26 Jul 2024

July Coords Roundup

After June having only 6 coords and with July promising a lot of Things To Do and kicking off with way cooler weather (seriously, it was practically autumnal at times), I was determined to dress up more. Did it happen? Oh boy, did it just!


*~*~*~*
Coord 1: Back in the game

| Summer Fairy Limited Menu JSK | Axes Femme cutsew | DreamV cardigan | Angelic Pretty Odekake Ribbon OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Angelic Pretty Twinkle Star headbow | Folk and Fortune Late Night Diner necklace | offbrand brooch |

Tried that loose side braid again, but I think it worked better with the flatter style of headbows.

Necklines will have to align!

It’s been so long, in fact, that I forgot where I misplaced my Bluetooth camera remote (I swear, I lose these things way too easily, I need to do something about that). The fact that it was July 4th did not influence my choice of dress at all, that is pure coincidence as I was going by what I haven’t worn in a while. And although I’m not mad about this coord, I still like it. The light browns complement all of those fast food items nicely. Working from home explains the simpler styling – that loose side braid is growing on me and I want to do that hairstyle more often.

*~*~*~*
Coord 2: Casual Museum Meet

| Physical Drop Shirring 3-Tier OP | Wonderland Ukiyoe Lilith’s Collection skirt | AatP Lace-Up Ribbon OTKs | offbrand shoes and necklace | Angelic Pretty Classical Petit Rose headbow | vintage earrings and gloves | Violet Fane Violet’s Tea Room brooch | Bow and Crossbones bangles |

What you see up here is the look of "Oh heck, of course I curled my hair on a humid day, thank goodness I have the time to take pictures before leaving the house."

I finally fixed the string on my hobbit door necklace. And by "fixed" I mean chopped the bit I couldn't untangle and realised that it's still long enough to go around my neck without choking me.

Sometimes I get myself in these spirals of indecision about what to wear to a meetup and then I remember that I do the 1 Dress 4 Looks posts precisely to avoid that. This time it’s the very last one that came to the rescue. It worked out in person just as well as on the flatlay, if not better. Somehow there’s enough gathering in the bodice of the OP to add some lovely volume that balances out the skirt, and of course the extra bit of frill at the bottom acted as an additional petticoat. Our museum venture was relatively brief, sticking to only a few parts of the whole museum and then promptly retreating to the cafe when our sugar levels dropped. But it’s fine, that’s what casual and chill meetups are for. I got to see the taxidermy derp buffalo, so I’m happy!

It'd be mean not to share him with you.

*~*~*~*
Coord 3: & Juliet

| Victorian Maiden Shirring Frill JSK | Angelic Pretty Airy Dot socks | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | offbrand hair clips | Folk and Fortune Typewriter necklace | handmade bracelets | Banned Retro Bella belt |

Please, ignore the highly un-aesthetic office background.

When Folk and Fortune came out with these, I knew that I had to get one. This is me manifesting that publishing deal.

Or more accurately, work followed by & Juliet at the theatre. I didn’t want to miss a chance to dress up, but also wouldn’t have a chance to change in between the two parts of the day, so needed something to work for both. I was also keen on using my new Folk and Fortune customised necklace and felt it fit the theme here pretty well. The simplicity of the styling really works with this dress and thankfully it was just about warm enough to be out with only a cardigan over this. Also, & Juliet is one hell of a show, if you are in the UK and can see it whilst it is on tour, you absolutely should!

*~*~*~*
Coord 4: Filming Day

| Angelic Pretty Flower Garden JSK | Atelier Pierrot Decay blouse | Innocent World Union Flag Lame OTKs | Modo Prayer Poem shoes | Vierge Vampur bonnet | Physical Drop headbow | offbrand earrings and ring | Rose Marie Seoir choker | vintage brooch | Peppermint Fox brooch | handmade belt |

For some reason these glasses seem to glare more than my other ones. I have so many nice selfies that are just the reflection of my window in these.

In living up to its name, the Decay blouse wants to disintegrate completely. I now have fray check, which I will be applying as soon as I find the will to deal with all of this.

