Japan 2020 Highlights: Tansuya

A somewhat unexpected highlight of the Japan trip was shopping at Tansuya, a secondhand kimono chain. It started while we were in Tokyo when we went to the branch at Nippori, the fabric district, since I had read that they had lots of cheap, damaged or worn kimonos for sale very cheap. Indeed they did, and we actually visited this shop twice.

There was also one in Shinjuku Station, which we did not visit, since we thought only the Nippori store had the cheap kimonos. We were wrong...

...because we went to Kyoto, and in the mall right near our hotel we discovered another Tansuya! So we added more kimono and obi and other pretty things to our purchases.

And then we moved onto Hiroshima, and I just happened to be wandering around on my own while James got a much needed massage when I spotted, you guessed it, another Tansuya! If memory serves me right, this is where I bought the brown haori.

To make things even more ridiculous when we went to a particular Book Off in Osaka we passed a Tansuya on the way, where James found the most stunning furisode and we bought way too many obijime.

We thought it was hilarious that we'd stumbled into a Tansuya every city we travelled too. But it did get a bit excessive when we walked past another one in Namba Station on our way to transfer to the airport train ^__^

I never thought we'd own such lovely things as the kimonos we bought at Tansuya. As we were on a budget we only shopped their cheapest items, most of which are damaged in some way. But the quality of Japanese secondhand items hold true even with kimono - most of the damage is tiny snags or stains, or at worst, yellowed lining. The garments and still whole and still amazingly beautiful.

There was also a lot to admire in these stores, like the vegetable patterned kimono above! James even found a gorgeous kimono raincoat thing, which is really cool and not what we thought we'd be getting at a kimono shop. And he got himself a very attractive red and black haori, which he look amazing in!

As you'll have seen in my coord posts, I have been experimenting with wa lolita, and James has started using some kimonos in his photoshoots. We still need to acquire the proper undergarments and such if we want to dress me or models properly, but for now it's just been great fun to have bought such beautiful clothes and be able to wear them in non-traditional ways.

Lolita Blog Carnival: Why Is Lolita Fashion A Safe Space For You? How Do You Make It So For Your Community?

Now this is an interesting topic! Buckle up and prepare for some ramblings, because there will be ramblings ^__^

For myself, lolita fashion is safe because I participate purely on my own terms. It's a subculture that I can engage with on my own, online, or in person and I get to set my limitations there. Mostly I'm a lonelita, as they call it, as I'm not a hugely sociable person and I think I've been to...five meetups? Not many, that's for sure. I'm part of my local communities on Facebook, but tend to lurk rather than participate. I go on CGL sometimes but again, mostly a lurker. My most active community platform is this blog, and again this is a space where I am very much in control of what I'm doing and with what frequency and intensity.

So it is a safe space because it's on my terms. I'm not less of a lolita because I don't go to lots of meetups, and I am still engaged with the community in ways that I'm comfortable with on a much more regular basis.

The question of how do I make lolita fashion a safe space for my community is a little less simple to answer. On it's surface the answer is that I haven't really, and by that I mean I have not taken any action to make my community safer, more inclusive, or more welcoming. Luckily the Australian communities in general seem to be that way anyway, but this prompt is really making me think.

My first meetup ^__^

Anyone who knows me IRL knows that I personally do not really care about anyone's anything. If you're in trouble, I will sympathise and help how I can, and I try to be a good ally but on a personal level - you do you as long as it doesn't hurt anyone. I know that as a straight, cis, white woman I'm pretty privileged to be able to be flippant about such things.

This topic has made me realise that I want to make my community a more openly safe space. By my community, I specifically mean the Newcastle Lolitas, since that's the community I moderate. Even though we really only have two active members, there are more in the group on Facebook, and after this pandemic is over I really want to start organise more for the comm. And before I do that I think I want to step up a little, and make it clear that that community is a safe space for all regardless of race, gender, orientation, religion, or anything else. Lolita is a joyful fashion that I think anyone should be able to participate in.

