Winter ILD 2015- Frills and Film Recap

Hello, Darlings!

As promised, I wanted to write about my first meet-up I attended in Maryland, for Winter International Lolita Day 2015.

As some of you may know, there are two ILD's held each year- one in Summer, and one in Winter. On International Lolita Day, the local communities usually come together for one big meet, doing something typically Lolita- for example, having high tea, visiting a museum, or even just getting together at a host's house. Even if someone is usually too busy to attend meets regularly, most Lolitas will make an extra effort to attend International Lolita Day- that is how important the day is to our culture.

In Summer 2015, I hosted the Hawaii Lolitas meetup at a local tea room, with a lot of help from some of my friends. It was Disney themed, and there were lots of really cute coords!

Me as Lolita Ursula, with Ariel and Bambi at my table.

But that was a different, and much smaller comm! In total, we had about 10 attendees.

So imagine going from a small comm, to almost one hundred Lolitas all in one place! That was Frills and Film, for me.

Frills and Film, I believe was hosted by the Charm City (Baltimore) Lolitas moderators. The group rented out a theatre near the airport, which was easily accessible by bus, train, and car. Lolitas from all over flocked to the theatre for an exclusive screening of our "cult classic", "Kamikaze Girls".

Kamikaze Girls, based on the novel by Novala Takemoto, tells the story of two unlikely teenage girls who become friends- one a hard core Lifestyle Lolita, and one a "bosuzoku" motor bike yanki who rides with a girl gang. The two are social outcasts in their own right, in their back-water, "chou-inaka" town of Shimotsuma. While these girls independently waltz/stomp around in frills/embroidered motorcycle jackets, the rest of the town lives in complacency with normal clothes from Jusco; a Japanese equivalent of Walmart. 

The movie caters to Lolitas, because of the heavy references to iconic Lolita brand Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. But aside from the frilly eye candy, it's a funny film with a warm message of friendship. 

And what a better movie to watch, for my first meet with my new comm?

To be honest, I was incredibly nervous and almost didn't go- but the $37 ticket, promise of raffle prizes and goodie bags tempted me otherwise.

There were several categories for the coordinate contest, for which I assembled a pretty humble holiday coord using my Charlotte Baniran Jsk. I also made myself a feathered headpiece, just to add more flair, and a holly brooch, to bring in a more holly-day (hah) feel.

 

The theatre was surprisingly quiet outside; but when I walked in, the theatre lobby was packed with petticoats! Being as shy as I am, I stayed off to the side, until a couple of girls complimented me on my headdress. I joined their cluster, and we ended up being friends and sitting together for the day.

There was a photo booth inside the theatre, with Kamikaze Girls themed props. After everyone trickled in, we all got in line for confections, including all kinds of candy, home made pink candied kettle corn, vegetables with dip, and more.

Waiting in line for snacks!

The line for the photo booth. 

After, it was time for the film to start rolling. It was amazing watching the movie with so many other Lolitas- everyone was laughing with me at the funny parts, and I had a feeling we cried together at the sad parts, too. It was far different from the first time I watched the movie, years ago in high school- alone, in my room on my laptop. It made me think how great it was, that the Lolita community has grown.

There was a raffle shortly after, in which I won a drawing from Kate Leopold Art! I can hardly wait to frame it, and hang it in my sewing room.

There were also goodie bags passed out, with business cards from local artisans, a pair of tights from We Love Colors, and an adorable handmade button, featuring the cabbage from Kamikaze Girls.

"This will be your friend, now."

I was also very surprised to win one of the categories for the outfit contest! Although I didn't win the "Elegant Holiday" category I was going for, I ended up winning Judge's Choice. I got an adorable gift box with a copy of the original Kamikaze Girls novel, and an embroidery loop, so I can be like the main Lolita character, Momoko. 

Not only did I leave the meet with a lot of swag, but I had a great time, and ended up making a great new friend too. Since this meet, I've hung out with new friends singing karaoke, playing games at their house, or meeting up at the mall and grabbing dinner. It was a great gateway into the new community!

I know it is only January, but I can hardly wait for Summer International Lolita Day 2016!

The next big meetup for the Charm City Community will probably be next month's Katsucon. They are hosting a Lolita Luncheon at one of the nearby restaurants. There will supposedly be Lolita-related panels as well, but at this time, I heard the panels had not been announced yet.

What are some of your favourite ILD memories? Did your comm do anything special for this past one? Feel free to leave me a comment, or a link to your blog post!

Community; 365 LLC- Favourite Lolita Haunts

Hello, Darlings!

