It's been 1 year since Dream Masquerade Carnival in London // Part 2

Can I be honest with you all? On one side I feel terrible for not posting about this event anytime sooner than I am today. But on the other side I don't really feel the motivation to post about this event cause I had some hard times during the event and after I came home from London.

Though when I talked to my friends they said that they would love to read my story non the less so here it is. The second part of the Dream Masquerade Carnival event from 2017. 

We ended on the first day in my last DMC post with the amazing experiences I had on my first trip to London. It was truly amazing. We walked for hours and explored so many things with my friends. But the next day would be the day of the event, which is even more exciting than exploring the city. 

On the morning of the 26th of august we woke up around 6 to get started for the day. We decided that we would wake up at this hour cause Liv and Ayumi needed to leave pretty early for model rehearsals. As I was still laying in bed I tried to catch up on social media and getting excited for the day. Though I must be honest I felt pretty horrible already, no hunger at all and pain in my body from the day before. But luckily I had my medication with me so I could survive the rest of the day with no worries. Even when I had a terrible morning I was super excited to help Liv with her waist ties. She was wearing a gorgeous old school dress from Angelic Pretty which she coorded with a modern twist. 

I tied her bow and loved how it turned out, it was so pretty and perfect.

After they left to the model rehearsals I got ready too, I planned an OTT sweet coord with my milky planet OP. It was simple, not to hot and still me. I felt so good in my coord and was ready to tackle the day. Together with Petra we traveled to the starbucks where Ayumi would wait for us after model rehearsals. Though somehow we ended up later than expected so we met at the bus stop instead and walked together to the venue. Liv was already at the venue cause she was lucky enough to catch a VIP ticket, but I was sure that we would see her again soon.

Loving my travel buddies! Ayumi and Petra are true sweethearts

There was already a small line waiting and soon I spotted some familiar faces! It is amazing to see all your friends again that are living all over the world. But it was also really nice to see that people recognised me, both from instagram or my youtube channel. I'm always a bit in shock that there are people out there who like and watch my videos or follow me on instagram. It was so nice to meet every single one of you, and I'm so thankfull that you said hi to me cause it felt so unreal.

Old and new friends together! 

The day was filled with a busy schedule, going from Q&A sessions to game shows with Tripple Fortune, all kinds of fashion shows and my favourite part of the day was the guessing game where Tripple Fortune needed to guess which item was the oldest of the candidates. That game show was hilarious! 

Of course we had the opportunity to shop a lot and boy it was hard to choose this time. Angelic Pretty Paris was there with a booth but also Imai Kira, Tripple Fortune, Tokimeki Gabriel and of course many indie brands like Summer Tales Boutique, Heaven's Atrium, Dream Holic and lots more. There was also a giant room filled with second hand items and a remote vendor table with lots of items to choose from. 

In the end I ended up picking up my orders from Me likes Tea and Cotton Candy Feet. But also buying a second hand dress and some smaller pieces like socks and accessories. My husband Alexander was lucky this time too. When we visited the booth of Tripple Fortune, Babi and Kai insisted that he would try on one of their new jackets that where made to fit a male model. As my husband tried it on, they where both so happy to see the fit and explained the details of the jacket to us. In the end after lots of doubting we bought the jacket and I must say I'm not regretting anything. That piece is stunning! 

One of my highlights was meeting up with the designer of Heaven's Atrium, I was so nervous to meet her but since I had contact with her for many weeks over on instagram it felt like we knew each other for quite some time but still I was nervous to go talk to her. 

She is such a sweetheart and I still adore her brand a lot! We made some pictures together, cause what else do we do when we meet friends that we like. 

I had so much fun at the event, talking to my friends. Visiting the different booths and activities during the day I forgot about time and the fact that I wasn't wearing my correct shoes most of the time. Cause yeah I wanted to look cute while taking photo's and running around at the venue. But this resulted in me being super tired, in lots of pain again and feeling nausea so I needed to rest for most of the afternoon on a chair hoping things would get a bit better with some rest. 

I felt very sad about it but I had peace with it cause there was lots to do in the activities room where the fashion shows was held. I'm really thankful that I wasn't alone and that my friends came by to say hi, but we also had some drinks and lots of fun memories already. I couldn't wait for the next day!

