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!