2016 Lolita Journey

The year is just about at an end! I saw this questionnaire over on Puppenschloss and the lovely blog owner Princess Miuko said I could use the questions as well.

If any of you would like the answer the questions, either in the comments or on your own blog post, definitely do so! I'd love to see your answers! 

Questions:

1. Favorite look
After looking through my Daily Lolita album, I have to say that my Disney Christmas coordinate was my favorite this year. I simply felt the most beautiful in it!
Though there are some details you cannot see well, such as the BABY biscuit brooch and the White Rabbit on my wrist stop, those little details made me feel good about this coordinate.  Also my hair. I love my hair in this

Top: Little Dipper
JSK: BABY THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT
Wrist Stoppers: handmade by me
Petticoats: Classical Puppets
Socks: Secret Shop
Shoes: An*Tai*Na

2. Favorite purchase
This one is so difficult! This year has been my largest purchase year in Lolita fashion. However, I think I will say that this Kumachan and Friends JSK set is my favorite because of many reasons:
1) It is by my favorite brand!
2) It has bear characters, my favorite motifs after Usakumyachan!
3) It is a new color for me: yellow
4) It was a discount price (around 9,800JPY for the set, if I remember correctly)
5) It has a switching chest piece! I did not realize this at the time of purchase, but I have never worn any deep scoop-style necklines so I can give that a try. Even if I don't like it, I can just keep the lace-covered chestpiece on to wear as a regular JSK!

ECONECO Flash Shop in Taipei!

This is a bit of a continuation from the Disney meetup post! I first saw about the ECONECO flash shop on instagram, I believe. I've always admired this artwork without ever actually finding out the name of the artist T^T so when I saw the ad I was excited and asked if anybody wanted to go with me!

Even more luckily, the artist (instagram link) herself came to Taipei on the 17th and 18th!! So we got to see her in person!

Wall decals
Stickers

 The flash shop was a small booth set up along a walkway, so it was very crowded!! There was a miniature photobooth section with her original artworks for sale

Patchwork elephant

Disney-theme Meetup at Alice is Coming

Saturday was our December meetup with the theme of Disney! Perfect chance to wear the BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT collaboration item with Disney's Alice in Wonderland!

Perfectly matching the theme was our restaurant of choice, 來自愛麗絲/Alice is Coming! They had their Christmas decorations up in addition to the regular Wonderland decor.  There was also a magician entertaining guests with magic tricks! However, he did not come to our table, likely because there were eight of use and it would have been difficult to see anything clearly.

There were also Christmas special foods! 

Group photo by shop staff

Dark Rainbows, Bright Hopes

Recently Taiwan legislation has been considering legalizing marriage equality.  It has been every bit as controversial as it was in the USA ^u^v  Though I prefer not to post about political things, so really, this is about my outfit and makeup because... I'm narcissistic, probably.

The original legislation date (is that the correct term?) was delayed to allow for citizen input and to avoid rushing the process (which was what the Sunflower Movement was about; the government was accused of rushing through legal processes without taking all necessary steps). While the delay is off-putting, I do think it is a good thing to follow the steps clearly so if (when!) marriage equality is legalized, nobody can dispute it and say it was a rush job and should be reconsidered.

Heading out to catch Charmander

Chopsticks Art in Taipei

Living alone, I often go days without seeing other people, or weeks without seeing any friends. I don't enjoy crowds or public transportation, so I rarely head out alone to just wander or window shop. However, I really enjoy art exhibits!! So when I saw on instagram that Sense, a modern Japanese artist I met at another exhibit was coming to Taipei for an exhibit, I mustered up the energy to brave the rain (it is the rainy season now) and go see the exhibition!

Since I was meeting up with local Lolitas and a visiting Hong Kongese Lolita that evening for hotpot, I was wearing my perfume bottles dress.

Outfit Rundown:
Top: Little Dipper
JSK, SK: handmade by me
Bag: Swimmer Japan

 I also liked my makeup that day! I just used a pink eyeliner with no black eyeliner base at all. I think it was fun and nice.

Punk Not Dead Lolita

Punk Lolita is a decidedly difficult style to pull off! But I really love it *u*  It's not popular due to how easily it can simply become Punk and lose the elegance of a Lolita aesthetic, but we decide to challenge anyway!

Really, this is the smallest meetup ever, with only two attendants ^^;   However, that did make finding somewhere to eat very easy, and also meant we could chat more!

Summary of events

Sparkle Stitches~ Scallop Hem Tutorial

I did a scallop tutorial a few years ago, but here is a redo anyway! It's a good basic skill to have.

