Bunnai Morishita isn't sure why women stopped wearing pearls. "Maybe if someone like Michelle Obama wore them it would become fashionable again," he says.
In his office, the 70-year-old head of the Ise Pearl Association leans back in his chair and sighs, reminiscing about a time when Hollywood starlets graced dinner parties sporting pearl necklaces. Mikimoto Kokichi (1858-1954), the man who perfected the method for farming pearls once boasted he'd like to "adorn the necks of all women around the world with pearls."
Morishita shares the sentiment. "Pearls and a black dress, like Audrey Hepburn. It's a classic look. Nowadays, everything is casual."