This was my first photoshoot in Japan, and I remember feeling a quiet sense of arrival as I walked into Rois Studio in Osaka. Outside, the city moved at its own pace. Inside, everything slowed down. White walls. Open space. Silence that felt intentional. It was the kind of room that asks you to pay attention.
I met Chizu there. Calm and grounded, with an ease that comes from deep experience. She has walked international runways in Milan and Paris, yet none of that energy entered the room first. What arrived instead was presence. She listened before she moved. She observed the garment before embodying it. That mattered.
At the center of this shoot was a custom design by Smaranika Sarangi. We have collaborated on a number of projects over the years, showcasing her designs in New York, Paris, Bali, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Most recently, she presented a new collection at New York Fashion Week, where each piece was inspired by a different temple in India. That body of work explored architecture, ritual, and memory through fabric. This shoot felt like a continuation of that conversation.
For Osaka, Smaranika created something entirely new. A design inspired by a Japanese temple. Not literal. Not decorative. More an echo than a reference.
The dress felt like architecture translated into fabric. Deep blues recalling indigo stained wood. Muted reds suggesting aged beams and ceremonial detail. Patchworked panels layered and intersected like structures rebuilt over time. The black organza ruffles at the shoulders rose softly, like shadows cast by temple roofs at dusk. Long flowing sleeve extensions moved with a quiet gravity, almost ritualistic.
Nothing about the design asked for attention. It invited it. Weight without heaviness. Structure without rigidity. Like a temple, the dress held space rather than filled it.
We kept the backdrop intentionally simple. White walls. Clean floor. No distraction. I wanted the focus to stay on the relationship between the garment and Chizu. On how fabric shifted as she turned. On how it settled when she paused. On how movement revealed construction.
Chizu wore the dress as if she understood its history. Sometimes sculptural, holding strong lines that echoed architecture. Other times soft, letting the fabric lead. She revealed details slowly. A shoulder turned to expose layering. A hand lifting fabric just enough to show its weight. Her expressions moved between introspection and quiet openness. Nothing felt performed.
As I photographed her, I kept thinking about temples as places of transition. Spaces built for reflection. That feeling found its way into the images. This was not about fashion as spectacle. It was about fashion as memory, ritual, and presence.
This shoot felt like a beginning. My first creative step in Japan. A collaboration rooted in trust, respect, and shared curiosity. A reminder that the most meaningful fashion stories emerge when you slow down and listen.
Photoshoot Credits
- Model: Chizu
- Fashion Designer: Smaranika Sarangi
- Photographer: Paul Tocatlian
- Studio: Rois Studio
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