Styling / Photoshoot

In September the red spider lily is blooming in Japan. Since I started setting up photo shoots I dreamt of creating beautiful visuals with this mystical flower. Here the Higanbana (彼岸花) is associated with farewell and death. Probably also due to the flowers having been planted close to cemeteries. They are poisonous so animals don’t get near them. Often seen near rice or vegetable...

A few weeks back I had another fun photo shoot with a more complex theme and location. Also I upped the number of models to two! 最近、面白い撮影を考えてみました。今回は、少し深い意味の着物撮影で、モデルさんは二人で！ Dirndl vs. Kimono Photoshoot ディルンドル vs 着物 As the name suggests it actually was no competition yet I came up with this idea inspired by the ever boiling “cultural appropriation” topic in the U.S. Although it almost...

A while back I got an enquiry from a super talented photographer named Saq Imtiaz, who shoots a lot for VOGUE in Paris as well. He was briefly in Tokyo and we squeezed in a two-outfit Kimono shoot even he barely slept for a week. Before the shoot I was out hunting for locations but actually on the day, the photographers schedule was really...

Back in March RinRin called me about a fun kimono collaboration in the cherry blossoms. She just had her hair re-dyed in nice colours for the season and was looking to create a fun lookbook for her YouTube channel. (For those who may not know RinRin – she is an American-Japanese Model and YouTuber.) Everything was a bit wild, trying to schedule all sorts...

Before the ones in Kyoto, I actually had my first own produced kimono photo shoot last December. The idea occurred to me after my friend and I visited a private open house exhibit in October 2016. It was a stunning house, previously owned by a photographer named Nakamura. It had been well preserved in its old style including the interior. It felt like if...

At the beginning of this month I went to Kyoto for some work and photo shoots. お仕事や撮影のため、京都へ行ってまいりました。 Well, and once there I also have to eat all the delicious things in my favourite restaurants. Like eel, yuba and warabimochi.. まっ、でもやはり京都って美味しい食品の多い街ですので、色々食べたくなるわ（笑） 京都に行くと大体行ってるお店も決まってるし。うなぎや湯葉、そしてわらび餅も大好きです。 This kimono was actually handed down to me from my husbands grandma. I love it! The patterns are so unusual. Wearing it with...