I'm thinking of starting a second blog; J-Fashion For Dummies, explaining all the different sub-fashions targeted at people who previously haven't heard about them before. Think of it as more cultural learnings.
On other news, my YouTube Channel is doing well! Please visit it if you like. My username is finnythewise.
It's September, and look who's Miss September in the cosplay calendar XD MCM Expo is coming up soon and I haven't even started on my Cosplays... mainly due to lack of sewing machine.
And..... I'm in September's Marie Claire Magazine! They did a feature on Lolita Fashion At Hyper Japan and my picture is in it :D
I vaguely remember this picture being taken before we saw Natsuko Aso perform. I have a horrific derpface, but anything spreading the joys of Lolita is good right?
Anyway, speaking of Lolita Fashion...... back to my post!
In the past two weeks, two amazing Lolita related events have taken place.
First was the Victoria And ALbert Museum's 'Loli-Pop' event coinciding with their exhibit about Lolita fashion and the impact Britain has had on it named "Kitty And The Bulldog". The event was part of their 'Friday Lates' and went from 6pm onwards until quite late. I was dog-sitting my neighbours adorable pugs that day, but managed to go for a few hours whilst they napped.
There were loads of Lolitas! Those who were trying it out for the first time and those who had been dressing in the fashion for years! Everyone was given a beautifully drawn program when they came in!
I went as a Gothic Lolita, and loved the exhibit which featured clothes on display from brands such as Moi-Meme-Moitie, Innocent World and Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. What made my day were the amount of people who had no clue abut the fashion before and had just wondered into the venue but complimented everyone on how lovely they looked! One couple in particular loved that everyone put so much effort into their appearance without looking 'sexy' but still looked 'gorgeous'! It's great that awareness is being built around the ever growing Lolita community as with awareness comes understanding and tolerance.
It was a shame the event wasn't longer! I saw so many people and had hardly any time to chat! It was a shame it got dark so quickly too as the outfits were harder to see. The staff were dressed in outfits provided by Angellic Pretty and BTSSB (LUCKY!) and there were loads of drop in events and talks with DJ sets being played outside in the picturesque courtyard, complete with mini lake, fountains and amazing revolving chairs. Photo areas were used creatively as they each represented a different Lolita style; a skull for Punk, a mountain and traditional parasols for Wa, etc. The one one I missed was the Gothic one with bats - typical as my Vampire Requiem print (replica -__-) dress would have matched perfectly.
Nyan Nyan Nyan!
Performances of poetry and ballet livened up the atmosphere and I had a fantastic evening. Only spoiled by a woman in her 30s (who should know better) making a rude comment ("That's got to be a joke, right?") about my friends' appearance on our way to the platform at Waterloo. Looks like there may be a way to go still before Lolita is a known fashion in Britain.
The next event was The Tea Party Club's 5th Anniversary event at Charing Cross Hotel. The guests of honour featured classic Lolita brand, Juliette Et Justine's Head Designer, Mari Nakamura, editor of The Gothic And Lolita Bible (and ex-editor of Kera Maniax magazine) Mariko Suzuki, renowned doll maker Koitsukihime and make up artist and hair stylist Tony Tanaka. Such a phenomenal line up!
I dressed up (as it was a brand party and all) in my new Moi-Meme-Moitie dress of Stained Glass Print in black and green. I also wore contacts, a black wig with sausage curls, my LIZ LISA pearl cross and BODYLINE boots which I got for my birthday. Complete with parasol for the hot and sunny day I was ready to go. The travel there was pretty scary as I attracted a lot of stares but many seemed intrigued and complimented my appearance; one guy even taking a photo.
Another photographer pointed me in the right direction of the venue (a group of Lolitas is quite hard to miss) and I must say, it was spectacular! The old architecture made a lovely setting and the furnishing added to the whole aesthetic. I quickly made friends with fellow South East England Loli Sarah, and we listened to a Q&A session with the guests. It was refreshing to hear that the designer for a Japanese Lolita brand had 40% of her business come from overseas and thought that there was nothing wrong with a British person wearing Lolita: in Nakamura's words, "Lolita is where Asian girls dress up and pretend to be Caucasian". Refreshing to hear that.
