Angelic Pretty British Crown OP Unboxing!

So you've seen this dress in action, but I haven't had the chance to show off some of the amazing details on it or talk in more etail about the fit. Here's the chance for that - and if I may, I'd love to highlight the printed ribbon with AP's name on it and how they even printed the grosgrain texture to it. Love that so much, might be my favourite part of the print!

June Tea Meet

Despite all predictions, last week ended up pretty manic for me, particularly towards the end. I was (and still am) lacking a little sleep and feeling tired, so as much as I was looking forward to going to another Manchester meet, I felt the need to be comfortable during the day. So with a bit of luck and a speedy parcel from Paris, I changed my plans last minute and did not regret a single thing!

| Angelic Pretty British Crown OP | Innocent
World Millefeuille bolero | Angelic Pretty
Crown Ribbon OTKs | Cutie Creator headbow |
offbrand shoes and ring |

I have an unboxing video on the backburner, which will show a few more details and review the dress a little bit more, but I am so, so happy to own it. After resigning myself to having to wait years for this cut and colour to appear second hand and probably costing over retail anyway, AP Paris came to tempt me and I said yes. This is such a simple coord, but it meant that I could enjoy the whole day of being frilly without pain or discomfort. And I’m really looking forward to discovering more ways of styling this OP, I’m not used to coording long sleeve OP’s so it’ll be a good challenge to stretch my skills a little bit.

The meet was meant to focus on a little exhibition of feminist art at the Portico Library and afternoon tea later on at Richmond Tea Rooms. Although our afternoon tea reservation was quite late (5:45pm), due to awful public transport complications and delays we managed to fit both activities in with a bit of spare time in between.

The “Cut Cloth: Contemporary Textiles and Feminism” exhibition proved a total hit with everyone. It wasn’t big, the library itself is rather small, but every piece of art there was really noteworthy. And how rebelliously Lolita is it to admire a piece of embroidery work depicting fabulously dressed Victorian/Edwardian women be modern feminists? I would’ve very happily taken some of these embroidery art works and hung them on my wall somewhere, they were as beautiful as they were thought provoking. We also got special access to the reading room, normally reserved for members and researchers, as the librarian was very impressed with our frills and wanted to photograph such fabulous visitors (and he was very patient when we then asked him to do the same with a few of our own cameras, bless him).

Unfortunately, by the time everyone arrived at the meeting place (we set off nearly an hour after the original meeting time due to public transport issues) and got to the library, it was just before it shut down. Most of us hid in the Manchester Art Gallery just next door to chill – quite literally, as we just sat in the café and chatted. Had I not been so tired I probably would’ve gone to explore the gallery a little bit more, I really liked it when I went there before, but I simply didn’t have the energy for that.

My energy returned when we got to Richmond Tea Rooms. If you’ve never been before and would like to go, I highly recommend going with someone who either has been or who knows Manchester very well. It’s not that it’s hard to find, but if you don’t know where you’re going you’re very likely to doubt yourself during the way because it’s essentially in an alley between the back of some clubs and the back of some student-looking accommodation, in the middle of Manchester’s Gay Village. The tea rooms are decorated in Alice in Wonderland theme and it was truly, truly magical! The staff were lovely too and accommodated our various wishes, from someone’s request for no cream on their milkshake to my asking to swap the scone for a slice of cake in their cheapest afternoon tea option. Nobody got charged extra, everyone got what they wanted and the food and drinks were simply delicious. I didn’t even ask for my cake to be this big, they just gave me this giant slice (average female hand of mine for scale), that’s how lovely they were.

Look at the size of that cake!

This was such a lovely, lovely day. Even though, as we observed with a fellow Leeds comm Lolita, we get so much more attention, questions and unwanted photographs in Manchester than in Leeds (honestly, the number of people who got telling off for taking photos of us without asking is ridiculous, when in Leeds I’ve only had a situation like this maybe once), it was great to hang out with everyone, catch up with people I had met before and make some new friends. I also got to feel the CLAM comm love, albeit in rather unpleasant circumstances, as my issues with public transport continued and ended up on the wrong train on the way back. Even though they could only stay with me online, being able to share my panic and feel all the support via Facebook from them, ranging from simple “stay safe” to offers of crashing for the night, I felt very loved and taken care of, a true comm member and not just a casual visitor. And that was priceless – but I still don’t wish my stressful journey home upon anyone!

Does your comm look after each other like true mother hens? What is your local area like in terms of how people interact with Lolitas? Any go-to outfits or solutions for when you still want to wear Lolita/go to the meet, but are battling tiredness? 

Post-Lolita Self Care

As fabulous as it is and as it makes us feel, wearing Lolita is a pretty tiring thing to do, all the more so if on a daily basis you tend to wear more comfortable clothes and keep everything else very low maintenance.

Angelic Pretty Mook Bag

When Angelic Pretty released their latest mook, I pretty much instantly decided that I wanted it – mostly for the mook itself, but I also quite adore the design of the bag that came with it. As I waited for mine and browsed sales in the meantime, I saw many of these bags being sold on auctions pretty much straight away, but now that I have mine I understand a little bit better why.

