KERA snap and picnic

Hello dear readers! How are you?

It's a nice day in England, and I have been doing some writing in the garden. Also, I've taken the opprtunity to handwash some of my clothes! Handwashing is a never ending task for lolitas, isn't it? At least it should all dry quickly today.

This post is from a while back, it was the day I went to the KERA snap at Marui and then had a picnic in nearby Shinjuku Gyoen. This was my outfit:

Hat: Handmade

Blouse: Atelier Pierrot

Skirt: Jane Marple

Gloves: Vintage

I really love this Atelier Pierrot blouse with big puff sleeves. It is very historical looking and I feel like a girl in a story book! For the purposes of the snap I said my theme was 'Country Lolita'. I really like the idea of country lolita and I want to make more outfits in that style. Alice a la mode/Alice Deco used to have a lot of nice country coordinates that weren't typical. What happened to that magazine? It was so creative!

Here's a better look at my hat. As you can see, this was taken at the park. It was such lovely weather- sunny and warm but not too hot, windy or humid! There were lots of young families out and very cute children tumbling about.  

It was a good situation for wearing country lolita. One strange thing though- there appeared to be cat litter sprinkled on the grass all around!

Is it fertilizer or something? Weird!

I'm delighted to say that my picture got into the snap, along with Shinobu and Aviva/go_slow_ly!

I can't tell you how happy I am to see my picture in there. I wish I could go to the snap every month but I've only made three so far. I hope I can go to many more when I return in the autumn!

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Have a lovely weekend wherever you are!

Sapphira

An impulse buy!

Hello readers! Hope you're all well today. I'm a bit sad, because I had plans to go to Disneyland as my birthday treat (my birthday's on Tuesday) but I had to cancel them because I have a really awful cough :(

Anyway, I'll cheer myself up by posting about nice things! Last week I met up with Emma, another English lolita currently living in Japan. We spent the day in Shinjuku, going to Marui One and Takashimaya. Of course we spent most of the time on the lolita floor of Marui. It's summer sales now!

In Takashimaya, we checked out all the wonderful things in the craft section. There were fabrics, felting kits, resin jewellery kits, all sorts of things! It makes you want to be more creative. I feel like making some jewellery actually, but I wonder if I'll get around to it.  

We stopped to have a drink in Takashimaya. You might have noticed I cut my fringe extremely short; it wasn't entirely on purpose! I think it can look a little harsh, so today I placed my half lashes very low to create a drooping effect. I think it makes one's expression more gentle. Oh, and I wore my straw bonnet. Japan feels so safe, I think I could wear a bonnet everyday if I wanted!

Emma is so cute! She looks very fresh and pretty in these light colours. I hope we'll go shopping again soon. It might be a dangerous move though- on this day I tried on IW's Germaine onepiece in navy in the KERA shop. I thought it looked so fancy and elegant on the hanger, but I wasn't sure if it would look nice on me or not. Emma said "I think you should try it." So I did, and it seemed to fit very well. Then she said "I think you should get it!" so I did! Whoops! 

I don't regret it though, it's a lovely dress and I don't have a party dress apart from my Juliette bisque doll.  The back neckline is particularly lovely, so mature and gorgeous! Besides that the longer length is very good for me. I'm planning to wear it for the D tour final next month, so please look out for it then!

Here is today's coordinate, country and classical combined:

~Outfit Rundown~

Bonnet: Handmade

Cutsew: axes femme

Wrust cuffs: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Jumperskirt, bag: Metamorphose

Socks: Mikazuki Momoko

See you next time,

Sapphira

xxxx

ベルリン International lolita meet up at The National Museum of Western Art

Hello readers! How are you?

The lolita meet up yesterday was great fun. I met a lot of new and lovely people and I got to see an old friend again too!

We took a group picture in front of the gates of Hell.... it was fancy enough to make a fairly good background! Everyone wore quite varied outfits, it was very pretty to see on this nice sunny day. 

There was a lot to see in the exhibition, which consisted of pieces on loan from the Berlin State Museums. There was a Vermeer and a Rembrandt, and a lot of very nice religious wood carvings which I'm quite fond of. The most beautiful painting in my opinion was Ricci's Bathsheba, I could have looked at it forever! I'd like to see the permanent collection some time.

Outside we came across this rather ponderous gentleman.... 

~Outfit Rundown~

Hat: corgi-corgi

Blouse: Anna House

JSK: Jane Marple

Parasol: Innocent Wold

Bag: Metamorphose

Others:Second hand, offbrand

I finally met Aviva, after admiring her on LJ for so long! She's beautiful, and very sweet.

It really was an international meet up, with lolitas from Europe, America and Asia. Emma (next to me in Angelic Pretty) is also from England, and Xin Yu (in Juliette et Justine) is my friend from Singapore!

Finally, let's have a shoe shot. 

Thank you, everyone, for a lovely day! And I hope you didn't mind me pinching some of your photos from facebook. Hope to see you again soon!

