Caring for Velvet Shoes: an adventure with Vivienne Westwood x melissa Cat Paw Pumps

 Recently my apartment had a termite infestation.... and they got into my shoeboxes!!  A pair of my Vivienne Westwood Anglomania x melissa Caw Paw Pumps got their nest material on it which clung to the velvet flocking and even dissolved a part of the velvet.

As these are my first pair of velvet shoes, I contacted customer service to ask how to best clean the shoes and the email I received back said:

Dear [Sparklewolfie],

Thank you for contacting Vivienne Westwood RoW Online Store Customer Service.

We are sorry to inform you but we do not have official information on how to clean the product at the moment.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with our Customer Care team for any further information.

Sincerely,

Miguel

Vivienne Westwood Online Store Customer Service

Well, that is unfortunate {{{(>_<)}}} 
I am assuming it is because this is a collaboration series and not a purely Vivienne Westwood design.  Instead, I searched online and most sites seem to just be quoting each other.  The provided recipes of baking soda and water or lemon juice and the tips are word-for-word copies.  

Eventually I did find a shop that sold velvet shoes which had similar tips, but wasn't a copy-paste, and had more detail about knowing the TYPE of velvet your shoes are.  Unfortunately, I closed out the window without bookmarking the site and now I cannot find it again, but if I do I will link it here! 

Key tips I remember from the site include how cotton/silk velvet should be taken to a dry cleaner, while polyester/blend velvet can usually be cleaned at home unless the stains are REALLY bad.  They also explain more about the nap of the velvet and recommend brushing off velvet shoes after each wear so nothing has a chance to build up.

So, on to the pictures!  Warning: the damaged shoes image might be a little gross for some people!  The way the termite nest material is built sort of icks me out as well.

Lockdown and Teddy Bear Cosplay Update

Hello everybody!  I am sad to report that the lockdown, which went into effect at Level 3 on May 15 or so, has been extended all the way to June 28 which means I will be unable to attend the second half of the Cardcaptor Sakura exhibit!  Though they do offer ticket refunds, you need to turn in the Thank You card and if you attended the first exhibit, you get half the money back.  There's no way I'm turning in the Thank You card or my ticket holder, so I'm just going to hope the exhibit gets extended!!

I had been working on the new wig for my teddy bear's cosplay, however, so have some progress photos!

It's tedious, repetitive work, but I like the effect!  The "hair" is actually yarn that I tie to the bun cover and then untwist and straighten.

The natural curliness of the yarn does also give some volume, so it's best not to make the back of the wig too thick with too many locks of yarn (my mistake from the first wig) otherwise it becomes very difficult to trim it to look flattering.

For now, I am making a bob-length wig which I will then straighten and trim into the more layered pixie/bob cut that Clear Card art Sakura has!  The hair near the top is made of yarn that I unwind before I tie it on so it looks finer.  I will be looking up some hair-cutting tutorials to see how to get the correct shape for her pixie-style cut!

If the exhibit ends up not being extended, I will find somewhere else to set up a photoshoot with her new wig.  For now, her CureCos account has older cosplay photos!

Art Exhibit of Cardcaptor Sakura Pt. 2

 Are you ready for another photo-heavy post about Cardcaptor Sakura exhibit?

Last post ended on the Siege room, which was probably my favorite!  The room after was Maze and was full of art reproductions of the original illustrations that CLAMP did, but we were not allowed to do any sort of photography, videography, or recording in there.

After the Maze came the Record room!  They had some of the manga as well as some magazines with the magazine gifts displayed.  I forgot to take a photo of that part, unfortunately, but I think it will still be there for the second exhibit so I will do my best to remember to take photos then!

Art Exhibit of Cardcaptor Sakura Pt. 1

Picture-heavy post!  Cardcaptor Sakura is my favorite magical girl anime!  I love the art style of CLAMP, and I really enjoy the fact that Sakura's costumes are designed by Tomoyo (and they imply she makes them, but she's in the 4th grade in the original series so maybe she just has somebody else make them??) instead of created by magic.

Of course I had to go to the exhibit when it came to Taipei!  They had a fun "backstory" to the entire exhibit as well~

The Card Room at the end

Due to COVID restrictions, we had made reservations for our time slot online, and we are released into the exhibit according to reservations.  This also means that there were not many people inside at any one time, which made taking photos so much easier! 

Wa Lolita for Virtual Tea Party

Today I had another virtual tea party with the waifus!  I decided to wear my Wa lolita dress that I bought from Metamorphose in Tokyo as it is comfortable (fully-shirred back) and has lots of interesting things right on the front, which is what the camera mostly picks up anyway.  In the end, the waist ribbon didn't even show on the screen call, but if your camera setup is different, having something interesting on the front is a good thing!

Originally I wasn't going to wear makeup, but then... I just really wanted to!!

I did a simple look today.  Like last time, I used no foundation because my Chromebook camera isn't good enough to pick up skin unevenness~ I'm only wearing a purple-tinted sunscreen (though in future, I may look into a green-tinted one for the rosacea/redness instead)

My hair is curled with the heatless curling method again.  Since I cut the face-framing layers, I've been experimenting with different hair styles to try and come up with some simple go-to looks.  This time, I did half-up twintails at a lower height for a more mature-kawaii look.  Very high twintails are extra youthful and childish, but sometimes it can feel a little much ^^;   If you feel like you are outgrowing the childish look, or if you fear looking like an auntie trying too hard to hold onto teenage years, a slightly lower height may be a good balance!

My sweets for today were a matcha cream puff (SO good!!) and a chocolate Boston cream pie.  I have never had an "authentic" Boston cream pie so I am not sure if this is an accurate one  but the cream seemed a bit much for me.  The matcha cream puff was filled with matcha cream and the matcha chocolate shell paired well with the plain pastry and sweet filling.  It may have been a touch too sweet for me, but with the red tea I had, it toned down the sweetness enough.

Overall it was a lovely way to spend the day with my best friends!  It felt good to put a full Lolita outfit on as well! 

Hope to have some hairstyles put together for a future collection.  Partially, I want to have a post that I can refer back to myself for when I am out of ideas for what to do for easy hairstyles, but I hope it is helpful to others as well!

Thank you for reading, and I hope you have been finding little ways to stay in touch with people you care about as well as taking care of yourself!