom Puzzle' are coming together.

Here is a better view of the flowers we made up for her hair. Well, now that she's done with the makeup, it's time to put the kimono on.

The next 'victim' in Karen's makeup chair is Melissa.

And we start the layering process of installing the kimono...

There are several adjustments that have to be made in order to have the kimono 'lay' correctly. At this point, I'm working on the fasteners for the wide belt, called an obi.

Here is a front view of the final product, with Katrina all made up and all of the accessories in place.

This side view shows the back pillow and waterfall of the obi down her back reaching to within about a foot of the floor. The obi-jime ropes are real and are tied in the back up under the obi pillow.


This view shows the composite of all of the elements of the kimono with her hair style.

Ah yes, our little girl is ready to be the 'Belle of the Ball'...

Here is a closeup of the pins that were placed on the obijime cords running across the obi belt. The lizard's tail curls around and is hooked into the knots of the cords, then the dragonfly pin was placed right on the knots.

After Melissa was done, she went through the photo shoot treatment too.

The whole package came together for her too. Well balanced, with a touch of class...

One more photo, then they were off to Bradley's house so he could get ready too. He was real patient through the whole thing, waiting for the girls to get ready.

Ok, time to load up!

Melissa is in the car and now it's time for Katrina to make her grand entrance...

Oops! Darn those hair sticks and the low headroom in the car!
Bye-bye Melissa, hope you guys have fun!