Living in the South East of England, this meant that I had to travel on the train up North.
Fortunately, modern transportation being as it is, I only had to spend three hours on trains.
More fortunately, I knew the organisers and got to grab a room with the lovely Sharon, (organiser's mother) in the same guest house as the brand guests. Teehee.
Leamington Spa is a beautiful place!
I managed to arrive, eventually, with a little help from Google Maps App and shielded myself from the worst of the scorching hot sun with my parasol. Man, I love parasols.
The owners of the hotel were lovely, and I had a nice nap in the pretty, old fashioned room before my roomie arrived.
Then, we headed towards the conference room in a nearby Premier Inn to meet a few other early arriving Lolitas. After munching on most of the Doritos and taking all the free sachets of tea, my group then headed off for dinner.... with the brand designers and Coco from Japanese band, Die Milch!!!
There was a pump with Leamington Spa Water! It tasted bad....
Cafe Rouge as our next stop, with my little Japanese, I made small talk and got to know the designers. All were very appreciative that I made an attempt to speak their language.
Ashizawa Yuko, the straight talking designer of Atelier Pierrot had a bad cold, and was fairly quiet during the meal, but felt better over the weekend, and showcased her amazing creations in fashion shows on both Saturday and Sunday.
Alice Kobayashi, the petite Fairy Wish designer brought her husband along, and also got to show off her creations in fashion shows. The best thing was I got to wear both of their clothing!
And then we have Coco - one half of Die Milch (Jasmine, who plays violin was still in Japan).
I don't say this about people often, but I must say, that over the course of the weekend, I discovered Coco to be one of the most genuine, nicest people I could ever have the pleasure to meet. She had an amazing sense of humour, and spoke English exceptionally well. Not only that, but she was the designated piano player all weekend, and looked amazing in Lolita fashion. I found out later she had called me "The Mood Manufacturer" on her Blog.
She has a fan for life in me.
After a bit of drama with the bill, I settled into bed ready for the next day of Loli goodness.
Saturday saw the event held in The Royal Pump Rooms. Luckily I only had a short walk to the guest house in my finery and therefore less chance to be heckled by youths. Unluckily, it was so amazingly hot that I (gasp) had to go without bloomers and a blouse otherwise I risked fainting like some of the other Lolitas.
We Were Featured In The Local Leamington Spa Paper
My outfit was from one of my favourite brands, Alice And The Pirates (which I learnt was shortened to 'Ali-Pi' by the Japanese). I had recently bought the dress second hand off a friend, and I loved the Rose Opretta Bouquet print as it was a lovely olive green (green being my favourite colour) that is neglected as a colour in Classic Lolita styles. My friend Ruth was my Ali-Pi twin, and we had a great laugh checking out the stands of goods.
It was a lovely venue! The building was beautiful, with a lot of delicate plasterwork and original stone pillars. The stalls were arranged all around the rooms, and even ordinary, confused members of the public headed in for a look. There were a few idiotic teenagers who decided to harass the Lolis, but the amount of frills must have put them off eventually.
Atelier Pierrot's Section
We scared the general public getting ice lollies and heading to Subways for lunch. A few cars looked in danger of crashing because the drivers attentions were distracted. As usual, the older generations seemed to enjoy the style more, an elderly lady saying we all looked wonderful!
Leamington Spa's Mayor Opened The Fashion Show
Everyone looked fantastic! Brand, off brand, homemade, mix and match - everyone brought something different. What made this event different is that it also had representatives from the Mori Girl (or Forest Girl) fashion community showcasing their looks. As my usual fashion style is similar to Mori Girl anyway, I enjoyed looking at all the different clothing combinations and was amazed at how with all the woollen layers they didn't boil.
Before the community fashion show, we were treated to a performance from Coco. She played a set of songs, song with backing track, some with her playing the piano. She has an amazing voice, and I rushed to by her album. I'm particularly fond of the song "Rosaria". The sound was like a mixture of classical tunes with a gothic feel, a bit like Kanon Wakeshima meets musical duo.
She also joked that although we were finding the heat unbearable here, it was hotter in Tokyo (she didn't care because she was "a doll") but if we went to Japan, we'd most likely die.
She looked elegant in Atelier Pierrot and was an engaging entertainer considering she was without her partner and in a foreign country.
Unfortunately, due to unforseen circumstances , one of the guests whom I was looking forward to seeing didn't come, and there were a few issues during the day. The one that affected me the most was that the fashion shows were delayed, and then instead of spacing them out slightly, they were one after the other. Which meant a rather quick change for me, as all the other girls who were representing two brands were in the cancelled Victorian Maiden show, and I was the only one who had to rush with two.
I didn't get a proper fitting for Atelier Pierrot, so the gorgeous waistcoat bustle jumperskirt popped a button thanks to my bust.
Also, the first thing Alice Kobayashi said to me was, "You have large breasts"....
I rest my case.
Despite knowing my measurements, they didn't really have anything for my E Cups, so I used convenient hair placement to hide the straining cutsew. The outfit itself was gorgeous! Pink tights patterned with stripes and cockatiels, black velveteen shorts, white frilly cutsew and my favourite - a straw effect hat with a black bow.
Ignore the derpface - I believe this was during rehearsals.
Above and below photos credit to Saorise Clohessy.
After rushed rehearsals with both, I was on and thoroughly enjoyed myself despite the massively quick changes. The girls, although a little disgruntled with my rushing, were ever so helpful - Mini Mo even gave me her thicker tights when three of mine laddered.
The Fairy Wish girls, Sapphira, Lycci, Chi and Lisa (whom I knew already) all looked fantastic and were lovely.
The worst news of the day was hearing that a box of hand made accessories got stolen from a stall by a member of the public. (If anyone was around the area and noticed a guy carrying loliable items, I don't think he has been apprehended yet, so do report it).
Dinner was a little strange with no water being avaliable, but it was great to sit down with the other guests, make friends and connect over food. With my new found friends we headed onto learn how to Cotillion Dance. Which was HILARIOUS!!!
I think Coco took this one. I'm fiddling with my hair (ditched the wig) and we are attempting to do a dance which featured several lines of pairs.
Jokingly, the Japanese guests said that despite my beautiful appearance (T_T thank you kind ladies) I was lively and a bit of an 'old man' in actions and not such the nadeshiko type ('Oyajii' became my joke nickname all weekend) which was strangely appropriate as I found myself (not on purpose) dancing the male part in all four which I joined in.
The dances were fun, and taught but a no nonsense old lady. It was a sight seeing everyone in regency, Lolita and Mori whist trying to do a trickey turning movement. The karaoke didn't work, but I loved bopping around in the disco, creating our own random dance moves, before heading off with Sarah and Keren for a small glass of Merlot in the local Wetherspoons.
Helping pack the brand clothes up to move to tomorrows location, it hit me when I realised I was wheeling a suitcase of 'burando' worth more than I make in a year. Oooer, responsibility not to run away with it and escape abroad. XD
I fell asleep looking foward to the next day, despite the hiccups I had massively enjoyed myself.
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