So I think I'm going to go off and edit the description of the comm I manage on Facebook to make these things clear ^__^

Read more from other bloggers:

Cupcake Kamisama

Japan 2020 Highlights: Shining Moon Tokyo

I like Sailor Moon. Like, a lot. My first tattoo was Sailor Moon's Crisis Moon Compact. It was my first anime, and back when I couldn't actually watch the anime in high school there was a website where I read literally all the scripts for the original anime. Sailor Moon matters to me.

So when I realised the we could go to the Shining Moon dinner show while we were in Tokyo, you bet that I stalked their website until I could book tickets! And then the waiting happened, during which time I watched lots of YouTube videos about the show. To say I was excited would be a massive, massive understatement.

Also while we were planning the trip James surprised me by buying us a pair of Luna and Artemis beanies! So cute, so warm, so weeby ^__^ And relevant to the story a little later on!

After I started writing this post I realised that unfortunately the venue has closed, so I won't talk about the booking process or getting to the venue or anything. Instead, prepare for some gushing, because there will be gushing...

Alright - let's go back in time ^__^

When we arrived at the venue, we were greeted by a staff member at the door who confirmed out reservation and took our drink orders. Tickets came with dinner and a drink, but we had to specify our meal when we booked. I found it a lot harder to choose a drink but in the end went with a pink lemonade, which was delicious.

Then we entered the venue, which was in a basement area. The stairs to go down were decorated with gorgeous hanging pretty things!

And then we were there, and right in front of us was the giant moon I'd seen in pictures. We were greeted by another staff member, who took us through into the theatre and showed us to our seats.

We had booked "A" seats rather than "S" seats, but I have to say our seats were just as good. The S seats were right in front of the stage, and there was a tiered section behind them that was the A section, as well as in an area to the right which is where the costumes were displayed. It was a quiet night though, so our seats were right at the very front of the A section so I was very happy. A bit cheaper and just as good!

At the tables were pretty pink menus, which of course deserved a photo. I was just so excited to be there! I was wearing the Artemis beanie James had bought me, but he'd exchanged his Luna one for a tiara and looked very, very cute. So of course, we took selfies ^__^

But seriously, I was bouncing in my seat I was so excited. Though the house lights were still on the stage looked shiny and amazing already and I was just so ready to see the show!

Our food and drinks arrived very shortly after we sat down, and James got lots of nice attention from the staff over his tiara! I didn't understand what one lady was saying to him exactly (gotta love not speaking the local language), but I heard the word "Serenity" as she gestured to his head. All the niceness made us both even more happy!

The food was nothing to write home about, but the drinks were delicious! I also appreciated that the food was served on a plastic plate on top of the ceramic plate, because we actually got to take the plates home. What a great souvenir!

Speaking of souvenirs, there was a gift shop upstairs from the theatre. I was determined not to buy anything but...well...you'll see...

Before too long, meal time was over and it was show time!

It's almost impossible to describe this show so I'm not even going to try too hard. It was amazing. For a small venue and small cast it was so well done and featured a variety of styles of dance and acrobatic type performances. Nothing was not amazing, and I have to say the ensemble cast was particularly amazing. All the main cast were too, of course, but I was just so impressed with the "background" performers as well.

It was exciting and nostalgic and so well done. I really, really hope that after the pandemic is over they can re-open because if you're a Sailor Moon fan you really ought to watch this show!

Something that was a lot of fun is during the show sometimes the performers would go through the audience. And, so cute, one of the ensemble cast noticed my beanie and made an adorable cat ear gesture to me ^__^

The show finished with Moonlight Densetsu which the audience was allowed to film and take photos during, which as you can see, I did. And then I was surprised because the house lights came up and the main cast wen through the audience to say hello and pose for photos at each table!

Most of my photos came out super blurry, but I'm glad I got this cute one of Mars and Venus because oh my goodness, the Venus was such a wonderful ham of a performer. So cute! James and I also got more barely-understood compliments on our headwear, which was lovely - all compliments are better from the Sailor Scouts!

