The time had finally come...I had been waiting all year for this...as I kidnapped Verity (who put up no resistance at all) we headed to the streets of Gion to a little studio to be made up as Maiko (Geisha).First off we had to strip to our underwears and put on a white robe. With all jewellery removed we went up to the 2nd floor for stage 1...the make-up. Well, I wouldn't call it make-up, more like paint! First our faces were massaged as we had some sort of moisturisers put on our faces, then a wide brush was used to paint our faces and necks white. Next came the red eyeliner, mascara and then the lips. The lips were so beautifully done that I actually looked like I had some!! haha (My Aunty calls me chicken lips for a good reason!) We were asked to smile with our mouth closed as a thick, smooth brush was pushed in between the lips. When I opened my mouth to smile I looked like I had been sucking some one's blood! It was all over my teeth. But I sucked it off, so it was all good! Next came the wig. They actually used the front section of my own hair to stick to the wig so I had my own hair line. They used a wax to make it stay and spray painted it black to blend in. I hardly recognised myself in the mirror. It was surreal.
Secondly we went to the 1st floor for the kimono. We had a rather large selection to choose from so after some ooohing and ahhhing we chose our outfits and waited to be dressed. There were a few other girls there at that time, 2 were westerners too! After lots of layers, padding, tying, pulling and sucking in (hehe) we were dressed and ready for our studio photo shoot.
They seemed to have a routine of poses because the two westerners in front of us did the exact same poses we did. Which was actually quite handy because then we could see what way we had to face and what way to tilt our heads. I found it really hard to smile without showing my teeth (a yellow colour compared to the make-up). I was also trying to go for the Japanese style! Soon we were done and headed downstairs to surprise Lesley who was waiting for us. We hit the streets...
I really wasn't sure how the local people would react to seeing some western girls dress like this. Their reaction really surprised and delighted me. Everyone had to do a double take as they realised we weren't Japanese! "Kawaii" (cute) and "Kirei" (beautiful) were words we heard over and over along with many smiles, waves and cameras pointing in our direction. I felt like a movie star.Our choice of footware was perhaps not the best. We went for the really high thongs, which look really cool but are pretty hard to walk in, especially downhill! We had to lean on Lesley for support! After an hour on the streets in was time to de-maiko ourselves and meet Jono and Phillip. Our studio photos are absolutely gorgeous, we were both really happy with them. It was an awesome experience.
