Le Panier review

The magazines are still popping up like mad and I am here for it. Today it’s time to have a look at the latest title to be released, Le Panier.

tulle issue 2 review

My long time wish has come true – we have finally seen one of the new Japanese magazines that feature Lolita and other Harajuku fashions live to issue 2! And frankly, I’m not surprised that of the three we’ve had so far it’s tulle that outdid its competition. I said it from the beginning, the lower price, even at the cost of no freebie, was a strong point in tulle’s favour. So how does it compare to issue 1?

Weekend Double Bill

It’s Tuesday now and I still haven’t quite recovered from the full on weekend that I just had. It was a blast and loads of fun, but it came at a cost of early mornings and hours spent on trains – absolutely worth it though! Just don’t be surprised if I sleep through all of the next weekend.

On Saturday I ventured out to Manchester for a friend’s birthday. Because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to attend until quite late, I could only join in for the meal and not on the cinema trip after, but I still had fun. We were originally meant to go to the Richmond Tea Rooms, the Alice in Wonderland-themed place which I’ve visited once before, but they decided they couldn’t host us after all and we went to Home Sweet Home. As by then my Gothic dress has arrived, I let the birthday girl convince me to join the Goth squad for the day and had my first full-on day as a Goth Lolita.

| AatP Sugar Plum Fairy Princess JSK | Resailan tights |
offbrand blouse, shoes, jewellery and hair clip |

Black and white to show off the dress detail better.

I was really feeling this look! If it wasn't daytime I might've
gone for a stronger eye makeup.

Truth be told, I really enjoyed it. For one, I did feel like a dream come true of my 15-year-old self, a Goth queen out and about and I genuinely felt comfortable in the style. But I can’t deny that being harassed a little less and attracting a little less attention from the muggles didn’t play a part in it. It was great to feel like my personal space and right to exist were respected and not questioned. I know that I still stood out as much as I did in any other Lolita style (maybe more since Saturday was hot and here I was, head to toe in black), but since Gothic subculture is a little bit more known and understood amongst normies, people will just move on after labelling you in their heads rather than approach to question. That is a completely new discovery to me in Lolita and it felt great!

As always, it was great to hang out with the North-West comm. Last time we went to Richmonds Tea Rooms someone commented on how CLAM was generally a very Sweet comm – i.e. more people wearing Sweet Lolita compared to Leeds – but this time we had two thirds dressed in some sort of Gothic! At least for the meal part, I don’t know what happened later during the film screening. While I wanted to potter about in Manchester for a little longer, go to Lush etc., in the end I didn’t have the time and went straight for my train back, allowing me some chill time before the meet the next day.

Because on Sunday I not only joined my first Midlands Comm meet, but hosted it as well! After I was linked an article about a new place in Stoke-on-Trent about The Rabbit Hole, an Alice in Wonderland-themed afternoon tea place there, I decided to take matters into my own hands and host the meet. Alas, this wasn’t meant to be as literally the night before the lady owning it messaged me saying they had to stay closed due to illness until Tuesday (council health and safety regulations) and we couldn’t really reschedule either. In the end she offered us complimentary cream tea to everyone in our party, whether we arrived as a group or individually, and we ended up at The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery café instead.

| BtSSB Full of Stars "Bright Starry Night" JSK | offbrand
blouse | Primark tights | Innocent World shoes | DreamV
bag | After Midnight headband | offbrand hair clip and
jewellery |

Our balcony has the best light, but no way to avoid some
un-aesthetic background features like the line for drying
laundry.

I also took one selfie with the crown on - no idea how to
make it stay on though!

Still, since I had planned this Queen of Hearts look, first for Richmond Tea Rooms and then for this, I decided not to change plans and run with it anyway. And I’m so happy that I did, I absolutely enjoyed it and it was surprisingly comfortable, even the shoes. And because I travelled so early, I still ended up not being bothered much by the public: Leeds was still asleep when I changed trains there, Manchester’s too big and more accepting of alternative fashion and people in Stoke just really liked it. Although I did stumble upon another elegant person in Bradford first thing in the morning – they were wearing period fashion, which looked a lot like an elegant pirate or maybe slightly more rakish dandy. Always great to see that fashionable and/or alternative people in Bradford haven’t died out completely! (Also, I want that person’s jacket, it was stun-ning!)

It was great to have a casual, laid back meet, just sit down, eat and chat with the Lolitas who attended. I’ve met two of them before and the ones I met for the first time were absolutely lovely. I definitely want to be more active in that comm, so will do my best to overcome travel issues, although in the future it would be much easier for me if I stayed at my boyfriend’s the night before (especially if the meet was to be in Stoke again).

And then on my way back, as I got off at a different station in Bradford and walked home instead of taking the bus, I found myself feeling like Momoko in Kamikaze Girls. Picture this: warm, sunny evening going through a quiet residential area. The surroundings are already green and there’s a sleepy atmosphere as hardly anyone is outside and those who are tend to do very leisurely stuff. Amidst all this a lone Lolita walking somewhere, dressed elegantly, the dull clatter of her heels echoing slightly. It was the sound of the heels that made me feel like Momoko, but the rest was pretty spot on too. I often say that Bradford is a bit backwards when it comes to anything outside the norm – even though it’s diverse in terms of the cultures living here, people can be almost surprisingly conservative in their views (I say almost because when you dissect it, it’s not that surprising at all, it’s a large city with a small village mentality). However, that was the first time I felt truly at ease wearing Lolita in my own town, which is all the more ironic given that I wore something more OTT than casual.

