Clothes Swap-meetup vol #2

Last saturday, Ilona hosted another clothes swap meetup, mainly for lolitas, but there were other friends present as well. Everyone brought some food, so we had a  multitude of it, and there was an abundance of clothes to browse through. Here's some pictures I took of the event!

Goodies from saturday

As I made abundantly clear in my last post, we did some face-stuffing and purchasing last saturday. Here's what I got:

From Tokyokan
Top row: Kombu-seaweed, instant Miso soup

Bottom row: Japanese vermicelli, nori sheets and toasted white sesame seeds

From Sweetheart

A bag of salmiakki swirls (for those who don't know, salmiakki is a type of salty licorice sweet very popular in Finland, also found in Scandinavia, the Netherlands and some places in Northern Germany), a cherry candy cane and salmiakki fudge.

I actually got around to trying rice with sesame seeds yesterday, and they had AMAZINGLY good synergies! I highly recommend you try it, if you haven't already. It also looks like I'm going to frequent Tokyokan more often, I've gotten a real taste of Japanese food, and I don't just mean Sushi either. I recently bought a book called "Japanese women don't get old or fat", which features some super-tasty sounding recipes I'm just dying to try out.

This was supposed to be a lolita blog...will it soon become a cooking blog, I don't know!

Day on the town with friends

This saturday I and some of my friends headed off to the center of Helsinki to do a little shopping and nomming. We had a bite to eat at I <3 Food, and then visited Tokyokan, a store specializing in Japanese dishwear and groceries. After that, nothing could've kept us from the cakes at Cake Gallery! We also went to a few more places, as described in the captions. What an absolutely awesome day.

I chose some Japan Sencha green tea, a small slice of mango cake and passion fruit cheesecake. Mmm!

Ilona's manic expression digging into that pastry is priceless.

Jone's looking silly and slightly ruffled. <3

Weehee, it's me and my loot!

Mikko just had "Gunpowder" green tea.

Less than sophisticated Ilona and super chic "devil may care" -habitus by Kaisa...

(Despite bad lighting)...and...ehh...the other way around.

We visited the small and cute candy store Sweetheart and got some cavity-makers!

:3

Just because we had the whim, we went to tiki-theme bar Kokomo for awesome Hawaii-coctails! They were so good and refreshing on a hot day.

Kaisa poses etherically in front of an exotic-looking mini-jungle

A closer look at her cool outfit.

Also ran into Katja, damn I managed to burn this picture. :'3 She looked pretty, as always, and shared with me a thing I had NEVER known (oh the shame): ALL AP DRESSES HAVE A POCKET. 8O

I'll soon make a mini-post on the things I got from our journey around town.

Small post: Mental health and lolita

A friend of mine recently posted in her FB that she's feeling depressed because she can't afford to buy more dresses right now, and fears that she'll become less popular because of it. I told her that I wouldn't care if she wore a Milanoo plastic lace monstrosity with crocks, she'd still be my friend. Another friend admitted to feeling the same way at times - this really got me thinking.

More dresses = popularity?
Popularity = Self-worth? Justification for being? Filling a void of acceptance?

Why is this style so popular with girls who have severe self-esteem and self-appreciation issues? Depression, obsessive behaviour, eating disorders, suicidal tendencies, panic attacks and a whole array of other mental health problems seem to be more of a norm than an exception with the followers of this fashion. I personally have overcome the worst years, and although I've never been to the really deep end of it, I've had my difficult times. I still sometimes get panic attacks and struggle with my self-image, but it's nothing compared to the trials some of my friends and associates have to deal with.

Unfortunately this fashion also attracts some people with narcissistic personality disorders, and I don't just mean mere vanity and attention-seeking. I mean the kind of deal where someone manipulates others into doing their bidding, making these already beaten-down girls feel even worse, even more inadequate and desperate.


Why does this style in particular seem to harbour so many broken people? Any thoughts?

From the archives (IMAGE HEAVY)

Another one for the weekend!

I have an impressive amount of photos on my photobucket account, and one day I went through all of them. I was surprised to find pictures of things I used to own and things that are still more or less on my wishlist, so I wanted to make a post dedicated to them. A vast majority of these items are from my sweet lolita days, but I can appreciate the old-school feeling a lot of them have, not to mention the nostalgy these clothes and accessories carry.

Some things I had and loved

Including the year I bought them. I'd imagine some of these are still in circulation.

Baby seal bag (2009)

It was one of those baby seal backpacks you tend to find at cruise ships or thriftstores here in Finland, but I made it into something more fanciful. I still think this is rather cute in a scruffy way, but it stopped suiting my style.

Blue BtSSB polka dot JSK (2009)

At least I think it was BtSSB. I only wore this dress during one photo-shoot until I switched styles.

Blue AP polka dot daisy bow (2009)

 A bit of a shaky picture. It went perfectly with the jumper skirt above.

Demonia boots with faux fur (2010)

 Awesome boots for gothic lolita, but they broke about a year after I purchased them, and I just haven't gotten around to buying a new pair.

Pink AP sweater with knitted strawberries (2008)

This sweater was never really my favourites in any way, despite it being cute, but I just HAD to include it, since it's one of those ongoing jokes that this particular knit from the leaving lolita sales of Reetta/Elina has been worn by 90% of the lolita population in Finland. Here's proof that I was probably the second or third owner.

Heart-shaped AP headdress (2007)

A friend visited Japan again, and acted as a shopping service on the side for me.

Pink AP apron (2007)

She also sent me this.

Pink F+F coat& cape (modified), self-modified mittens (2007)

My first lolita coat, and how I loved it! I added the faux fur trim and lace hearts on the coat, and the paw-pads on the mittens.

Pink AP skirt (2006)

The same friend that acted as my shopping service in 2007, did the same in 2006 as well, and I got this skirt, which was my first brand item, along with a pair of pink AP socks. The feeling when I lifted it from the pink plastic bag and smelled it was incredible. I'd really want to know where this skirt is now.



Front




Back



...And some things still kinda want

 

THAT Black/black or red/white BtSSB heart bag

Metamorphose flocky rose bag in white or red colorway

Red polkadot AP knit bolero

BtSSB chess JSK (the official name of which I can't be bothered to google right now)

Red Baby shoes

These BtSSB bunny earmuffs, but black

Black&red winter crown headdress (I've wanted one since like 2006, but it would mean I have to make one myself. These were already a rare novelty in the available colours.)

Purr purr purchases!

Recently I've bought two items from Laura - a black velvet bolero by BtSSB, and an Angelic Pretty Cutsew.

I also bought these awesome chandelier pantyhose that I originally found featured in FB:s Hautemacabre page. Shown here in lower right corner. The other hosiere is cool as well - especially the ones with the letters on them!

I'm already waiting for summer, so I decided to get a pair of cute red summer shoes from Zalando, (click to see what they look like!) since they were having a sale.

Oh, and here's the lovely apron I got from my boyfriend for Christmas, it's by Minna of Sweet-Sweet shop. I honestly don't know if she's still in business or not, but at least I finally got my apron! Sorry for the camera's weird ghost spheres.

I also got these accessories from the Enfant Terrible Christmas gift-swap; a fur-collar, a cameo brooch and a black bead choker-necklace-collar thingy.