Paradiso: Decadence Adventure Report Part 1 (Picture Heavy!)

Hey everyone!

I am here to tell you about my time in Kansas City, Missouri as an attendee for Paradiso: Decandence.

It all started in January, when my friend Denise (Ruffle Road) and I decided to attend the event. We descended upon those General Admission tickets like rapacious birds of prey --by which I mean we unnecessarily waited for their release and bought them right away without knowing they'd be selling well into May.

We immediately made plans for travel arrangements. A cheap, red-eye flight to make the most of Monday, a well-located Airbnb to split with a third person (who ended up being another member of our comm!), and an itinerary later, we were ready for the trip somewhere between March and April. All that was left was to wait.

I never wake up early enough to see sunrises

Day 0

We arrived early in the morning and visited some food places and the Noir Oddities physical storefront. They had all sorts of antique and creepy items for sale, including fragrances and pagoda umbrellas, but I wanted to save my money for the main event.

Noir Oddities had some lovely display

It was also the night of the Pre-Party swap meet, where we met with the rest of our travel group that had driven nearly 7 hours to get there. The most lolitas I'd ever seen -a number that would change as the event happened throughout the days,- gathered at the designated swap space. There were brand, indie brand, offbrand, and handmade items from all styles. I was most drawn in by some oldschool skirts I was looking for for a friend, some decoden phonecases and resin jewelry someone made by hand, and Baby the Stars Shine Bright's Elizabeth OP in red. It was so cool to see that dress in person! I sold part of what I brought and got myself a black BTSSB umbrella that ended up being the night's MVP during our trip back to the Airbnb in torrential rain.

A comforting sign when we were lost

Day 1

Denise left early for the fashion show, leaving bat-or-sweets and I to get ready. Bat-or-sweet had been sewing all night and through her 7 hour cardrive, but she still helped me rip some seams in my apron to make it look better, and she also sewed up my parasol! Real MVP for day one. 

We made our way to Union Station around 11AM, where we got breakfast,coffee and saw the biggest group of lolitas I'd ever seen. Then, around noon, the exhibit hall opened and Paradiso began.

I was too busy furiously running from one booth to the next to take pictures of the merchandise. By the time I was done getting my haul together, it was time for the fashion show. An hour felt like enough time to shopo back then but, in retrospect, I realized I had missed several places I wanted to stop by. Fortunately, it wasn't a big loss, as my money reserves were exhausted pretty quickly.

We sat on the third row of the fashion show, which unfortunately made it difficult to see and take pictures because of all the bonnets and tall headdresses. If I had a suggestion for next year, it would be to look into raised seating. I will include some of the better pictures I took here. I unfortunately wasn't able to get good pictures of all the lines, much less particular outfits. But here is what I do have:

The Bloody Tea Party's models rocked their poses

Denise rocked her Ikemen Mode outfit!

Ikemen Mode did a denim ouji collection

Elegy Clothing's popular Albino Accord dress 

I Do Declare x Voodoodolly collaboration

I Do Declare x Voodoodolly collaboration

Chiropteran Garden by Mossbadger

Datura Doll Designs - Datura even made the bonnets!

Starry_Seiun modeling "Royal Bee" in a beekeeper look by Lily of the Valley

"Kitchen Herbs" by Lily of the Valley

Lastly, there were three Q&A panels with the participating designers from the fashion show. It was very interesting to learn where they drew their inspiration for and how they completed their lines for the event. After closing remarks, I met Tyler from Scarfing Scarves and took a picture with her. I was being painfully shy and she was an great sport anyway, so I'm really grateful I had the chance, even if I forgot to bring her her gift I had drawn.

At the end of day one, my friends and I went to have dinner at a barbecue place and returned to the airbnb to sleep. It was a late night and an early morning into day two. But that's another story altogether --another story I will continue on part two of this report.

Until next time~

Pack with Me! Paradiso Edition

Heya everyone!

Currently, I am away from my lolita lair. In my absence, the me from the past has filmed and edited a video about lolita packing!

I my two lolita coordinates in one large, hardcase bag with room to spare. I'm not the most efficient packer, but it was a good exercise in filming and editing. For my trip to Kansas City, Missouri, I ended up taking four pieces of lugagge: 2 checked bags, a backpack and a large totebag. I had plenty of space to spare for new purchases!