And then the show was over, leaving me a happy, tired, emotional mess. After sitting a little longer to recover we went to check out the costumes. They were so gorgeous to see up close! I did take photos of all of them but in the interests of some kind of brevity I'm only sharing my favourite ^__^

And we also went to check out the gift shop. Because yes, I had changed my mind, and when I told James you could gets photos of the cast in costume he encouraged me to get them. So I did!

On our way out a staff member was available to take photos for us on the moon, and then it was time to ascend the stairs back into the regular world. Back at the hotel I took photos of our souvenirs, and for the whole rest of the trip I don't think a day went by where we didn't talk about how great this show was!

Writing this post has made me all nostalgic and excited again. I really hope that this show can open up again because it was a really wonderful experience. And if it's fated to have only existed for a short period of time, I've very grateful that I was able to see it in that time!

AYWI30C #22: Based around some interesting legwear

For this prompt I opened my OTK drawer and looked for a pair of socks that I've never really used, in flatlays or real life, and landed on a pretty black with strawberries pair. As we know, that's just me to a tee so I had a lot of fun putting this coord together!

And honestly I cannot wait to wear this coord...when it's warmer ^__^ I'm loving this variation on my typical berry and black that's not based around the print on the main piece.

As I said in the intro I have never actually worn these socks. They're very pretty, but they're also quite busy (and TBH I'm pretty sure they don't fit my fat calves ATM). Which is why they're perfect in this coord where they get to be the point of interest, rather than competing with an equally busy print.

I also love how the laces on the cutsew and the JSK work together. The floral lace on the JSK near the hem goes especially well with the cute buttons!

I wore this headdress recently and that sparked me to include it rather than a more conventional headbow. For some reason it's reading kind of old-school to me and I like it.

And of course, I have to include a cute strawberry necklace. Overall I kept the accessories pretty minimal for this coord, which may be why I'm getting those old-school vibes. Because of the pieces I used, it's not a visually simple coord but because the main piece is solid it's kind of different, you know? Not the standard current way of coording and I like that it's a bit quirky.

I really enjoyed how this coord turned out, and I love that I wouldn't have gotten here if I hadn't started with those particular OTKS ^__^

AYWI30C #21: Based around your favourite shoes

I've put myself in a corner with these prompts again, because how on earth am I meant to choose a singular favourite pair of shoes? For reals, this is hard. I don't do favourites!

Ultimately I chose a pair of shoes that I love for their dramatic, historical vibe: my Bordello Whimsey boots in black. From there I decided I wanted to do an outfit that was a little goth-y, a little historical, a little opulent, and here's what I came up with!

I really love this outfit. IRL I'd wear some lacy black tights with it, but they look terrible in flatlay form. I also didn't take a close-up of the shoes, even though they're the starting point of the outfit because they are velvet and a. I have two cats and b. the last time I wore them was in a historical cemetery for a photoshoot so they are...not int he best condition. I cleaned them as well as I could but they just don't look nice super close up!

For hair accessories I ran with a velvet and pearl headbow, and lots of flowers. Lots of flowers is my favourite way to dress up a floral print ^__^

Since  rarely wear this sort of dark classic black based coor, I got to pull our some accessories I rarely wear. I keep my black sweet for the most part, so I've literally never worn these pretty wristcuffs nor that clock ring.

However, I couldn't let it get too gothy so I did also pull out this pretty necklace as I felt it matched the dress really nicely. And it let me continue the pearly theme I had going with the accessories.

I will admit to a struggle I had with this coord - the realisation that I don't have a black handbag! So I ended up using my trusty fawn fur bag, which I actually ended up really loving somehow.

Ultimately this outfit was a little less gothic than I was initially aiming for, but in doing that it turned into something I'm far more likely to wear. Because 10/10 I am going to wear this on - just have to figure out when and where ^__^

Review #55: MeLikesTea Petticoat

Wearing lolita much more frequently this year without any intention of stopping (though Winter is really slowing me down!) and the whole pandemic situation still ongoing led to me finally biting the bullet and buying a new proper cupcake petticoat. I already have one petti from MeLikesTea which is really nice, so I decided to go with them again.

