Lovely Day with Shinobu

 Hello dear readers! How are you today?

Today I'll tell you about my day out with fellow lolita blogger Shinobu.

We knew each other online while I was still in England and she in Mexico, and by a very happy coincidence we moved to Japan around the same time.

Earlier this month we met in Harajuku for a very typical lolita day out, of course including purikura!

Our schedule was as follows:

1. Meet at Harajuku station, Takeshita Dori exit

2. Go to Christie and have tea

3. Closet Child

4. Laforet

5. Purikura

This is a truly typical lolita day in Harajuku! 

I got a few things that day- flowers from H&M, a hat from Daiso I'm going to decorate, super-frilly Metamorphose socks (we had to discuss about the raschel lace, but I  finally decided to get them) and a brown parasol from Alice and the Pirates (too big to go in the picture).  

I got something else too, something very precious!

It was a present from Shinobu, her original illustration of me! I was very touched and happy. She is so kind and so talented (check her blog for more of her work!) All the little details of my coordinate are just right and the watercolours are dreamy and pretty. I am hunting for a nice frame to keep it in. Thank you, Shinobu!

I enjoyed everything that day, but the especially sitting and chatting in the cafe. It was very peaceful! I'm looking forward to next time with Shinobu :)

Here is my outfit. It was raining so it was hard to find a good location!

Head bow: Ange

Onepiece: Innocent World

Bag: Metamorphose

Can you guess the theme? It's 'Schoolgirl Lolita'. 

It felt like autumn term on that rainy day!

Thank you very much for reading, and see you again soon.

Sapphira

Harajuku Fashion Walk/Vampire Cafe

Hello dear readers! Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I've been busy, but I will try to catch up from now on! I have lots of nice posts I want to write :)

This post about Harajuku Fashion Walk is very belated, because I wanted to time it with the broadcast of Cool Japan, who were filming it. It turns out that they didn't feature the walk very much in the program though, but there is apparently a glimpse of my friends so I will watch it later.

Here are members of the Tokyo International Lolitas that attended the walk (photo wickedly stolen  from Tokyo Fashion)

We all tried to go for a vampiric theme in honour of Ni (the beautiful gothic lady in the centre) as it was her last Fashion Walk before leaving Japan to continue her studies. I miss her!

I don't have much gothic in my wardrobe, so I tried a sort of retro/aristocratic look instead. 

I did something slightly different with my make-up too. I usually do a 'cute' look but this time I tried to make my face look sharp. I angled my brows a little upwards and drew thick winged eyeliner without any shading on the lower lid, to focus attention upwards. I also put blusher only on the outer part of my face to look a bit paler, and used red lipgloss for a vampiric look.

Well, I have to admit I don't particularly look like a vampire, but I quite liked this outfit!

Hat, stole, gloves: Vintage

Earrings: Vivienne Westwood

Onepiece: Handmade

Others: Offbrand

Here we are all walking down Omotesando:

And near the station, which is the first meeting point:

Top hats! 

Amazing ladies! I want to frame this picture to always remember how wonderful Lolita can be <3

The camera crew filming:

After the walk a couple of us got crepes. This was the first time I had eaten a crepe in Harajuku, can you believe it?

It was Ni's farewell party at the Vampire Cafe that evening. It was too dark for my camera to take good pictures, but I have to say it wasn't the most fantastic place I have ever been. Apparently we weren't in the best room, but I don't know that it would have been a great deal better. Also the waitress almost set me on fire by creeping up behind me with a flaming desert that ended up tasting of lighter fluid or something....

The menu was a bit unimaginative too (they just added 'vampire' to the name of the dish, or set it on fire it seemed), but at least my pasta was yummy! It had a tortilla bat on it. You can also see the coffin-shaped drink menu in this photo.

It was a very nice day, even if the restaurant wasn't quite up to scratch and even if we are not famous tv stars now! I hope you enjoyed reading about it.

See you next time,

Sapphira

xxxx

Kaho visited Japan!

Hello dear readers!

Do you know the lolita blogger Kaho?

http://kahotearoom.blogspot.jp/

She's a lolita from Japan, now living in Singapore. I met her in Singapore last year, and recently I had the chance to meet her and her friends in Tokyo when she visited Japan.