Without further ado, here's my video:

I hope you enjoy, and I'll see you next time!

What's on my Mannequin? - January

What's on my Mannequin?

 I put together a coordinate on my dress form for the first time in four months or more. What does this mean for the blog? It means that, after what feels like a million years, I've finally posted a What's on my Mannequin entry!

To celebrate my return and the month of January, I picked my favorite dress of all time: Honey Cake!

Here is what I put together:

As you can probably see, I could not pick between integrating brown or red. So I did both! I got the parka off egl_comm_sales when I first started wearing lolita and only had the honey cake skirt. It was sold off to me by a lolita in Malaysia and took a long time to find me. It almost got lost in the mail! You can't really, but it has a bear-ear hoodie with an inside polka dot pattern in white and red. The collar shown is actually a red blouse with the same polka dot pattern underneath.

The beret is the Princess Drop beret from Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. I got it on the New York site and it was the last one in that color! I felt super lucky. The cherries clip is from a taobao store, and the necklace is from a seller from etsy.

This Rilakkuma bag I got on Lacemarket. It was pretty cheap, so the quality is not so good. I decided to incorporated anyways because I love Rilakkuma and I was partly recreating one of my first coordinates with Honey Cake. I had worn the skirt, the top, and this bag, to my first US convention after I moved here. It has a nostalgic feel to it, but I think I will retire this bag to daily wear soon.

Here is a close up of the pancake necklace. I really want a red and white gingham blouse to match the tiny ribbon. Pancakes are some of my favorite food, if you didn't already know. That's where the name of the blog came from!

----

That's all I have for you today, my people. I have been laying in bed sick for the past two days but finally kicked my butt in gear to prepare for the week and do this post. I hope you are all doing well and that your week treats you kindly. See you next weekend!

52 Weeks of Lolita - My favorite Lolita brand (picture heavy!)

Hey there everyone,

This is Keiko hoping you are doing well and that your week has come to a good close. This week's topic involves revealing my favorite brand.

As you probably could infer from my wardrobe and sweet lolita tendencies, my preferred brand is

What a surprise, I know, I know.

Here's my favorite print JSKs from them for each year until 2016

2008

Dreaming Macaron

2009

Melty chocolate

Miracle Candy

Milky-chan the Fawn

2010

Little bear's Cafe

Merrymaking Party

Twinkle Ornament

Milky Planet

2011

Chess Chocolate

Honey Cake

Petit Patisserie

French Cafe

2012

Gloria Back Frill JSK

Cinema Doll

Sweet Cream House

Chocolate Rosette

2013

Melty Cream Doughnuts

Musee du Chocolat

Holy Lantern

Royal Unicorn

2014

Sugar Dream Dome

Mercator's Antique shop

Cream Cookie Collection

Melty Ribbon Chocolate

Royal Creamy Chocolate

2015

Horror Garden

2016

Charlotte's Bear

While I agree that the golden time for AP's sweet style was 2008-2012, I like AP's designs from around 2011-2014 the best. I have not really been a fan of the last two year's worth of releases, though. Where do you stand? Do you like AP, or do you have another preferred brand? How are their releases doing? Tell me all about it in the comments below :)

Keiko out~!

Christmas Meetup

Hey everyone!

Thank you for tuning in for today's brief blog post~

This past Sunday, my lolita comm held a Christmas meetup by where I live. We had a potluck, presents, and a great time!

My friend SJ and I wore the same print~

My friend and I decided to do some pseudo-twinning just for fun. We both really like Sweet Cream House by Angelic Pretty, so we decided to go for it. It was fun to see our different takes on the print~

One of the attendees brought an amazing log cake!

One of the people that came was super sweet and brought teacups with matching saucers that everyone could keep. Here's mine:

I also got a super cool present for my Secret Santa exchange. My Santa knew I needed outerwear and that I'm incorporating more gothic into my lolita wardrobe, so she got me a black capelet!

---

Has your comm had any recent meetups? What did you do? Let me know all about it in the comments below~

Keiko out~~