SkyBluePink

outfit rundown for the interested;
overdress: Victorian Maiden
underdress: Metamorphose
Boots: Innocent World

and a sadly deflated petticoat.... I better get some spray-starch to that pronto...

After admiring from afar for a few months, I finally took the plunge and put together what I hope is an acceptably "Cult Party" style outfit. It's unbeliveable hot out today, and just those two layers, even one being chiffon, was a bit much! My necklace (if you can see it) is the small brass teapot I found in the antique store a few posts back on a chain. It might be my current favourite necklace actually.
Also, note, OUTSIDE PHOTO. Haha.
I have photos and video clips from the meetup last Saturday at Edinburgh Zoo, but haven't yet had the clarity and strength to put together my video. Once that's done, I'll post allll about it. We saw tigers. Pandas too. It was a good time.

                                                                Elegant Goth

                                                           Black and White Goth

                                                            Old-School Goth

All three of these outfits are based around the same plain black JSK. I believe a solid-coloured dress is an absolute must for any lolita, purely for the versitility they offer.

                "The Prince of Pleasure" book I bought in the antique shop from the previous post.


Kind of too small to read here, but the page is a list of Medevil Torture Devices. So hardcore right? Nah, it's part of the Blackadder scripts book, hah. I have so many fond memories of reading and re-reading this as a teenager.
I want to enter the EGL comm's Book themed competition, but not sure that boy-style is allowed. I mean, kodona is a sub-style of Lolita fashion, even though, I guess it's not technically lolita or something? If I get rejected for not wearing a dress, that'd kind of suck.

Plus a bonus of some shillings, that I picked up with the intention to make into jewlerry. Look at how young the queen is on that coin! Lol....




Three books caught my attention; first a "Guide to the Haunted Castles of Scotland", then the "Encyclopaedia of the Worlds greatest Unresolved Mysteries", and a book called "The Prince of Pleasure", which appealed to my dandy side.

I'd love to do a ghost tour around Scotland. Maybe starting with some of the easier-to-reach places in my book, but there are 50 locations listed in there - most of them quite far out. I've only ever been on a ghost tour once before, here in Glasgow. It was great fun.

Next, my vintage medical supplies! An old measuring bottle (checks both the Bottle and Medical categories of interest, yay), and two vintage wound-dressing tins.

 The orange tin appealed to me becuase the front has a "POISON" warning on it...


(also, on the above left, a tiny brass teapot! It may have originally been from a dolls house or something, but it's just so cute I couldn't leave it behind)
This next picture, is a photo of a painting. I didn't buy it, becuase it was too big for me to carry, to heavy.. and frankly, I have nowhere to put it. Also it's a little disturbing, but that's also what I like about it. It's a huge portrait of a child crying. (made the image show LARGE so you can see how detailed the tears are).
                      It just... broke my heart a little bit. I kind of want to buy it, just to have it.. even though I dont know if I actually like it. It's creepy... but... kind of beautiful too?



Anyway, here's what I was wearing during this adventure to the weird and wonderful world of strange old junk :p


Headbow and Shoes - Metamorphose
Bag - Btssb
JSK - West Mend

The corresponding Vlog to this post is here;

 Aha! The photo that explains the title. This sign reads "Subjects of the Terrestrial Emperor". Why? We may never know.


And this sign was broken, and lying next to the pond, we dont know where it was supposed to be, and it read; "Those that have fled the earth"

It felt meaningful...or something.

Not much of an outfit rundown for you this time, it's entirely off-brand. Although I did dye the waistcoat and trousers myself just over a year ago, then never got around to wearing them. Seems silly now that pastels are "in", I could just buy much the same thing and not have to go through the trouble! Oh well!
The floral wreath is hand made too, with fabric flowers and wire, all twisted together :D

Many thanks to everyone who came to the Panopticon to support us! Although we never have much notice beforehand to get the word out about the events, it still turned out for the best. I took the opportunity to make another Dandy outfit/tansformation video;

This was my first time wearing my new Priscilla wig.
There are photos from the event on http://lowdownanddandy.blogspot.com