After the event was over Liv, Ayumi, Petra, Alexander and me went out for some vegan dinner which wasn't the best to be honest but our dessert was amazing! We had vegan froyo, it was so delicious and it made up for the dinner we had. I was happy that all the locations of the restaurants where close to the venue cause I had some difficulties with walking. Luckily my dearest Ayumi was there to help me with walking. I can't thank her enough for supporting me and being my walking stick that weekend. It wasn't easy to accept my limitations that day but I needed to face it non the less. 

When we traveled back to the hostel with public transport but Liv noticed that she lost her totebag with all her goodies and items from the event. So we stopped at the first busstop we could stop and got out. Called both restaurants in the hopes that her bag was found again. Luckily it was still at the froyo place and we went back to pick it up. We where so happy to see that everything was still in there, the owners of the froyo restaurant where so sweet and helpful. They placed her bag behind the counter while we where traveling back to the restaurant so no one would steal it. Once everything was alright we headed back to the hostel and called it a day. Cause tomorrow would be an other day filled with amazing moments. 

Curious to see what I bought at the event? I made a haul video about it, you can watch it here

See you next time! 

Lots of love, 

Poppy

xox

Creating a coord based on a historical figure

As I told in my inspiration post I get a lot of my inspiration from historical places, characters, paintings or even books.
But getting inspiration from those things is one thing but how can you translate that into a coord?
This is where this post comes in handy. I've collected two of my favourite inspirational characters and made some coords based on them.

Jane Austen 1775-1817 // Writer

In the late 1700s the fashion became less elaborate and a lot simpler but around this time it was the point where cheaper copies of the fashionable clothes where sold to all members of different classes. Which made a big start in the fashion as we know it today and it began to be a part of a way to express yourself. 

When it comes to Jane Austen, her style was minimalistic compared to Marie Antoinette who I will cover in a bit. When I would translate her style into a lolita coord I would pick a dress with a square or high neckline, preferably an OP. 

Other than that I would also go for a light cotton fabric and maybe some chiffon details. Lace details would be minimal and for the headpiece I would go for a rectangular headdress or a small bonnet. 

Headpiece: Victorian Maiden

Dress: Seraphim

Shoes: Yuni Fairy

Marie Antoinette 1755-1793 // Fashion icon, Queen of France

Where to start with such a royal and inspiring lady. Marie Antoinette is I think the most famous fashion icon from her time period. She was the first to pose in a sheer dress for a painting which was really shocking at that time cause who want to be seen in an underdress? 

As for fashion inspiration, the bigger the better. Marie Antoinette was know for her elaborate dresses, big hairstyles and for wearing hats. Nothing was too expensive for her, she was know as Madame Déficit in the country. Cause France was on the edge of going bankrupt but she kept on with spending money for fashion.  

When it comes to translating her style into lolita fashion you can go either way. The first option would be to go all out with the highly detailed designs with lots of ruffles and lace or you can go for her famous sheer painting and keep your coord sort of simple but really stylish. 

I've used Marie Antoinette as inspiration in my own coords too, mostly for hairstyling but I'll share those in the end. 

Dress: Baby, the stars shine Bright

Hat: Baby, the stars shine Bright

Shoes: American Duchess

Dress: Victorian Maiden

Hat: Fan+Friend

Shoes: American Duchess

The following ones are the coords I made over the years where I used the same time period as my inspiration. Especially the big hairstyles and lots of lace details are a must for me. I would love to create a coord based on Jane Austen too one day cause I think it fits really well in a day to day style.

One of the key points for me is that I rarely use wigs for creating such hairstyles. I really like to use my own natural hair for it. It gives it a more authentic feel to me. And other than that full bangs weren't really a thing which makes it really easy to use my own hair for hairstyles. 

Coord 1 // Dress: Little Dipper, Blouse: Little Dipper: Shoes: Cotton Candy Feet

Coord 2 // Dress: Handmade, Blouse: Dear celine

Coord 3: Dress: Baby, the stars shine Bright, Blouse Little Dipper, Shoes: Cotton Candy Feet

Do you have any historical figures that inspire you for your lolita coords? 

