This is the third of the Japanese Series, and for this shoot I shot it at this beautiful bamboo house called a Minka house in Kew Gardens. It sits within the bamboo garden section of the park and is an original Japanese farm house from Okazaki City before the last of the family donated it to Kew gardens.
So for this more traditional aspect of Japanese life, I wanted to shoot a kimono-style dress for this shoot. This outfit is much more conservative with a high neckline and long sleeves in a traditional embroidered print. To give the emphasis of a figure, I added this beautiful brocade obi belt and some platform wedges from Topshop that are more modern, but compliment the blue of the belt and the accents in the dress too.
The dress, funnily enough is actually ASOS from their maternity range. That was because the original dress was sold out, but I’m kinda glad I ended up choosing the maternity version as the hem length was longer and all I needed was a belt so the dress wouldn’t hang on me. Ultimately it paid off to have to go with an alternative version of the dress and I’m really happy with the outfit as a result, because I would not have gone for the belt if the dress hadn’t been a maternity one.
The day this was shot too, it was ridiculously hot and I was so grateful for the pink parasol I had, because not only did it add an extra prop into the shot and add a bit of pizzazz, but it also shaded me from what was a ridiculously strong sunshine for the start of May.
Dress: ASOS, found here and similar one here – Platform wedge sandals: Topshop, found here – Chinoserie Obi belt: Sacred Hawk, found here