Since I've been on a bit of a filming-kick lately, I took another video today! This time a Classic Lolita Outfit, and short vlog;



Outfit rundown;
Bonnet and Blouse - Bodyline
Skirt - Metamorphose
Fascinator - Triple Fortune

We went to another local vintage and craft fare today, to scope out a potential new event for LDD to appear ar. It looked really promising! So we may have a booth there next month.
After that, we went for tea and ice cream, then shopping and dinner. The fire alarm sounded during dinner and the whole building was evacuated. It was quite scary at first, but then it became apparent that there was no fire and it was a false alarm, and of course due to procedure we still had to stand in the cold for half an hour before we could go back inside. Boo! But at least there was no fire.

 Facebook EVENT PAGE

This Saturday, May 5th, LowDownandDandy will be at the Panopticon Theatre with our stall of handmade jewlerry and clothing along with original artworks!

I took my first steps into resin moulding recently, and have a whole new range of items on offer. Working with resin was surprisingly fun, so I've made a whole lot of new things...


                                                                    

                       Skulls and Cross-bones pins are avaliable in Red, White, Black, Pink and Blue


                      Heart rings avaliable in white and red, the roses are avaliable in white, pink and blue.

                                                        Pink and White, with Black Star-clips

               Is that a PINK BOW TIE? Yes, yes it IS.             He even makes a perfect, traditional Kodona

                                          All photos taken from tumblr, and used with permission.

                                                    
                                                           The details are always pefect.


                                                     "Ursula" (Little Mermaid) themed outfit


                                                            Never could resist red...

A very common mistake with boy-styles is to just wear any suit, or formal masculine clothing and call it Dandy. Yes, you probably look great in a suit, but it's not Boystyle. Just the same as throwing on a blouse and skirt isnt Lolita.

There really is ONE KEY to Kodona fashion;  DETAILS.
You can start with any suit, and so long as you wear the right accessories, make it work.

The first "accessories" you really must have, are a hat, and waistcoat (or vest).
Or, if you can pull it off, a sweater vest. Basically, anything that is worn between your shirt and jacket.
Look at these two images, it is immediately obvious which is Fashion and which is just formalwear, right?


Easy accessories include;
A Tie Pin (any brooch or even hair pin across your tie could substitute)
A Corsage
A Brooch on your Lapel
Flowers or feathers on your Hat
A Large vintage-style Ring.
 
BUT, a suit + top hat does not equal Kodona/Dandy.
Hats too, need details.



Okay, I'm starting to sound like a broken record now, but the details really will make that much difference.
Look at these waistcoats;


 They're both unpatterened, black, waistcoats. However, the difference is obvious. I am not saying that the first one cannot be dandy, and the second one will allways be so. My point is how much of a difference the details make. An unusual collar, unusual length, a different fabric, interesting buttons. All of these aspects things help!
You don't have to have them all at all times. But allways have at least one aspect, keeping it interesting.


More posts on Boystyle Fashion Including the rest of The Kodona Code can be found here; http://lowdownanddandy.blogspot.com

The clips I took around tokyo, compiled for your viewing pleasure! Sorry it's silent, youtube took issue with the sound.

The Haunted "House" in Odaiba's Joypolis

I put the word house in quotation marks becuase technically, it wasn't a house, it was ment to be a school set up - but honestly I have no idea what to call the strange little horror hole we were in.

The decorations on the outside were gruesome enough. A dummy made to look like a rotting, old and haggard corpse, crucified and in tattered rags. Various posters that I have since forgotten the specifics of, and a photo of a triumphant person, emerging from the exit of the place, having got through it all. In retrospect, that should have been my first clue that this would be more than you'd expect from a shopping centre "haunted house". The second clue, should have been the list of rules, and disclaimer we had to sign. Promising not to physically harm anyone inside, and that if we couldn't handle it it wasn't their fault. we were completely blinded by the idea that it would be 'just a bit of fun'.