I would love to get to know them too. 

Lots of love, 

Poppy xox 

This post is in collaboration with the Lolita Blog Carnival

More posts about this topic:

Cupcake Kamisama

The Bloody Tea Party

Inspiration, where to find it // 10 Day Lolita Challenge

Inspiration, we are all looking for that one magic thing when looking for inspiration. To some it comes overnight. While with others it takes weeks of planning and trying stuff out to see if it works. 

To me I get either inspired by the dress or I have a sort of feeling in my head that I want to go for with my coords. But I still feel stuck a lot of the times especially when I'm not feeling anything for the dresses in my closet. Or I feel like I'm repeating myself. 

But this is where other people come in to the picture! I don't find myself being super inspired by other lolita girls anymore. Maybe that's because I don't follow the right people on social media, I don't know. When it comes to inspiration I tend to get most of it from 1800's and early 1900's. 

This time period is what spikes my inspiration every single time!

For lolita fashion I do love a lot of coords but I rarely use other coords as my inspiration. But let's see which coords are inspiring to me at this moment and why. 

It may look a bit weird to pick a simple back coord to find inspiration in. Though this dress and styling is just perfection in my eyes. I would love to make a dress inspired to this one and create this hairstyle with my own hair or a wig. It is a cute updo and I love that this coords works for an everyday coord too. This represents really well how I would like to dress on a day to day base. 

Frills!! Don't you agree that frills are life and so perfect? I picked this coord, pose and overall styling cause I get inspiration to try out more things with my wigs in the future. I love how fluffy but elegant this hairstyling looks, paired with the frills it has the perfect feel for something I would wear too. 

Everyday style goals right here!! What to say more, this is just gorgeous. I really love how simple and elegant this look is. Definitely something I would love to wear too on a day to day base.

This last picture says it all, just look at it. Pastels everywhere and the perfect OTT sweet hairstyling in my eyes. I attempted a hairstyle inspired by this look, which is actually from 2008 did you know? 

They created this hairstyle for a Metamorphose add if I'm correct. But this photo reminds me of not to forget about my passion of crazy hairstyles. Seeing this makes me want to go all out again with my next coord! I'm also dreaming of creating crazy hairstyles and fancy updo's on others one day, not sure if that will ever happen but we can always dream! 

As you can see I picked Misako Aoki in all my inspiration picks, her everyday styling is really easy to wear and super adorable. Most of the times I see new photo's of her on instagram and there is always something that catches my eye, and it gets me thinking. Like this is something I want to wear or make myself too, maybe I can try this out one day or see a cute accessory that I want to add. I think this is the most important part of finding inspiration. To me it needs to be something that inspires me every single time again and again, this is how I know I truly love it and want to incorporate it into my own coords and styling. 

It was really hard for me to pick these 4 photo's, but somehow it shows me what I want to wear in the near future and how my everyday style will evolve I think. I'm not planning on selling my wardrobe, maybe some pieces that aren't feeling like the current me but that is something for the future. 

So far I'm still happy with my wardrobe and especially my own style. My day to day looks do need some extra effort and time to fully grow on me. Though that will come overtime as well! We just need to hold on to it. 

Where do you find inspiration? I would love to know! 

Lots of hugs, 

Poppy xox 

In memoriam of the amazing time we had // 10 day Lolita Challenge

While being in the fashion for over a decade I can say I had my fair share in attending meetings, tea parties and events. It is really difficult to pick only two from all the special memories I have with the amazing people I've met along the way. Living in Belgium, Europe sure is a big advantage. I can travel to different countries in a heart beat which is something that I love to do. I've been to France, Germany, England and of course The Netherlands for events and meetings. 

Traveling for an event is just half the part of the fun especially when you can do it with a lot of your friends. When I went to London for Dream Masquerade Carnival I traveled together with my Husband and my dear friend Liv who is a true angel. I also traveled together with Saltje a fellow Belgian Lolita to Frankfurt for a tea party a couple of times and with Lise an other Belgian Lolita to Amsterdam for a tea party and the Dutch Under the Sea, Street Fashion Europe event as well. 

But even with these special memories of traveling it is the magic of the event, meeting or tea party itself that add that extra special touch to the memories of that time. 

