In Japan, the temples ring their giant bells 365 times to ring in the New Year. Barbie is dressed to join in the New Year celebrations in traditional Japanese style. She is holding a wooden paddle called a battledore. This one that I made from wood has the traditional picture of a beautiful woman on one side while the other side has "2000" to mark the millenium. The town I live in is famous in Japan for making battledores and the fabric this kimono is made from came from a battledore factory. To see more information and pictures about battledores, please click here.

 
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This repro brunette ponytail is wearing a partially lined kimono made from gorgeous fabric with the flowers outlined in gold. The background colors are actually more of a deep peach fading to a very dark rosy mauve but the camera seemed to want to make it show up a red. Her belt is made from a piece of a real kimono obi (belt) and is lined. The belt is brocade with embroidery and has snaps in the back. The purple belt sash is from a real silk sash. The inner sleeves are made from a special Japanese fabric called shibori. You can see it in the close up of the kimono sleeve below. This shibori was made from white silk and each little square is a very tiny piece of fabric that was tied off with thread and then died a dark peach color. This type of fabric is lovely but quite expensive since it is so painstaking to make.

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Her hair is done up, set off with a dangly metal hair accessory. Her hair is held up with small bobby pins and there are no straight pins stuck in to help hold it up.