Fashion Show @ Madman Anime Festival

The Madman Anime Festival Lolita Fashion Show

It's been a dream of mine for a while now to participate in a Lolita fashion show and the Madman Anime Festival presented a perfect opportunity to get involved in one. 

Working full-time I haven't had a lot of time to do much Lolita so when the organiser asked for a coordinate picture, my submission was a previous outfit I had worn. I was very excited when it came to the day and spent quite a lot of time on preparations which included going all out by putting on bottom lashes!

I only found the wig at the last minute as it was tucked away in a totally non-Lolita bag (most embarrassing behaviour). I was really happy with the way the outfit turned out. 

  

We all met up in the foyer and were led to a green room out the back of the theatre stage. It was a proper, proper dressing room with lights around the mirrors. I took a couple of dressing room pictures with all the frills inside the one room. 

 

The good lighting created perfect selfie conditions and this created a photographic frenzy from the shutter happy amongst us (including myself). 

Here are some of the outfits from the fashion show. I apologise if I didn't get around to taking a picture for those that didn't get one. 

Prince and Princess. The only pair coordinate in the fashion show and superbly done. The princess's head dress is actually made by the model with string of pearls that hang between the spires. Making sure the headdress was secure looked like a task but it surely paid off for the walk. 

   

I love the blend of old-school Lolita here with the head dress and rocking horses mixed with the relatively recent trend of adding boz jackets to frilly dresses. Usually reserved for the comparatively unfrilly gothic and lolita or aristocrat sub genres. 

 

The walk that these two frill-seekers did during the show was nothing short of adorable. I've always loved the Bodyline Cinderella Bunny print!

 

I actually love this coordinate. Particularly the dress which is from Taobao. The fabric was lovely too. 

 

Well, you can tell what I thought from this filter. #godess

I loved the all white coordinate balanced out with darker shoes and accessories. 

I really love this print and the umbrella made the whole coordinate look so elegant. 

This coordinate was a deliberate mix of genres. Spooky and cute. The horns were a great touch, I thought. I would like to implement some in a coordinate one day, myself. 

I really enjoyed dressing up, seeing everyone and their amazing coordinates and planning the fashion show. Unfortunately there were some hiccups with the organisation of the show that did put a dampener on things. We were forgotten in the dressing room and ended up starting an hour late. However, the show came off smoothly and we went into the festival afterwards to enjoy the show. 

There was a room filled with many stalls with DVDs, manga, merchandise and other things; a stage for interviews; movie room and a maid cafe. I was only interested in going to the maid cafe and checking out the Sailor Moon goods because it's usually quite expensive at these kinds of events. The line to the maid cafe was really long so I went straight to the stalls. There were cardboard cutouts of LoveLive characters and some posters of popular anime. I enjoyed posing in front of a Sailor Moon poster and taking selfies. I also got my picture taken in front of a cherry blossom background and got a print out for free! 

In the end, I didn't end up buying any merchandise or going to the cafe. The Sailor Moon DVDs didn't even tempt me. I was hoping for a box set with pretty cover art. Unfortunate but on the positive side, I didn't spend any money. 

I really enjoyed dressing up in lolita after a long while and enjoyed participating in the fashion show. I hope I can do it again next year. 

Beret, Necklace, Blouse, Kumya-Kumya, Socks: BTSSB

JSK: Krad Lanrete - Phantom of the Opera

Head bow: Innocent World

Ring: Q-pot

Shoes: off-brand 

First Lolita Meet 2017 - High Tea and Spontaneous Cocktails

It was high time for High Tea...

Well, it's been a while! I've been back in Australia for a while now (since June 2016) and living in Perth. 

Amongst adult-ing for the past nine or ten months, I've not been out in frills or updated the blog. However, I had the most marvellous chance to head out for a high-tea at the Crown Casino this last weekend. Although the weather has been incredibly hot recently, I was enthusiastic about joining the Perth Community for cake and a cup of coffee.

Thoughts on Preparedness...

When the actual day came, the weather was warm but not overly hot. I had decided previously that I would wear Esprit de la Belle Époque de Paris by Baby and wear it with the matching bonnet, which I hadn't had the chance to wear out as yet.  I chose a short-sleeve blouse (the same one I picked up at Baby the Stars Shine Bright Kyoto in April last year) because of the summer heat and my go to off-white wrist cuffs. Honestly, I can't say how useful the Innocent World haul has been for my wardrobe. I knew that the brown bag and the shoes would match the dark brown bows on the dress and just like that my outfit had come together. Thanks to my lovely friend Stephanie who gets the all the preparedness awards for bringing a nifty little camera and taking outfit photos of everyone, including mine. 

