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

Tokyo Disneyland

Hello dear readers! How are you today?

The weather has been so warm lately that I was able to have a picnic with other other lolitas yesterday. However, today's post is from when the weather was much colder a month or so ago. This was when I visited Disneyland!

I arrived in Chiba the day before going to the park, and stayed at the Disney Ambassador Hotel. This meant that I could start the day by having breakfast with my favourite characters!

Me and Mickey! I was so happy to meet him <3 I'm a big fan of Mickey Mouse, I  think he's cool!

Me and Donald. I wanted to grab his tail, it was so cute! Probably not good behaviour though....

Minne was so pretty!

You can see a bit of the hotel room behind me, it was lovely, and much bigger than my entire apartment! I got this hat in Disney Sea last year. If you go to Disney or Disney Sea you will see lots of people in Disney hats of different sorts. This leopard one is pretty popular! I recommend getting one if you go, you will feel left out if you don't and probably catch a cold too.

I love the buildings at Disneyland! This is in the World Bazaar area.The ice-cream colours are so cute!

I went to watch this crazy Michael Jackson short film from 1987 called Captain EO. Michael Jackson is Captain EO and he and his crew of robots and aliens go to give a present to a scary tentacle lady. Their present is the gift of song and dance! Touched by their performance, the scary tentacle lady turns into Angelica Huston is a pretty gown and all is well. It is certainly a curious thing and I enjoyed it!

Near Cinderella's castle. There were lots of friendly ducks waddling around on the grass or having a swim.

Another cute building in Fantasyland. Fantasyland has rides from all the classic movies like Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. I prefer rides where you sit in a little car and look at things much more than rollercoasters and things so I like this zone the best. I don't recommend the Pinocchio ride though, the car goes so fast you can't see anything and it's awful to queue for ages and then finish the ride in about ten seconds.

I went to Cinderella's castle for the first time. It was closed for refubishment before. I'm so glad I went in, I really loved it. It's so pretty inside! Here is one of the stained glass windows. You can see 'It's a Small World' at the bottom of the picture.

Inside the castle there are little displays telling the story of Cinderella. They are all different; this one had moving parts so it was as if the mice were really working on Cinderella's dress! My favourite display was the one where the Fairy Godmother transforms Cinderella and the pumpkin, but it wasn't possible to take a photo. I don't know how they did it but it's really like magic!

In the throne room there are murals, and if you take a photo of them with a flash, a secret message is revealed!

 Ta-da!

And of course you can do this!

 I hope you enjoyed the pictures, there's some more coming next time so please look out for them!

Sapphira

xxxx

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

Day in Shibuya

 Hello dear readers, how are you?

Did you hear about the dust cloud that turned Tokyo's sky into a horrible yellow-brown haze? I was in that! It was so scary, I'm glad it didn't stay for too long.

Anyway, today I have a few photos to share from a day out in Shibuya. I don't go to Shibuya often, but I think I will start going more since I found a few interesting places on this day.

First, here's my outfit:

Blouse, skirt: Vintage

Bag: Metamorphose

Tights: tutuanna

Others: Offbrand

Not lolita today! I got this red and blue tartan skirt in a vintage shop in Koenji. It was less than 500yen! I really love it, it's become my lazy day skirt. Actually that sweater is my lazy day sweater.... I guess it was a lazy day!

The main reason for going to Shibuya that day was to try a particular restaurant that was recommended to me. At this restaurant, you order a main dish (fish or meat) and then help yourself to all sorts of vegetable dishes as much as you like.

The name of the restaurant is ぷんらく(Punraku) and it is situated on the top floor of Tsutaya, which you will see as you leave Shibuya station by the Hachiko exit. 

I thought it was really good! The main dish was a white fish of some sort with basil sauce, it was so delicious. The flavour of the fish was the main attraction, rather than the basil sauce livening up a boring piece of flavourless fish. 

As for the vegetable dishes, there were lots to choose from and quite varied, between salads, cooked vegetables, different types of beans and so on. All very nice! There's also unlimited drinks, including teas and soft drinks.

After such a healthy lunch I did some healthy shopping (healthy for my wallet because I didn't buy anything) and then... had chocolate cake!

It was at a cafe called Kiefer or perhaps Kiefel,  depending on which menu you happened to receive. Anyway, it was very nice! The cakes are not particularly outstanding perhaps, but it's pretty inside and not expensive. It's to the left of 109 as you approach it from Hachiko.

So that was my day in Shibuya! I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

See you again soon,

Sapphira

xxxx 

Toshimaen

Hello dear readers! How are you?

Today, as promised, I'll show you the pictures of the lolita meet up I went to at Toshimaen. Toshimaen is an amusement park in Tokyo, and our chief reason for going was to see the El Dorado carousel.

