V&A Kitty and the Bulldog Exhibit Meet!

Something of absolutely EPIC proportions happened on Saturday! For those of you who have not already heard, from now until the 27th of January 2013, the Victoria and Albert museum in London is holding an exhibition called Kitty and the Bulldog: Lolita Fashion and the Influence of Britain. You can find out a bit more on the exhibit here- http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/k/kitty-and-the-bulldog/

Now, this in itself is quite an exciting development. A museum holding an exhibit on lolita? I was really surprised when I first found out! But then the Tea Party Club (with the wonderful Kyra being our host) decided to hold a meet... and 113 lolitas turned up!

There were so many lolitas that my poor husband struggled to fit us all in one shot! So here are a couple of photos of us outside the grand entrance. Hopefully I have managed to include at least one photo of everybody.

So attendees, have you spotted yourself yet? Imagine having to tag all these people on Facebook!

We reckon that outside of a convention, this might have been the biggest ever lolita meet. If you know of any larger meets, then let me know! We intend to get an even bigger crowd at an August meet.

Here is a picture of me at the start of the day where hopefully, I look a little less tired and flustered! I was wearing Meta's Fairy Tale print skirt and bonnet. As you can see, I left out the ivy wrapped around my legs. I felt it was a little too high maintenance when I knew we would be walking about a lot and it can get a bit itchy! When they were calling out groups to be photographed, I had no idea whether to pose for the sweet or classic! In the end, I joined the classic group. It is a bit of a hybrid outfit!

And I am also including a few photos of the exhibit itself. For the moment, I have only selected a few photos, otherwise it kind of spoils the fun for people who are yet to visit! I might do a Photobucket album at some point and I will be putting my photos on Facebook later, so keep an eye out for that. Those will have a lot more photos!

So what did I make of the exhibit? Well, there are 9 outfits in total to view and it doesn't take that long to view them. Although there are a few little questionable details here and there, I think that overall the outfits have been put together well. I can see a lot of research has gone in to the exhibit. From time to time the wording on some parts of the exhibit seem a bit 'off' as well. I also felt that the Innocent World outfit should have been filed under classic lolita instead of sweet. Okay, so the outfit did have a few hints of sweet styling to it, but it felt more like a classic outfit to me. There was no information on the classic style as far as I remember, and I think that is a real shame! But despite these few minor points, this exhibit was a lot of fun. When I first saw the dresses on display, my heart skipped a beat! I hope that loads of people will enjoy the exhibit and at least understand the fashion a bit better.

The gothic outfit.

Two sweet outfits, both with an Alice in Wonderland influence. The point that the exhibit is trying to get across is that the lolita fashion has some British influences to it and that is probably why they chose outfits with an Alice look to them. Nice to see the lolita's best friend, Usakumya, made an appearance!

Sorry about the camera flash in this picture! I think the most obvious British influence in lolita is apparent in punk lolita. This is probably why punk lolita got featured in the exhibit more than classic.

For the entire day, we got asked by visitors about what we were wearing. Some people thought we were actually part of the exhibit! I would like to think that we brightened up a rainy day!

The exhibit gives a very interesting take on lolita. If you have some basic knowledge on lolita then you wont learn anything new from visiting, but it is still fun to come and see the outfits on display. And I do believe that this exhibit is a big deal. Imagine all of the visitors who are going to stumble across this exhibit, whether they are aware of the fashion or not. Simply amazing.

As I said, there will be more photos at some point. I need to upload them all first!

Lolita comes to the Victoria and Albert in London!

Yesterday I was very surprised to find out that there is going to be an exhibition about lolita fashion in the Victoria and Albert Museum! It has just sort of appeared out of the blue, and I think there are many UK lolitas who were pleasantly surprised by the news.

Kitty and the Bulldog: Lolita Fashion and the Influence of Britain will run between April the 23rd and October the 14th. That gives plenty of time for people to go and visit. There is also going to be a lolita meet held there in May (which I should be going to, so if you are coming I will see you there!).

Details can be found here- http://www.timeout.com/london/museums-attractions/event/250397/kitty-and-the-bulldog-lolita-fashion-and-the-influence-of-britain

It is part of the British Design Season and will be held in room 45.

Obviously, the V and A is a beautiful museum anyway, so it would be interesting to visit other stuff which is on display.

I find it interesting that this display has come up and at this time. Is this a sign that lolita fashion is growing even further in the UK? Will the museum "get it right" or will it be some strange version of lolita that is not really relevant? (Which could be a little embarrassing!) Either way, Hyper Japan was recently mentioned in a newspaper article and it is hard to ignore the growing number of new UK lolitas.