Dear readers, I hope you enjoyed this post. If you come to Tokyo, please join our lolita meet up!  

Sapphira

xxxx

Country Classical Lolita

Hello dear readers! How are you?

This weekend I was spending time with my three close friends. Happily I will see one of them in Japan in a month or so, but it will probably be a long time before the four of us are all together again. Oh, it's rather sad! It was a wonderful weekend though :)

Today I'll show you my most recent coordinate. I wanted to wear my handmade bonnet again, and I combined blue and brown together for a slightly non-traditional look. 

~Rundown~

Bonnet: Handmade

Blouse, gloves: Vintage

Jumperskirt: Innocent World

Basket: Disney Sea

Everything else: Offbrand

I thought that today's coordinate matched the background particularly well. The basket, bonnet and lace gloves give a bit of a 'country loli' feeling.

I feel the need for a fluffier panier these days! I will put mine in the washing machine today I think, that should help a bit. 

I hope you liked my outfit! Thanks for looking.

See you next time,

Sapphira

xxxx

Photoshoot: A country girl by the sea

Hello readers! How are you today? I'm happy it's the weekend!

I mentioned in my last post that I had a photoshoot with Lauren Pinhorn coming up. It went very well, and I now have the fruits of our combined labour to share with you....

The photoshoot location was Brighton, and we took in many of the sights, including the pier, the boardwalk and the Royal Pavillion.

The day was so bright and warm, and the sea was beautiful and blue. The conditions were almost perfect, only a little too bright perhaps, I could hardly keep my eyes open!

The character I thought of for this shoot was a girl from the countryside going to see the sea for the first time. She was so excited to see it, as soon as she arrived she rushed from the station to the pier, taking her case with her.

****

Lauren was great to work with, and we managed to take hundreds of pictures. While planning the shoot we talked about what sort of look we wanted for the photos. Brighton was a great location for the Victorian theme we chose!

If you look at Lauren's previous work, the thing that stood out for me was the natural quality of her photos. I felt inspired by this and therefore I didn't want to look too posed (although you know I am a poser!) which is why I tried to inhabit the role of a character.

I really like the way she edited the pictures, giving them a graininess that evokes the period of early photography. The colours and saturation also bring back the memories of that day and the feeling of the warmth of the sun.  

I hope you enjoyed the photos, and didn't feel too sick with my wordy nonsense! 

Please do take time to look at Lauren's website and blog:

http://www.laurenpinhorn.com/

and

http://laurenpinhorn.blogspot.co.uk/

Thank you, and see you next time!

Sapphira

xxxx

Dinosaurs!

My nearest shopping mall is currently playing host to a collection of pre-historic creatures! I went to visit them recently.

I thought they were really marvellous. They moved and made sounds so realistically, it felt like going to the zoo!

The T. Rex was a bit scary actually.....

Here's my coordinate:

~Rundown~

Hat-Vintage

OP-Handmade

Everything else-Offbrand

I feel that my outfit was quite suitable for the day's activities- a little like an explorer! 

Well, I'd better get on with my packing now, as I'm off to Singapore tomorrow! Very excited to see my family again and to meet some new Lolita friends. I'll let you know how it goes!

Hyper Japan 2011- Saturday!

It's the first part of my little Hyper Japan write-up!

When I arrived at Kensington Olympia (late!) it seemed that this year's Hyper Japan was in a cheerier part of town, and the venue looked more impressive. There was a huge queue! It moved quite fast though, and when I got inside the venue was much bigger than before, with two floors, and more stalls. Also, there were so many Lolitas! I was so excited to see them all. 

Sadly thanks to my lateness and the queue, I missed Saturday's Lolita fashion show! Such a shame, I really wanted to see it and support the UK Lolis. Luckily I managed to take some pictures with fashionable Lolitas later on!

One of my favourite coords was Jess' Western-themed outfit! It suits the season and fits the theme without being forced. I love the combination of the different sizes of gingham! And of course it's blue <3 

I had a look at the JP books section, and flicked through some GLBs. It was a good opportunity, since they are usually in plastic at the Japan Centre and you can't sneak a look inside! I also went to see the Lolita bring and buy stall. I was quite tempted by an IW skirt and an Atelier Pierrot OP. There were plenty of things to look at and buy, most of them pink (!) but many different items and a variety of brands. There were many other stalls nearby selling accessories and some clothing, some very cute (such as sweets jewellery), some more antique style (cameos and so on) and some beautiful traditional Japanese items too. There were a lot of Lolitas looking around the stalls, and I saw lovely lovely Chrissi!

She made her Sweet dress look really modern by coordinating with grey. She's so nice to talk to, I hope to see her again soon.

My friend Satoko recommended that we watch the anime screening at the main stage. It was the first episode of Tiger and Bunny, which started airing in Japan this year. As I have found before with some anime, the first 15 minutes were a bit bewildering, but after that it became funny and quite charming! I'd really like to watch some more. 