Me, Kaho and Kaho's friend Grace on Takeshita Dori. This is just after Kaho transformed Grace into a lolita! She arrived wearing casual clothes, but Kaho found an outfit in Closet Child and Grace dressed up in it. I think it was her second or third time to wear lolita? It's great that she's so happy to try dressing up for the occasion, and she definitely looks cute! I don't know if any of my non-lolita friends would be so willing.

We went to Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku and back to Harajuku that day! This is where we had tea in Shibuya. It's in a building to the left of 109, it was really nice so I'll go back there soon and tell you more about it.

I was so glad to meet Kaho again, and I had a lot of fun with her friends. Everyone was so relaxed and cheerful! Also, I admire Kaho for dressing the way she wants to, even though she is working and also a wife and mother. Some people feel pressure to leave lolita as they grow up, and it's shame. Of course there are some situations when you need to wear certain clothes, but if it's your free time, why not wear what makes you happy? I can't imagine my life without lolita fashion, and I don't want to give up.

The best thing is, she stays true to her sweet style, and it really looks good her! And she's lucky to have a cute daughter who loves lolita. Lucky for her daughter too! 

In the evening some of the other Tokyo lolis came and we had dinner together. We took outfit shots, so I'll post mine.

Can you guess my favourite colour??

Finally, we took purikura. Grace had never heard of it before (it was her first trip to Japan) so I hope she liked the results!

Yay! It was a lovely day <3

See you next time,

Sapphira

xxxx

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

Robot Kitty in Omotesando Hills

Hello everyone! How are you enjoying the weekend? I'm going to see D tomorrow! Can't wait!

Today I'm going to show you some photos I took at the Robot Kitty exhibition at Omotesando Hills in Harajuku.

I didn't know this exhibition was on, but I'm glad I chanced upon it!

In this exhibition, Hello Kitty has been re-designed as a robot, and many celebrities were asked to dream up outfits for her. For example.....

Kishidan Robot Kitty!

Colourful Robot Kitty by Sebastian Masuda (founder of 6%DOKIDOKI)

Baby's contribution was a bit.... unexpected?

I knew this flamboyant robo-cat must be the work of someone special!

Sure enough, the designer is IZAM.

Yuko Yamaguchi, the designer of Hello Kitty since 1980, was present at the exhibition. She was wearing Emily Temple Cute!

She spent a long time signing things for this lady, who was obviously a big Kitty fan! She was wearing a Kitty yukata, with a Kitty obi, Kitty handbag, and had an endless array of Kitty good to be signed.

What do you think of Hello Kitty? I used to like her a lot when I was 12 or so, but these days my favourite characters are Jiji (Ghibli), Duffy (Disney) and Kutusita nyanko (are they more mature perhaps?). Rilakkuma has taken over from Kitty as Japan's most popular character, or so it seems to me. Still, I don't think she'll ever be forgotten!

Here's my casual coordinate for that day:

Cutsew by an another angelus (f.i.n.t) and JSK by Metamorphose

No fringe!

I just pinned it to once side, it's not gone forever. I really love my new cutsew from f.i.n.t! There was a choice of dusky pink or lilac, pink would probably be easier to coordinate but the lilac was too pretty to resist! I like how it picks up the purple roses in the print of this JSK, and in fact it makes it look like a onepiece. 

~I'm making a new tag for f.i.n.t because I know I won't be able to stay away from there XD~

Sapphira

xxxx

Sakizo exhibiton and uchimizu in Harajuku

Hello everyone! How are you?

Yesterday was a really fun day! I went with my friend Aviva to the Sakizo exhibition held at 月夜のサカス, a cafe in Akihabara.

I really like Sakizo's work, it's so gorgeous and detailed! There were about 16 pieces on display, pairs of girls and boys, plus a few sets of deco false nails. I didn't know that Sakizo had drawn boys, but they are just as lovely as the girls! I'm afraid we were not permitted to take photos of the exhibition, save for this amazing cosplay:

The photo doesn't do it justice! It was remarkably like the original illustration, right down to the details of the skirt lining.