I have a good feeling about this exhibit. I am not suggesting lolita will become mainstream (and I wouldn't want it to become mainstream) but maybe, just maybe, the fashion is starting to get a bit of recognition here.

Edgar Degas, Laduree and a new banner!

Friday the 14th October 2011- This day will always be special to me. I finally managed to make one of my life goals come true, and it is thanks to lolita!

A few weeks ago, I was invited to a lolita meet. The idea was to visit the Royal Academy of Arts in London for an exhibit about Edgar Degas. As soon as I saw the word Degas, I started to hyperventilate. Edgar Degas is my favourite artist of all time. I first discovered Degas when I was about 7. My dad had purchased our first computer and he got me this set of computer games to celebrate. In one of the games, you had to stop a burglar from stealing paintings from 3 artists. One of these artists was Degas. When you finished the game, you got to see the paintings. I instantly fell in love with Degas. I kept researching him and discovered more of his beautiful works. I find it hard to explain why I love him so much. Degas painted a lot of dancers and ballerinas, and it is these paintings which he is most famous for. The dancers look graceful, and I love the way Degas captured their effortless grace. The exhibition in London focused on the way Degas captured their movement. I sometimes wonder what Degas would have thought about lolitas and how he would have captured lolita in his art. If I were to pose for any artist, it would definitely be Degas. And I only found out about this exhibit because I was a part of a lolita facebook group!

Despite being unable to attend the lolita meet, there was NO WAY I was missing the chance to see some of Degas' most famous work in person. The Royal Academy of Arts was buzzing with excitement and there was a bit of a queue to get in.

The lolitas going to the meet are in for a treat! If you are reading this post before the 11th of December 2011 and would like the chance to see the exhibit in London, you can find details here- http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/degas/

There was one particular part of the exhibition that I was really excited to see-

This is Dancer Posing for a Photographer (sometimes the title for this painting varies a little bit). This is my absolute favourite painting by my favourite artist. This painting normally hangs in a gallery in Russia. Considering how unlikely it is that I will go to Russia, I simply had to see this painting. It was one of my life goals to view this painting and now I can say I have seen it. When I first saw it, I felt my heart clench with excitement. It is so beautiful. I can actually feel my eyes tearing up just remembering this special moment.

I spent ages in the gift shop looking for my favourite painting. I was hoping for a print (in fact, this has now gone down on my Christmas wishlist, so I am holding out hope of at least getting a poster). Sadly, I could not find Dancer Posing for a Photographer but I did find this print. I am now trying to figure out where I should put it. I also got a few postcards and the Royal Academy's magazine. I did spot a beautiful umbrella with a Degas print on it (it would look beautiful with classic lolita) which cost £30, but I decided I would be sensible and so I saved it to buy a few Christmas presents. I would have snapped it up in an instant if Christmas wasn't coming up!

I also decided to go to Laduree for macarons. Laduree macarons are famous so in the interest of research, I went and got a box of 8!

This is the macaron tree which greets you outside their shop. I went to the Burlington Arcade branch because it was very close to the Degas exhibit. Inside the shop, it is like a sparkly grotto. In this photo you can see the gold underneath the macaron tree. The entire shop is covered with this gold decoration. The shop itself is small, so it is best to go in very small groups or by yourself.

This is the box my 8 macarons came in. I think this is their standard packaging which in itself, is still very pretty. If you want a fancier box I think you need to buy more macarons.

Left to Right- Rose, Lemon, Raspberry, Granny Smith Apple, Black Forest, Praline and Violet and Blackcurrant (I had already eaten another rose macaron). As expected, they were expensive but I can honestly say they are the nicest macarons I have ever tried. They have a wonderful crispy but chewy texture. The flavours in the store are varied with a few standard flavours such as raspberry, and the more exotic flavours like Green Apple. They also do special flavours from time to time. If I remember correctly, the black forest macaron is not part of the regular macaron menu.

My favourites were the Black Forest (perfect mix of chocolate and cherry), green apple (unusual, but in a good way), and the Violet/blackcurrant (simply amazing). But I was amazed by every single one I tried.

Finally, I have some new banner art!

This banner was made by the very lovely Beau. Beau based the banner on the outfit I wore to the October 2011 Oxfordshire Lolita meet with Meta's Fairy tale print. Beau has gone to a lot of effort to capture my outfit including the ivy wrapped around my leg, the print details and even my black Bodyline bolero. I absolutely love this banner! So a huge thank you to Beau for making this for me.