Kawaii International 1 Year Anniversary

 Hello dear readers! Happy Easter :)

Do you know about the program Kawaii International?

It's a really nice show about Japanese fashion. If you haven't watched it, I really recommend it! It's usually on once a month, and you can see more details here: 

Program web page⇒ http://www.nhk.or.jp/kawaii-i/ 

Streaming page ⇒http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/index.html 

They just celebrated their 1st anniversary! They made a special show for it, and showed some of the viewer contributions they have had such as competition entries. They talked about my entry for U Kimura's handmade competition! I took some screen shots.

My photo is next to Cadney's! *starstruck*

I entered my handmade bonnet (tutorial here).

This is actually one of my favourite coordinates that I have ever put together, so I am really happy that they showed it. Thank you, Kawaii International! And thank you for reading, too.

Sapphira

xxxx

International Lolita Day

Hello dear readers! How are you? Perhaps you know about International Lolita Day, that happens on the 1st of June and the 1st of December, giving lolitas a chance to wear summer and winter outfits (providing they such things exist where they live!).  Did you do anything with your lolita friends on the 1st of December?

I went to a meet up in Tokyo to see an exhibiton of the Lichtenstein collection. I wore my new bonnet in honour of the occasion!

Lichtenstein is a principality in Europe with close ties to Austria (the Lichtenstein princes acted as advisors to the Habsburg family, according to the information at the exhibition). I've always thought principalities seemed like the most romantic sort of countries! I'm not sure why, but perhaps because I can imagine princes getting up to more exciting things than kings, haha. 

Outft shot with the exhibiton posters

The exhibition constisted of pieces collected by the Lichtenstein princes, very fine European art, mostly Baroque, including a splendid collection of Rubens. I wasn't a particular fan of Rubens before, but having seen those works I now appreciate him a lot better. When his paintings are on a very grand scale they certainly are majestic, and there was a one of the Lamentation which was very affecting. They used a portrait of his daughter for the poster (the picture on the right) which I have to confess I don't like at all and I actually find her face quite scary. I suppose I am a philistine, but he has this fleshy style which I think doesn't really suit tender subjects like a child's face.... Sorry Mr Rubens. But I do like him better than before!

The other lolis were very taken with Bruegel's The Triumph of Death! Maybe, just as with our clothes, it was all the little details that appealed to them. There were also tapestries, sculpture, ornaments and furniture, including a Baroque sofa that one of our group pointed out would have been perfect for a group photo! If the Prince of Lichtenstein had been there, I'm sure he would have let us, in fact I think he would have offered to take the photo.

We took another set of outfit shots outdoors, this one is a little clearer so I'll put the rundown here.

Bonnet: Triple Fortune

Coat: Victorian Maiden

Onepiece (you can't see it!): Juliette et Justine

Others:Offbrand/Vintage

After the exhibition, we hit Harajuku for shopping at Closet Child and Usagiyouhinten, purikura and tea at Christie's, a cafe off Takeshita Dori that's popular with local lolitas. 

The cafe is really nice! My cheese on toast was great too, even with the funny spongy bread they have here.

We managed to fit 8 lolis in the purikura booth! Quite a feat.

We also marked the occasion by taking a group photo at the famous bridge. Poor old bridge, I hope we brought back some memories of it's golden age to it. A sweet and mysterious person made the photo into a valentine!

Thank you very much to the dear secret maker and to all the wonderful people in our community. It was the first Loliday I've spent with other lolitas, and I'll keep it as a special memory always. I'm looking forward to the next meet up I go to!

I hope you had a lovely International Lolita Day, whatever you did.

See you next time,

Sapphira

An impulse buy!

Hello readers! Hope you're all well today. I'm a bit sad, because I had plans to go to Disneyland as my birthday treat (my birthday's on Tuesday) but I had to cancel them because I have a really awful cough :(

Anyway, I'll cheer myself up by posting about nice things! Last week I met up with Emma, another English lolita currently living in Japan. We spent the day in Shinjuku, going to Marui One and Takashimaya. Of course we spent most of the time on the lolita floor of Marui. It's summer sales now!

In Takashimaya, we checked out all the wonderful things in the craft section. There were fabrics, felting kits, resin jewellery kits, all sorts of things! It makes you want to be more creative. I feel like making some jewellery actually, but I wonder if I'll get around to it.  

We stopped to have a drink in Takashimaya. You might have noticed I cut my fringe extremely short; it wasn't entirely on purpose! I think it can look a little harsh, so today I placed my half lashes very low to create a drooping effect. I think it makes one's expression more gentle. Oh, and I wore my straw bonnet. Japan feels so safe, I think I could wear a bonnet everyday if I wanted!

Emma is so cute! She looks very fresh and pretty in these light colours. I hope we'll go shopping again soon. It might be a dangerous move though- on this day I tried on IW's Germaine onepiece in navy in the KERA shop. I thought it looked so fancy and elegant on the hanger, but I wasn't sure if it would look nice on me or not. Emma said "I think you should try it." So I did, and it seemed to fit very well. Then she said "I think you should get it!" so I did! Whoops! 

I don't regret it though, it's a lovely dress and I don't have a party dress apart from my Juliette bisque doll.  The back neckline is particularly lovely, so mature and gorgeous! Besides that the longer length is very good for me. I'm planning to wear it for the D tour final next month, so please look out for it then!

Here is today's coordinate, country and classical combined:

~Outfit Rundown~

Bonnet: Handmade

Cutsew: axes femme

Wrust cuffs: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Jumperskirt, bag: Metamorphose

Socks: Mikazuki Momoko

See you next time,

Sapphira

xxxx

Country Classical Lolita

Hello dear readers! How are you?