One of the biggest changes of 2015 was leaving my home in Hawaii, and moving to the Baltimore area of Maryland with my husband. At least as a Navy brat, this was nothing new to me; I am used to transplanting myself every few years.

Though I'm a veteran when it comes to moving, this move was especially hard for me, and mainly because of how close I was to my Hawaii comm.

Though I started Lolita in 2007, I was living in Connecticut, still in high school, and never went to meets. I mainly stuck to handmade things sewn by me, In the Starlight, a cheap find or two from egl_comm_sales, or Bodyline. Most of my interaction with Lolitas was done online, either on Live Journal or Vivcore Forums (hello nostalgia!).

Fast-forward to 2009. I graduated high school, and moved back to my home state of Hawaii for university. With the freedom of public transportation, and some semblance of adult responsibility, it became easier to attend meets and get connected with the comm. At the time, they only had an LJ group, where they posted their next meet. (You kids who grew up with Facebook will never know the anxiety of attending your first meet, and you only know people by their LJ names, haha!)

From that point on, a lot happened. Over my next six years there (one spent abroad in Japan), I became so close to the ladies and gentlemen I met through this hobby. Some introduced me to other hobbies, like cosplay, photo shoots, makeup artistry, tea appreciation, wine tasting... before long, a lot of that group felt like my family. Some of the girls were even bridesmaids at my wedding!

I did have a going away party though, for one last hurrah with my closest friends.

At Kahua Cafe, in Namea Books- an amazing, locally sourced cafe owned by my friend.

And then, it was time to get on a plane and say good-bye.

I'm used to packing up my life and putting down new roots wherever I go. But I had some pretty deep roots in Hawaii that were difficult to pull up.

But luckily, the Lolita community has changed online. Many Lolita comms started making their own groups on Facebook, through which people can RSVP to events, discuss local topics, organize local sales, and so on. Thus, it was much easier to find and connect with my comm, this time around.

Being in a new comm is very exciting! My first meet in Maryland was Winter International Lolita Day 2015: Frills and Film. I have a post queued up on that later, but it was more Lolitas than I had ever seen in one place all my life! Everyone was quite nice and welcoming, and I have a very good feeling about this comm.

This comm is very active it seems, with at least one meet-up a month. Since I organized a few meets back in Hawaii, I have been scouring around on Yelp for new meet-up ideas, and bookmarking them each time I find something promising. After all, I think the most exciting part of moving somewhere new, is to discover your new favourite places!

So when I saw today's Lifestyle Lolita Challenge topic, I felt it was quite relevant:

I haven't checked all of these out yet, but here are some awesome places I discovered locally!

(I am addicted to Yelp, so any other Lolita Yelpers out there, please add me!)

Tea Rooms:

• Sweet Simplici-tea - Skyesville, MD
• Tea by Two - Bel Air, MD
• Tea on the Tiber - Ellicott City, MD

Cafes:

• Caffe Bene- Ellicott City, MD
• La Madeleine French Cuisine and Cafe- Columbia, MD. Apparently our comm has dinner meets here quite often, but I haven't made it to one yet!
• Matcha Time Cafe- Ellicott City, MD
• Snow Cafe- Ellicott City, MD. I just visited here yesterday, and they have the best Boba tea I've had since I left Hawaii! It really lifted a bit of my homesickness, especially since the milk-snow was pretty big in Hawaii. The interior has an adorable chalk-paint wall, a set-up like the outside of a French Cafe, and tons of tiny polaroids on the walls. I can see myself hanging out here with Lolita friends, while my husband plays cards at the card shop next door!
• Sweet Hearts Patisserie- Annapolis, MD. Rumoured to have amazing macarons and Petit-Fours!
• The White Rabbit- Odenton, MD. Though this place doesn't look that fancy, the pictures of playing-card shaped menus and the name intrigue me! The White Rabbit is my favourite character from Alice in Wonderland, so I must make it a point to go.

I hope to work through the list above, and maybe add to it slowly. Hopefully there will be lots of colorful meet-up posts to share with you all!

And BONUS: If you're still in Hawaii running amok in frilly glory, well you're in luck. I've been compiling a list of Lolita-friendly places in Hawaii since before I moved. Check it out here! 

Oh, what's that? It's a colorful meet-up post hot out of the oven and queued up for you! Stay tuned for a recap of ILD 2015!

Hawaii Fashion Month: Hawaii's Melting Pot of Fashion

October 2013 will be the first ever Hawaii Fashion Month, a movement to make Hawaii recognised as a fashion destination like California and New York. The event will echo throughout art galleries, shopping centres, theatres, schools and eateries state wide.

