A lovely weekend in Tokyo

Hello dear readers!

Can you believe it's been over three months that I've been living in Tokyo? Time has passed so quickly.  I've already done a lot of things that I've dreamed of for a long time, and last weekend many more dreams came true!

As you know, I live in Koenji, a very nice area full of all sorts of second-hand clothes shops and interesting cafes. My friend Aviva had been wanting to check it out for some time, so on Saturday she came to visit. We both wore retro outfits! I wore my Pink House onepiece.

We found a couple of suprise Lolita pieces, an ancient black velvet Baby onepiece with ladder lace and hardly any poof, and very cute eau de nil pumpkin pants from Metamorphose. I really wanted the pumpkin pants actually, it's been ages since I wore trousers or shorts and I miss them a bit. The colour was very pretty too. I was tempted by the Baby dress too, it was so cheap and so old. We said we might keep it for a Lolita museum!

I really enjoyed shopping with Aviva, she's open-minded to many different styles and has a great sense of taste in all of them. We went to a huge number of shops, and saw so many Gunne Sax dresses! About 90% of the world's Gunne Sax dresses must reside in Japan now. No wonder they were so hard to find in England....

It was pretty tiring, so we had a rest in Hattifnatt cafe, which I blogged about before. I got more sugar cubes! After that, we decided to go to the lolita boutique Seraphim, as it's on the same train line as Koenji. 

I have loved Seraphim for a long time! It's not one of those brands one hears a great deal about in the English-speaking community, but it really is lovely. Since I picked up the flyer in Sumire no Tenmado I was determined to go to the physical shop.

It's located in Kunitachi, and carries not only Seraphim but also various indies brands. I'm afraid it was dreadfully hard to find because though it's not far from the station it is tucked away down a little alley in between some houses.

When we did find it though, it was very charming. There is a little garden to walk through first, with a sign for Seraphim hanging on the gate. Inside it's very small but very pretty, with lots of lace draperies and the items displayed in off-white, antique style cabinets and tables. There are a couple of racks of clothes, mostly Seraphim. There are also some household goods (clocks etc) notebooks, and of course lots of corsages, brooches and other accessories. The shop staff kindly brought us tea while we browsed. There were such lovely things, the handmade accessories were particularly pretty. This tiny, delicate bracelet caught my eye:

I'm very fond of fine, dainty jewellery, and the little chain finished with a pearl where the clasp is is so charming! I think the brand is Bell de Poupee, but I'm not 100% sure.... It was with other Bell de Poupee items! I got a Seraphim members card, which I was very happy about. I love point cards and this one is so pretty, isn't it?

Of course it's a bit dangerous, because once you get one you can't help but feel like you need to fill it....

Please check Seraphim's homepage from here:

http://www.k-seraphim.com

*****

Sunday was the day of the Marui One KERA snap! You've probably seen these in KERA. I've always wanted to participate, and finally I did. This was my outfit:

My theme was "茶色ずきんちゃん" (Little Brown Riding Hood)

I'll tell you a little about the snap process, in case you'd like to participate someday!

It's held monthly at Marui One in Shinjuku, usually the on first Sunday of the month. The date of each snap will be announced in KERA, and you can check it on the blog too. On the day, get there a bit earlier than the snap start time so you can start lining up. It takes place on the 7th floor, by the stairwell next to the Girl's Room event space (behind Angelic Pretty and Metamorphose). 

When you line up, you'll be given a form to fill in with a number on the back. The form is all in Japanese, so be prepared. Of course they ask your name, where you're from, what you are wearing etc and on this occasion they asked what my plans are for Christmas (so I guess the photos from this will be published in the December edition). When it's your turn to have your photo taken, first they'll take a picture of you holding your form with your number on. Then hand the form to the staff, and they'll take a few snaps. After that, you'll be given a slip of paper so you can pick up your photo sometime from the top floor of Marui. Then, you're finished! All that remains is to see if your photo is picked to be published or not. I'm not especially hopeful, but I enjoyed taking part. I hope I can go to the November one!

After the snap I went to Harajuku to meet with a couple of friends and go to La Couronne du Fleur, a lolita indies market. It was a bit tricky to find, in the quiet part of Harajuku, but like Seraphim it was well worth the effort.

I'll list the brands that participated, in case you'd like to look them up. I always find it interesting to look at indies brands. 

・金田アツ子 　・ひかり
・Ange 　・dolce piu amabile
・Royal coffin 　・Jeune fille
・Bell de Poupee 　・Sacherie
・Loulou 　・K plusoi
・Radiostar 　・Bisque doll
・香莉 みあき　・かわい金魚
・lilga 　・Traumerei
・CHIRUBARA 　・NEW ATLANTIS
・孔雀洞雑貨舗 　・SERAPHIM
・遊星商會 　・水中標本
・トリッチ・トラッチ 　・鈴木亜章
・スパン社 　・Hug me,kiss me!!
・RE: 　・Nastro Rosso*
・あっちょんぷりけ 　・sha*lan*ra
・poppemonica

I was really happy to see Sachi of Kokusyoku Sumire there! She looked lovely and perfect and beautiful as always. She was selling the pretty handmade hats from her brand Sacherie. I loved the ones with cat faces! You can see them at her blog entry here. 

I wish so much that my Japanese was better so that I could have talked to her more, and also to the other girls there. They were all so nice! I will keep studying and practising, and maybe I'll get to talk to her again when I go to Sumire no Tenmado in November. I hope so!

Among the lovely things for sale, I found this big gorgeous ribbon! The design is very simple, just two shades of bordeaux velvet combined in stripes, but I find it so pleasing. I think you'll see me wearing it a lot over the next few months, now that the cooler weather has truly arrived!

The brand is Ange:

http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~xxangexx/

Of course, we finished the day with tea and sweets and purikura!

So with the vintage shops, cafes, lolita boutique and indies market, meeting Sachi again, going to the KERA snap and enjoying time with friends, it was a wonderful, wonderful weekend. I hope you enjoyed reading about it!

See you next time,

Sapphira

xxxx