I like the effect of scallops, but they are really rather fiddly and time-consuming. There are also many small mistakes to watch out for! So now I'd like to share the things I've learned over the years.

Materials:
*Skirt
*Matching fabric at least 10cm wide X hem length
*Matching thread
*Sharp shears

Catlaxy Exhibit

I've finally (mostly) finished moving to a new apartment!  Hooray!  Ahem, anyway, this is not about my move~

Yesterday Doro and I met up at Stayreal Cafe (web) to see a small exhibit for stray cats. To be perfectly blunt, the exhibit was not executed very well, but it was a nice thought and still a lot of fun to take photos with! Plus, the full ticket price (NT$100) was donated so that's good ^_~v

Teddy's teaser photo

The exhibit was located in the basement of Stayreal Cafe, which was opened by a band member of 五月天/Mayday. There are always many tourists there so we had to wait about 40 minutes for a table.

Special edition drinks for the exhibit

Meow!

Throughout the first floor of the cafe, there were many printouts of stray cats stuck throughout the displays.  Though cheap and pretty dinged up, they were still cute.

Doro and I both ordered the special edition drinks. Doro also ordered the special rice, but since the savory foods contained meat, I ordered a regular dish. The desserts were not so special, so we passed on those.

A Casual Halloween

This year's Halloween was overshadowed by the fact that I was moving into a new place! While that's exciting, it meant I had no time to prepare a costume. On Halloween night, I ended up meeting up with classmates from uni for dinner.  I simply wore a cybergoth outfit as I don't get many chances to wear cyber styles. Plus, this is the one time of the year you can wear anything and not get questioned about it!

I did prepare a costume for my teddy bear though ^u^v  She has more Halloween spirit than I!

Makeup and hair

Outfit Rundown:
Dread falls: handmade by me
Hoodie: Mad Punks
Dress + Cincher: Artifice Clothing
Bag: Ozz ???? (the stitching is too small to read!)
Arm warmers: Hot Topic (ages ago!)

We had pasta

Teddy's costume is a modified dog clothing!  It's Pikachu!

I actually still haven't changed her clothing because she really looks just too cute as a Pikachu!!

Alice and the Pirates Halloween Collaboration

Halloween~ (almost) everybody's favorite holiday!  Though many people are conflicted on the topic of costumes in Lolita fashion, I personally think it really depends on the final design. Elements of cosplay/animation/gamer styles can be incorporated into proper clothing, in my opinion. This idea is actually the foundation of 2.5D fashion, also known as "neo-cos" (think Tra La La Sailor Moon)

Anyway, I thought of this because recently I checked updates for Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and Alice and the Pirates and saw the announcement page for a collaboration with this RPG

Mahoutome X Alice and the Pirates

I think the all-black outfit would very easily translate into a daily Gothic Lolita outfit, no problem.  The center one in red and black could also be a very fashionable Gothic Lolita look without looking very cosplay.
The purple/white outfit is the one I'm more on the fence about. It will be interesting to see how it is made in real life, I think.

As for the other two... I really don't know how they will look like anything other than straight cosplay.  With alternative styling perhaps both could work? I will admit that I'm not big on boystyle, so many of the men's fashion designs Alice and the Pirates has done in the past struck me as costumesque rather than fashionable.

Still, I do really adore the Halloween collections brands put out each year!  Most of the time, individual pieces can be used throughout the rest of the year in regular coordinates and dressed down so as to not look like a costume.  Though to be fair, no matter what, non-Lolitas will likely think your Lolita outfit is a costume anyway.  So let's all just do whatever ^_~

A Savory Ordeal

While Lolita fashion frequently incorporates sweets into the designs, our monthly meetup for October challenged this by using the theme of "savory foods"!!  Well, all our themes are drawn at random, and this was my suggested theme from over a year ago!

It turned out to be very challenging!  Though we joked about going for 熱炒/quick/hot stir fry food to fit the theme, we actually ended up going for a very decadent/unique dessert place called 微兜/Petit Doux!

Strawberry pancake

Filled!!!

Honey 吉桃/Jitao

National Day Meetup 2016

October 10 is Taiwan's National Day!  Also called Double Ten Day(雙十節) and we had a small get-together at a hotel afternoon tea.  As most of my clothes are packed up, I had a pretty lackluster coordinate that day...

Pink and Navy makeup

 I have some seriously dark undereye circles :(  There has been ongoing construction just behind the apartment where I live, causing a lot of noise and also a disturbance in the air pressure so some mornings I wake up with deafness in one ear. Rather annoying; I cannot wait to move!!!