Paul Brown states, "Hawai‘i Fashion Month gives local stylists, designers and retailers the opportunity to showcase the multicultural talent within our state’s fashion and beauty industries. Hawai‘i styles and trends not only represent our island culture, but they also symbolize a dynamic melting pot of fashion with inspiration from all over the world."

It's true, Hawaii offers a unique blend of fashion, where eastern and western tastes mix and mingle. When you first think of Hawaiian fashion, you probably think of Aloha shirts, leis, slippers (flip flops) and miu mius. But the truth is there is so much more to offer; from avant garde couture from designers fresh out of school and still budding, to our thriving hub of Japanese sub cultures.

J-fashion enthusiasts of all sects gathered at Ala Moana Shopping Center last month, for the first ever Honolulu "Harajuku Fashion Walk." Guests included representatives of Visual Kei, Sweet, Gothic and Classic Lolita, Cult Party Kei, Shironuri and Decora.

We met inside "Shirokiya", Ala Moana's unique Japanese Department store and Food Court. From there we went on a trek through Ala Moana Beach Park and back up to Neiman Marcus, taking refuge in the air conditioning.

On our journey we were stopped by curious bystanders, shocked Japanese tourists, and we were even bombarded by a children's birthday party posse, who recognised the Lolita fashion with gusto. The entire party took their photos with the J-fashion group (And I made a small child cry with my shironuri Vkei outfit. Not intentional.)

It was a wonderful way for all of us to come together and show our style. I loved it because I was able to go out to a meet-up in something other than lolita that I enjoy- The Visual Kei style. (I am the one in the white hair, red tie and red Listen Flavor Boots.)

Speaking of Visual Kei... me, my friend Alice, Nephilim Halls and several other sponsors have teamed up to bring J-fashion out of the closet in Hawaii. One of our events was a "Pop Kei Fashion Show", hosted by Loading Zone for their "Anime Mayhem!" event, a gallery show of anime styled art by local artists. 

Models, mainly supporters of our Visual Kei Dark Castle events, came out in items from their own closet. Brands like Putumayo, h.Naoto and Mint Neko were well represented. The theme was "Pop Kei", or a more casual, pop art style of oshare kei.

Alice and I also had a Pop-Up booth with information on J-fashion, music and alternative events in Hawaii, and of course Visual Kei Dark Castle.

Since there were art supplies out for guests, we even received fan art from an adorable little girl!

Our main goal was to get the word out about J-fashion in Hawaii, and to attract a following for our upcoming event: VKDC: Angels and Demons. It was our usual bi-monthly Visual Kei Dark Castle event but with a "Heaven vs. Hell" theme. 

The guests got REALLY into dressing up... and much to my surprise, it wasn't all demons! We had some amazing angels! Here I am with my fried Dana, who made his detachable wings and all his accessories by hand!

I lead the Angels, and my friend and Co-host Alice lead the Demons.

Here we are with the winners and runners up of our Fashion Contest! The Best Demon was awarded a gift card to Sensually Yours, and the Best Angel scored a gift card for The Tea Farm Cafe. Both are local Hawaii businesses.

And this was NOTHING! Visual Kei Dark Castle is only just starting to take off in Hawaii... and in October, with Hawaii Fashion Month we are going to prove it to you, with our VKDC Halloween Party!

You are cordially invited to join us at our new venue, the newly owned, operated and renovated Next Door in Honolulu. Save the date for October 5th from 8 PM to 11 PM, and stick around for our following late-night Industrial Event, "HYDRA".

BIG Mahalos to Millenium Hawaii for sponsoring, and Mariko Obsidian for always making kick-ass flyers!

We even filmed our first-ever commercial for this event, inspired by Halloween Junk Orchestra's "Halloween Party". 

** I'm not sure if Embed is working or not, so if you don't see the video below CLICK HERE!**

It was filmed at our new venue, Next Door.

Come out on October 5th to kick off Hawaii Fashion Month, Halloween style with some of the most innovative and creative fashions on the island. Come out and play with the monsters!

Photo courtesy of Jeff Cox

Feeling J-fashioned out yet?? Well, I haven't posted in nearly five months, boys and girls... this is barely scratching the surface! I just wanted to get you in the know about some of the awesome things we have going on in Hawaii. Obviously, Hawaii Fashion Month is not only a fitting idea, but it's been a long time coming.

There are so many incredible fashion scenes going on in Hawaii... and the general public barely knows about them yet!

To international fashion, and beyond!

Xoxo, Cherie