It was a fun-packed weekend, but going from all this back to work and reality is more tiring than I would’ve liked. Definitely needed at least an extra day after that for proper rest!

Am I Going Goth Now?!

I hope you'll forgive me the slightly clickbaity title. Two videos in one week, since this dress is getting worn tomorrow already, so there was some pressure for me to edit and publish the unboxing video I fimed. This was my first time using Lolita Desu'ss newly opened shopping service and it was absolutely 10/10! Their communication was speedy and to the point, they kept me informed about everything that was happening and the total cots I'd incur, they were able to accommodate me in terms of the customs declaration and, most importantly, their fees were really, really reasonable. When I was doing the costing before placing my order, it genuinely came up to the same price as Chibi Tenshi, but since Lolita Desu charges in JPY rather than USD, I was able to save a little on fluctuating exchange rates since I had enough JPY in my PayPal to pay for the order. I'm already in the middle of another order with them and they are my new go-to shopping service for purchases that are not urgent or rush like new releases etc.

Question remains though: am I going Goth and embracing the Dark Side? I'll tell you next week, after I've worn this beauty out, even though I'm still missing one or two pieces that would really pull together the perfect Gothic Lolita coordinate.

[video]

Angelic Pretty Golden Week Lucky Pack Unboxing

Golden Week is already behind us and I was lucky enough to purchase one of the lucky packs released especially for the occasion. I was meant to get two, but they were very popular and my shopping service, Muuh, did a wonderful job in purchasing thiss one. Check out what's inside!

Take a Coord You Wore in Winter and Re-Coord It for Spring

I wish I could say that winter is definitely behind us now – but I live in the UK, where seasons never get the memo about sticking to a pre-agreed weather plan. Besides, with climate change we’re as likely to get random snowfall in May as we are a heatwave. However, so far so good and I haven’t had to wear fifteen layers just to keep my body temperature stable. This is a perfect opportunity to tempt the fate and restyle an outfit from last winter into something spring-appropriate.

Bank Holiday Shenanigans

Bank Holidays are always a great excuse to plan something nice. It’s even nicer when things work out and your plans are greeted by gorgeous weather, the kind that you actually should have in May: sunny and warm. So while this weather actually made me modify some of my fashion choices, it was great to not have to cover up those carefully planned outfits with jackets!

| Haenuli Whipped Cream Kitty JSK | Metamorphose lucky
pack blouse | Angelic Pretty Drained Cherry OTKs | Cutie
Creator headbow | Two Days Slow hair clip | TPC brooch |
New Look flats | offbrand cardigan |

First on Saturday I went to Sheffield. I actually had some business there to do (venue hunting for the winter ILD I’m organising), but there’s no point taking the train down just for that. So I asked my Mum if she wanted to join me on a trip and we made a day out of it. After sorting out the venue stuff in no time, we were left with a few hours to roam about, soak up the weather and do some light shopping. Very luckily we stumbled upon some sort of a food festival, so there were loads of stalls with delicious looking things for us to try. And later I stumbled upon the best brooch in a charity shop, which I didn’t hesitate to buy.

And then yesterday, on the actual Bank Holiday, I booked myself to go see Mary and the Witch’s Flower. If you haven’t seen it and are a Studio Ghibli fan, then go watch it – this film will satisfy all your needs and wants for a Ghibli-style classic. It had everything: gorgeous animation, moving story, music that just sweeps you away and that touch of something special that only Japanese animated productions have. As I expected something slightly different from the trailers, my coord was actually more of a witch academy uniform than anything else and it ended up working great for the weather. Though I did have to change the socks, OTKs were too much for all that heat we had!

| Song and Tempe Fairytale Library skirt, bow and scrunchie
(shame you can't see it) | Metamorphose lucky pack blouse |
Glasses Lit glasses | New Look flats | offbrand socks |
Metamorphose bag |

What I originally wanted to wear. The OTKs are from
Putomayo, but as comfy as they are, they would've been too warm!

I’m enjoying getting dressed up for no major reason more and more. It means that I get to wear my pieces more often and can keep finding ways of wearing them in a more relaxed, comfortable way, not just the perfectly polished for a fancy meet kind of way. It brings the fun back into fashion. 

Gloria Copetillo Frilly Colors Review

If you haven’t yet heard of Copetillo Arts, then you’re missing out. Gloria Copetillo is an incredibly talented artist, whose art is predominantly focused on Lolita fashion. Seriously, do follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and support her via Patreon or Ko-Fi if you can – or, if you’d rather, purchase something from her shop. Although she has a full on book with illustration (you can see a review/glimpse into it by Fluffy Tori here), it was the colouring book that tempted me. I love colouring books and the video trailer had me tempted, so before I start digging into it with my coloured pencils, I wanted to give you a review.

Should We Stop Idolising Japanese Brands?

I know, I’m throwing some controversial thoughts at you, but I thought those worth discussing a bit further. Not sure if it will end up as in-depth as I would’ve liked, but let’s see where it leads us.