So I got lost on the way to the location, which was in a confusing mess of buildings!  However, the birdcage afternoon tea sets were very beautiful and made me forget my frustrations.

Double-person set
It is hanging!

 Because we had a Gomaji coupon, it ended up being only NT$699/two people compared to the regular price of NT$12000!

This is a cat (apparently)
I think it looks like a bunny

Keys to Unlock Your Heart Meetup

Shortly after arriving home from Japan, we had our September Lolita meetup!  The theme was "keys" and luckily, the Putumayo dress I'd purchased at Closet Child had an all-over print that included keys!

We went to a really unique little restaurant called 舒服生活(Comfortable Life)/Truffles Living which was FILLED with Western antiques!

Bear and Sheep

 All the items had little price stickers on them.  Yes, they were incredibly expensive. I have no idea how they got things like the desks and couches here??

Awesome-looking typewriter

 This restaurant apparently also rents out their space for photoshoots/wedding photography. It would definitely look very beautiful!  However, they also let us take photos as dining customers ^_~  We arrived early and there were few people around, so we got many photos!

The more you look, the more details you see
Like the onion cat

2016 Universal Studios Japan Halloween

On September 19 I had no plans so my friend suggested we go to Universal Studios Japan, as he'd never been either, despite living in Osaka for a decade ^^;

There is a USJ app you can download (just search "USJ" in your application store for your mobile phone) that has handy time slots, schedules, and waiting times.

Takoyaki!

Outfit rundown:

Vest: Black Peace Now

JSK: Putumayo (from Closet Child)

Bag: Ozz(?) (from Pure Sound)

 Given that it was a last-minute decision, I did zero research on the place and had no idea what to expect.  It is very easy to get to, however, as there is a train station for USJ only. There is actually hotel space there if you'd like to just live there, but I'm sure it's quite expensive.

Also, USJ has Halloween specials!!  I'm loving Halloween time in Japan!!!  Many people dress up in costume at USJ. There is a Claire's and some other shops near the entrance where you can buy prosthetic parts and makeup to complete your look before entering, or use the face-painting and SFX face paint services.  There were many group costumes, making it easy for them to find their companions, I suppose!

As it was rainy on this day, it wasn't so crowded and it wasn't hot. The rain was on and off, so a bit bothersome, but overall very nice.

Drinking blood

 I'm not sure where they even store these Halloween edition figures the rest of the year, as there are many.

I was most excited to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!  You do need to exchange for another ticket to enter, but you do not need to actually pay a separate entrance fee. I think it is to help manage the number of visitors in the Wizarding World at any given time.

Note: this post is going to be massively picture-heavy!

2016 Kyoto Lolita Shopping

Going from Osaka to Kyoto is much simpler than I thought it would be. There are a variety of train speeds, but as long as you get on one that gets off at your stop, it should be fine. We took a faster train which skipped many stops, and then alighted and switched trains (on the same track) to one that made more frequent stops as we approached our final destination. Really, I find the maps quite self-explanatory, but if you have trouble, you can ask the station staff as they are quite helpful.

Wearing the BABY dress I got at Near

 In Kyoto there happened to be an Angelic Pretty sales event!

Both the Angelic Pretty and BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT shops are in a department store called OPA (see map) on the seventh floor.  Unfortunately, photography is forbidden in the entire department store!

However, it was still a fun experience to go line up before the department store even opened! I was third in line and there ended up being a long queue of Lolitas in front of the shop. Because it is a tourist-heavy area, there were many people trying to take photos of us :o  

When the doors opened, everybody filed in in one line and headed up the escalators like a Lolita train.  If you are not queuing for something, you can also just take the elevator ^_~v

Once we reached the Angelic Pretty shop, the shop staff (same shop staff from Osaka! She must be a manager?) counted the number of customers and cut up number slips for us. It turns out you do not get to shop and check-out based on the order you arrived in, but in the order you draw your number. This could be either good or bad. It may seem unfair if you've arrived especially early (I arrived at 10:30 for the 11:00 open, which is not terrible) and drew a late number, but doing it this way also prevents people from trying to cut in line or push out of order to try and get an earlier spot in the line.

Anyway, the first round of drawing was messed up somehow. I think it could be that a couple more Lolitas (my friend and her friend, actually) arrived right after the shop staff did the original count so they redid the drawing. I drew number 3 the second time around ^u^

The shop staff then announced the times for certain number groups, so numbers 1-9 were recommended to stay and later numbers could come back at 11:30.  It actually ended up taking much longer for the check-outs to happen. Though I picked through the Tops Set and Accessories Set for quite some time, in the end I gave my number to Laina so she could buy the special sets she wanted without needing to wait around for ages. 