You’ve heard of girl math, now get ready for lolita math – where you take an hour and a half getting ready only to spend thirty minutes in the coord itself for photos and filming, then yeet the whole thing off. I’ve come to realise that just as the Crystal Dream Carnival JSK, this one is also very fancy in cut and that makes it harder to tone down, so I don’t reach for it unless something quite fancy is happening. At the moment, there is very little very fancy stuff happening, but since I was filming a collab video (coming soon), the occasion created itself. I really liked all the previous times when I wore this dress with wine red, it plays nicely into some of the darker flowers on the floral pattern, so since up to then I still haven’t worn my Atelier Pierrot blouse, the two came together and everything fell around that. I must say, Atelier Pierrot’s shirring is very comfortable, that blouse was lovely to wear, except boy, I get that the frayed hems were the whole point, but this feels like it’ll unravel itself into nothingness in like two more wears if left unaddressed.

*~*~*~*
Coord 5: Sweet Snack

| The Black Ribbon Konbini Market JSK | Dear Celine Polka Dot Waltz blouse | Angelic Pretty Ice-Cream Parlor OTKs | Bodyline shoes | After Midnight hair clip | offbrand hair clip and earrings | Trixie La Fleur brooch | Lady Sloth My Coffee Time brooch | belt from Lady Sloth’s Look at My Dreamy Sky OP | handmade bracelets | Angelic Pretty Logo Ribbon Charm wrist cuffs |

I swear I had lipstick on, but somehow it's not showing up very well.

Peep these hairclips that my babylita self thought she'd get tonnes of use out of.

What I actually wanted to do was coord this dress with a deeper, darker pink, the one that’s on a few of the snacks in the print. I think that would look very cute. Unfortunately, I don’t really own that much (well, not at all), so I turned back to the other pink-based coord I did with this dress and swapped out the brown elements for sax ones. It’s not my most balanced one, Fifty Shades of Sax struck back with a vengeance, but I think overall I still like the coord more than I don’t. Except for something this bright and sweet I didn’t actually have the energy for dealing with people at work, when I was working from home, so most of it was off after the photos and hidden under a cardigan. Sometimes that’s the cards that you’re dealt.

*~*~*~*
Coord 6: Botany

| Physical Drop Long Sleeve Shirring dress | Violet Fane Antiquite tights | offbrand shoes, belt, hair pins, and earrings | vintage necklace and brooch |

Still feel like the whole coord would've looked nicer if I clipped my half wig to the back, but the more I look, the more this version grows on me. And it was way too humid for having any hair on my neck!

The 500 yen belt coming through.

After a literal month of trying to meet up, my friend Shasha and I finally managed. Since we decided on having a super chill day playing Botany (an excellent board game, I highly recommend!), I knew that I had to do something in the spirit of Victorian botanist explorers, even if I didn't do anything floral. Lazy Sunday vibes took over and I had a right outfit crisis, so ended up settling on this OP because it's veeery comfortable and because having done one fancy coord with it already, I wanted to try something a little more relaxed. And I liked the outcome. The only thing I would've changed is adding my half wig. As nice as the braid crown is, on its own it doesn't feel quite big enough to balance even the smaller poof of the dress, so a bigger braid or some hair left down would've balanced this out better. Still, the look came together great and I can't wait to play Botany again now that I've grasped the rules.

*~*~*~*
Coord 7: Get Me to a Café

| Violet Fane Ginza Kissaten skirt | Axes Femme cutsew | Innocent World Lauretta OTKs | Sosic Shop shoes | offbrand hair clip | Cosy Kawaii Mood earrings | handmade (not by me) necklace | Milkribbon Butterkeks brooch |

See what I mean? It's glare city over in these specs.

Axes Femme does such great cutsews! I wish they were a bit more consistent with their stretch because I have some that are tight and some that are divinely comfortable - this one is, thankfully, the latter.

I could not wait for my order of Axes Femme cutsews to arrive and then start using them. And even though this particular cutsew is cool-toned to the skirt's warm tones, somehow they managed to work together well, probably because the print has some cooler tones in it too. I am once again glad that I dressed up for working from home because it's been a stressful day, so at least I got to look cute. Not much to say about the coord, to be honest, it's cute in its simplicity and that's about that.

*~*~*~*
Coord 8: Summer? Is That You?

| BtSSB Snow Dot skirt | Axes Femme cutsew | offbrand socks and shoes | Cutie Creator headdress | Vivienne Westwood Lorelei studs | AatP Tulle Lace wrist cuffs |

Lol being sweaty is the best highlighter. But it does look great in moderation.

