Weekend Double Frill

Somehow it feels like a long while since I last dressed in lolita, even though I know it’s not. Still, this weekend presented not one, but two opportunities to frill up, so of course I was going to take them! Even though I was actually poorly, coughing and sniffling all weekend (and technically still am).

Very simple, minimalistic hair and makeup, just to cover up the fact that I wasn't 100% well that day.

First coord was for a vintage fair on Saturday. This skirt does not get enough love in a lolita context and it’s probably the most vintage-y thing I have, so out it came. I needed something layered and simple – or in other words: practical – and after a quick ‘how would this look with brown’ flatlay experiment, it stayed. And as much as I would’ve preferred this look with heels, I had to be practical – and I quite like how the pattern on the OTKs almost frames the shoes.

There’s this ‘travelling’ vintage fair called Lou Lou’s Vintage Fair – and by ‘travelling’ I probably mean more like a franchise? Essentially, they organise it, get the dates and places booked, but the vendors differ between locations, as local businesses get a chance to sell their stuff there. This was the first time one was held in my own city, so I absolutely had to go.

The fair was hosted at Bradford Cathedral, so I knew instantly that it wouldn’t be a big one. That cathedral is not particularly spacious, but it was a good choice of location for testing the grounds on whether there would even be any interest in hosting the fair in Bradford. I was surprised to see someone selling homemade preserves – not seen that at any of the other Lou Lou’s Vintage Fairs, yet it makes perfect sense with the aesthetic and the spirit of 1940’s and 1950’s.

I went with the intention to find something from my replace list, specifically a white Peter Pan collar blouse, since I managed to sell mine and these pop up at vintage fairs quite often. Unfortunately though, there was nothing like that at all and very few things in general caught my eye. I almost purchased a navy bag, but decided to finish wandering the fair before making the decision, by which time the bag had sold. So in the end the only thing I purchased there was a slice of peanut butter brownie to take home (which was delicious btw). Better for my wallet, better for my overstuffed wardrobe, less so for my waist.

Even though that was just a display, it was kinda cute!

My name is Paulina and I am addicted to brooches.

The ring bin was £2 each (can't remember the discount price). Never seen bins like these, it was a very cool idea if you have the patience to dig for a bargain!

The only place that got my money in the end.

And then on Sunday I hosted a Dim Sum Meet Take 2 (click here to read about Take 1). We all love good dim sum, so to avoid the cliché Valentine’s Day Meet, we had an informal Lunar New Year food fest.

Pale skin, green eyes, red lips and natural brown hair - almost the traditional Polish beauty ideal.

I really like how this coord turned out, especially given how all over the place it is with inspiration points. It st5arted off with the skirt: it’s great for eating (fully shirred waist), I hadn’t worn it in a while and very versatile. Then I remembered the Lunar New Year and decided to coord the skirt with red, which is how I landed on the blouse. And as I was laying things out to decide my legwear options, I noticed these socks had a rose pattern and decided to make rose the theme of this outfit. So it travelled the world, landing on something which made me feel very connected to my roots (something about the combination of being pale, red lipstick and flowers on my head makes me feel incredibly Slavic).

The meet was much smaller than last time, as only four of us could make it. Funnily enough, between ourselves we covered all major substyles of lolita fashion: sweet, classic, gothic and ouji, with me representing classic. And it turned out to be the first Leeds comm meet for one of the frillies attending, so I hope she had a great time and we’ll see more of her, she was really sweet.

As always, food at Crown Buffet Leeds was delicious! Very glad I made a reservation though, because of course other people also decided to celebrate Lunar New Year that weekend and it was pretty packed throughout our stay.

Only one picture from the meet because we were all too hungry and greedy, so to make up for it have a picture of my cat sitting down on my clothes the night before to show his approval of my coord. If it’s cat approved, you know it’s good, he has good taste!

As you can tell by my dirty plate, this was after satisfying the first
bit of hunger. And before the rest of our food arrived!

Last time Spy featured on this blog, he was a teeny tiny baby of just 6 weeks. Now he's 6
months and very fashion forward!

Did you get to wear lolita in celebration of the Lunar New Year? Is your comm pro or anti Valentine’s Day meets? Alternatively, share with me your most random coordinate creation process stories and the inspiration points you went through to get there.