Instead, I headed over to BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT which is back-to-back with Angelic Pretty and had a look around. The shop staff was very kind and let me try on the BABY Border Usakumya Set on Taiwan Teddy

It ended up costing too much, however, so I bought the BABY icing cookie brooch instead.

Afterward I wandered to a nearby street on my way to find the Metamorphose shop!

2016 Osaka Gothic and Lolita Shopping Part 2

Continuing on from the long day of shopping!  See Part 1 first if you've yet to read that for other shops.

After completing my first large bit of shopping, I was headed to the next shop on my list when I passed by this small Gothic Punk shop. The red skirt on the mannequin caught my attention, so I decided to check it out!

Small shop, First Label

Inside, the shop staff members were taking photos and videos so I just looked around casually until they were finished. Inside there were many accessories and tops, but it seems just about everything was one-of-a-kind! So I had to ask the shop staff about the skirt on the mannequin. While heading back to the front of the shop, I noticed some photos on the wall and realized I actually follow one of the shop staff on Instagram! So I asked her for a photo with my teddy bear XD

@taiwan_teddy and @angelyo_sei

In the end, I did not purchase the skirt, but I really do like this shop. If you like unique Punk and Gothic styles, it's worth checking out!

2016 Osaka Gothic and Lolita Shopping Part 1

There are many shops to introduce, so I will break this up into parts. I've also created a map of the shops I visited on a custom Google Map to make it easier to navigate, including photos I took whenever possible.
Map of shops in Osaka and Kyoto

I will not be talking about the "mainstream" shopping district in the area (close to Glico Ya, the large running man figure, which is also labeled on the map) but it's a good place to go for drugstore and electronic goods!

Important: Wear comfortable clothing and shoes! While it may be tempting to dress over-the-top, if you are going to be trying on clothing (some shops allow this) you'll be better off wearing easy-on-easy-off clothes. And of course, you'll be walking a lot so wear comfortable shoes!  I chose to wear a fully-elastic JSK I made along with a cropped chiffon blouse (which I later lost at the bnb!!! cry)
I did not wear a full petticoat, but rather a fluffy skirt that could be worn as an outer skirt as well. It saves on packing space to be able to use one article of clothing as multiple pieces.

Outfit from that day

From wherever you are, take the train to 心齋橋/Shinsaibashi Station (marked in purple on the map.) This will be at one end of the main shopping street, so you can then head towards 難波/Namba Station and you'll pass all the shops on the way!

Though I did look up all the shop addresses beforehand, I was still unable to find some of them, which I've marked with question marks on the map.

2016 Japan Trip Full Day 1: Pokemon Center Osaka

My friend Carol and I arrived in Osaka on Sept. 13 in the afternoon and spent a while getting to our bnb (booked through airbnb.com)  and then explored nearby. The first full day was Sept. 14, when we went to the Pokemon Center!

As you come off the escalator~

It is very easy to access and find. There are a number of stations you can go to. We took the JR as it was easiest from our bnb and alighted at Osaka Station. There are several department stores connected directly to the station. The Pokemon Center is located on the 13th floor of 大丸梅田　Daimaru store. There are various maps in the station to help you find your way as well, though it's unlikely you'll get lost.

Because it was mid-late September when we visited, Halloween styling was in progress!!!  Taiwan has very few Halloween things, sadly. I think we should just tack Halloween on to the end of Ghost Month and make it a two-month long celebration of all things spooky!!

OK, off-topic aside...

First Self Vacation: Osaka and Kyoto

Happy belated Moon Festival!  I'm back from my first time taking a vacation on my own!  I went to Osaka and Kyoto over Moon Festival break.
Well, I went with a friend, but we explored mostly independently ^u^v

I went with a friend other than Teddy, that is

Of course my main focus this time was the Pokemon Center in Osaka as well as Lolita shopping!  I also experienced an in-person lucky-pack sale at Kyoto-branch Angelic Pretty.  I also went on a last-minute trip to Universal Studios Japan, so that was amazing as well.

I plan to break the trip down into sections and post about where to find shops and what I experienced! This time of year is close to Halloween so there were  loads of Halloween special events and goods that will not be available if you visit at another time, however.

Anyway, it will likely take some time to organize all the photos I took, and I'm in the process of searching for and moving into a new place again, but I hope  to get everything posted within the next month!