Gotta flex that designer jewellery (even though, ironically, the stud next to it is probably worth more by virtue of being real gold - but it's not designer, so it's not as obvious a flex).

Paulina? In oldschool? Nah, can’t be, that’s an impostor! Except that… it’s not. We got hit by a bit of heat and knowing that I’d be going out to do my grocery shopping later that day, when it really warmed up, I wanted to be comfortable, as well as cute. The sleeveless look with neck ties has been living rent-free in my head for a while now and there’s no way to do that that isn’t oldschool, so I leaned into it. Did I feel like myself? No, not really. But was I comfy? Absolutely! Which translates to: I enjoyed this for the day, it kept me cool, including on the lunchtime walk when I took the pictures above, for more oldschool vibe I even put on a smaller petti, but don’t expect to see me suddenly making the transition to oldschool lolita. Which also means: don’t expect me to be getting any chunky Mary Janes or RHS, you’ll just have to deal with my offbrand flats killing the vibe.

*~*~*~*
Coord 9: Queens Exhibition

| Atelier Pierrot JSK | offbrand top, tights, hair clips, and necklace | Modo Prayer Poem shoes | Folk and Fortune Fleur de Lys earrings | handmade sash | SIX: The Musical pins |

A rare ponytail selfie when you can actually see the bow I stuck at the back.

You've heard of an ita bag, now get ready for an ita sash.

I finally joined the Atelier Pierrot club! I have no idea what JSK this is because the Mercari listing I got it from didn't say and neither did the tag – it looks a lot like the Whip JSK, but without the extra bows. It's also the replacement for AatP’s Rosier Fleur and it is doing that job splendidly. For its debut I chose the Queens exhibition that's at The Lowry right now (and still on until November 3rd, completely free to enter) along with a proper debut of my ita sash. Gotta represent my favourite show. Kept the rest of the coord precisely to let the sash shine, as well as to have something a little bit more practical for walking around on a humid day. The afternoon tea that we went to, offered alongside the exhibition, is a bit more gimmick than substance. It's not bad, the sweets were all sort of one note, but the food was nice quality. That being said, it's not like the branding extended to the food, so spend that same money on something better from like The Gotham Hotel or The Midland Hotel (or any of the other places around Manchester that are actually well rated for their afternoon tea).

The obligatory afternoon tea spread picture.

*~*~*~*
Coord 10: Summer Home Cute

| Violet Fane Otome Nostalgia skirt | Axes Femme cutsew | AatP Poison de l'Amour OTKs | Laura Ashley shoes | offbrand necklace | handmade bracelets |

World's most rushed selfie.

Firstly, I adore this shade of pink and want it as both a lipstick and a blush. If you know who makes that, please, send me links. And secondly - not my brain looking at this and thinking that we need more bronze jewellery now...

What was supposed to be a day of lounging at home also included a brief trip to the supermarket – but mostly it was about staying at home. Hence the super low key styling and the total lack of hair accessories (gasp, shock, horror, I know). I did have a thought about maybe swapping the shoes out for brown ones, which I will probably try out next time when I have energy for that. It seems like a vibe that would work, but only with the right styling.

*~*~*~*
Coord 11: Double Feature

| Axes Femme Kawaii Coca-Cola JSK | The Seamstress of Bloomsbury Jive blouse | Angelic Pretty Drained Cherry socks | Hot Chocolate Designs Dear Santa shoes | offbrand hair clip and ring | vintage necklace | Bows and Crossbones bangles | Banned Retro Bella belt |

A few hours earlier...

Once again, juuust about managed to catch that bow at the back of my head.

Proof that there is a tiny bit of sax in this print.

Named so because in order to save on changing outfits later, I wore basically all of that to work except with the Polka Dots tiered skirt from Meta. It was resit exams week at work, so I needed comfort, but also past me overestimated my energy levels and I had three nights of theatre in a row, starting with Hairspray. The retro touches were thus necessary to the outfit and I felt this coord was camp enough to match the campness of the musical.

*~*~*~*
Coord 12: The Importance of Being Earnest

| Innocent World Georges Rose JSK | Axes Femme cutsew | offbrand tights | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Angelic Pretty Classical Petit Rose headbow | Fluffy Tori pin | vintage brooch and bracelet |

When looking at the uncropped version of this picture I thought to myself that maybe my hair needs a trim. It's grown pretty long now (which is funny because I remember the days when it used to be longer).

