Austen and the Abbey (Day One)

Hello dear readers! How are you?

I ahve had a tiring weekend, but I'm recovered now. Tomorrow is my birthday! I'm going for a picnic with my family, I'm really looking forward to it.

Well, I must tell you about Austen and the Abbey! I'll split the posts into two days.

This was the location for the first day, the Royal Pump Rooms in Leamington Spa. Leamington is a very pretty Georgian town and of course the pump rooms are to do with the famous baths there.

As I mentioned before, I wore boystyle on this day!

It was a very hot day so I discarded my waiscoat quite quickly....

I did get one picture with it! On the left is my lovely friend Violette Noir, looking perfect as usual. This picture was taken in the tea room. The tea parties with the guests (Alice Kobayashi, Yuko Ashizawa and Coco) took place here and the staff from Tea Prince were serving.

Lizzie's Tasty Teas were providing delicious tea in these amazing antique tea cups.

One of the guests was Coco from lolita unit Die Milch. She has a very friendly, sunny personality and I had a lot of fun chatting with her. I was sad because I had to be backstage getting ready for the fashion show during her live. However I will definitely go to see her and Jasmine perform when I go back to Japan!

Pretty stained glass window in the tea room.

The other room contained the stalls and the stage. The exhibitors included Rococo Daze,  Baroque, and Another Girl's Treasure. The designers of Japanese brands Atelier Pierrot and Fairy wish were there in person to sell their products!

Me with Alice Kobayashi of Fairy wish! I'm so happy I could meet her. I loved her street snaps and her brand for a long time, and now I know she is even cuter and even kinder than I could have imagined. I hope to meet her again soon! 

Cute accessories by 8th Sin Creations.

Amazing jumperskirt by Lusty'n Wonderland- the bodice looks like a chest of drawers!

Lovely dresses from Rocking Horse.

After chatting with lots of people and checking out the stalls, it was time to get ready for the fashion shows. It was pretty hectic!

I was in two shows- the Mori Girl show and the Fairy wish show. I was supposed to model for Victorian Maiden too but the outfits got stuck in customs.... It was disappointing but what can you do? 

Anyway, I really enjoyed both shows! My friend Shani asked me to fill in for one girl who could no longer model winter mori. I was very happy to oblige, and so Shani decked me out in her clothes and got togther this really cute outfit for me!

I really liked the fuzzy beret and the woolly shawl!

Two of the other mori models. I loved their outfits too!

Next up was the Fairy wish show! Lyci and Chelsea were modelling too- they look so cute! Everyone got really nice outfits and the tights were adorable- I'll show you some close-up photos in the next post.

This was my outfit for Fairy wish- a broiderie anglaise blouse and matching katyusha and a black pleated skirt with a white lace trim, along with the wonderful tights! I didn't want to take it off to be honest, haha. I got to wear it again for the show and photoshoot the following day though!

Although it was rather tiring and stressful with things running late and going wrong, I really did enjoy myself that day. I went alone which was a bit daunting but it was also good because I spent a lot of time talking to different people and getting to know them better, instead of sticking mostly with one friend. I think it was the fellow attendees and the wonderful guests that made it an especially good day for me. Some of what was planned was a bit ambitious considering that there was such a small team of organisers, but I think they all did their very best and worked very hard. I have to say thank you to them and everyone who I met there for making it such a nice and memorable occasion!

I hope you enjoyed this post and please look out for the next one, coming soon.

Sapphira

KERA snap and picnic

Hello dear readers! How are you?

It's a nice day in England, and I have been doing some writing in the garden. Also, I've taken the opprtunity to handwash some of my clothes! Handwashing is a never ending task for lolitas, isn't it? At least it should all dry quickly today.

This post is from a while back, it was the day I went to the KERA snap at Marui and then had a picnic in nearby Shinjuku Gyoen. This was my outfit:

Hat: Handmade

Blouse: Atelier Pierrot

Skirt: Jane Marple

Gloves: Vintage

I really love this Atelier Pierrot blouse with big puff sleeves. It is very historical looking and I feel like a girl in a story book! For the purposes of the snap I said my theme was 'Country Lolita'. I really like the idea of country lolita and I want to make more outfits in that style. Alice a la mode/Alice Deco used to have a lot of nice country coordinates that weren't typical. What happened to that magazine? It was so creative!

Here's a better look at my hat. As you can see, this was taken at the park. It was such lovely weather- sunny and warm but not too hot, windy or humid! There were lots of young families out and very cute children tumbling about.  

It was a good situation for wearing country lolita. One strange thing though- there appeared to be cat litter sprinkled on the grass all around!

Is it fertilizer or something? Weird!

I'm delighted to say that my picture got into the snap, along with Shinobu and Aviva/go_slow_ly!

I can't tell you how happy I am to see my picture in there. I wish I could go to the snap every month but I've only made three so far. I hope I can go to many more when I return in the autumn!

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Have a lovely weekend wherever you are!

Sapphira

Showa Kinen Park

Hello dear readers! How are you?

It's a drizzly day today, I suppose rainy season is getting started. However, I'm going to show you pictures from  nice sunny day! I went for a picnic at Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa.

