Kusakabe Kimbei, active during the late nineteenth century, was a Japanese photographer known for hand coloring studio portraits. His carefully arranged compositions present everyday customs with a sense of deliberate staging. In this image, four young girls sit shoulder to shoulder with their backs turned, their patterned kimonos lifted by subtle reds and earth tones. Send this girl group to the friends who have your back in both life’s most colorful moments and its more somber seasons.

Courtesy of the Museum of Arts and Crafts Hamburg