On January 1, 2024, Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako, Princess Aiko, Crown Prince Akishino, Crown Princess Kiko, Princess Kako and other members of Japanese Imperial family attended a New Year reception held in the State Room of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. The Emperor and Empress have received New Year's greetings from other Imperial family members, dignitaries and foreign envoys at a ceremony. Female members of the Imperial family wore tiaras at the ceremony for the first time in four years.
Pour cette réception du Nouvel An 2024, je suis déçue car je m'attendais à un peu de nouveauté dans le style des robes ainsi que des couleurs ; la princesse Kako a su quand même se vêtir de bleu pâle ; incontournables tous les diadèmes mais j'aurais bien vu des perles, cela changerait !
ReplyDeleteDespite all their tiara's and necklaces full of diamonds, it cannot make their dresses looking beautiful. The boring style with shorter or longer sleeves and almost the same color for every imperial lady look so boring.
ReplyDeleteAgreee!
DeleteI don’t understand why the Japanese royal women don’t wear designer dresses, or at least ones that are more flattering in style and cut. The dresses look off-the-rack, where the shape and bust line don’t quite fit the frame. And not just the evening dresses. The day dresses have the same boring style and fit. They all wear the same pillbox-style hat and court shoes. Maybe it’s a cultural thing I’m not understanding? JMO. Don’t jump on me!
ReplyDeleteI don’t know, but my guess based on observation is that there is specific court etiquette about what is worn for different occasions - akin in some respects to uniforms perhaps.
Delete-Royal Watcher
Princess Kako is beautiful. The expression on her face in the next-to-last picture looks like she’s thinking, “OMG!” (I am sure she isn’t.). The two princesses on the far right in the last picture look like they are ready to get down to business and kick some behind. All look lovely.
Delete-Royal Watcher
My thoughts exactly! They are so old fashioned...
DeleteLook up photos of the wedding of Emperor Akihito (then Crown Prince) and Empress Michiko in 1959. It's strange how they keep forcing the royal ladies of Japan to emulate the look that Empress Michiko had then. She looked lovely as it was not only perfectly stylish at the time, but the cut of the dress was very flattering on her. Even Empress Kojun, who was then in her mid 50s, was fashionably dressed.
DeleteAnd now all of these young women in their 20s and 30s are made to look so frumpy and boring. They could still be dressed traditionally while also looking stylish with dresses that flatter them. So many brands seem to be going for vintage inspired looks that resemble the styles of the 30s and 40s for the last few years, it wouldn't be difficult to find something.
I have been spending the last month in Tokyo and the Japanese style of dressing is so very different from anything I see in the two European countries I also live in. Loose fitting, rather long skirts, long coat, trainers or heavy military style boots on the younger ones, Nothing is ever figure hugging except jogging. Very rarely have I seen any heels and if they are a lot lower "sensible" type black pumps, the type we always complain about and call old fashion.
DeleteThese court dresses are a kind of uniform and there is nothing off the rack about them. They are made from gorgeous silk brocade, a rather stiff and heavy material. Perhaps they are not altered very often with changing body.
They have no say in their public clothes. It is most unfortunate.
DeleteI actually think they fit quite well, particularly around the waist and bust. They are looser than what we see in a lot of European style, but that is Japanese style in general. If you look e.g. here: https://images.hellomagazine.com/horizon/landscape/5786bb68d8b0-royals-in-white-t.jpg you can see the British royal family in the equivalent, also white dresses and tiaras but you can clearly see the fit isn't quite there. The Japanese ones are made-to-measure from what we've been told before, and while they are quite conservative, I think they are relatively flattering to each of the attendees' shapes and they do present a harmonious image.
DeleteGlamour and glitz, love the Tiaras and the gowns. css
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or does Kiko tiaras look bigger than anyone else? What an ambitious women she is.
ReplyDeleteSize of Princess Kiko’s tiara has nothing to do with her “ambition.”
DeleteThe tiara was given from Empress Michiko to her who is going to be next Empress.
We Japanese respect and admire Princess Kiko much more than Masako.
In our country, people who praise Masako and blame Princess Kiko and Akishinomiya family is said to be Anti-Japanese who tries to destruct imperial lineage. Are you one of them?
Kiko Akishino is unfortunately very much disliked in Japan.
DeleteBecause she wears a tiara above her rank, spends 6 billion yen of taxpayers' money to renovate her own house and plans to use it as a stepping stone to get her son admitted to Tokyo University by publishing a paper not written by her son himself.
If you think what I say is a lie, look me up on X or Chat GPT.
Very elegant and beautifully groomed, all the royal ladies.
ReplyDeleteI love this annual display of sumptuous diamond tiaras and necklaces. The Meiji scroll tiara worn by the Empress is so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteSize of Princess Kiko’s tiara has nothing to do with her “ambition.”
