Monday, June 24, 2013

Interview with the Lolita: Cadney

Ever since I started my blog, it’s been a dream of mine to interview other Lolitas. Maybe it’s because I am a really curious person, but it’s mainly because I always really like to hear people’s opinions about the things I love as much as them. In this case Lolita (of course). I finally took my idea to the next level and contacted one of my Lolita idols: Cadney! You have probably seen her pictures floating around Tumblr or Daily Lolita. She has been a big inspiration to me for a very long time, so I was thrilled when she agreed to do an interview with me! Initially I had set myself a maximum number of questions, but I got so excited it got a bit more. I hope you will enjoy this interview! ♥

Lolita Wonderland: Thank you very much for this interview! First, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Cadney: My name is Stephanie and I live just outside of Toronto, Canada. I'm 23 and I work with children, but I also work in Publishing and Theatre. My hobbies include crafting (I make Lolita hair accessories on commission) and watching Doctor Who.

Lolita Wonderland: When and/or how did you discover Lolita and how long have you been wearing it?

Cadney: I discovered Lolita 3.5 years ago. I collected Asian Ball-Jointed Dolls before getting into Lolita, and the style became familiar to me because: 1. Many doll collectors also wear Lolita, and 2. Lolita companies like Baby, The Stars Shine Bright also make clothing for dolls to wear!

Lolita Wonderland: How would you describe your own Lolita style?

Cadney: I feel like my style is in flux right now. I started out wearing OTT (over the top) Sweet Lolita, and while I still do that, I’m interested in more toned down sweet as well. One of my aims is to make OTT Sweet Lolita look slightly subdued at the same time. It’s kind of oxymoronic, actually.

Lolita Wonderland: How do you usually start to coordinate? For example: do you make up a coordinate in your head weeks in advance or do you just think of it the morning you need it?

Cadney: I coordinate both ways. I tend to think up coordinates in my head days, weeks, or months in advance for particular events. Right now I’m planning a coordinate in my head that I will wear to meet Misako Aoki in August. I also lay coordinates out on my bed before I put them on to see what they look like. If an element looks bad, I remove it and replace it with another item.


Lolita Wonderland: You are known to suffer from a bladder condition. Does this influence your Lolita life in any way?

Cadney: I would say that it does influence my Lolita life in some ways, but mostly because of the dietary restrictions imposed on me from the condition. I was unable, for example, to attend the Lolita Tea Party at Anime North this year because I simply could not eat or drink anything on the menu. As for tight or loose clothing, the only thing that sometimes causes me pain in Lolita is a tight petticoat around my waist that squeezes the abdomen unnecessarily.

Lolita Wonderland: Do you have something that is kind of like your trademark in Lolita, like a certain print, accessory or bag for example?

Cadney: People sometimes tell me that my black pigtail hair falls from Prisila are my trademark. Other people tell me that I have a specific trademarked pose, which I think is funny! I don’t usually think about my outfits in terms of style trademarks; so the only reason why I’ve recognized these things is because others have mentioned them to me.

Lolita Wonderland: Do you have any favourite colour combinations in Lolita?

Cadney: Yes. I love to combine mint with everything, but especially lavender. I also recently did a coordinate that was mint x lavender x white that I loved in the end.

Lolita Wonderland: What is your most favourite outfit you ever wore?

Cadney: My favourite past outfit is the ivory Day Dream Carnival one that I wore last may in the Anime North Lolita Fashion Show. I coordinated ivory with gold, and touches of pink. I also used a Rococo Soul sceptre to complete the look.


Lolita Wonderland: What is your absolute Dream Dress? The dress you really hope to own, but that just seems out of reach?

Cadney: That would definitely be Angelic Pretty’s Gloria in the Ivory colourway. What’s so heartbreaking about Gloria is that I thought I actually bought it; I checked out with the set in about 30 seconds, and I only found out at 6am the next morning that there wasn’t enough stock for Angelic Pretty to complete my order. That was a sad day.

Lolita Wonderland: If you could create a new print for your favourite brand, which brand would it be, what would it look like and what would you call it?

