My Kimono Experience

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Before heading home for Christmas I decided to take part in a traditional Japanese experience: kimono wearing! It was great! My appointment lasted just over 2 hours, and for the duration of that time I had my hair done in a traditional kimono-wearing style, was dressed in a beautiful salmon pink kimono, and had my picture taken by a very nice Japanese lady. The place I went to have this done is tradtionally used as a bridal photo studio place, but they also make acceptions for foreigners... so much fun!

Before having my hair done I was asked to search through drawers of kimono and select one to wear. I was tempted to go for my usual, bright pink, but I decided to be a little more grown up.... so I chose a "salmon pink" kimono instead! Haha.. some things will never change!
Once I had chosen my kimono, they started to work on my hair. This is the crazy part, the very top bit of my hair-do is a Japanese hair piece. When the lady first pulled the black hair piece out of her bin　I thought she must be colorblind thinking that it would match my hair, but once pinned in I discovered how dark my natural hair has become... yep, a black Japanese hair piece was quite close to my natural hair color! Weird!

After being dressed by 2 ladies in the kimono (which took 30-40 min), I was led around a tradtional Japanese restaurant in Hiroshima where I had my picture taken a gazillion times. It was actually a lot of fun... have to admit, I enjoyed feeling like a Japanese princess!

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Photos

Kimono
A kimono such as this one, with the long sleeves, is traditionally for girls under the age of 20... but I thought it was much more fun to have a kimono like this!

Japanese style: no smiling
Anyone who knows me will understand... I am not a fan of the "no smiling" pictures.

Getting Dressed
In Japan the way a kimono is put on is an artform. The lady behind me is a teacher, and the lady infront of me is her assistant.