PMX Day 3

The last day of the con started quite early, as Sheila had to be downstairs in the lobby at 7am in case she was needed as a backup model.  Being a light sleeper, I was unable to get back to bed after she had left the room.  Wearing my red panda suit as I was too lazy to change, I gave into my thirst for morning tea and dragged Dani downstairs with me where we split the last granola bar I had brought along.  It was then that Sheila tracked me down to say that the designers were interested in me as well but I had to hurry upstairs to put on foundation and my wig.  Everything was entirely rushed and last minute since I had no chance to prepare, but Sheila and I still had doubts that they'd even need us.  When we joined the models, it was obvious right away that most of them weren't lolitas or even con goers at all.  They were all very pretty and wearing trendy clothing.

Feeling out of place, Sheila and I separated ourselves from the rest of the group and waited for further instructions.  A staff member then did a role call and then called us over to say we were both needed to fill in since a few models didn't show up.  Mrs. Isobe and Miki Nohmoto had us gather around to assign us the coordinate that we would be wearing for the show.  Sheila was picked for AatP while I was grouped as a Baby model.  Even at this point none of it seemed real.

The dress I was chosen to wear, found here.

The hair and makeup process started, which was a very new but cool experience.  I had to admit to the makeup artist that I didn't know how to apply false lashes and that the last time I tried I glued my eyelid open.  After that I had my wig styled by Miki into two cute curly fluffy buns.  Not only is she an amazing designer, she knows how to work magic with hair.

It took a few hours to get everyone ready, but it all came together.  It was fun watching the models transform from normal looking girls into lolitas and you could tell a lot of them enjoyed the process.  Their reactions ranged from confused (mostly over the petticoats and bloomers) to delighted, although some complained of the clothes being slightly uncomfortable.  They were even surprised when they found out that I actually wear lolita and that I came all the way from Missouri just for the designers.

After I was finished dressing, I went in to get my pictures taken by a photographer, which was a bit intimidating.  We were all brought together and given directions on what to do for the show and did a couple practice runs, but sooner than I expected it was time for everything to begin.  I was nervous that I was going to mess up, but I pushed all that aside.

Everything went better than expected!  I didn't fall off the stage, which was my primary worry.

It was a huge honour and nothing I ever would have expected to happen with so many other beautiful girls at the con and my complete lack of modeling/runway experience.  Having the chance to dress in a completely different style than I normally wear was fun and I think Sheila has discovered a new love for boystyle.  The best part was that we were paired together for the final walk and got our photos taken together by the photographer after the show.  I can't wait to get copies of these.

After the show I was quite sad to give all the glorious pink back, but I was especially attached to the Usakumya.  My motherly instincts must have kicked in.  People kept asking me if I was creeped out by the bag's red eyes, but honestly that makes me love it even more.

Dani and Lauren waiting for us outside.  They looked so cute with their black and pink dresses and red hair.

We quickly grabbed something to eat because Sheila and I were starving and then went upstairs to change into our own dresses for the day.

Trying to change... the wig posed quite a problem.  I ended up not wearing my IW outfit as I planned because the runway makeup was way too overpowering for it.

Instead I went for a coordinate consisting only of clothing I had bought from the con and a good mix of IW and AatP.

We went back into the Fashion Boutique after changing to see the deals for the last day.  Innocent World had a 30% off on everything and they were selling all the outfits from the fashion show for $500 each (including everything, even the petticoats and shoes) but unfortunately as tempting as it was, I had already spent enough money and the hotel ATM had a $200 limit.

Baby/Alice were also selling props from the fashion show and some of the dresses (including the one I wore).  I snagged the parasol another girl modeled since I went to the con intending to buy one.  It's a lovely pagoda shape with a gold BtSSB emblem.

I noticed the Usakumya that I had grown so attached to wasn't displayed and sensing my dismay, Sheila went to ask the American staff if it was for sale... at that point I was fearing it had already sold.  They told her it wasn't technically for sale because it had a slight amount of damage, but they might consider selling if somebody asked.  However, I had to wait for one of the designers to show up to get permission.  Once Miki arrived at the boutique I was able to ask, and she hurried off again to retrieve the bunnybear for me.