Cadney: I would create a dress for Angelic Pretty called “Mascot Parade.” The print would have all of Angelic Pretty’s previous mascots on it together, like Milky-chan, Vanilla-chan, Chick-chan, Lyrical Bunny, the giraffe and elephant, etc. I imagine they would all be parading together, holding balloons and celebrating. Maybe Angelic Pretty could do something like this for a milestone or anniversary. I would love it.

Lolita Wonderland: You are a quite well-known Lolita on the internet. Has this influenced you in any way? Like in the way you dress or the things you write?

Cadney: It doesn’t influence the way I dress or act, I don’t think. If I said that it doesn’t affect me in any way, though, I would be lying. I do my best to just be myself despite the public eye on my blog, if that makes sense. Being relatively well-known in the Lolita community has both positive and negative aspects, and without going into much detail, I’ll say that I’ve experienced the extremes of both.

Lolita Wonderland: How do you cope with negative reactions to your clothing style? Whether it’s on the internet or out on the streets.

Cadney: The first time something terrible was said about me, I felt really awful and torn up about it. It takes some experience with negative comments to grow a thick skin, and I find that everyone eventually can. I shrug most negative comments off completely, now. To ~rustle my jimmies~, someone in the street would really need to relentlessly get in my face. Otherwise, I pay them no mind.


Lolita Wonderland: You used to wear unnatural coloured wigs a lot in the past. Lately you wear more natural coloured wigs and hair pieces. Have you stopped wearing unnatural colours completely or are you taking a break from them?

Cadney: I haven’t stopped wearing them completely (I have a Lockshop wig that uses pink and purple, for example, and I wear it rather often) but I really have moved away from colourful wigs. I just feel like natural hair looks a lot better on me, and the reason why I’ve come to realize this is because of helpful constructive criticism I received on the internet. Truthfully, when I look back at my older coordinates I don’t know why I ever wore many of those wigs! There’s a learning curve in Lolita for discovering what flatters your style best, I think.

Lolita Wonderland: Has your Lolita style changed over the years?

Cadney: Yes, I think it’s changed like night and day. I can’t even look at some of my older outfits without getting a little embarrassed! Haha

Lolita Wonderland: Do you incorporate Lolita elements in your daily, non-Lolita outfits?

Cadney: Yes, sometimes I do. I’ll wear my more toned down Lolita hair accessories with everyday clothing, and I sometimes use my gold MILK bag in casual coordinates. I’ve even worn my mint tea party shoes with my mint casual dresses from Forever 21.!

Lolita Wonderland: What is an absolute must have for a Lolita in your opinion?

Cadney: Confidence. You cannot wear this style out in the world and simultaneously feel happiness without finding your inner confidence and growing a thick skin. This is something that everyone can do if they only work at it, even if we’re all confident to different degrees.

Lolita Wonderland: What advice would you give to a beginner Lolita?

Cadney: My advice would be to do a lot of research online before starting to wear Lolita. Look at the essentials: do you have a petticoat? Do you have appropriate shoes? What will you do with your hair to compliment your first outfit? My mistake when I started out in Lolita was just launching myself out there and finding whatever I could to make *something* happen, instead of doing research and creating outfits based on what I saw looked great together on others who already understood a lot about the style. Finding style icons was a great way for me to improve in Lolita. I saw what looked great on them, and used it as a springboard to improve my own style.


Lolita Wonderland: Finally, what does Lolita mean to you?

Cadney: Lolita is a breath of fresh air. I have so much going on in my life from school to work to illness, and it’s so wonderful to occasionally take some time out of my week to dress up and feel beautiful. I wouldn’t say that I consider Lolita escapism from everyday life, but it really is a healthy way to suspend the problems of yesterday and focus on making yourself happy, if only for a little while.


♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥


Many, many thanks to Cadney for answering all of my questions! If you haven’t checked her tumblr out yet, I definitely recommend it! :3
If you liked this interview or you have some constructive criticism, please leave a comment below! I would love to do more interviews in the future, so if you know anyone you’d like to see being interviewed, let me know! If you yourself would like to be interviewed, let me know too! The only requirements are:
1. You must have worn at least four Lolita outfits.
2. You must love Lolita and have fun wearing it!


