Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts

Saturday, June 15, 2019

Paradiso Decadence Adventure Report Part 2



Welcome to the second installment of my Paradiso 2019 summary!

This report will be divided into two parts as well. The first half, I will be talking about Day 2's morning at the Miniature Museum, while the second half will contain my thoughts on the Tea Party in the afternoon. Let's get to it!

Day 2 - Morning

We woke up at 6AM and were barely ready on time for our trip to the Kansas City Museum of Toys and Miniatures at 10AM. I never get up that early, so it was a bit of a challenge to get ready while being so tired. We managed to get there on time but, because we only had 10 out of 30 people, we ended up starting the tour quite late. There was so much to see, even if they only took us to see the museum highlights.  I would honestly recommend saving this destination for a separate occasion --specially since I could have used the extra sleep! On account of the people's lateness, the tour felt rushed and I felt like I was missing some things. However, the museum itself was very interesting and had some beautiful displays.

My favorite part was the moving sculpture at the heart of the museum. It had hundreds of toys people in the area had donated over time.
Coordinate for day 2 in front of the moving sculpture


Day 2 - Afternoon

The tea party was the main event. We arrived at the Little Theater just in time to queue up. There were so many beautiful coordinates, and it was obvious that people had put their best foot forward. I was very tired, so unfortunately that colored my memory of the experience. Because I'm hard of hearing and there was a lot of echo in the venue, I had a really hard time understanding the MC and the guests answering questions in the beginning. This extended to the ouji and judge responses at the start of the pageant as well, unfortunately.
Beautiful venue for beautiful people

The food seemed to be okay. I'm very picky with what I eat, so I didn't really enjoy it much, but I knew it was coming and that it was nobody's fault. It didn't really feel decadent, though, as the dishes were rather simple. They included fruit, some vegetables with dip, strawberries, and chia pudding, if I remember correctly. The pudding was probably the least popular, as nobody in my table really finished theirs.

Picture from Bodyline Website
The venue was stunningly beautiful, but the caterers seemed overwhelmed with the amount of people they were serving. While most of the audience was enjoying the ouji pageant, I missed a good portion of it due to being unable to follow the conversations that reverberated off the walls. Still, all the princess wooing performances were adorable and, in some cases, hilarious. My favorite act came from Prince Lapin, the eventual crown winner. They met their bunny princess and danced to the Waltz of the Flowers together until the bell rang and the princess had to go in a hurry. It was doubly cute because both prince and princess were wearing the bodyline print 'Bunny Cinderella'.

The other performers were creative and comedic as well, and all the oujis' coords were impeccable. They sang, rapped, dropped packages, and seduced with puns from what I could tell. It was enjoyable to watch and a good distraction from the socializing that was going beforehand.

Look at all the wonderful princes and princesses!

Overall, the event was fun to attend, and it was inspiring seeing so many amazing coordinates. If you are an introvert, I would recommend going if you already know some people there. To me, it felt like people go in groups, and it was intimidating to break those small cliques to get to know people. Otherwise, it is a great event to attend and save your social and physical energy for.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

My top 5 Style Influencers

Hello everyone! Long time no see!

Miss Lillith made me want AP's Gloria 
I was watching Lovely Lor's video What Influenced My Style?, and it got me thinking about where I get inspiration from --and who I think of when I try to picture what I want my ideal coordinates to look like. Though I had not consciously thought about it in a while, I was able to come up with a list pretty fast. There are just some lolitas that really left an impression of me. Here are my top 5 style influencers in no particular order:

5. Miss Lillith - Miss Lillith is a video game design student who loves otome games- a genre she is planning to add on with her own game. She no longer wears lolita often but, when she did, she wore gothic with a somewhat sweet touch. I picture her when I think of the word 'Koakuma' (Little Devil) because of her dark but doll-like aesthetic.
Marie Dauphine serving gothic looks

  4. Marie Dauphine - Speaking of gothic, Marie Dauphine is a gothic queen. She seems to be inspired by historical mourning wear, and blends her interest in taxidermy and the natural world with lolita. Her impeccable taste and ability to put together coordinates with different kinds of textures simply blows me away.

  3. MintKismet - Mintkismet has a mature sweet style. She has been dressing more in classic coordinates lately, but I take inspiration mostly from her sweeter side. She runs a shopping service in Japan. You can see her blog here, but she mostly posts on instagram these days.
My favorite MintKismet coord

Noke's coords are #goals 
2. Choconokecha (Noke): This Finnish lolita has flawless coordinates. Whether she is wearing an outfit for a big event or dressing down for casual errand running, Choconokecha's looks are put together with great attention to detail. She is also a fantastic illustrator and has a tumblr and a twitter. You can find her amazing art here. 

  1. Milkyfawn: This lolita has been gone from the fashion for quite some time. She starred in several of Deerstalker Pictures 2's videos, and garnered a lot of unwanted attention. As a result, she moved on elsewhere on her fashion journey. It is difficult for me to explain why I like Milkyfawn's style. It is not that I like specific coordinates, or that her blog hits Rilakkuma, chocolate, and pancakes --all of which I love. I believe that I am mostly a fan of the feeling that her coordinates evoke in me. 

I miss her quite a bit sometimes
I was fairly new to lolita when Deerstalker Pictures' videos were coming out, but I remember distinctly seeing how she behaved like a person in lolita as opposed to a perfect doll. She was depicted as unapologetically surrounded by what she loved, and I admire both that and her vast collection at the time. I also remember being quite sad when she left the fashion, but I am grateful she left up her old blog for coord inspiration and a trip down memory lane. While today I find some of her coordinates to be simple, I feel nostalgia for that simplicity. It was simplicity found not only in her coordinates but in my outlook of lolita in general. But more on that on another time. For now, I will leave you some questions:

Who or what do you draw inspiration from? 
What about them is special for you?

Thank you all for sticking around, and hopefully I'll see you all soon ^^!

- Keiko