The lovely triple lace feature on this sleeve is chef's kiss.

For night 2 of theatre proceded by exams I stepped up my game by wearing this coord to work with different shoes and minus the headbow. Booking to see this play was a last minute impulse, led by me getting a code for half price off tickets, and I wanted to look for something a bit more typically classic to wear. I also was dying to wear this cutsew, it is so lovely and comfy, and all of that led to me choosing Georges Rose again. That and the fact that last time I wore it, it was only for a brief time to film some clips and I was very uncomfortable then, so I didn't feel like I'd actually worn that dress. And whilst I wish I'd done something different with my hair for the sake of the coord, given that I was absolutely shattered and had next to no physical energy left, I'm pleased with how the look came out.

*~*~*~*
Coord 13: A Chorus Line

| Metamorphose Gold Braid Tuck Pinafore JSK | Lady Sloth Glitter Mesh blouse | Angelic Pretty Crown Logo OTKs | Modo Prayer Poem shoes | Peacockalorum headbow | Tiny Passerine Creations The Duchess' Tea earrings | Chrysanthemum's Concerto necklace | vintage brooch | Hoshibako Works corset |

This time, despite the bow being massive, it successfully hid from the camera by being at the back. But you can just about peep the little touch of gold in my eyeliner.

Such a great corset and it layered excellently with this JSK. This combo will definitely come back.

On the last day of my theatre spree I was thankfully working from home and also in training all day, which doesn't count as real work. However, because I was so low on energy from the rest of the week before, I still changed into this just for the theatre instead of being in that coord all day like I planned. Maybe it's for the better, the overstimulation was a lot from the various bits falling down, but the look was cute. It was inspired by the gold accents that people in like an oldfashioned chorus line would wear, but with gold x red rather than gold x black. It's a little surprising to me that I hadn't worn this JSK with this blouse before, but I guess now is as good a time as any to go for the obvious option.

*~*~*~*
Coord 14: Classy Chores

| Grove Deer Moon of Eternal Day OP | Sweet Fragrance apron | Angelic Pretty Cinema Doll OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Haruhi Clover headbow | offbrand earrings | Chrysanthemum's Concerto necklace | brooch from Haenuli's Just One Bite JSK | Innocent World Strawberry Fields wrist cuffs | vintage gloves |

How did I still manage to look so pale when I had red blush practically all over my face?

The straps of the apron kind of make this picture look like it's framed in lace.

An apron coord seems fitting for a day filled with household chores, right? Though let's be honest, this apron is too fancy for proper workwear and the gloves with wrist cuffs are too impractical for doing things. Still, I did actually kick off my week of annual leave with household chores that were neglected by all that theatre and work. I can look cute whilst doing a shedload of laundry.

*~*~*~*


From one extreme to another, apparently I cannot find a balance now. Some of it is the very weird weather (Cruel Summer but only because it's humid and rainy, and only just about warm). I'll be changing jobs next month (big yay for me) and don't know yet what my new routine will be like, so whilst there are some meets and other occasions to dress up on the cards, I will have to remind myself to be kind to myself as I navigate a new workplace and get those people used to even my non-lolita levels of dressy, let alone the frilly stuff. I'm excited for it though, I have a good feeling about that role and can't wait to get started. If nothing else, then those few days that are still July when I'm on leave will provide something for next month's coords roundup post.

12 Jul 2024

The Queen is Dead Event Report

Two years in the making, plenty of screaming behind the scenes, and then the weekend has come and gone just like that (very rude, honestly). The Queen is Dead: Long Live Lolita, or TQiD for short, Manchester’s absolutely top tier lolita fashion event, has been the highlight of my life and I hope that this report will do it justice.