Enough rambling about traveling let's see which event is in my top 2 of moments to remember. 

Lolita Kawaii Weekend, The Netherlands July 2013

I still remember this event like it was yesterday, it was my first real big event that I was going to attend in a different country. I lived in the Netherlands for about 5 years before I moved back to Belgium in 2012. While I was living in the Netherlands I was also a part of the Dutch lolita community but I never many meetings from the Dutch community back then. Though I wasn't that active in the lolita community back then I did knew a few of the lolita girls in person through a similar hobby which are BJD dolls. Back in the days it was very common to bring your dolls to a lolita meeting. So a lot of girls collected these gorgeous dolls and joined BJD meetings as well. 

It was really nice that the organisers had an option to book an hotel together when ordering your tickets. This way it was really easy for us to get to the event without any extra headaches of finding a hotelroom since it was a two day event in the middle of summer. And that's what we did, we went for the ticket + hotel option for the event. 

Since I had good contact with the girl that was organising this event we decided to have breakfast together. Soon after that the two special guests for the event joined us to at our breakfast table. I was sleeping and eating in the same hotel as Misako Aoki and RinRin Doll how amazing is that. 

We had a chat with them and I learned them some dutch words and an easy sentence which they later on used to say hello to everyone at the event. I was so surprised on how well RinRin was able to pick up the dutch words. But Misako did great too! 

At the event itself we received little gifts from Japan en both Misako and RinRin did a lecture on their favourite places in Japan which was so interesting and unique too. 

In the evening after the tea party we had a lolita dance party and fashion competition. We had a singing performance from Misako with her single マエパツヒマカ(Maepatsu Himeka) and RinRin had three songs to perform that evening, her original song Kira Kira Dreaming and two covers Ram no love song and Oyasumi kiss me. We danced along with both performances and danced till late that evening. It was such a great time!

At this event I also met a lot of the German lolita community which I still see at events these days. Though some of them are retiring from lolita but I still speak them sometimes when I see them in Germany or at the past events. 

On the second day of the event we went to a castle with a gorgeous garden where we had a picknick. This is when I learned about the fact that all the clothes from both RinRin and Misako are rented and need to stay as neatly as possible. Their suitcases where filled with clothes wrapped in clear plastic bags, the ones your receive when you order a new dress. And it got me thinking of why this was so I kindly asked about it. At the hotel we had some breakfast chats again on this day to before it was time to leave for the second day. 

I look back at this event with a big smile on my face, this is the day where I met the German lolita community, two Japanese models (which was a big deal) at that time and I went to my first big event. So this needed to be in my top 2. 

Want to read the full blogpost about this event?

Blog: Lolita Kawaii Weekend - Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3

Grand Lolita Tea Party, Germany June 2015

So I'm not sure why I include this event in my top 2 of most favourite events but when I look back at it there where some magical moments for me to remember. And that is because I was able to meet Aya Nimura from Victorian Maiden. Oh boy I was in heaven when I saw her for the first time at the tea party. Like I mentions many times before my love for Victorian Maiden is out of this world. If it wasn't for the sizing issues I would have a closet full of VM dresses and accessories. 

On the day before the event I traveled together with my dear friend Josine and my Husband to Hamburg Germany. It was a long ride but we had lots of fun along the way. Our journey started out amazing, we had a great hotel room and sushi for dinner on the first night in Hamburg. 

The first day of the event was amazing as well, we went early to the event cause there where some difficulties with the Anime Matsuri team. But overall it didn't ruin the fun we had in the time before the guests arrived. I met a lot of new people thanks to Josine who knew a lot girls from the UK while I introduced Josine to some of the people I already knew. 

But everything was pretty normal and a great event until we had the opportunity to ask the guests some questions. I really wanted to ask Aya Nimura about the sizing problems we western girls run into but where I mostly run into when looking at their collections. Though the only problem is I get super stressed out from being in the spotlight and speak to someone while everyone is listening. So I started to panic when I raised my hand and the microphone was coming my way. I was shaking on my legs, my voice was going up and down, I lost my words and I stuttered like crazy while I was asking the questions. After I asked my question I sat down again, tried to control my tears with no succes and listened to her answer. The people around me started to praise me for my question and tried to calm me down again after this shock. 