Bonnet: Esprit de la Belle Époch à Paris - BTSSB

Blouse: Spring Garden Chiffon Blouse - BTSSB

Jumperskirt: Esprit de la Belle Époch à Paris - BTSSB

Wrist cuffs: BTSSB

Socks: Esprit de la Belle Époch à Paris - BTSSB

Shoes: Innocent World

Despite being fatigued from the past few weeks, I became incredibly excited when I tried on the bonnet with a wig and the colours worked well together. I even had enough time to paint my nails and put on some fake lashes so I felt extra special.

If there's something I've learnt about getting ready for meets over the years, it's "prepare in advance". Knowing what you will wear, how much time it will take to get to the meeting place and giving yourself enough time to shower, get make up on, get dressed, change bags and do a last minute check makes things much easier on the day. I will decide what time I need to start getting ready and what time I need to leave the house to get to the meeting place in good time a day or two before the event. Conversely, I've found concentrating on getting ready too much really tires me out so I try not to spend too much more time than usual on doing makeup. I'm sure everyone has their own personal balance. How do you feel about getting ready? Is it tiring or invigorating?

High Tea at the Atrium...

I arrived earlier than expected and waited to meet up with everyone. It was lovely! The lobby had a gorgeous decoration in the centre to celebrate Chinese New Year. It became a feature of our outfit photos when everyone arrived. 

I hadn't seen many people for a long time. It was wonderful to meet up with some people I hadn't seen in a while and meet some new people in the comm. First, we took obligatory outfit shots and then headed in for high tea. I snapped a little shot of all our frilly butts before we went in to The Atrium.

The high tea was a buffet and needless to say there were a number of cute desserts available. Many of the lolitas were drawn to the many colourful macaroons on offer and I couldn't help getting a plate full of colour coordinated sweets. Afterwards, I chose a plate of savoury food to balance out the sweet. Well, you wouldn't think that such small cakes would take up so much room but I was close to full so after a final plate of some fruit and marshmallows dipped in chocolate I was done! I regretted eating a full breakfast as I felt it undermined my ability to fully enjoy the dessert buffet.

A Conveniently Placed Bar...

After we left the buffet, we chatted for a while - catching up on recent happenings or simply reminding each other of what jobs we do. A member had prepared a prize lottery for us and I got a gorgeous blue hair clip. It was very unexpected and it seemed that everyone thoroughly enjoyed getting hair clips, bangles and even Sailor Moon socks! Finally, we got tired standing around in our tea parties and t-straps (and Mary Janes) so it was onto a couch with a conveniently placed bar right beside it. And that is how the unofficial cocktail meet began. I ordered a cocktail called Purple Rose (pictured below). Again, I was ruled by my desire for colour and thematic coherence. 

 

I was not alone though, and was very pleased when the lolita wearing Angelic Pretty's Melty Ribbon Chocolate ordered a chocolate cocktail. 

Chocolate goes best with chocolate 

Looking sophisticated in Melty Ribbon Chocolate

Check out @Rafiraga on Instagram

The chatting lasted for another couple of hours and even when we dispersed, we ended up re-grouping in the car park to discuss how UN-lolita most of our cars were. There must be a collective noun for lolitas somewhere - a giggle, a gaggle, a fluff? Perhaps it's a different noun depending on the style - a murder of gothic lolitas, for instance (I'm sure there was a chat about that on LiveJournal at some point). In any case, lolita was just a fashion when I began and it has become a social activity and a friends circle. I'm so thankful to have a group of people who live close by and are into the fashion. It was a while between drinks (literally and figuratively) but I really enjoyed getting back in the frills and having a chat with my frilly friends from the Perth Community. 

 

Sakura Mochi and Maple Cake - Lolita Date in Kyoto

I had a most wonderful outing last week on Thursday. I needed to go to Kyoto to pick up my blouse from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. I had forgotten my passport last time, which meant I couldn't buy it tax free. I contacted one of my Lolita friends in Kyoto who said she could meet up so my Lolita date was set.