This time I ordered the Cotton Candy Petticoat in Voile, 45cm long, 5 layers and wiast 90-100cm. I placed my order on 17 May and it was shipped 16 June. The shipping estimate said it would arrive on  25 June - and it did! So the timeline was as advertised and all in all I was very happy with that aspect of the service.

And, once I opened up my package, I was also very happy with the petticoat! It arrived in plastic inside a postage satchel, which is perfectly adequate by my standards.

Inside the package was, of course, the petticoat, and also a couple of info flyers and a teabag, which I thought was a nice touch! I love seeing indie brands getting increasingly professional so I also really got a kick out of the tag ^__^

And then, finally, I pulled out the petticoat and fluffed it out and oh. my. goodness is this thing fluffy! I really don't have much to say other than it is great and poofy and comfortable.

In the interests of having this review be a little bit more useful for the reader other than me going "it's good!" I took some measurements. By my measurements it's 43cm long and the waist is 82cm at the smallest and then stretches up to 120cm. Most likely my length measurement was wrong, and I think that the 82-120cm stretch on an advertised 90-100cm garment is perfect!

So all in all this review is very brief - I'm a happy customer and totally recommend buying petticoats from MeLikesTea ^__^

Coordinates from June 2020

We get used to one way of life and them things change again, isn't that right? So here's an entire month's worth of outfits because my lolita wearing tapered off dramatically over June. There are two main reasons for that.

Firstly - it's Winter here now, and I am cold! So I'd much rather work from home while rugged up in something cosy than get dressed, even in clothes I love. And secondly, our housemates moved out at the start of the month which meant James and I have changed up our entire house. In great news - I now have a dedicated lolita space, which I will share on this blog once I've actually organised everything (which will probably take a good long time). In not so great news - I just don't deal well with change, so coupled with the environmental difficulties of dressing up I just haven't been up for it emotionally either.

But that's okay! I've still enjoyed wearing lolita in June, even if it feels like I've hardly worn it at all compared to previous months.

This first working from home coord isn't much to write home about, but it was cute and comfortable. I have to say though, I am really starting to want some purple shoes to match both Jurassic Party and Verrry Berry Picnic ^__^

Skirt: Wonderpunk

T-shirt: Listen Flavour

Socks: Metamorphose temps de fille

Everything else: Offbrand/Taobao

The next week I had to physically go to the office on Tuesday, and wearing pants and seeing real life human beings got me back into the lolita groove to work from home on Wednesday. Again, a simple coord and not much to say about it!

OP & Socks: Metamorphose temps de fille

Shoes: Bodyline

Everything else: Offbrand/Taobao

The I didn't wear lolita again until Wednesday the following week, because I had a Zoom meeting. Since I had to get out of my PJs anyway I figured I'd actually wear something I enjoyed! I still find it funny that I'm feeling kind of guilty about being a "once a week" lolita at the moment while last year I was lucky to be a "once a month lolita". How quickly our standards change!

JSK: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Socks & Shoes: Bodyline

Everything else: Offbrand/Taboao

Almost another full week went by until I was miserable, and realised that forcing myself to wear lolita to work would help. And it did! It felt great to dress up again and I had a lot of fun putting this coord together. I really love Flower Bottle, can't believe I almost got rid of it!

Skirt: Metamorphose temp de fille

Cutsew: The Black Ribbon

Haori: Vintage

Socks: Innocent World

Shoes: Bodyline

Bag: Coquettish Tiara

Everything else: Offbrand

James and I went out to get some Thai food in my lunch break (by which I mean, he drove me to get take-out...for me!) so I even wore lolita outside of my home! It's also why I have a handbag, that bag is actually my everyday bag these days ^__^

And that was my June in coords! As it continues to get colder I have a very strong feeling I'm not going to be wearing lolita much while working from home, and NSW seems to be going well with easing lockdown restrictions so I may be working in the office again before too much longer. But we will see what July brings ^__^