Thank you for reading!
I really hope you liked this interview!

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Lady of the Blooming Garden

On Sunday, June 9th, I went to the Summer Tea Party organized by the Dutch indie Lolita brand Fly Away Fashion! I had been to the Winter Tea Party in November 2012 and since I had so much fun, I didn’t want to miss the summer edition of course! The Tea Party’s theme was ‘Victorian Romance’. I thought my usual Sweet outfits didn’t really match this, so I decided to wear my beautiful yellow Blooming Garden dress from Metamorphose for the first time! I combined it with lots of flowers: a flower necklace and matching bracelet, flower head band and flowers on my dress and shoes. I decided to do something extra special with my hair this time and tried to copy the hairstyle I had seen on one of my Facebook friends. Although she does it way better than me, I think I did quite a good job after all (I had practiced ^^). To make it a little more Victorian, I wore my fingerless lace gloves that my mom gave to me. I am not sure they are really that Victorian, but I liked them a lot! I also chose to wear my hoopskirt for the very first time! Years ago I had bought a big, long hoopskirt to wear underneath my mom’s wedding dress to an event, but I never used it since. I decided to cut off the bottom layers so I could use it for Lolita! Here are some pictures of my outfit:
✿ Lady of the Blooming Garden ✿
My outfit rundown:
♥ Flower headband: Claire’s
♥ Headbow: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright
♥ Blouse: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright
♥ Jsk: Metamorphose’s Blooming Garden
♥ Tights: Fly Away Fashion
♥ Shoes: Bodyline
♥ Necklace: Claire’s
♥ Flower clips: Claire’s
♥ Bracelets: Claire’s, offbrand
♥ Lace gloves: Six
♥ Rings: offbrand
Do you think my hoopskirt works well? ^^
After my mom took pictures of me, she drove me to the station where I would meet up with Rowan and where we would be picked up by Deborah and Sanniya by car. It was really nice to sit with three other Lolitas in a bright green car, talking about random things. ^^
We arrived at the venue much too early, so Rowan, Sanniya and I went to get some money. While walking, we met some lovely-looking Lolitas walking in the opposite direction. Sanniya got her money and we walked back. We took some pictures of each other and then went inside, since it was past 12:30 pm now. Many Lolitas joined us at this point and we payed our admission fee.
A picture I took while standing in line from some cute items for sale. ^^

Then we went upstairs and picked a table close to the door, after which we were joined by the two Lolitas we had met on the street. More and more Lolitas walked in. Everyone looked so pretty! Meanwhile, food was being put on a separate table. It looked very promising!
The menu! So many choices~!

When everyone was inside and done chatting, we all sat down and listened to Fly Away Fashion’s owner and Tea Party organizer Katie’s welcome. She explained to us the schedule for the day and how the outfit competition and lottery worked. Then we were invited to have tea. We walked up to the food table and formed a neat line. It was so hard to choose what to take: everything looked amazing! I took a picture of the food table, but it didn’t come out very well. ^^’ There were cupcakes, sandwiches, chocolate cake, cheese cake, strawberries, cookies… Everything looked and tasted amazing! ♥
After a while, people went downstairs again to browse the Fly Away Fashion shop (they had so many fantastic items, including various Alpacasso things) and take pictures. The sun had finally come out, so it gave us a nice opportunity. ^^
Me, Deborah, Rowan, Sanniya and Crystal.
Picture by Rowan (well, her camera).

It was so much fun to just chat and joke and laugh with people. I met a lot of girls I only knew by name or face. I can be very shy sometimes but I did talk to quite some people. I got lots of compliments on my necklace by the way. People were shocked to find out it’s simply from Claire’s! ^^
I also tried to take a lot of pictures from other people. Here are some of them:
I am glad I took the courage to take more pictures with and from people. ^^

It was time to go inside again and vote for the outfit contest. We could choose between five girls, all of them in very different styles. Two of my travel buddies participated too: Rowan and Deborah. I had a hard time choosing, all the participants looked wonderful! I won’t tell you who I voted for (:3), but I can tell you who won: Rowan, with her beautiful handmade Cinderella-like outfit! She totally deserved it!
Then it was time for the lottery. I didn’t win anything, but I did have number 42! The ‘Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything’! ^^
Then we went downstairs again to chat, shop and take a group picture!
Group picture!