I was suprised at the size of the park, it's huge! It's the one place I've been in Tokyo where you can look around and not see a single tall ugly building. It almost felt like I was back in Sussex.

The park includes a lake, bicycle track and a herb garden. I took this picture in the herb garden, it's really pretty! And I saw a fat little lizard sunbathing among the herbs :)

Blouse: Franche Lippée

JSK: Innocent World

Bag: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

I wanted to make a light-coloured, dreamy classic coordinate like Fanny Rosie! Do you know her? I expect you do, since she is very popular, but if not she's a Canadian lolita with the most perfect classical outfits.

There's a cafe at the park serving all sorts of drinks and herbal teas. I had lavender tea. It was a delicate taste, and very relaxing.

I drank it surrounded by lavender bushes! 

It was a windy day but I still really enjoyed the picnic.There were wild flowers and strawberries growing in the grass, and I had a nice view of the lake.

There's also a Japanese garden. It's beautiful! Unfortunately the trees were full of hairy caterpillars.... I am fond of caterpillars so I was quite pleased to see them at first, until one tumbled out of the tree an inch from my nose. I kept my parasol up after that.

I met a wise old cat in the Japanese garden! I saw three cats in the park, this one, a roly poly ginger one, and a scrubby black one. Why are there so many stray cats in Japan? Everyone seems to love cats and feeds the stray ones, but where did they come from?

There was also a bonsai garden. Some of the trees were 300 years old.

I hope that you enjoyed the photos. If you fancy going to a park for a relaxing day, I think this one is the best in Tokyo!

See you next time,

Sapphira

A new side of Shimokitazawa

Hello dear readers! How are you? The weather is warming up nicely in Tokyo, I hope it's pleasant where you are too!

Today I'll tell you about a recent visit I made to Shimokitazawa. I first heard about the area because there is a second-hand Lolita shop there, Grand Bazaar. They usually have a nice selection of Jane Marple pieces so I like to go there, however I haven't found so many other nice spots when I visit. 

Here's what I wore:

Knit: Vintage

JSK: Metamorphose temps de fille

Tights, shoes: Offbrand

I wanted to try something new this visit so I searched the internet for a nice place to have tea in Shimokitazawa, and came up with a place called La Palette. It turned out really lovely, and there's a nice pasta place next to it! I had a big bowl of seafood pasta for lunch, and then crossed over to La Palette for tea and cake. Luckily for me I don't put on weight easily, but I don't recommend this kind of lifestyle for everyone!

Apart from discovering delights for the appetite, I also discovered some other nice things. La Palette is on the north side of the station, the opposite site from Grand Bazaar Lolita. Well, all this time I had been going to the south side, but the north side is ever so much better!

It's a bit like Brighton Lanes and a bit like Camden Market, a bit like Ura-Harajuku and a bit like Daikanyama. So all in all very nice! A relaxed atmosphere, not overly crowded, cute vintage and used clothing shops, and sweet little boutiques and things. 

After exploring the north side I went across to the south and to Grand Bazaar. I tried on a few things but couldn't decide on anything particularly so I left empty handed. By this time I was getting hungry again. These 50s/60s film posters caught my eye.

It turned out that on the second floor there was an old-fashioned izakaya. There was a long wait before I could go in but I really wanted to so I was patient.

The inside was decorated with all sorts of old advertisments and magazine cuttings. The fare was not particularly good, but very cheap and besides the setting more than made up for it.

I had to resist the temptation to pull out those little tacks holding up the posters!

I really enjoyed this day in Shimokita though it was very full and tiring. I hope you enjoyed my account of it! Thanks for reading.

See you next time,

Sapphira

Daikanyama

Hello dear readers! How are you?

The other day I went to Daikanyama for the first time. There's no BABY store there anymore sadly, but there are vintage and second hand shops, and it's a nice area.

Here's my outfit, taken near CouCou, a really cute 300yen shop!

JSK: Metamorphose

Ribbon: Jane Marple

Fawn collar: H&M Kids (modified)

I was aiming to achieve a sort of fairytale maiden look with this outfit. I got the fur collar ages ago but it's only recently that I started to wear it regularly. Some items are hard to get the knack of, aren't they? I think it helped to replace the pink satin ribbon with a cotton lace one, it goes fits in much better with my wardrobe now.

The first thing I did was to stop at a cafe for lunch. I couldn't resist having a cake afterwards too! We were provided with coasters that featured a bespectacled gentleman exclaiming "WOOOW! TASTY!!", which was rather strange and amusing. It was all very tasty though, so he was quite right.

Daikanyama's streets are wide and quiet and the shops are widely spaced out. This gives it a very relaxing and peaceful atmosphere. I do sort of wish there were more shops, but it is such a pleasant place to walk around, so light and airy. Tokyo Metro recently had some improvements, so now Daikanyama is very easily accessible. If you fancy a quiet but stylish day of shopping and cafes, I do recommend going. And the 300yen shop is definitely worth a visit for cute cheap things.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures, see you next time!

Sapphira

xxxx

Puffy twin tails tutorial

Hello dear readers! How are you?