5 Things You Hate in Prints

There aren’t many things that I hate in Lolita prints. Even when something isn’t to my taste, I believe in the “live and let live” philosophy, but while I generally struggle to think of things that I feel very strongly negatively about, there are one or two things that grind my gears.

Jane Mai, An Nguyen So Pretty/Very Rotten

I was aware of this book since sometime around November last year when the authors, with mod permission, posted some info on the Lolita Updates Facebook page. I had it bookmarked there for a while, but then, as you do, forgot about it until it floated on some other social media feed that they’re all ready now.

Japanese Auction Haul Unboxing

Good things come to those who wait! I’ve been collecting things for a bigger order for a good month and then waited about another 3-4 weeks for this package to finally reach me. Lots of goodies bought at cheap prices and even if not all are strictly Lolita, they’re all very inspiring for the fashion. Hope you enjoy the haul with some extra moving images of the ILD coord!

Summer ILD

Belated happy International Lolita Day to you all! I hope that however you celebrated, it was frilly and you had a lovely time. I joined the extended Yorkshire comm who came together to celebrate with a tea party in York.

| BtSSB Full of Stars "Bright Starry Night" JSK I |
Infanta blouse | AP Rose Garden Princess headbow |
Antaina heels | Enchantlic Enchantilly Invitation
to Angel's Ball tights | Peacockalorum underskirt |
offbrand jewellery |

This look has been on the back burner for almost a year now, in which time it changed slightly and became more refined. Not to be too vain, but I am incredibly pleased with how it came out, there’s not a thing that I would change (maybe except adding gel insoles to the shoes for more comfort), everything was exactly in the right place. It’s not often that a coord comes out this way, perfectionists will always find something to tweak, however minute, so to this is a Lolita milestone.

Although the meet was organised by people who are primarily Leeds Lolitas, as usual, the events are open to everyone in the Yorkshire comms, and beyond. It was incredible to catch up with friends whom I wish I saw more often, get to know better people I’ve only had the chance to speak to once or twice and to make some new friends. With people coming from all kinds of areas – Leeds, Sheffield, York, Hull, Manchester and even Derby – it truly felt like a community coming together. This is the benefit of being part of a larger comm.

The tea was hosted at Gray’s Court hotel in York, which is located just behind York Minster, but is tricky to find if you don’t know where you’re going. While the tea itself was of quite standard quality, lovely and tasty, and it would’ve been better if they left the teapots at the table rather than serve (because there wasn’t a waiter constantly in the room, we ran out of tea very quickly), but the quality of the service was fantastic. At one point we realised that we were short on food, but when we asked the hotel swiftly brought more without charging us extra. We were provided a separate room just to ourselves and one of the staff members was half-enamoured half-awestruck by our 20-strong group of fancily dressed Lolitas – he said that in the 20-odd years of him working there he’s never seen anything like us, in terms of dress and our manners/attitude, and urged us to come back, which was very sweet of him.

The cakes section

And please, a round of applause to our fantastic hosts who did a great job. At the beginning they provided all of us with an activity booklet – brilliant idea, both in terms of breaking the ice (you could talk whilst doing bingo or ask someone for help with find the differences task, difficulty level: Mana-sama) and keeping us occupied during the quieter times (design your own print or do Misako’s makeup). The booklet is also where they stuck everyone’s raffle ticket, so no need to worry over losing it. They also ensured that there were enough raffle prizes so that everyone won something. I was lucky in that I won a brooch from Peacockalorum’s new series of accessories, which I nearly purchased earlier on. The prizes ranged from as little as a set of stickers to as big as a brand dress (it was a floral print by Meta, but I don’t know the name of it – but looked like something very much in style of the Lolita who won it).

Our activity booklet

Raffle prizes

Jewel Feather brooch by Peacockalorum

The rest of the day passed by on socialising, chatting, taking photos and admiring the hotel’s beautiful garden in the sunny, summery weather. We definitely extensively covered the topic of the upcoming Dreamy Masquerade Carnival event in London: how excited we are, what people are going to wear, tips on crafting items (I got some too), even planning some of our meals out already, when will we hear more updates (since two of the attendees are involved with organising the event) and more. It’s casual chatter like this that I miss most when I’m not at events, since meets are the only times when I can talk to people in person about Lolita.

I admit, it was a shame to be going home when I did. I would’ve loved to join people for the casual afterparty that some of them spontaneously created, but I was quite tired and I didn’t want to get home too late since I had a good hour of travelling to do to get home. Now that we’re so close to summer solstice, the days really are longer so 5pm felt closer to midday than evening. Still, when you’re pulling out all the stops for an outfit, taking those stops off (in my case, especially the shoes and false eyelashes) feels amazing. At the same time, I’m now on a summer high and a meet high, so I’m not taking well to being deprived of either (next meet will be in July, unless I manage to make it to another comm’s one, and the weather has cooled down a bit now), I’m having withdrawal symptoms and want the summer holidays to start already.

How was your ILD this year? Did you do anything? More importantly, did you enjoy your day? And please, someone tell me that I’m not alone in planning the winter ILD outfit already, to keep the high going!

Wardrobe Sharing

Very, very few of us are blessed with unlimited funds or storage space. While budgeting, being strict with yourself, selling things off or swapping are all great ways to manage that, there’s another one that I’d like to discuss here: combining wardrobes.