March 6, 2017

Meet Sueko Oshimoto of Kimono SK Photography in North Hollywood

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sueko Oshimoto.

Sueko, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a kimono master and a costume designer in the world of fashion, film, music video, pageant and culture. I was born in Okinawa, Japan as youngest of the ten brothers. I was a studio model when she was teenager. I sometimes have worn a kimono for special occasion since I was young. But I didn’t know how to wear a kimono at that time. If some foreigner asked me about a kimono, I didn’t have exact answer. These experiences made me start to learn kimono and total coordinate. I received my kimono stylist Japan national qualification from Aiko Yamano the 1st, the founder of the Yamano Beauty School in 1992. I worked as a professor at the Ryubi Beauty College, where I also started my own class of social arts, which included table coordination. I moved on to become the owner of an esthetic salon and worked as an esthetician. During this time I studied architecture, color coordination, flower arrangement, classical Japanese dance and received my certification in flower arrangement. My first big step in becoming an international artist came when I moved to the United States in 1999. In 2005 I became the Executive Director of the Yamano Kimono Dressing School California branch, and started teaching Kimono styling in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Twice a month, I went to Los Angeles from Las Vegas every single month by car and air. I now has 50 professional kimono stylists as my assistant and continues to promote traditional Japanese kimono styling in the United States.

I started KIMONO SK Photography with Kentaro Terauchi who is a photographer, in 2010. Worked as the kimono master, I has hosted various kimono lecture/fashion shows at several museums including the Japanese American National Museum and LACMA. I also holds a position as a judge for the Kimono Styling Division of the National Art Festival held annually in Tokyo, and I was also a kimono stylist for the VIP’s of the Academy awards, the Grammy, and the Latin Grammy.

Worked as the designer, I provided my design for Miss Universe Japan 2013 and won 5th prize in national costume category and I also displays my creativity in clothing design as a stylist for various magazines such as VOGUE. My work can also be seen in movies in the design and styling of wardrobe and costumes.

It has become a member of Costume Designers Guild IATSE local 892. In 2014, I won the Best Costume Design Award at the world’s largest fashion film festival, which is La Jolla international film festival.

One of major Japanese TV channel, Yomiuri featured me for a documentary TV show “Gutto! Chikyubin”. With my creative boundaries constantly broadening, I started my dress line Sueko in 2015. I designed evening gowns and national costumes for Miss Japan at Miss Asia USA 2016 pageant and she won Miss Asia Queen as first Japanese delegate in 28 years pageant history.

Has it been a smooth road?
Our services which is kimono rental/dressing are very unique in the U.S. and people don’t know there is a kimono place in Los Angeles. To make yourself better known, we have held many kimono fashion shows like 3-4 times every year even now. Actually, holding a fashion show doesn’t make much money furthermore we spent a lot of time/money to make new costumes to showcase at the shows. It was worth our effort for we succeeded in grabbing the attention of influential people to get a lot of visibility as the only professional kimono/photography company in the U.S.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Kimono SK offers Kimono Rental, Costume Design, Dress Design and Photography services. Sueko Oshimoto specializes in Japanese kimono and clothing design, and Kentaro Terauchi specializes in Headshot and Portrait photography. By making use of their creative abilities, they raise the level of teamwork, and demonstrate the flexibility to adapt quickly to new circumstances while the artists design exquisite works and take stunning photos.

Sueko has worked with many celebrities such as Miranda Kerr, Dj Diplo and George Takei to design their costumes for a film, music video and commercial. Kentaro took drop-dead portraits for Miss Japan who won Miss Asia USA pageant 2016-17.

We own hundreds of kimonos and sashes you can choose from, and own a photo studio with professional lighting kit. We are ready to shoot you!

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
There are all major film studios such as Universal, Disney and Warner Bros, and also many costume houses in North Hollywood. I think Noho is perfect city to start a business which put your focus on motion pictures industry.

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