Firstly, let me preface this post with the disclaimer that I was quite involved in making the event come to life. Jo and Gee, the brains behind TQiD, got me to join their team in the capacity of a fashion show coordinator and on top of this, given that I am very local, I have also offered my services as and when needed for other things (which ended up mainly stashing a whole bunch of stock for Haenuli behind my couch that I could not breathe a word about to a single soul for a whole month! – extremely painful). Because of this, there was much of the event that I either missed out on due to working or had a very different perspective on compared to a regular attendee. I won’t be revealing too many trade secrets, if that’s what you were hoping for, but if anyone is organising a big event and wants to have a chat, drop me an email or a DM on Instagram, I’ll share what I can. Also, I will only talk about Day 1 of the event in this post since day 2 was as standard a tea party as it gets: get in, eat, take pictures, a few people’s coords got recognised by Haenuli with a portrait, more pictures, a quick raffle, group picture, disperse, and prep for the afterparty. Lastly, as of writing this post, the official photos have not yet been released, so given that my active role in the event took me away from documenting things. Once these are out, I will aim to update the post with more visuals. Hopefully what I’ve been able to scavenge off others/online will give you a clear enough picture.

| HeartE Tartan JSK | Summer Tales Boutique Nostalgia Collection: Royal Tartan blouse and headbow | offbrand tights, shoes, backpack, and ribbon | Three Little Pirates earrings |

Let’s start with the outfit, which in my case was also in the works for as long as the event since I was told about it in its earliest stages. TQiD’s themes of oldschool and punk lolita aren’t quite my cup of tea – but tartan is and that very much works with both of those! So I decided to be an absolute eyesore clad head to toe in red tartan. The only thing on my person that wasn’t tartan was my petticoat and even though most of these tartans were ever so subtly different from one another, in the clusterfuck of it all the subtleties were entirely lost on the eye, tricking it into believing that everything matched itself perfectly. At this point I would like to extend a big thank you to @coinoperatedcthullu for lending me her umbrella for the official pictures for one more extra pop of tartan. Get yourself fiends who encourage your unhinged behaviour! The official pictures haven’t been released yet, so once they are, I will do a retrospective update.

Victoria Baths outside, photo by Paul Moore Photography.

Victoria Baths entrance, photo by Paul Moore Photography.

Victoria Baths entrance, photo from Historic Pools.

Stained glass in the Turkish Baths section of Victoria Baths, photo by Paul Moore Photography.

Victoria Baths Gala Pool, photo by Paul Moore Photography.

Changing stalls at Victoria Baths, photo by Paul Moore Photography.

The event, or its first day, took place at Victoria Baths, an old municipal swimming pool that is currently managed by a special trust on behalf of Manchester City Council. It is a unique venue, lovingly restored and used for all kinds of events, from trading fairs to picnics in the pool and even a designer fashion show afterparty. We were incredibly lucky to be able to snag it for TQiD because it fits the vibe perfectly: a restored Victorian building with plenty of natural light for the most amazing pictures, lots of hidden nooks to explore, all of the quirkiness to match the wild energy of lolita fashion. Everyone who attended commented on how incredible the place was and if you stalk the event tag or main account story highlights, you will find plenty of people who ventured beyond the swimming pools or the Turkish baths to find the slightly dilapidated living quarters of the people who were in charge of the baths back in the early 1900s. Eerie oldschool street snaps vibes at their max!

Event exclusive goodies plus some aesthetic additions. Photo by Gee.

The event offered three tiers of ticket: Vinyl (most exclusive VVIP), Safety Pin (regular VIP), and Tartan (regular entry), each marked with an appropriate marker on the event tote bags. They differed in how many raffle tickets a person would get, how early one would be able to enter, the colour of the tote bags, refreshments on arrival (only for the VVIPs), and whether people had any time with the photographer set aside for them (more on that in a moment). Knowing that I could not miss the event, but not being interested in most of the vendors, I personally purchased the Safety Pin ticket. I was not about to miss the chance to get some dedicated time with Zain Zia, the event photographer, and get my offensive outfit photographed properly, but I didn’t need the extra shopping time. And I’m glad that I made a beeline for the photographer’s spot as soon as I was allowed to enter as an attendee because not long after the line started growing to pretty ridiculous lengths. As Zain was only one person, and an incredibly dedicated one to giving everyone the best pictures they could, it meant that not everyone got their outfit pictures taken by him. I don’t know the exact numbers of people who missed out, but it’s certainly one of the things that was already noted for future reference.

A moment to appreciate the level of branding for TQiD.