This weekend I was spending time with my three close friends. Happily I will see one of them in Japan in a month or so, but it will probably be a long time before the four of us are all together again. Oh, it's rather sad! It was a wonderful weekend though :)

Today I'll show you my most recent coordinate. I wanted to wear my handmade bonnet again, and I combined blue and brown together for a slightly non-traditional look. 

~Rundown~

Bonnet: Handmade

Blouse, gloves: Vintage

Jumperskirt: Innocent World

Basket: Disney Sea

Everything else: Offbrand

I thought that today's coordinate matched the background particularly well. The basket, bonnet and lace gloves give a bit of a 'country loli' feeling.

I feel the need for a fluffier panier these days! I will put mine in the washing machine today I think, that should help a bit. 

I hope you liked my outfit! Thanks for looking.

See you next time,

Sapphira

xxxx

Straw half-bonnet tutorial

Hello readers! How are you? 

As you can see, I've changed Elegant Poupée's appearance a little. It still needs some work though.

Today I've put together a tutorial for you. I'll explain how I made the straw half-bonnet I wore for my recent photoshoot (it's very simple!) as well as sharing some general bonnet tips.

~STRAW HALF-BONNET TUTORIAL~

This bonnet was constructed from an existing straw hat. There are just five simple steps to make it.

I started with an ordinary straw hat. This one is quite small, meant for children to decorate for Easter. It's constructed in a continuous strip of woven straw, which makes it very easy to work with. This tutorial may not work as well for other types of straw hats!

1. The first thing to do is cut a slit into the brim and up to the crown. Then cut away the top part of the crown (half-bonnets have no back to them). Cut along the edge of the woven strip for a neat finish. It sort of looks like a half bonnet already, doesn't it?

2. Now we have to determine how much of the brim to cut away. I did this by cutting away at the brim bit by bit and trying it on until I was happy with it. This is what I ended up with. You can refer to the photo at the beginning of the post to see what size we are aiming for.

3. Of course, we are now left with rough edges where we have cut into the straw. We'll cover those up by stitching ribbon or bias binding around. As you can see, I incorporated the bonnet ties into the binding. At this point, the bonnet is basically finished! That was easy, wasn't it?

4. We are missing one important thing though, and that is a little decoration to make our bonnet pretty. Since it's a straw bonnet with a country loli feeling, flowers, fruit, cotton lace or gingham ribbon might be nice. I coloured in these white foam craft roses with marker pens to match my chosen colour scheme, and tea-stained the doilies I bought from Daiso in Singapore to make my bonnet adornments.

5. Since the shape of the bonnet has somewhat unsightly corners, it's better to arrange the decoration to cover them. Although, the corners are much less noticeable when worn. Sew or glue your decorations on firmly. Well done, your straw half-bonnet is finished!

My tutorial was the cheat's way to do it, but if you'd like to try something a bit more professional, how about taking a look at this lovely tutorial from Tyler of Lily of the Valley?

Bonnets take a bit of confidence to wear, so for now I'm starting small and simple. I would love to wear a more grand bonnet for a photoshoot or Lolita tea party! Maybe when I've gained more confidence I'll wear one for going to buy milk or post a letter.... There are a few brands whose bonnets make me dream of that day!

Triple Fortune http://3-f.jp/

The milliners that make a classic lolita's heart beat faster! I tried on a most beautiful pale blue bonnet in Atelier Pierrot two summer ago, I regret so much that I didn't get it. 

Ophanim http://ophanimgothique.blogspot.co.uk/

A brand run by Caro of Fyeah Lolita. Check the bonnet gallery for pictures of her wonderful creations! 

Kaleido Waltz http://yaplog.jp/kaleidowaltz/

The website hasn't been updated forever, so I suspect this brand is on hiatus. However we can still enjoy beautiful pictures of these lovely and intricate bonnets. Sumika-san, the designer, is so stylish! Perhaps you've seen her snap in KERA or Gothic and Lolita Bible?

Thank you very much for reading today's entry. I hope you found it useful and perhaps even interesting! Which bonnet brands do you admire? Do you know what happened to Kaleido Waltz? Have you made any bonnets?

See you next time,

Sapphira

xxxx

Photoshoot: A country girl by the sea

Hello readers! How are you today? I'm happy it's the weekend!

I mentioned in my last post that I had a photoshoot with Lauren Pinhorn coming up. It went very well, and I now have the fruits of our combined labour to share with you....

The photoshoot location was Brighton, and we took in many of the sights, including the pier, the boardwalk and the Royal Pavillion.

The day was so bright and warm, and the sea was beautiful and blue. The conditions were almost perfect, only a little too bright perhaps, I could hardly keep my eyes open!

The character I thought of for this shoot was a girl from the countryside going to see the sea for the first time. She was so excited to see it, as soon as she arrived she rushed from the station to the pier, taking her case with her.

****

Lauren was great to work with, and we managed to take hundreds of pictures. While planning the shoot we talked about what sort of look we wanted for the photos. Brighton was a great location for the Victorian theme we chose!

If you look at Lauren's previous work, the thing that stood out for me was the natural quality of her photos. I felt inspired by this and therefore I didn't want to look too posed (although you know I am a poser!) which is why I tried to inhabit the role of a character.

I really like the way she edited the pictures, giving them a graininess that evokes the period of early photography. The colours and saturation also bring back the memories of that day and the feeling of the warmth of the sun.  

I hope you enjoyed the photos, and didn't feel too sick with my wordy nonsense! 

Please do take time to look at Lauren's website and blog:

http://www.laurenpinhorn.com/

and

http://laurenpinhorn.blogspot.co.uk/

Thank you, and see you next time!

Sapphira

xxxx