Coordinating: Special Event vs Regular Meet

I love creating and planning coords, especially the big ones where I can go OTT. Now that’s not always appropriate for the occasion, which tends to confine my OTT coords either to blog posts or to some big events. However, whilst coordinating for a meetup shouldn’t be much different from coordinating for events, after all they use the same set of skills (e.g. colour balance, ‘weight’ balance, accessorising etc.), they are quite distinct from each other.

Sheffield Geek Meet and Photo Shoot

The Geek Meet oganised by the Sheffield comm, combined with a little photoshoot for the Tea Party Club’s annual, gave me the perfect excuse to turn a meet into a weekend trip. The half-term break has just started, so timing couldn’t have been better for me and it was lovely to get away from home to really feel like I have some time off work.

Spicing Up an Outfit

Both in and outside of Lolita there seems to be some sort of a stigma about wearing the same outfit too many times. And when you think about it, that’s a very modern problem – even Marie Antoinette had to wait months for a new dress to be finished and wear the same dress more than once in the meantime! At the same time items like the Little Black Dress don’t go out of fashion precisely because you can wear them multiple times and for various occasions. Considering that Lolita fashion is not a cheap one to get into, I feel that this can discourage some of the newer members from participating more in both the fashion and in the local community, as they don't want to be seen as a One-Outfit-chan. However, I think that the key here is in having the right accessories!

My Favourite Apps for Lolita

For many of us, not just Lolitas, our smartphones and tablets have grown to be big parts of our life. With those devices comes a truly endless ocean of apps for pretty much everything you could need – and even things you definitely don’t need. Now that I have a new phone, as well as an iPad, I indulge in those a bit more than I did previously, and would like to introduce you to a couple of my favourites as a Lolita. I’m sure that there’ll be some which you won’t need introducing to, but hopefully you’ll find something new here as well.

1 Dress 4 Looks Take 6

I didn’t quite realise that it’s been well over a month since I last did this. To be honest with you, I found this dress a lot trickier than I thought it would be: it lends itself very well to all kinds of OTT coords, but as soon as I tried to think of something different than this I hit a wall. Which is a shame since AP’s Crystal Dream Carnival Tiered JSK is a dream dress of mine and I’d love to have more ways of wearing it. I’ll keep thinking on this, and I’ll hopefully get some more pieces that’d work with this dress and the colours in it, but in the meantime here are the four outfits that I came up with for now.

Felicia Day You're Never Weird on the Internet

Whilst majority of reactions from the public towards Lolita fashion tend to be positive (especially if they’re coming from children or old ladies), we all know that sometimes some people can’t help thinking that it’s just weird. Be it because of the name or because they saw someone dressed in OTT Sweet bordering on Decora, or because as soon as they hear the word “Japan” all they can think of are hardcore otaku and weeaboos – every now and then we just have to find a way to deal with the perception that Lolita fashion is weird to some people. And one way of coping with that might be reading this book.

The Importance of Builder Pieces

I know that when you’re starting out in Lolita fashion builder pieces aren’t as exciting to purchase as all the JSKs, OPs and skirts. If you’ve done your research, you’ll know that the other bits are just as important, but how can you resist that cute print or those layers of ruffle and lace? However, while I can’t stress enough that you need to have your blouses, socks, shoes and headwear just as much as you need that dress, I’d like to approach the subject from a slightly different angle than I’ve seen it done so far.

Bettys, Darling Meet

Two consecutive weekends where I’ve attended a meet – I feel so spoiled! Yeah, my sleep has suffered a little as a result and I’m not as rested as I’d like to be (as an introvert I really rest when I’m alone, even if I do enjoy going out with friends), but it was all totally worth it.

| Resailan Jewelry Box JSK I and headbow |
Souffle Song Ice Prism blouse | AatP Arabesque
OTKs | offbrand shoes | indie/AP/Chocomint accessories |

I simply had to wear this dress even though the weather forecast wasn’t optimistic (cold and wet). York is a place with so much history that I felt the elegant print and cut of this JSK would really fit my surroundings – besides, I only just got it, barely uploaded the unboxing video in time for you to see, so now was as good a time as any. And in the end the weather wasn’t quite so bad, though it’s still good to know that this print doesn’t run. Yay for washing machine-friendly Taobao dresses!

We went to Bettys, an afternoon tea salon in the middle of York which was established in 1919. Suffice to say: it’s well posh! I mean, people queue, sometimes for hours, to get there because it’s that well known and that good (you can make a reservation, but they only take reservations for the most expensive afternoon tea option, so we didn’t). I actually haven’t been to Bettys before, this was my first time, and we couldn’t have queued for more than half an hour – a very good result for Saturday lunchtime!

Once inside everything was just as I imagined it would be. The interior design is very elegant, quite befitting our frills. Honestly, every time I go for afternoon tea, I make it a point to dress up, and then I’m always shocked to see that some people clearly don’t make any effort whatsoever to look at least a little bit more fancy than usual – and that makes me quite sad that we’ve come to an age where not making an effort with one’s clothes became acceptable even for very fancy places. I know that otherwise there’d be a whole load of “this is prejudice” and “who are you to judge what’s fancy for me and what isn’t” debates, potentially getting waiters and/or establishments into trouble, but it still makes me sad.

The staff at Bettys were incredibly lovely and very accommodating. Nearly every one of us requested that the standard afternoon tea be changed a little, to suit our dietary requirements and tastes, and they catered to every single one of them. I asked them to substitute the salmon sandwich for something else (and got cucumber and cream, I believe) as well as change the standard pot of tea for China Rose Petal tea. All of it, every single item on that stand, was absolutely delicious and I was so full at the end of it, but I’m proud to say that I didn’t waste anything!

After we gathered enough strength and digested enough of our food to get up we did a little shopping, starting of course with Bettys shop itself. I bought a pack of this divine rose petal tea, as well as some macarons for my parents, but they devoured them all before I had a chance to take a photo or even try one I haven’t had before! But during our shopping expedition we went to places like New Look (which was meant to have some very lovely loliable shoes, but they didn’t exist anywhere but online), Claire’s accessories, LUSH (upon my request, I needed to stock up on some bits) and finally the Waterstone’s café for additional drinks and rest.

The only photo of my purchases that I took

Look at that carousel pony on display!

At the end, once the short bit of rain had stopped, we went to the park where they had some owls there and you could take a photo with the owl. Two of our team of six decided to do that, one even braving her fear of the owl – I preferred to stand to the side, observe and do voiceovers of said owls. The biggest one, a great horned owl named Eva, struck me as a very sassy type, almost cat-like in her belief that human beings existed to serve and adore her, but also the type who, if she wore Lolita, she’d be a total brand whore and get every single new AP print on the day of the release. So much sass! After this we went further into the park towards some ruins to take some proper outfit shots – some more serious than the others – and then it was time to go home.

Good Loli

Bad Loli

I have had so much fun on that Saturday and even though I was glad to de-frill and jump in the bath at the end of that day, it was a day well spent. If my comm doesn’t put anything on earlier, my next meet looks to be good three weeks away, but I know that it’ll be a great one too. Though I better start stocking up on warm clothes!