Autumn (Tokyo Studio)

In Tokyo (as elsewhere), getting married is an all-consuming affair. A woman told me that in Japan if you prefer to wear a kimono, you get married in a shrine; if you prefer a dress, then you get married in a church.

On Saturday afternoons, you often see young men and women very smartly dressed on the train, each carrying a larger designer paper bag with boxes in them. The women are usually wearing beige light overcoats showing just a glimpse of their pretty shimmering dresses underneath. The men look perky in their crisp suits (more so than they would in their normal work attire during the week). The men and women joke a little, have a bit of a laugh and a sigh. They would have been to wedding receptions of work colleagues or friends. Money in lovely envelopes (traditionally a paper envelope with elabroate gold and silver ribbons and knots) would have been submitted at the wedding registration. The guests would have had a fine meal, heard some speech’s, had a bit to drink, and been given gifts in designer paper bags by their hosts.

The bride-to-be pictured here is at her fitting. She sits in front of the large mirror in a room of mirrors. Her stylist and the team are working out her hair-style and head dress for the big day. The huge mirror separates the room in two with another bridal party on the other side having a similar consultation. Judging by the look of it, these fittings have been going on for a while and are likely to go on into the evening. This shop is called ‘Innocently’ and it’s opposite the Shinjuku Goyen.