As far as programming went, TQiD was deliberately kept on the chill side. The only scheduled pieces of programming were: the welcome (very brief), the fashion show (1 hour), a Q&A session with the main guests, Atelier Pierrot and Iris Garden x Haenuli (1 hour), and the raffle with a group picture to close. In their love of excess, lolitas can lean towards offering everything at an event, which is usually to the detriment of everyone: the organisers run themselves thin, the attendees are overwhelmed, not every segment is particularly well attended, and people either sacrifice their shopping time or their rest time (never a good idea to sacrifice the latter, you need to eat and drink!). This format ensured enough time for everything and for everyone. The stage events were in a completely separate room to the vendors’ hall, so if anyone chose to skip those, it was easily done. Equally, the gaps between each segment were large enough that one could reasonably catch a break, get something to eat or drink, shop a little, or get some cool pictures. Even though I personally only spent maybe 20 minutes total on shopping, it’s entirely because I chose to spend my time catching up with people whom I bumped into.

Vendors hall. Picture by @__liminalmoth__

Wirehead stall (pre-ransacking). Picture from @wirehead.shop

La Spina stall. Picture from @fidel.david

Cloudberry Lady stall. Picture from @cloudberry_lady



Let’s talk briefly about the shopping, shall we? TQiD was actually pretty selective with the vendors in an attempt to ensure that they all suited the event theme and vibe. This is why I wasn’t so fussed about the shopping because between gothic, oldschool, and punk stuff there really was very little that would suit my style. Haenuli was the only exception, as a later addition to the guest pool, but even their stall had more stuff in line with Atelier Pierrot’s stock than the sweeter and elegant classic things that I would have been after. Ultimately, out of 13 vendors (lucky 13 for me!): Atelier Pierrot, Haenuli, Wirehead, R. R. Memorandum, Summer Tales Boutique, Issis Starlust, I Do Declare, La Spina, Raspberry Mazohyst, Naddine Atelier, Cloudberry Lady, Distant Melody, and Ultra Mimi – only Naddine Atelier actually got my money. I have spotted the bow tops even before the fashion show and then seeing one modelled by @lolahbell sold me on it, so I made sure to come back. In truth, had I spent less time chatting and more time shopping, I probably would’ve dropped some money on La Spina, Summer Tales Boutique, and Ultra Mimi, but all of those were very popular with the event attendees, so by the time I got there later in the afternoon, their stalls had noticeable gaps. Not as noticeable as Wirehead who were absolutely CLEARED OUT! I kid you not, by the time the fashion show was over, which is when I emerged, their table was empty, with Nomeda roaming around somewhere else, enjoying the well deserved break and all those profits that they raked in. I am exceptionally pleased for Wirehead, to have your first international lolita event be not just a success, but this much of one, is truly special and I hope they felt the love.

R. R. Memorandum.
Photo by @nyacinth.

Naddine Atelier.
Photo by @nyacinth.

Cloudberry Lady.
Photo by @nyacinth.

Summer Tales Boutique.
Photo by @nyacinth.

Raspberry Mazohyst.
Photo by Dave.

Atelier Pierrot x Haenuli.
Photo by @nyacinth.

Post-fashion show pictures for Atelier Pierrot. Peep the results of that on the @queen_isdeadevent Instagram!
Photo by @lilacs.in.autumn.



But of course, I can’t personally talk about TQiD without talking about the fashion show. This was my pride and joy, and even though from the back room I didn’t necessarily see it fully myself, I am still bursting with pride for all of the models who completely smashed that swimming pool runway! I’m proud of myself too, this was something that I’d never done before and had to step up to the challenge on numerous occasions, but it was seeing the models slay in their looks that made it all worth the effort and stress. A particular point of pride for me is that the fashion show was scheduled to start at 2pm and finish at 3pm. It began promptly at 2pm and finished promptly at 3pm. No delays. No slip ups. Even with the one or two hiccups that I don’t think that many people noticed or which were taken in good spirit (like me sending out a volunteer to clear away a chair left by one of the brands and that volunteer happening to look like a sleep paralysis clown demon). The compliments for the fashion show are fully earned by everyone who participated and my little heart was melting with joy every time anyone: a model, a designer, or an audience member, told me that it was a good piece of work on my part. I do absolutely still need to rest from the work that all of that was, but if you are looking for a fashion show coordinator for your future events – hit me up, let’s see what we can do. ;)

Haenuli Q&A segment.
Photo by Dave.