Tony Tanaka also enlightened us that he liked working with both natural hair and wigs, but wigs gave extra volume and many looked very natural these days. He also said that makeup can make or break a look, but the dress and whole picture is very important.
Koitsukihime said that her favourite style of Lolita was Gothic (hooray!) as many of her dolls were based of that particular look. (Later on, she approached me and we had a chat in my *cough* Japanese with the help of her assistant and even took a picture as my co-ordination was very similar to some of my work and she said I looked like a beautiful doll <3 ) Koisukihime also said that some of her dolls look happy, others sad as they are not playthings - they represent the soul.
Mariko Suzuki responded to the question "What's your favourite part of The Gothic & Lolita Bible?" with, "Everything. I love it when it all comes together." She also couldn't decide on her favourite brand and thought that wearing Lolita at any age was ok: "There's nothing wrong in pursuing cuteness." Well said!
Next was lunch/ a scavenger hunt. My last one at Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland Lolita meet went very well (VICTORY!) so with my new Loli friends we started running around trying to find tiles to make up the key word. There were just two we could not find T_T Eventually after bustling about the whole place we got "Razael" as the word but couldn't find the organiser to hand in our entry. 'Team Clueless' then gave up and had tea, scones and pastries in the brasserie area.
The fashion show came next and I stood next to the speakers. In hindsight maybe not the best idea, but I did get a good view of all the wonderful Juliette Et Justine designs on display. I picked out several favourites and marvelled at the shoes - they were so high! :0
There were also performances from classical singers throughout the show!
Free tea and cake caused a stampede towards the temporary bar area before I went back into the main room for a free postcard signed by Suzuki and Nakamura! I told them I was a fan in Japanese and they said I looked cute and it was great I was learning their language. :)
The last event featured a massive raffle (which unsurprisingly I didn't win anything XD) and then a thank you to all the guests and volunteers involved. Then, the biggest shock of the day... A PROPOSAL! One of the organisers (Kyra) is now happily engaged and not a dry eye was left in the house. Foundation touch ups were needed before the big group photograph at the end of a truly unforgettable day.
Photo credits to Anarchy Photography. I am in the right half, kneeling down with the black hair and clothes.
My loot consisted of a funky 'Now, Voyager' hair piece, a copy of the latest Gothic & Lolita Bible, a strawberry ring from 'Bunny De Coeur', a black gothic bow from 'Wise Wolf Clothing' and the most amazing black bonnet from 'Peacockalorum' which I wore immediately.
My picture with Suzuki and Nakamura. They seemed quite eager to escape the big crowd so I sneakily got a picture 'with' them. ;)
I de-lolified myself in the bathroom and headed out with my loli-companions for a Chinese dinner in Chinatown. The most fantastic thing was the crowds reaction to us both before and after the meal (before we ate we even passed another group of Lolitas XD). People were taking pictures at us, with us both asking and taking secretly. There were cries of admiration and even cheering. We certainly stopped traffic. Ladies were picking their favourite dress and style and young kids were glancing at us excitedly. I didn't even notice any strange looks as I was having so much fun! Travelling alone in Loli is scary, as a big group it was the best thing ever! My bonnet must be what did it. I never felt more confident dressed up in Lolita before.
We even saw a dude dressed as Captain America 'help' people cross the street and did a little bop at the Thames Festival. It was amusing to walk past a group of 20-somethings caked in makeup and fake tan and in tiny, revealing short dresses and heels and noticing the difference - Western and Japanese. Modern and older fashioned. It was very interesting. The walk back to Waterloo station was beautiful at night, but the thing that really made my day was a lady saying, "Oh look, it's Lolita!"
The trend is spreading, and I couldn't be happier about it.