We decided to meet at a cafe called Café du Thé François in Shijo Kawaramachi so I chose to wear Angelic Pretty's Wonder Party to match the cafe theme. I matched it with off-white accessories including a beret from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. Rest Room Selfie, anyone?

I wore a wig for the first time in ages to cut down on hair styling time. The wig is from Gothic Lolita Wigs and its definitely my favourite. This blonde doesn't make me look washed out and the hair style is cute but elegant. The reason for leaving early being is that I had to head off early to buy some Japanese sweets as souvenirs before meeting up with my friend. 

Buying Mochi at Futaba

The sweets shop I went to is called Futaba and is situated in Demachi Anagi. It's already quite well known for Mame-mochi but I was there to buy the Sakura Mochi! It's readily available during the cherry blossom season and is a gorgeous glossy pink colour wrapped in a Sakura leaf. Sakura is a slightly strange sweet leafy taste and with the leaf being salty and the mochi being sweet it quite an interesting sweet to eat. I didn't like it the first few times I ate it, particularly the leaf but with the mochi being recently advertised on the T.V. with high recommendations I didn't want to miss the opportunity to try it again.

When it comes to popular foods, in my experience, the Japanese have a different way of thinking to what I've seen in Australia. Firstly, Australians seem to be less enthusiastic about something simply because it's introduced as popular and on top of that most Australians seem to avoid waiting in long lines. Conversely, it seems that the Japanese are happy to line up in order to get something that's been advertised as it means they are sure to get a good product at the end. This certainly seemed to be the case at Futaba as the line curled around three times in front of the shop. There was a person outside the shop reminding people to keep moving forward and that the wait was around 20 minutes. They were also there to stop the line from moving too far over on the path. 

There were so many people and I didn't want to be late for my date so I didn't stop to take photos except for this one above. The line moved quickly and smoothly. Before long I was at the front of the line and my order was taken, the mochi was placed in a plastic pack, wrapped and handed to me in a bag. With my souvenirs in my hand, I walked to the bus stop to head to the cafe.

The Cafe and Kamogawa

I arrived at Shijo Kawaramachi bus-stop an hour before I was scheduled to meet with my friend. It gave me a chance to look around and take some pictures of the newly bloomed Sakura. 

The cafe is situated on Kiyamachi Street is a beautiful street with Kamogawa River running beside it and Sakura running down each side. In the Edo period (around the 18th century) many traditional style cafes, restaurants and bars were built to entertain the travellers who would come to the area. Today, the area is still a place for travellers to come to eat, drink and be entertained, however many of them are foreign travellers, like myself. Many of the places have a traditional shop front and some are even award winning gourmet restaurants. 

I also took a few snaps of Café du Thé François complete with poodle. 

History of Café du Thé François

Café du Thé François was listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2002. While it was originally a machiya, a Japanese townhouse for merchants or craftsmen, the shop was opened by Shōichi Tatemoto in the 1934 with the building redesigned into a western-style cafe with a design to reflect the spirit of enlightenment through socialism and art. The name of the cafe is a nod to painter Jean-Francois Millet. In 1937, during the second Sino-Japanese war, Tatemoto was jailed for anti-war activities, which included raising money for the Japanese communist party and distributing anti-Facist publications. After his time in jail Tatemoto had the interior re-designed by an Italian architect friend, Alexsandro Bencivenni, who himself had run away from Facist Italy. The interior was designed to resemble an ocean liner travelling between Europe and Asia and is a mix of 17th century Italian Baroque and Renaissance in style. The cafe kept running through the Pacific War when it was re-named Miyako Sabo (Kyoto Tea house) due to the law not allowing the use of enemy languages. Bencivenni, who refused to swear allegiance to the Italian Socialist Republic when the alliance was decided, was even sent to a prisoner camp in Nagoya for two years. The shop eventually closed in 1944 due to food shortages. The shop was re-opened in 2002 with the instatement of it's new status and is now run by the owner's three children.

I didn't take many pictures of the rest of the day but safe to say my friend and I had a great time, which included ordering matching Maple cake and coffee with cream set. It was absolutely delicious and ended up being my lunch. In between I went to buy the blouse and we moved to cafe number two to enjoy a coffee float chatting until 6pm. We promised to get together again in Kyoto as soon as we could manage. It really was a wonderful day.