Because the fashion show has eaten up about 3 hours in total of my day (1h for the morning rehearsal, 1h for the fitting before, and 1h for the show itself), I did skip the Q&A segment. I wandered into that room towards the end of it, to grab seats for the raffle at the end, so caught a little bit of Connie talking with pride about the criteria that Atelier Pierrot takes into consideration when deciding on which releases to offer in plus sizes. But other than knowing what the questions were, I couldn’t tell you much about it. It seems that it was split in half, one part for Haenuli and one for Atelier Pierrot, which was great planning and an effective split of work on Jo and Gee’s part, so that no-one was spending the full hour on stage when they might not have been needed there.

Casa Paulina <3 Featuring (from top left) @qiannegl, @midnight.helios, @lena_golita, and @_chrissii_

Nothing commemorates an event better than a cursed Instax!

With @duvetduchess

11/10 sleep paralysis demon, would haunt again @zombieruthie

Brother eurgh!, @ohheyhayley

With @the.madness.of.frills

Instead, the remainder of my day was dedicated to more roaming around, more excited reunions, more pictures, and catching a bit of a break (I’m telling you, even in the sensible shoes that I was wearing for most of the day, my feet were knackered by the end of the day!). The raffle wrapped up the day along with a group picture, and we all started to shuffle out of the venue, with my particular group of friends and guests at Casa Paulina going out to Kaya Malaysian Eatery for dinner. There is something incredibly special about seeing a sea of lolitas, many of whom wearing some form of tartan, waiting on their Ubers and taking the final few pictures before shedding their coords. Even the weather held up, overcast but mostly dry and on the pleasantly mild side, which felt like the ultimate blessing given that Manchester’s weather is literally impossible to predict.

My event loot!

To wrap the event report, here is the obligatory picture of my haul, including the One Singular Purchase, the goodie bag contents, and the gifts that I received from various people for various things. Sweets and cosmetics are from friends as thank yous for hosting them or lending them things for the fashion show, whereas the Haenuli art book was a gift from Nunu and Iris themselves for helping them with the fashion show given that they joined the event so late that they had fewer models available to them. The things I do for these events are always coming from a place of love for this community and I expect nothing in return except the love, so to have actual tangible gifts genuinely made me cry. (In fact, I cried throughout the TQiD weekend more than I can count – all tears of joy, of course!)

End of event raffle. Photo by Dave.


In the past I have often put a couple of bullet points on my event reports on things that were done well and things that could be improved for next time. Given my direct involvement, I’m not sure if there is much validity to my claims of what went well, there is definitely a whole lot of bias. But also, Jo, Gee, and I are all event veterans – the reason things went this well is precisely because we’ve learnt from other people’s past mistakes (and sometimes our own). I will, however, drop a few things that I feel would have made TQiD even better (which feels impossible, but just think what that means for how amazing the event was if even with these little bits it was the highlight of my life):

  • Add at least one more photographer.
    This is something that I’ve already mentioned to Jo and Gee, though they knew it already anyway, we’ve all seen Zain run around like mad and try to give everyone the best photos.
  • Tweak the Q&A.
    Just because I personally didn’t attend it doesn’t mean that the whole segment was pointless. However, I think that the ‘submit your questions’ format is a trap for getting the same repetitive things that we have already heard before, which only appeals to newbies and less so to veterans. Instead, I would suggest something more panel-like or pre-planned: give the guest(s) a topic that fits them and let them talk about it for a bit, with room for a Q&A at the end. If people are mostly interested in Atelier Pierrot’s plus size side or in Haenuli’s return from retirement, then let them tell that story instead of bothering with the usual “What inspires you the most in your work?” things.
  • Include a printed version of the event schedule in the goodie bag.
    Going fully digital was great for the environment and great when things may have been changing to the last minute, but it was a bit of a faff to have to keep the Instagram post or screenshot thereof open in the background to remember what was when. This does mean having to settle these things with enough notice to allow for printing and goodie bag assembly, but also makes a nice addition to people’s scrapbooks.



If you attended The Queen is Dead, please, let me know what you thought of the event. As I already said, my bias due to proximity is incredibly obvious here, but I also love experiencing the same event through other people’s perspectives. And if you haven’t been able to go – would you, if given the chance, and what would you look forward to the most? I’m not saying that TQiD2 is in the works… but I’m also not not saying that. I’m not saying anything. I’m just wrapping up the post. Anyway, thank you for reading all the way until the end and stay tuned for one or two spin-off posts based on my behind the scenes experience of the fashion show process.