During this time they announced they were going to raffle off the unclaimed AatP prize outfit (the skirt and shirt above) until somebody won it.  I pulled out all my tickets and so did my friends.  It went on for a few drawings until I heard somebody announce that they won- my friend Lauren!  She won a pair of AatP tights the night before from the drawing, so for only putting 4 tickets in she was really lucky.

A few minutes later, Miki returned with the Usakumya and had it wave to me (my heart melted).  She pointed out a small amount of dust on the fur from shipping and asked me if it was okay.  I told her of course and asked how much, to which she offered me a nice discount.  While checking out, she told the translator that it was the bag I had modeled for the fashion show. 

She thanked us once again for modeling, gave us hugs and we wished her a safe trip home.  She looks amazing in Vampire Forest, I have a new appreciation for the print after seeing it in person. 

With Fujiwara... in which everyone wears black but me.  She was so elegant and poised! 

And with one of the adorable Innocent World shop girls!  She was very bubbly and helpful the entire time and even helped me choose between socks to match my op.  I think all four of us fell for her charm every time she asked us if we wanted to try something on and then buy it.

After there was nothing left to do at the con, one of Sheila's friends came to pick us up to show us a bit of the area.  I'll save that picture-heavy adventure for another post.

PMX Day 2

Saturday was a very busy day at the con.  I started the day wearing Masquerade Theatre, which has probably become my most worn dress for cons.  Right in the morning I met up with a girl who sold me her Queen's Coach OP reserve online and made a few more purchases at the Boutique.

Starbucks again for breakfast and then I finally had a chance to check out the AA and Exhibit Halls since the schedules on Friday conflicted.

We ended up waiting over 2 hours in line for a food truck.  I tried going the night before, but apparently they had ran out of food.

We all got burritos (mine was tofu!) and they were quite delicious.  Being from the Midwest, we were all sorts of fascinated by this food truck concept.  Maybe it's not so magical to other people but we're all easily impressed.

Afterward my friend Sheila's sister and brother-in-law showed up to the con to visit and because he was press (writes for Japanator) they got comped tickets.  We showed them around a bit and he took pictures, which you can see here.

As we were showing them the Fashion Boutique, one of the most exciting parts of the trip occurred.  One of the boutique staff members tapped Sheila on the shoulder and told her that the designers Miki Nohmoto and Mrs. Isobe wanted her to be a backup model for their fashion show the next day.  Sheila of course agreed to the opportunity and we were all extremely excited even though Sheila had doubts they'd need her and didn't want to get her hopes up.  We all thought it was a huge honour for her to be selected by the designers!

We went upstairs to get ready for the Fashion Festival that evening and I took that chance to change into my new dress.

Before the festival I ran into the Exhibit Hall and bought the latest released copy of BERSEEEERK. 

The Festival was $10 to get in and $1 per game ticket.  They had a bunch of booths line up with various carnival games where you could win prizes.  There was a bean bag toss which Sheila and I duked it out and synchronously scored the same every throw.  The ring toss prizes went fairly quickly and there was also a game where you could guess a number of jellybeans to win an AatP top and skirt set.  The main prizes however were in the raffles, one offering a set from IW and another set for AatP.  Deciding I was too unskilled for any of the games, I put all my tickets into the raffle and then wandered around to socialize and have fun.

Lauren taming a wild balloon!

Sheila and I resting our feet.  So much excitement for one day.

Our picture with Miki Nohmoto.  You can't really tell from the picture, but we're wearing matching dresses. 

Since it was going to be a few hours before they did the drawing at the end of the festival, we decided to leave the Festival for a bit.  We checked out the karaoke room but couldn't find a song we wanted to sing and left after listening to a few songs.

I met a Sailor Venus cosplayer in the elevator, so I had to get a picture taken with him!

Oh no!  Don't be fooled, we were the ones that attacked first.

Hungry again, we hit up another food truck (with no line this time) and got a few sliders which disappeared before I had a chance to snap a picture.  I then gave in and bought an overpriced vanilla vodka from the hotel bar.  I also may have had a bit of sake too. 

We went back for the drawing and they ended up raffling all the small leftover prizes as well.  I won a couples phone straps and a button set.  The IW prize was won by a husband for his wife (SO CUTE) and the main AatP prize went unclaimed and we were told that it'd be reraffled at the closing of the boutique on Sunday if nobody picked it up before then.

