Wicked and Whimsy - day 1

And so I’m back from London now, still adjusting to life after the high of a Tea Party Club event weekend, which is so much harder than I’d like it to be. I’m definitely more suited to a princess life where I have the money without having to work (and I’m sure you all feel exactly the same). At the same time I still can’t quite believe that I went there, it seems more like a dream than a reality. Were it not for physical proofs and the ever growing number of photos, I’d definitely believe that I dreamt it all.

For the event I joined a few other Lolitas in a hostel – some of them I knew already, some I met there for the first time, and although I didn’t manage to join the big Lolita-only private room, the hostel worked some miracle magic and I shared my dorm room with another Lolita who was actually very new to the fashion altogether (she has a YouTube channel, check it out and say hi, she’s lovely!). So we could share our excitement of going to our very first big Lolita event, as well as have fewer people trying to get some mirror/bathroom time. 

Loli-life ain't always glamorous: sometimes it's
cheap top bunks and coords prepped on top of
whatever piece of furniture you have around

From the moment TPC announced that Haenuli was going to be one of the guests I knew that I had to wear my only Haenuli dress, which is Whipped Cream Kitty. This was both a cute and smart choice, as that JSK is very comfortable. I quickly developed a Sweet OTT vision for it (with some rule breaking exposed shoulders, the scandal!) and was lucky in that I only needed little bits to finish that outfit off, so I was all sorted pretty early on and without spending a fortune on things. I thought that I’d bump into other people wearing this print on the day, but I didn’t – there were many Enchanted Fawns, Angels of Music, Starlights of Serenity and what not, but I was the only Whipped Cream Kitty there, which I must say, it felt pretty special. And when I met Nunu herself, she squealed and called me a “perfect cupcake”, which made my life, really. ^^ I must add at this point that Nunu made the event and was the best choice for a special guest: she didn’t do the friendly-yet-professionally-distanced guest thing, she jumped in the middle of things as if she was one of the Lolitas who simply bought the ticket and attended. She acted like a fan of the fashion and that’s what’s won everyone’s hearts. That and her Mum, who was an ever-smiling, adorable lady, looking gorgeous in her hanbok and enjoying the adventure that was the event just as much as her daughter.

| Haenuli Whipped Cream Kitty JSK | Bodyline S274 shoes |
Angelic Pretty Twinkle Sky headbow | offbrand blouse, socks
and wig | various Etsy sellers’ jewellery and remaining hair
accessories (special shoutout to Sheena’s Bella Bows who made my
apple pie and which got as many compliments as the dress/outfit overall) |

I'm not sure if I'm squeeing more or if Nunu is

The majority of people in our group had silver tickets, except one gold ticket holder and one general admission. We still ended up at the venue in time for gold tickets entering, so waited out in a nearby Pret a Manger where I did the sensible thing and bought my lunch for the day, as I knew I’d be volunteering during the official lunch hour. That was such a smart move on my part, well done, Paulina, you’re getting the hang of this whole adult thing.

But when we did enter… Oh boy! I first made a dash for the Bring and Buy because I didn’t want to carry those things around with me, and then went straight for the shops – after all, the extra shopping hour was the point of the silver ticket! I bought everything except two items during that time, but I’ll be doing a haul video, so you’ll have to wait a little bit to see what I got. For now suffice to say that every vendor who attended or was remote vending had amazing things and if I wasn’t as confident in my style and needs as I was, I would’ve spent so much more money than I actually did. I like to think that my purchases are sensible, but I know that there are some impulse buys lurking there. But the best part of this was being able to chat with the vendors themselves! These talented people put so much time and effort into creating their wonders, and even if you’re not buying anything from them, they seemed to enjoy people just saying hello. And because of this special attention that they pay to their creations and customers, it’s even nicer when you do buy things from them, I think that I (subconsciously) tended to buy more from the vendors who were chatty because I warmed up to them as people than with the quiet ones – and felt that little bit bad not buying from the smiley, chatty vendors (it’s not you or your creations, I promise, it’s me not wearing the clothes that would really compliment your products! m(_ _)m ).

