Model Application Advice

I had a reader send in a request, asking for a post about applying to be a lolita model at events. I am very fortunate to have been selected by both Haenuli and Metamorphose to model at the Tea Party Club events in the past but to be honest, I am not really sure how much advice I can offer. To really understand why I was picked on those occasions I would have to ask the designers themselves. I think there are a lot of attractive lolitas out there so perhaps the way I submitted my form did have an influence. I can't say for certain. I had a fun time modelling. Would I do it again? Possibly, if I got the chance to model for one of my favourite brands again. I have to admit, I felt I missed out on a lot of the Revelry event because I was backstage quite a bit. But I don't regret modelling at all. 

Even though I can't say for sure that my application form influenced me getting picked, I did put a lot of time and effort in to it. In the past I have been a bit lazy with my forms and as a result, I haven't been picked for things. So here I will go in to detail about what I did with my form and if it works for you, then that is great. But be aware that even if you do follow every bit of advice out there, you may still not get picked. If this is something you feel passionate about, then just keep going. My general attitude is that if I don't submit a form then my chances of getting picked are instantly zero. You never know what is going to happen.

Firstly, if you can, you should try to wear the clothing of the brand you are aiming to get picked by. At the very least, you should try to make sure your outfit is in the style of your chosen brand. With Meta, all of the people who got selected had worn Metamorphose in their applications. I am not suggesting that the people got selected just because they owned items from Meta, but it doesn't hurt to show a little bit of brand loyalty. Also, because some of my favourite dresses are by Metamorphose, I felt quite confident in the outfit I wore and I feel this showed in my application. Show your passion for lolita fashion and the clothing and it will show you in a more positive light.

You should consider the time of year this event is being held. Depending on how many models are picked, the brands will often want to showcase dresses that are coming out a few months after the event. If the event is being held in the Spring, then the brands may be wanting to show off their Summer lines. So there is not much point wearing a heavy Winter themed outfit in your application. Also, certain brands re-release the same series every year. For example, Angelic Pretty usually does a Royal Chocolate series every year and Meta puts out a Summery sailor series and a kimono print in the Winter. 

When choosing a pose for your application photos, try to think about the outfit you are wearing and how you can show it off to its best potential. For example, if you are wearing a wide princess sleeved blouse, make sure your arms are not by your sides. Show those sleeves off! This is important because the brands will want to see that you can show off their clothing as best as you possibly can. I don't mean to sound harsh, but during fashion shows the focus should be on the clothing and not you. You are just there to help sell their clothing.

It is also worth choosing your a time and location for your application photos carefully. Don't go for a location which has lots of distracting features, such as plants, because it takes away attention from you. You should also be careful to pick a time where the sunlight is not too harsh. Squinting in the harsh light does not look attractive! And whilst on the subject of distractions, try not to go too overboard with the make up. The brands will want to be able to see your face, no matter how cute your new eye shadow and stick on gems look! It may also be worth putting down the props, such as sceptres. On stage you might not be allowed to use props, so you need to be confident with your posing.

When you are taking your photos, it is also worth taking your time to make sure you get shots you are happy with. If you settle for a photograph that you don't think is that good, then it will show. If you don't think the photograph looks that good then the brands will probably think the same. Make sure you are 100% happy that the photo doesn't look blurry. Try a few different poses, as sometimes poses can seem like a good idea, but when you see the photographs afterwards they don't look as good. It can get a little bit frustrating standing there for a while and having to go through loads of photographs afterwards, but it is worth it if you can get a shot you are happy with.

Finally, never EVER lie on your form about your measurements and do not photoshop your photographs. This may sound really obvious, but I once knew somebody who lied about their measurements and then on the day had an embarrassing moment when they realised the clothing didn't fit them properly. The clothing was too tight for them and unfortunately, it showed. Is it really worth having an embarrassing situation like this happen to you?

Well, I hope this post was helpful to the reader who requested it and also for those who are curious about being a model at these big events. I can't guarantee it will help but you never know, a bit of extra time and effort might make a difference. I feel I should point out that you should only apply to model if you are 100% confident that you can get up on stage and pose as instructed. Remember to enjoy yourselves.

Frock On!

The Tea Party Club is 6 years old and this meant another huge London lolita event! This year Kyra, Michaela and a load of volunteers organised Frock On! for the weekend of 31st Aug/1st Sept. With even more lolitas attending this year, it was guaranteed to be packed full of fun and lots of beautiful outfits. I was there for the Saturday event with some of my fellow Oxfordshire Lolitas and here is what we got up to. Some of my pictures didn't come out that good but hopefully this post will give a good idea of what the event was like.