The Tea Party came to an end and we all went home again. It had been a wonderful day, I had so much fun! Again, many thanks to the wonderful organizers and cooks! ♥

Saturday, June 01, 2013

Dolly Time at a Lolita Birthday

Two weeks ago my friend Cat organised a Lolita birthday meet up for her friend Rowan and I was very honoured to be invited as well! The theme for the meet up was black and white, a bit to the Gothic side, but as a sweet girl I decided to go for pink! And black, haha. I decided to wear my Fantasic Dolly dress again (I love that dress sooo much), with a black bolero, dotted off brand knee socks and pink shoes. I remember when I bought the bolero years ago, before I officially started wearing Lolita, I thought it would be nice for Lolita and now I could finally actually wear it with a dress!
My mom was kind enough to take some pictures of me. ^^
♠ Dolly Time ♠
My outfit rundown:
Headbow: Angelic Pretty
Bolero: off brand
Jsk: Angelic Pretty’s Fantasic Dolly
Accessories: 6% Dokidoki, Claire’s
Socks: off brand
Shoes: An*Tai*Na
Due to some circumstances, I arrived late and last. I felt so bad, but luckily everyone was happy I was there and it made me feel a little better! Everyone looked really nice and after lots of hugging we went on our way to the Bubble Tea shop. There, we all ordered some delicious Bubble Tea (I chose strawberry flavour and popping). The shop staff there really love us! This was the second time they asked for a picture of us in the shop. ^^

Mine and Cat’s drinks ♥ The group minus me ♥ Me and my delicious Bubble Tea

After we had all paid for our drinks, we went on our way to the bus station to take the bus to Cat’s house, where the party would take place. After a little waiting, the bus arrived and we all sat down. We talked for a while and we quickly arrived at the right stop. While we walked to Cat’s house, three construction workers noticed us and one pulled out his camera, yelled: ‘Smile!’ at us and took a picture. I didn’t say anything about it, but I did not smile. I don’t mind pictures, but… just not like that. Luckily we arrived at Cat’s house soon after.
When we walked into the room, we were all happily surprised by the wonderfully decorated table: a black and a white tablecloth, fancy dinnerware, floating balloons… Leave it to Cat to create an amazing table!
We all got rid of our coats and sat down at the seats with our nameplate(!). Quickly, the tea, cake and cookies came out!
My seat with nameplate ♥ Rowan blowing out the candles on her
themed birthday cake
♥ Bat-, cat- and tombstone cookies

After chatting, drinking tea and eating cake and cookies, it was time for presents! Rowan got some really nice things, including a beautiful music notes skirt made by Cat and her mom. Rowan was so happy she cried. ♥
Then we went outside to take some pictures. Recently, the ‘Kamehameha-trend’ has been going all over the internet: one person blows the other(s) away with invisible power. We all quite liked it, so we tried to do it too! We weren’t too great at it at first, but we managed to get some nice pictures.
A normal group picture ♥ Kamehameha! ♥ Light vs. Dark
♥ Cat and her wonderful face, haha!

After many jumping (and failing) attempts, we also took outfit shots, which resulted in some nice personal pictures. ^^ Then we went back inside to eat Cat and Rowan’s self made sushi and onigiri. Unfortunately the sushi was a bit frozen thanks to Cat’s interesting fridge, but they were still really good. After that we had delicious mini cakes (I was too full to try multiple of them unfortunately).
The wonderful sushi ♥ The wonderful mini cakes

After eating, we did some crafting (I made a little bow, go me!) and then I had to go home sadly. The next day would be a long day as well, since I would go to the Japan Market with Cat, so I didn’t want to go home too late. Nevertheless it had been a wonderful day and I was really happy to spend it with all these lovely Lolitas! ^^ If you want to read about Cat’s preparations and her point of view on this day, you can find her post about it here.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. ♥