I must say, whilst it didn’t feel so intense when in the middle of things, looking back it feels like I didn’t have that much time to catch a break. After the shopping it was time for the official opening and some Q&A with the guests, Fumiko-san from Enchantic Enchantilly, Mana from Baroque and Ayumi-san from Rose Marie Seoir (Nunu had her own thing later on for storytime and questions). When that was over, there was about half an hour before the vendor fashion show, which for me meant some time to eat before I volunteered vending with Ayumi-san. In all honesty, I volunteered because Enchantic Enchantilly created limited edition Wicked and Whimsy rings and the red version was only given to gold ticket holders and volunteers, but having done this I know that I’ll be volunteering in the future. The experience was incredible and so positive, I had the opportunity to be useful and allow Ayumi-san and her assistant to catch a break themselves and enjoy the event rather than be glued to the stall, but also was able to chat to them as well as the many Lolitas who stopped by. Bless her, after hearing that I’ll be in Japan next spring, Ayumi-san even invited me to her house for a home cooked dinner! ^^”

Volunteering at Rose Marie Seoir

My volunteering shift ended just in time to see the brand fashion show, and although I got a seat right by the speaker which deafened me, it was lovely to watch. None of the brands brought any previews of upcoming creations, so it was all stock that’s available now or that’s available for pre-order, but it was still gorgeous to watch. I’ll have to ask one of the organisers about the piano music played in the background of Haenuli’s run, it was gorgeous. I also found some new appreciation and admiration for Baroque: before Wicked and Whimsy I was only vaguely aware of them and while nice, I didn’t feel particularly compelled to own anything of theirs. However, upon seeing the models show off Baroque dresses, I started to question myself. The style of that brand is still that little bit too Rococo/Baroque (:P) compared to what I wear and I’d be worried that I wouldn’t do the dress justice by not wearing it, but the quality and the overall look, from the print to the silhouette, tugged at my heart enough that I went back to their stall to see what I could nab.

Photo by Catberry Photography

Photo by Catberry Photography

Then, after a short break for some more shopping, selfies and comm photo, it was the time for Fashion Fix, which I was taking part in. The idea for Fashion Fix comes from a TV show called Gok’s Fashion Fix where Gok Wan and some fancy designer would put on a fashion show, him using only high street pieces and her doing designer items only, and the public would vote for the one they liked more. In this version participants strut down the runway while two of the organisers had to guess which is the most/least expensive outfit – to show to everyone that you don’t have to be rich to put on an incredible coord. It was so fun to do, it was a lot more light-hearted than a fashion show would be, and I was surprised that it wasn’t me who had the more expensive outfit. Not that I’m vain, but I was told to count the total based on value, not what I paid (and my two most expensive pieces, the dress and the apple pie, were gifts from my amazing boyfriend), and when I did the sums I was surprised myself at how much it all added up to. After this it was literally a moment before the official closing and the raffle (where, to my own surprise, I won a small prize too) and it was all over – we could go back to the hostel, change and grab some food before collapsing onto our beds to get some beauty sleep before the tea party.

However, as amazing and incredible and fantastic as all of the above was, I think I’ll remember this event most for both the people I met and talked to, as well as the fact that for the first time in a while I could speak in all the three languages I know. English still dominated, but it was great to be able to chat to Ayumi-san, Fumiko-san and their respective assistants in Japanese, even if it was a little rusty. And then I met a Polish squad (siema, dziewczyny!). Including myself, I think there were 5 Polish girls at the event (I hope I haven’t missed anyone out), one of whom was Lady Sloth. I got into Lolita years after I moved out of Poland, but when I tried to look up some Polish comms I struggled and what I found seemed a little dead, so it was all the more incredible to meet them. I hope we’ll stay in touch and who knows, maybe next time I visit, we could bring some more Lolita comm spirit to Poland – that’d be fabulous!

That beaut of a bonnet wasn't on display for long, mwahaha!
Photo by Catberry Photography

I better end this post here before it turns into a load of excited rambling. At this point in time there aren’t any photos by the official photographers up yet, but I might go back on this post and update it with some better shots later when I find the time. For now the few photos that I took (that aren’t vainly of me :P) will have to do. (EDIT: That’s now been amended slightly)

Did you go to Wicked and Whimsy this year? What did you wear? Did you like it? Or, if you didn’t/couldn’t go, have you been to any big Lolita events? What was your favourite, event and part of it? Let me know, I feel that if we share with each other some general event excitement in the comments it will make it more of a shared experience (as well as help in my return to the boring regular world).