Asian Femme Fatales

Oiran

Bohemian

Shinfarlan

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The House of Flying Daggers. Curse of the Golden Flower. Memoirs of a Geisha. M Butterfly. These are just some of the movies that inspired me to do this photoshoot at Studio Esperanto Kokoro in Tokyo, Japan. Back then, Asian women were portrayed in movies as helpless submissive victims that needed saving. Times have changed in a lot of ways but still not as progressive as it can be.

Enter the Asian femme fatales. In my favorite movies, they are powerful, intelligent, deceptive, skilled warriors, and still gorgeous. They're not all heroes but they're also hardly passive. The studio I worked with understood my vision and together we created these images that surpassed my expectations. They are magnificent, to say it mildly. They encompass the complexities of the characters I conjured in my mind. But of course, it was an artistic collaboration despite needing translation in some communication.

Perhaps what made this experience truly amazing is it was an art house in its truest form. The lobby was instagrammable by itself with the blush pink walls and a faux fur accent wall. On the 2nd floor was one of the rooms with 2 studio sets and the 3rd floor was the hair and makeup room, changing room and the other 2 studio sets. I believe there was a 4th floor where all the other props, costumes and equipments are stored.

Each staff had a special skill but were cross trained in other duties. My person, Ryu, did my registration, make-up, hair and costume selection. The photographers also did the set design, building and photo editing. And they did it three times for my session! We shot almost 100 pictures in 6 hours because after each look was a complete transformation process. I felt well attended to and treated respectfully. All of this helped me focus on me, my character and my poses.

This experience has inspired me in so many ways that I aim to infuse in future projects.