Did anyone see Saoirse Clohessy's classic lolita article in MyM magazine? Here's my photo from the article:

What do you think about my hairstyle?

If you'd like to try wearing it yourself, you can follow this tutorial:

Here are the instrcutions:

1. Separate hair into two low ponytails.

2. Take one of the ponytails and tie it off about 6-10cm down.

3. Tease the section of hair you have created outwards by gently pulling it with your fingers to create volume.

4. Tie off another section and tease it out in the same way. It is easiest to do the teasing section by section.

5. Continue the process until you have a tail of 6-10cm left at the bottom, and repeat on the other side.

Good luck if you try it, and thank you for watching!

Sapphira
xxxx

Q-pot Cafe with Ada, Alice and Aviva

Hello dear readers, how are you?

Today I'm relaxing and doing housework, but yesterday I had a very fun day with some friends. We went to the Q-pot Cafe in Omotesando. 

Outside the cafe.

The Q-pot Cafe opened last year and it was my first time to visit it. It's a very popular place, but as we went on a Monday it was actually quite peaceful and we didn't have to wait to get a table.

Q-pot glass!

The staff are kind and let you freely take pictures inside. There was lots of cute merchandise and the decor was really nice too.

They only serve sweets, but they all looked so nice it was hard to choose! I ended up going for the one that wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing but seemed the most reliably tasty- strawberry jelly.

It's served on a plate depicting a fancy lady's torso so it seems like your dessert is the pendant of her necklace. I also had the Afternoon Breeze tea which was a kind of Earl Gray. It was really nice too!

Inside the cafe. Q-pots hanging from the ceiling!

The loos were tooth-themed for some reason; the design was cute but it made me feel guilty for eating sweets! Anyway the lighting was nice so I vainly snapped some pictures of myself....

I made the headdress myself. I wanted to wear a chocolate-y outfit to suit the occasion.

I got an outfit shot inside the cafe! I wish my house looked like this. Thanks to Aviva for taking the photo.

Headdress: Handmade

Lace collar blouse: Vintage

Jumperskirt: Innocent World

Others: Offbrand

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the pictures. See you next time!

Sapphira

横浜人形の家 Yokohama Doll Museum

Hello dear readers! How are you?

Today I'm going to share some photos from my visit to the Yokohama Doll Museum. I found out about it by chance wandering around Yokohama one year ago, but on that occasion it was closed! I'm glad I managed to make it back there in a day it was actually open.

First of all, here's my outfit:

Headbow: Ange

Cutsew: axes femme

Jumperskirt: Innocent World

Bag: Metamorphose

Others: Offbrand

My petticoat looks so flat again! It seemed fine in the morning....

I feel like this outfit is a bit different from my usual style, perhaps the colour combination and the cardigan? But I'm pleased with how it turned out! 

Being a port, Yokohama has an interesting history of cultural exchange with foreign countries. The first exhibit we came across was a doll illustrating a sad little story from Yokohama's history- the little girl with red shoes. 

She was a girl from Shizuoka whose mother gave her to be adopted by American missionaries, thinking this was the best thing for her. They took her to Yokohama in order to travel overseas, but before they left they discovered she had tuberculosis, and she died without leaving Japan. Her mother didn't know this but went on thinking about and sadly missing her daughter.

You can read more about it here:

http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/japan/attractions/AkaiKutsu.htm

A song that was composed about her going away in her pretty red shoes is a very well known nursery rhyme in Japan (it's the first song in this video). 

Well, on to happier things! The next room was dolls from around the world. It seems like every civilisation that there has ever been has made dolls, and there were cases and cases of dolls from Japan alone, all of them varied and reflecting the different regions where they were made.

Apparently this one is the Japanese version of me!

We certainly have similar legs.

I really loved the Thai dolls! Thai costumes are so beautiful and I love the elegant way they turn out their hands and feet. I want to visit Thailand some day!

On the next floor there were Japanese dolls on one side and European dolls on the other. This pretty doll was very interesting, because though she is Japanese she was made using French doll-making techniques. I really like her cute expression and her elegant height and slim figure. She's wearing an outfit for a particular dance which I've forgotten at the moment!

There was also a Japanese doll's house with such cute accessories! I have a doll's house at home that I'm still working on (I will take pictures sometime) and now I really want this Japanese one. Just look at all the perfect little plates and cups and squids!

On the European side, there were some examples of automata. I'm really interested in them but they are quite rare so there's not often a chance to see them. They had a couple here and they also had videos of them in motion. This writing pierrot was my favourite!

He was very lifelike and very dainty at the same time. There was also a dancing Rococco couple but they just turned round and round and made you giddy.

This last case showed the difference betwen the way that Japanese dolls and European bisque dolls are made. Both girls are very cute! I was suprised to learn that the Japanese dolls usually have human hair. There are some creepy stories about the hair continuing to grow....

As we left the museum, there were a few more things on display,  dolls that have been made very recently. I liked this one because he reminds me of Közi!

 Well, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures! I think this museum is well worth a visit. Hina Matsuri is coming up next month, so it seems like the perfect time to go!

See you next time,

Sapphira