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| | 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.
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| 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).
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| Our activity booklet |
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| Raffle prizes |
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| 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!
I think I actually walked past the hotel serval times, when I was in York. If I ever return, I would like to try it out. It is nice your communities can stick together and make larger events like this one.
ReplyDeleteYou must've walked some truly back lanes, because this is literally in a back alley (and a cul de sac, if I remember right) and you can only see the wall surrounding the hotel. But I didn't know you visited York, when was that? :)
DeleteEven though pretty much every major city has its own comm, because they're all so easily commutable and we mostly know each other, it makes sense to come together for one bigger event rather than have 4 smaller ones.
I properly had walked around the wall, I remember seeing a sign about the hotel. It was about 1.5 year ago. I agree, it ties the whole community together.
DeleteOh yeah, I didn't think about the city walls. I guess you would see it from there quite easily. It really does and especially when people travel to join your comm, you feel like there's already a friendly place if you were to visit them back.
DeleteI love your outfit so much! It's very pretty and really suits you :)
ReplyDeleteI spent ILD doing glorious nothing. I actually forgot when it was, so I had tentatively planned to go to my comm's meet until I suddenly realised it was super soon, so I noped on out of it! This meet sounds really nice though, especially the activity booklets...such a brilliant idea.
Thank you so much. ^^
DeleteI think the activity booklets were brilliant! They'd be so cheap to make and can really help people connect/break ice or fill the time when waiting for food, for example. I think every bigger event should do something like this, it really helps, especially those who are attending a given comm's meet for the first time.
Sometimes doing nothing is exactly what you need. There will be another ILD in 6 months and then in a year, so it's not like missing out on something that's a one-off. :)
Your coordinate is absolutely stunning! You look incredibly regal, and chose some amazing backdrops for your photos. Looks like the perfect large scale meetup venue! I'm impressed that there were such wonderful raffle prizes. It's always good to see the community come together like this <3
ReplyDeleteI spent ILD picnicking in a botanic garden with some friends. It was the first picnic I really enjoyed, the company was swell, and the weather held up the whole time I was out with them. Can't ask for more than that! ^_^
Thank you so much! Fancy hotels and historical houses always have some good backdrops ready at hand, and especially if you're wearing Classic or Gothic Lolita all you need is a long, heavy curtain. Everyone was very keen on winning the facy cat teapot, we're still wondering which charity shop held such a treasure! <3
DeleteThat sounds fantastic! I'm quite ashamed to admit it, but I've never actually been in the Oxford Botanical Gardens, despite having free entry pass while at uni. The weather was perfect for a picnic, which is all you want on any meet day, but on ILD just that little bit more.