Satoko was delighted to meet some Tiger and Bunny cosplayers! They made a very cute group together.

Don't you love her dress? It's vintage Laura Ashley! She's a very talented illustrator as well as being stylish and pretty, please check her blog here.

We sampled some of the lovely Japanese food available (and there was lots!) and then went to take our seats for Kanon Wakeshima's performance. We went half an hour early, thinking we'd be in good time, but all the seats were taken and the whole area was packed! Everyone was looking forward to seeing Kanon. 

Her songs were played over the speakers as we waited for her to arrive onstage. Staff set up the stage with a piano stool and brought out a red cello. Smoke began to billow onto the stage, somewhat alarmingly at first! I'm glad to say it was an intentional part of the performance....

Finally Kanon came to the stage! She was wearing a long white wig and a white outfit with blue rose accents. She carried a black parasol, and as Still Doll began to play she sang and danced with movements like a mechanical doll. 

I was a bit suprised by her appearance, having been expecting her usual long brown hair! I think it worked well for the Still Doll performance though. I'm quite keen on that hat too! I don't know if mini hats are a good idea for me though, as I have a rather mini head. Perhaps this one is more of an opera hat, or a dress hat? Hm.

I don't exactly remember the order of the songs she played, but I recall her singing LOLITAWORK LIBRETTO, Suna no Oshiro, and perhaps Marmalade Sky? She talked to the crowd a little in English, which was very brave of her. She seemed shy and very sweet! 

Her final song was Princess Charleston, which I think was a good ending! Thank you Kanon, for your lovely performance.

I bought her second album at the Wasabi Records stall, and I was able to get it signed! She was so pretty and lovely, and the staff were friendly and kind. 

I hope you enjoyed this post! Lots more coming in the next entry about Hyper Japan, including the second fashion show, another performance by Kanon, my first experience of watching a cosplay competition and the wonderful tea party. 

Thanks for reading, and see you again soon!

I'm back!

Oh dear, it's been far too long since I've updated! I do have a good excuse though, I've been working on my final collection for my fashion design degree.

Only about half the class are selected to show their final collection at Graduate Fashion Week, so everyone was working hard to finish the four outfits for the selection day. I didn't sleep for two days, but it was good to see everything finished in the end. 

As I think I've mentioned before, I've never felt myself to be particularly popular with my tutors, but to my great suprise, I was selected to be in the show! The tutors pinned up a list of successful students, and when I read my name I could hardly believe it.

Number 16!

I had set myself up for failure, and consoled myself by thinking that I might have time to actually make some clothes for myself for once, and do all the other things I haven't had time to do, like go to meet ups, take outfit snaps and write lots in this blog! Well, it looks like I'll be busy again, since I need six outfits for the show, but I am proud that I made it into GFW.  My collection is quite funny. It's based on hina matsuri. Would you like to see? It might make you laugh!

The fabric I used for the outfit on the far right is very pretty.

It's a light silk, and I think it's hand-printed. It would have made a nice summer dress! As you can imagine, my hina matsuri outfits are not ones I would wear myself, but nonetheless it's exciting to see a whole colection you've made yourself. 

I'm taking a break this week, so expect another entry before too long. I've got a lot stored up I want to write about! Before that I'll leave you with a coord from the summer. 

~Rundown~

Modified blouse and bow- Anna House

Jumperskirt- Jane Marple

Everything else- Vintage and offbrand

The English weather seems to be tiptoeing it's way towards the warmer season, though at times it runs right back to winter again! I'm looking forward to being able to wear a coord like this again.

Oh! A very talented person, etched made a picture of me wearing this outfit! 

It's so cute isn't it? She's really clever. I wish I was so cute in real life though! You can see her entry on lj here, she did another adorable picture of her friend.

Bye for now!

Country Lolita in Winter....

Blouse- Vintage

Cardigan, tights, boots- Offbrand

Hair ribbons- Handmade by me

Jumperskirt- Metamorphose

~

I really love the look of Country Lolita! Country Loli is usually worn in summer, but I think you can capture the same homely sort of image in Winter too. Floral prints and tartan are very Country and quite suitable for winter. Gingham is typical for this style but I think only a dark gingham is correct for winter.

I tend to associate Country Loli with Anne of Green Gables. I loved those books when I was a child and I still love them today! If you haven't read them, I really reccommend them. The characterisations are so perfect, and the descriptions of nature are beautiful and vivid. L. M. Mongomery also describes clothes wonderfully! I felt a lot of sympathy for Anne as she longed for pretty dresses.

For this style, I think the aim is simplicity and innocence, so you don't need to wear a lot of gorgeous jewelery or fancy hair accessories.

A simple hair style like braids adds to the innocent appearance. Fishtail braids would be very cute! Beautiful red hair and freckles like Anne Shirley would be perfect, but sadly I don't have the complexion for either.....

Thick stockings and warm winter boots complete the image. I'm ready for a wintry walk down to The Lake Of Shining Waters!