ReplyDeleteThe tiara was given from Empress Michiko to her who is going to be next Empress.
We Japanese respect and admire Princess Kiko much more than Masako.
In our country, people who praise Masako and blame Princess Kiko and Akishinomiya family is said to be Anti-Japanese who tries to destruct imperial lineage. Are you one of them?
Well, maybe it's time more Japanese people give Empress Masako the respect and admiration she deserves. Marriage out of love, well educated, carreer, acknowledgement of (mental) illness and a genuine smile thereby still respecting Japan's cultural heritage are all aspects today's Japanese women could benefit and learn from.
Delete> We Japanese respect and admire Princess Kiko much more than Masako.
DeleteReally? I am not in Japan right now but all I see on Japanese social media is criticism of Akishino-no-miya for "not bringing the children up right" (previously Mako who got raked through the mud and now Kako for her 'temporary residence', poor girl) and praise for the Emperor and Empress. And then when it was said their daughter didn't visit her grandparents much, people were saying that Michiko-sama was an 'actress'.
Size of Princess Kiko’s tiara has nothing to do with her “ambition.”
ReplyDeleteThe tiara was given from Empress Michiko to her who is going to be next Empress.
We Japanese respect and admire Princess Kiko much more than Masako.
In our country, people who praise Masako and blame Princess Kiko and Akishinomiya family is said to be Anti-Japanese who tries to destruct imperial lineage. Are you one of them?
I like the stable personality of Her Majesty the Empress. However, I wonder why only Her Majesty's sash is wavy. Although her sash looks flat when she is walking.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like Princess Aiko is dressed the worst of all the princesses. Her tiara is badly placed on her head. The shape of her dress with the cap sleeves does not suit her. The up do of her hair does not look very well done. It looks like the one who is responsible for dressing Princess Aiko did it on purpose.
ReplyDeleteIn general one can say that the dresses of the princesses are copies of the dresses worn by the royal ladies in Europe at the end of the 50-ees and the beginning of the 60-ees.
It was lovely to see Princess Aiko in a beautiful gown and tiara. The Princess in the blue dress has an unfortunate jaw line. Never quite noticed it before. Am wondering why she is wearing blue, where the rest of the ladies are in white. Can someone answer this question? Edwina
ReplyDeleteI think one thing to remember in the Japanese style is that the ladies bow very deeply to the Emperor and Empress and need to be able to do so when in evening dress and wearing a tiara. That has to mean tiaras tightly attached and hair up so that it doesn't need fixing after they've bowed four times, higher necklines to avoid upward glimpses, and a loose-ish skirt so that you don't get a photograph with a tightly outlined rear end situation. Even the length of the skirt - you probably won't see a train because (not in this ceremony but in others in the same dress code like the birthday greetings), they walk backwards after greeting the Imperial couple so as not to turn their back on them. It therefore needs to be an outfit that they can bow deeply in multiple times, walk backwards in, and generally manoeuvre without any awkward photographs!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. It certainly clarifies the dress code and shows the importance of understanding other cultures and not to judge by the standards we happen to be in.
DeleteAnd I wonder what these Japanese royal ladies think of our western “fashion” styles?
DeleteWhen they see a beautiful dress with an uneven hem or a jacket and pants that don’t fit (baggy) or a very expensive evening gown with one sleeve missing or a long gala gown with a slit that goes up almost to the waist or a massive fabric flower or cabbage on the shoulder with some sort of dress hanging off it or a mega expensive wedding dress with very little fabric covering the bust of the bride.
I seem to remember an old expression that said, “it’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black” (c'est la marmite qui traite la bouilloire de noire).
p.s. Hope they're not thinking of adopting Camilla’s unbuttoned cardy look
@ Anon. 3/1/24 00:40
DeleteMaybe you are right. But that still does not explain how come that the 4th princess in the last picture is wearing a dress with a neckline that is deeper and wider than the dresses of her colleagues (not that she cannot have it).
@ deadeggs "our western fashion styles"
DeleteBut they are wearing western fashion styles themselves. The only difference is that their style was worn in the Western world a long time ago (the end of the 50-ees until approximately 1968).
I wish they were all wearing traditional Japanese clothing. When they wear these Western-style clothes they get criticized for not being exactly right- not modern enough, not young, not flattering enough. If they were wearing kimonos no one could criticize them.
ReplyDeleteEmpress Masako has the most enigmatic smile.It reflects I think,her kind personality. She looks phenomenal in the Empress tiara! Stunning.
ReplyDeleteAll the ladies brought their A game.Though I can’t quite warm to the CP! Bea
Dear No Name 00:40, I wish you had signed because your comments are excellent and helpful, and I sincerely hope that many bloggers have absorbed them. The constant sartorial bashing if this imperial family is so unfounded.
ReplyDelete🌞 Virginia
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