They were selling Sakizo books at the cafe, it was hard to decide which one to get but I chose this one in the end:

The pie-ears made my mind up! The girls in this book are all wearing outfits inspired by various desserts (the cover is apple pie, of course). I also got a postcard for spending over 1000yen, plus the free flyer with the perfume bottle on. 

Now, sweets and teas and perfumes are all very well, but I think Sakizo should do a series of British food next. For instance, Sunday roast, full english breakfast, bangers and mash, shepherd's pie, scotch eggs etc. I may write her  a letter.

You can find out more about Sakizo here:

http://sakizo.jp/

Aviva had heard about an event going on in Harajuku that afternoon, so we headed over there to join in.

We unintentionally had matching shoes and socks!

The event was called uchimizu,  have you heard of it before? I hadn't! Uchimizu is where people gather to sprinkle water on the streets or at a temple in order to clean and cool the area. The one in Harajuku is co-organised by Angelic Pretty, so Maki and Asuka were there, along with models RinRin, Chikage, and Kanzaki Rin. 

RinRin's coord is so cute and summery!

There were lots of lolis in attendance, mostly in Angelic Pretty and some in Putumayo. Aviva and I were the only classical girls! There were also people in yukata and some in 'normal' (I don't know what else to say?!) clothes.

After the speeches were over, it was time to cool down Harajuku! We all took one of these buckets and set to work. 

AP girls looking perfect! We had a chance to chat with RinRin afterwards. It was the first time I have met her. She is truly lovely, both in looks and personality. 

I'm so glad we went to this event, it really was fun. The atmosphere was so happy and wonderful, and it did indeed cool you down! As well as that, it's nice to take part in these old traditions and see them kept alive. 

Dear readers, have you done uchimizu before? Would you like to someday?

Thanks for reading,

Sapphira

xxxx

PS: One of the other participants asked if we do uchimizu in England, I said no but when I talked to my father later he said that many years ago there used to be a water cart that would go around at night watreing the streets so that in the morning they would be fresh and cool! So we did have something  a little similar in England, at least. 

Yoyogi Koen and Meiji Jingu

Hello everyone!

Today's post is another installation of my trip to Japan. I'm coming to the end of these posts- I feel quite sad. However, it's nice to relieve these memories, and this particular day was one of my favourites.

Here's my coordinate:

~Rundown~

Hat: corgi-corgi

Blouse, scarf: Vintage

Skirt, socks: Innocent World

Basket: Disney Sea!

On this day we went to Harajuku again. This time we took a walk in Yoyogi Park and visited Meiji Shrine.... aaaand did some shopping!

I took a photo here the first time I came to Japan! Somehow this picture came out looking as if it was snowing. I don't know how it happened but it's pretty! The coat is Victorian Maiden and the muff is Innocent World.

Meiji Shrine is so beautiful, this picture really doesn't do it justice. It has the loveliest atmosphere, so romantic!

We took a walk in the imperial garden. January is seldom the best time to see any sort of garden, but it was such a beautiful clear sunny day that even though the plants were sleeping it was a very charming place.

Empress Soken used to fish from this jetty. I never imagined empresses fishing, but this one did!

Once again I went to Laforet! I'd seen some adorable wrist cuffs in Baby previously; as luck would have it they were still there! I really like the delicate tulle lace with a rose pattern and the cream colour. These will be so handy in summer when I wear short sleeves. The shop staff was so kind and wrapped them very carefully, and let me choose between an Alice and the Pirates bag or a Baby bag.

Then I got a handbag in Metamorphose too! Again, the shop staff was lovely. I took a while to decide between this one and a smaller one with rose embroidery, and she explained their features with great care which was very helpful. In the end I chose this one because it holds a lot but because of the shape it doesn't look too hefty. 

The most charming point is this metal plate. The scallops are so pretty too, and this particular shade of matte brown was just what I wanted. 

The zips are also adorable! Look at the tiny Metamorphose swans.

The lining is cream and brown, very handy. No chance of losing things in here!

I still sort of want the smaller bag too, the square one. There's a red version that's really lovely.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Oh dear, I really do miss Japan!

Sapphira

xxxx