The event went on like nothing happened with me and I took photo's with the guests and some of my friends. After the tea party we where guided to a different room where we where able to take photo's with the guests and get an autograph if we wanted or by the books from Misako. This moment I was walking around with Liese, a fellow Belgian Lolita who also joined us in Hamburg at the event and after a big yes no discussion she convinced me to ask Aya Nimura for an autograph. As shaky as I was while asking the question at the tea party I was yet again super stressed out about the fact I was able to talk to her again and ask for an autograph. The moment I asked my question and she said yes after some hesitation I started to tear up again as she was writing her name on my card. She told me this was her first autograph for someone else which made it even more special for me. While I was trying to keep my teary eyes to myself she saw that I was in tears and started to hug me and offerend me a tissue. This moment is one of those embarrassing yet emotional moments that you will look back on with the biggest smile on your face. 

Meeting Aya Nimura is definitely my highlight of this event. And I don't regret a single moment of that day. 

Want to ready the full report of this event? 

Blogpost: Tears of joy? My grand lolita tea party journey 

Youtube: Grand Lolita Tea Party in Hamburg

Lolita fashion and coping with a chronic illness

This was not the best start of getting back into the habit of blogging like I planned in my last post. But today I have a bit of energy left to pick it up again. 

My health has been going up and down in the past months which had a big influence on my mood and motivation to do anything lolita related besides wearing it in a casual way with a messy bun and no make up. Being in such a slump is always a wake up call for me. I tend to rethink the things I've done in the past months, if I should sell my dresses in order to make up for not wearing it to meetings and events. Or just quit with the whole thing and focus on self care and the things that bring me joy at that time. Which isn't being on facebook or instagram or even looking up new releases in online stores. 

I love lolita fashion a lot and wear it almost every week, in some weeks even everyday. It is my fashion of choice and it is me. But feeling like crap and not having the positive energy to spread my passion on social media with new coords really does something with me. My coords don't feel good enough, they look boring and just out of place. I feel like a pig in my coords even when I know that I am at my lightest at the moment and it is still slowly moving down if I put my mind to it. It just doesn't feel right in these times, like I don't deserve the kindness or the gorgeous dresses in my wardrobe. 

Luckily in the past weeks my health and motivation got a little bit better. From January till mid April I went to a neuropathist to rule out if I had any kind of nerve damage or disease and to a cardiologist to see if my heart was still doing ok cause I had some issues with fainting out of the blue. I went from hospital visit to hospital visit for all kinds of body scans, heart tests and physical tests. I was also send to a physiotherapist to help me with my chronic headaches. My symptoms got a bit better thanks to my physiotherapist and I found some energy back. Which resulted in me going back to work after being home for almost 3 months. Currently I'm also going to an osteopath so see why I'm not making enough progress with the physiotherapy. It is a long way to get back to a healthier life but I'm getting there slowly even though it is a bumpy ride with many big holes in it. 

As for lolita fashion, my love for it will never die that's for sure. But I do have some down moments from time to time. It is those moments where I feel like giving up on everything regarding the fashion just because I can't handle the daily battles of my health at that moment. Having to deal with an unstable health sure brings a lot of troubles along the way. You never know how tomorrow is going to be or even a couple of hours from now. 

I am thankful for everything even my terrible health at some points. This made me who I am today, most of the time a positive spirit bursting from energy when I'm meeting up with friends or go to events. Even when I feel like giving up, have no energy left in me or have lots of pain, it doesn't matter as long as I can be surrounded by the people I care about the most and the fashion I love. 

This blogpost turned out a bit heavier than I was planning to in the beginning. But somehow I feel like I wanted to share this part of my life to with my readers of this blog. Most of my health updates are shared on my facebook which isn't open to people I don't know in person. So sharing it on here is a bit of a gamble, but you don't live your life to the fullest if you don't try to change yourself for a better version of you and if you don't chase your dreams. 

Please let me know if you would like to read more about how I deal with my limitations while going to events, meetings or while traveling. 

I know I find it helpful to learn more about these topics so maybe you do to.