There was another dance that night, but once again we were too exhausted to attend, so we all went upstairs to pass out.

PMX Day 1

Last weekend was Pacific Media Expo and I attended with three of my friends.  It was probably the most I ever paid to go to a convention and the most I ever spent at one, but it was all well worth it because Innocent World, Baby the Stars Shine Bright, and Alice and the Pirates were going to be there as guests as well as selling their clothing in the Fashion Boutique.

We got in late Thursday night and promptly crashed so we could be well rested for the fun the next day.  Luckily there was a Starbucks at the hotel, which I ate at every morning.  We didn't venture away from the hotel until the very last night.

Us on Friday morning waiting in line for the Fashion Boutique to open.  We were some of the first in line, mostly at my own insistence because I didn't want to risk missing buying something in case their stock was limited.  I came prepared with an idea of what I wanted to buy but once we were allowed inside I discovered absolutely nothing I planned on getting was even there.  However, there were plenty of other things there to spend money on:

Baby/Alice mostly had dresses for sale along with $35 socks+bonnet lucky packs, some coats and sweaters, headbows, socks, and a few necklaces.  Innocent World had a larger variety of things including dresses, skirts, blouses, caplets, purses, shoes, and even Pullip Dolls.  I was torn in both directions.  It was especially a surprise that IW was doing a 1,000 yen = $10 conversion rate and most everything at Baby/Alice were discounted sales items.  There were definitely amazing deals there, while I was originally worrying there was going to be a markup.

There were no pictures allowed inside the Fashion Boutique, but it was absolutely lovely.  There were makeshift changing rooms in the back corners.  Since I wore my kigurumi to the opening, it made it a lot easier for me to quickly change in and out of things which I considered an advantage.  Unfortunately I wasn't expecting to meet the designers right away and was shocked that the woman checking out my purchases was actually Fujiwara.  I about died at how elegant she was, and there I was buying her clothing while dressed as a red panda.  How embarrassing.  After my first shopping splurge, I ran upstairs to change into something more appropriate.

We then went to the Q&A sessions with IW's designer Fujiwara and then AatP's new designer Miki Nohmoto.  While we were expecting at least some sort of an intro from the designers, they wanted us to start asking questions right away.  I was too shy to ask questions though. :(

We learnt that Fujiwara has a husband, a 3 year old daughter (who is a bit of a tomboy) and a 10 year old chihuahua!   She started IW at 25 and her parents were worried that her store was in too difficult to find of a location.  Her inspiration of course comes from classical European history and fashion, and growing up in Japan she was in an area where a lot of European mansions were built.  She loves Chopin and operas and would like to live in Paris, France.  Currently she has no plans for boystyle clothing or any overseas locations and thinks that American lolitas need to work on classical style (probably a reference to how popular sweet is here).  Fujiwara also mentioned that she likes Interview with a Vampire and likes Tom Cruise lol.

Next was Miki Nohmoto.  Most people asked her about future collaborations.  We learnt that she used to be a shopgirl but got hired as the head designer for Alice and the Pirates when she showed her designs to the company.  Apparently she's only 23!  Her favourite anime is One Piece and she gets most of her inspiration from old fairy tales.  She said that boystyle was her biggest challenge in design but that their male clothing is what separates them from other lolita clothing.  Somebody asked what she thought of girls that wear Angelic Pretty, which even if Miki had an opinion I doubt she could have answered it honestly since she was representing her company and instead opted for a neutral answer that Angelic Pretty is sweeter in comparison to her own designs.  She also said that Baby was her largest competition instead of naming a direct competitor.  We also learnt that she likes BJD and doing clothes for them.

Right after the Q&A sessions I ran upstairs to bring down all my old clothes and a few pairs of shoes for the swap meet.  I had 16 items and ended up having to quickly fill out a sheet for each one and rush to get everything organized (with a LOT of help from my friends).  I ended up selling almost everything but two skirts, a bolero, and a pair of shoes so I had considerably less to take home with me and gave me extra money for spending.  It also gave me a chance to meet a lot of the girls there.

There was a dance that night, but we were all too exhausted to go.  A friend and I ordered sushi and miso soup for delivery while our other two friends slept, and then we went upstairs to pass out ourselves.

Closet Post

 

Full closet shot.  All my non-lolita clothing is to the right side of the closet and out of shot.