It was built in Germany in 1907, lived for a long time in New York, and in the 1970s it came to Japan. It's also been imortalised in Baby's El Dorado series, though of course the real one looks quite a bit different to the applique version.

It's a lovely carousel, with the most beautiful Art Nouveau decoration. I've never seen anything like it! 

You could ride in a carriage, on a velvet bench, on a horse, or on a pig. I choose a horse, of course.

It was also unusual in that the horses didn't move up and down, and there weren't any moving figures or mirrors in the centre, and it seemed to be going ever so fast which was a bit worrying given it's age and the fact it's made of wood.

This carousel was so beautiful once you were sitting inside it. I'd like to go round and round for hours!

 

Of course we took outfit shots! I wish I had worn something more fitting for the scenery, but in winter I  can hardly think of anything but being as warm as possible.

Here's my makeup:

And Mr Piggy:

After the carousel, we went skating! I haven't skated for years, and I was pretty bad at it then. I kept having second thoughts but once the skates were on my feet there couldn't really be any going back, and after dragging myself round the edge a couple of times annoying everyone, I got the hang of it again! It was great fun, and the other lolis looked so cute on skates! 

Finally, I want to say thank you very much to the maker of my valentine this week. It means a great deal to me to receive one- thank you, thank you, thank you!

See you next time,

Sapphira

Triple Fortune Tea Party

Hello dear readers! How are you?

Today I'm sharing my pictures from the Triple Fortune Tea Party last weekend. It was an amazing experience, and I'm so glad I went. The guests at Triple Fortune's parties always wear the most amazing outfits, and I felt rather nervous because I just knew that I could never come up with anything to match  them. My prediction was quite true, but I had a gorgeous time nonetheless!

I went with Claudia, Tomo and Aviva, who did manage to look every bit as fabulous as the other guests. It's the first time I'd met Claudia, though I'd heard about her from mutual friends. She's lovely, I hope we can meet again someday!

The restaurant where the party was held was very nice, though rather dark. There were all sorts of interesting knick knacks and European decorations. Aviva and I were afraid we wouldn't be fed, but we had some nice little things like bruschetta (or a Japanese version thereof) and cheese and crackers, and tea and coffee and hot drinks. There were desserts but they ran out rather fast.

More pretty things....

After the free time for eating and chatting, the designer gave a talk. She was cool!

You can see lots of lovely hats in this picture! The designer is the black-haired lady speaking into the mic. She was quite androgynous and graceful with a marvellous Takarazuka-like voice! Kakkoi!

Sneaky photo! The talk was mostly about Victorian fashion and the designer's work for Arika Takarano. After the talk, we had a photo session. Midori was there, so we got to take a photo with her! She's so cute and cheerful and her smile is very sweet.

I'm at the back! I was pleased with my hat, which I had decorated with chestnuts and roses, though not the rest of my outfit....

Photo by Aviva

There were a lot of guests, so we went into groups to take photos. I think this was the "queens" group? I think there was an ojousama group, mens group etc.

Look at her flower eye and green wig! And the girl on the right had a tea party on the hip-shelf (I don't know quite how else to call it) of her dress, with tiny tea cups and cakes! 

Another group....

I'm happy I got a picture with this girl, I thought she looked amazing. Her blue dress is gorgeous and her whole outfit suits her perfectly. 

This girl was another of my favourites. I absolutely love her 18th century style outfit, and she made it by herself! You should have seen all the tiny ribbon roses. I think she looks like Marguerite St Just.

I got a photo with Aviva the marvellous musroom maiden too! She had fastened little mushrooms to her Triple Fortune bonnet, and made a necklace with a mushroom in a cage. Everyone got so excited when they saw the mushrooms! It's such a cute and original idea.

There were about six bonnets and a few stoles and opera hats for sale at the party, but the bonnets were being sold by lottery. There was one that caught my eye, dark brownish green with pale blue and green roses and champagne-coloured ribbons and lace that was just about the loveliest bonnet I've seen (they only seem to have pastel coloured 3F ones in Atelier Pierrot when I go, and I don't like to buy online). I had a funny feeling that if I entered, I would win that lottery. 

And I did! I suppose a Triple Fortune bonnet is one of the most hankered-after items for classical girls, and I'm no exception. I'm glad I held out for this one, it's just as perfect as can be! 

I love my bonnet!

Everyone who came to the tea party got a tote bag with a gold Triple Fortune logo, and my bonnet came in one with a navy logo.

I had a fantastic time, and I hope I can go to another Triple Fortune party someday! Next time I'll use all the wonderful inspiration I got from the marvellous guests I saw, and try my best to make a really great outfit. Improving and developing your style is one of the most fun things about wearing lolita!

I hope you enjoyed the photos. Who's outfit did you like?