Have a great day everybody ^u^v

Simple T-shirt Reconstruction

If you follow me in instagram you will likely have seen this simple T-shirt reconstruction I posted:

Slightly spooky?

 Though it's easy, I personally really like to see simple sewing tutorials. T-shirt reconstruction is actually what got me started in both sewing and Lolita fashion, actually!

I'd been reconstructing my Theater (school drama club) T-shirts and looked online for ideas and tutorials. I found the t_shirt_surgery community on livejournal, and one of the recent posts was a Lolita t-shirt surgery with links to BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT and Angelic Pretty websites!  I'd previously only known about Lolita fashion through visual kei, Mana-sama, and Moi-Meme-Moitie, but this completely different style of sweet Lolita led me to the egl community and the rest is history~

OK that had nothing to do with this post -_-;

Easy Changeable Custom Phone Case

When my old phone died back in April/May, I bought a new phone but was unable to find many cases for it. In the end, I decided to buy two clear cases and customize them myself. One I intend to do decoden, and the other I am using as a "changing" case by making custom inserts.

It's a very easy project so this is not so much a tutorial as sharing my process :3
This is an affordable way to be able to change your phone to match your moods (or outfits if you are really into a completely matching aesthetic??)

PILI and Ghibli's Animated World Exhibits

Today I finally got some time to go to the Ghibli's Animated World Exhibit!
Unfortunately, it was immensely crowded and very dark inside, so it was difficult to get pictures...

Before we could even enter, we had to take a number and wait for an hour! So we went to the nearby Syntrend building and took photos with the Pili puppets (modernized traditional Taiwanese puppetry art and performance) and statues!!

I like the design of this one the best

Outfits for Venturing Outdoors to be the Very Best

Pokemon GO finally released in Taiwan on Aug. 6! Though most of my readers are from countries where Pokemon GO released far earlier -_-; So I suppose this is not interesting news for you.
I've been playing a lot in my free time, and have not walked around aimlessly this much, ever!

Catching Pokemon in the rain

It's also been great to go to new places and notice things that I've never noticed before. The players of Ingress who set up the locations which are now our Pokestops and Gyms were quite creative and funny with their choosing of locations and naming them!

Hatching my first egg (10km) at level 10

 Of course, there are many glitches still, which do serve both good and bad issues. The GPS tracking is the current biggest problem, sometimes not recording your movement, but at the same time sometimes allowing you to briefly go to distant Pokestops without moving, or hatching your eggs while you sit at a cafe (which happened to me today...)

Today's outfit for Pokemon GO and working

The streets are completely filled with Pokemon trainers from ages around 5 (with their parents) up through 40s and 50s who are all playing (not accompanied by children - they are interested in playing on their own!) Though it's easy to see that we are all playing the same game and there is a lot of interaction online in various facebook groups and LINE chats for the teams, there is no real-life interaction. I feel awkward to talk to strangers, and I'm sure everybody else feels the same.

Even so, it is still fun to go out and not feel awkward or anxious to be in public!  And I can take photos of Taiwan Teddy with the AR Pokemon!

Loads of Staryu near me - I live near a river

 Still, because several of my uni friends are also playing, we can more easily arrange to meet up and hang out now. There are also some plans for small meet-ups in local areas, which I hope will follow through!

Overall, I'm quite excited to see if I can make friends through playing a game I love so much and also encourages people to go outside.

Very danger....

Lost this one due to wifi break-up!

 I actually even upgraded my phone plan to get 1.5G of data flow each month so I can play Pokemon GO!  The WiFi is not stable enough to rely on, so data plans are important!

 This is also the first time I've referred to online help for playing a Pokemon game. Previously the games were all self-contained so I could just bumble around at my own pace. I've never done EV training or other "breakdowns" of the game codes because I enjoy the fantasy world of Pokemon more than being good at the game, but now that Pokemon Go has a lot of player interaction at Gyms, it is important to get good training done!

Currently, I am at level 15, almost 16. I've sweated a ton while walking under the hot sun in the humid, tropical weather we have here. Though I wear a lot of sun protection now (it is a part of the reason I wear makeup as well... when I have sunscreen on it feels not so great so I just put makeup on to feel better and keep me from rubbing my face; I normally don't wear makeup because I don't go outside for long periods of time!)

What level are you at in Pokemon Go? Have you met any new friends?  Lost weight from all the walking?  Haha!  Let me know :3 I want to get to higher levels soon so I can get different and stronger Pokemon!