 

Blouses and cutsews with my parasols.

 

JSKs, OPs, and a jacket.

Left to right: Dear Celine Flocky Winter, AatP Queen's Coach, JetJ Rose et Fleur, IW Gertrude, Rose Melody Carousel, AatP St. Mephisto, IW Little Bird, AatP Beauty and the Rose Promise, AatP Midsummer Night, IW Dollhouse, AatP Masquerade Theatre, BtssB trench jacket

 

Skirts and petticoats, along with a stray Bodyline jsk

 

Sock and tights drawer.  Most are Secret Shop, but I have an IW pair and two Meta socks

Shoes and purses will be forthcoming, I have to get something hung up in my room for the purses and I have two new pairs of shoes coming in the mail!

Allow me to introduce myself

Greetings!  My name is Valerie and welcome to my new lolita blog.  Though lolita fashion has fascinated my since 2007,  I've been actively wearing lolita clothing for only a year and a half now.  Since then I've come a long way.  For my introductory post, I figured it would be best to bring the reader through a timeline of my transformation.

When I first discovered lolita fashion, I remember immediately falling in love with Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and Innocent World.  I had no job at the time and it was all too expensive to ask my family to buy for me.  After graduating college, I moved to Florida to work a six month internship at Disney.  While I found myself with a bit of an income, it was still not enough to buy from the brands I wanted most.  Like most girls beginning their adventures in lolita, I turned to bodyline as the internet assured me they were still decent quality.

My first lolita purchase included a blouse, two jsks, and two pairs of shoes from Bodyline and a petticoat from Malco Modes.  Of these, I only still own the petticoat and a pair of shoes that I'm still looking to get rid of.

As soon as I tried this dress on, I knew it wasn't for me and actually never wore it out in public.  The quality was fine enough, but it still wasn't the beautiful designs that drew me to lolita fashion in the first place.  It was also then that I discovered that I should avoid fully shirred bodices, as they made me feel lumpy.

Yes, THE fruit parlor replica.  Buying from bodyline unfortunately limited me to overly sweet prints, which admittedly looks cute on other girls but makes me feel awkward.  I ended up selling this too.

So I started trying to experiment a little bit more, turning toward darker coordinates and even getting my bangs cut since that's almost a lolita requirement.  Those socks are actually my first ever piece of brand, Metamorphose and bought from the sales community.

The sales community made brand more accessible to me, so I bought the first thing I could afford.  (I also learnt that sellers aren't always reliable with shipping and waited almost two months for this Angelic Pretty skirt.)

This was about October of 2009 for the Mickey's Christmas Party at the MK, hence the red and white theme.  It was one of my first times wearing lolita in public for an extended period of time and I actually got a lot of compliments and people asking me wear I bought my outift.

Next I discovered TaoBao!  Cheap and custom sized lolita clothing that looked better quality than Bodyline, and so I rushed to place my first order.

After I moved back home to Missouri, it was snowy and cold and luckily this Dear Celine jsk was much thicker and heavier than my BL dresses.  I wore this to Naka-Kon in February, where I attended my first lolita teaparty.  Sadly there weren't as many lolitas at the teaparty as I was hoping.  This was also my first experimentation with a wig I bought off of ebay.  Way too shiny :(

At this point I just started a forrealz job and suddenly had a lot more income than I knew what to do with.  I bought a Cyperous hime-styled wig since I'm helpless when it comes to curling my hair and I got sick of trying to redye it darker all the time.

I consider this where things started turning around for the better.  This was at a tiny meetup at the KC Nelson's Art Museum, where I was one of three girls that attended and one of the other girls was moving out of state that same week. 

It took me awhile to get the courage to order through the brand websites, because I knew when I started I would be unable to stop.  The very first piece of brand clothing I bought new was Masquerade Theatre with the matching bonnet on reserve from Alice and the Pirates.  I fell in love with the chiffon almost instantly.

Attending my second ever con tea party at Anime Fest Wichita.

Since then my lolita collection has been growing and I feel myself improving all the time, wearing it more often and attending more events.  I've been experimenting more with makeup and putting more into accessorizing. 

Last weekend at PMX with one of my best friends.  Since PMX itself was such an event, I'll save that for another post.

That was all a bit longer than I anticipated!