This year the shopping area was so big! All the stalls were packed together quite closely in the room to make room for it all. I had a very hard time trying to decide what I should spend my money on. If I was able to buy every single thing I wanted I reckon I could have easily spent well over £1000! But that is not all... there was also the Bring and Buy. The Bring and Buy had loads of dresses in it. I was a tiny bit disappointed that there wasn't more brand jewellery available but I was able to come out with a BABY dress and some other bits. 

The hotel was so beautiful. Can you believe this picture of me was taken in the toilets!? It really comes to something when even the toilet area is bigger than your entire house! It was the perfect location. I wouldn't mind spending a night or two here!

This was my outfit for the Saturday event. I wore my beloved Midsummer Night's Dream dress by Alice and the Pirates. I teamed the navy with a few different shades of lavender and purple, including my AP chiffon blouse, lots of fake flowers and my Cambridge satchel. My goals for this outfit were to make sure all the colours worked together and to stick as many fake flowers on myself as possible! I also wore my new Bodyline wig (which I forgot to review on here in the run-up to the event). Sadly, I don't think this wig is as nice as my other Bodyline wig as it tangles easily, but I love the colour and length. 

But that's not all! I also modelled for HaeNuLi in the first fashion show. I got to wear the Little Prince print in the Fantasia colour. I don't think the pictures really do this dress justice. The print is gorgeous in real life. When I first found out I got picked by HaeNuLi I had this strange feeling I would end up wearing Little Prince and I was right! The dress and matching bow was teamed with a blouse by Lady Sloth and the rest are items from my own wardrobe. I was meant to be wearing matching space tights but they seemed to go missing (you should have seen how many boxes Kyra brought with her).

One of the perks of being a model was that we got to see what everybody else was wearing too. I have been dying to talk about this new Juliette et Justine rabbit dress for weeks but we were made to keep it secret! It is so beautiful and the matching socks are amazing too. I would definitely keep an eye out for this one.

Later on in the day there were various work shops and Michaela's Fashion Fix. Michaela and Kyra faced off against each other with Michaela representing off-brand and Kyra representing brand. They had various themes and the audience had to cheer for which outfit they liked best. The end result was a draw! 

There was also a panel with all the attending designers. I felt it was a shame they didn't get much time to talk and maybe some more questions would have been better, but the schedule was quite packed. Hitomi from Grimoire was very lovely in person. She knew some basic English and was able to help run her Grimoire stall in the shopping area. A lot of the models got to talk to her at the rehearsal too. Some girls showed her pictures of themselves visiting the Grimoire shop in Japan and Hitomi recognised some of the girls!

Later on there was a raffle. This year I won some colouring in pages but I didn't recognise the name of the company on them. Some people won dresses and entire outfits from some of the attending brands, which is amazing! 

I opted for the VIP ticket and got given this goody bag. It contained a lot of postcards, a few accessories, the tote bag and a Japanese kitkat. I think the kitkat was peach flavoured? It was very nice, whatever it was. My favourite part was the postcard drawn by Minori. Minori was unable to attend Frock On! but she left a message for attendees on the back of her postcard. Her artwork is beautiful.

This is my haul from the event. I mainly purchased things from the Bring and Buy. My biggest purchase was the BABY Bunny Milk and Snow Strawberry JSK. It is one of my dream prints (I have 9 dream prints left to go!) and my top colour choice. Now before my regular readers say "Luna! I thought that you are meant to hate that little pom pom trim, like at the bottom of that dress!",  this is one of the rare occasions where I actually think it works quite well! The pom pom trim matches the print theme really well. I do usually hate pom pom trim but this time around I am happy to make an exception. 

I also got a sailor cutsew from Cherie Cherise, an AP top from the Dreamy Bows stall, an Innocent World umbrella (from a stall where the prices were expensive, but I liked the umbrella anyway), a pair of socks from Grimoire that I plan to wear with Midsummer, a bag from the bring and buy and also a bow made by Shalisa from the Oxford group.

I managed to get some videos of the fashion show finales and they are now up on my Youtube channel- https://www.youtube.com/user/LunaRainLolita/videos

The day was absolutely amazing and although my anxiety flared up before the modelling, I was really happy with how things went. My only regret is I was suffering from lack of sleep and didn't get to talk to as many people as I would have liked. But I did manage to get a wonderful new dress and lots of fantastic stuff! Overall I feel the day was a huge success. I wish I could have gone to the Sunday tea party too but that may have been overkill!