The entrance was behind a black curtain. Before going through the door, we were briefed on the premise of the attraction. The story went, that a school girl had comitted suicide, and come back to haunt it. In doing so, she forced all of her peers to follow her in taking their own lives.Our mission, was to go to her old classroom, and put a paper doll on her desk while saying "Go To Heaven". This would send the spirit away. The right desk would be identifyable as one with a candle on it. The paper doll, we were given there and then, and told to write our names on it.
We were given a torch with a short rope attached to it, and told to hold on to the rope for the duration. Then the three of us went inside.

Naturally, the only light was our torch. A dim, red bulb. The first room was small, it looked dirty and the walls were badly bashed and broken. There was a lot of graffiti on the walls. A small arrow with "go" written next to it was pointing at the next door. The door was a slide-open one. Springloaded to snap back, which it did, FAST and LOUDLY against the wooden frame. First fright. We moved on to the next room. There were screens cutting across the room, immediately beyond the door was a screen with a haggard dummy looking dumbly over the top at us. It was darker still in here. More broken parts in the walls, more graffiti. There was banging and rattling coming from all around. In my memory, there is a very strange, soft music in the background, but the other two don't remember it, so it must not have been real. There were portraits on the walls. The kind you see at japanese funerals, with the black ribbons. They were holographic to change as we walked slowly past. I saw a pair of feet, hanging over the wall. At the next door, a dummy that was peering eerily around it was pulled away with a giggle. Nothing else had moved so far. second fright.
The ambient noise in that room got so loud as we left. We found ourselves at the end of a hallway. It was long, not too dark, and the walls intact. There was a dummy corpse at the other end, hanging by the neck. The noise in the previous room had swollen into a siren noise. as we waled forward, the floor creaked and another hung dummy fell from the ceiling, swinging by its rope, right by us. Third fright. There was whispering in the walls. In both english and japanese.
"Im Sorry"
It whispered our names. It moaned and cried. There was scratching and more thumping. The ambient noise got louder, we were moving too slowly. Another dummy, at the end of the hall, peered round the door at us and what whisked away. I clung on to the rope, and to the back of my friend's cardigan. We pushed on.
The next hallway had us double back on ourselves. The end of it however, was in total darkness. To the right was a window, behind which was a badly dilapitated classroom scene. A charred skeleton, still in bits of uniform was pressed against the panes. The light in there was brighter than our torch. We had to walk on past it. The alarm had begun in the previous hallway. We kept following the "go" arrows, into the dark.
The room at the end of the hallway was small, and full of random broken objects. The light shone a little more yellow here. We were moving at a glacial pace now. The alarm was creeping up on us. There was anothing sliding door, complete with arrow and "go". We were speaking to each other, but I don't remember exactly what was said. I do remember saying "we just have to keep going", and reaching around in front to pull the door open. In front of us was another hallway, completely forrested by hanging 'bodies', the rest was darkness. It occurred to us all right there, that people would be in the darkness between those hanging stuffed sacks in filthy shool uniforms. Waiting for us to pass, to push them, and turn them, and whisper to us from behind them. I felt us all recoil, and the noise in our room rose.
"We could get out of here right now"
I might have said that. It must have been me, the other two agreed. we shouted that we wanted to quit, and get out. No response, our alarm was starting to go off. They wouldn't understand us. I tried shouting every version of "no more", "stop", and "get out" I knew in japanese. eventually a voice responded from the darkness. We kept calling out, and eventually could make out the words "give up?"
The alarm in our room was blaring down us now. We gave up. The man from the front entrance appeared around the door, he must have been right behind us every step of the way. His torch looked like ours, but had a white bulb. We were lead out, almost exactly the way we had come, save for a few secret doors to shorten the way.
Not even when we were lead out did the noise stop. Until we got past the entranceway. Then there was nothing.
We were just back in the shopping centre where we had started, with no idea how much time had passed. It was still a warm afternoon, nobody else had seen or heard anything from inside.

I wonder now, if we tried again, could we get through it all? How far in did we even get? How far in did it even GO?

This might be old news to some of you, but to others, it might be useful to know that Closet Child in Ikebukuro has moved location. The official website, and most major egl resources have not updated their directions yet.

Here's a new guide to get you to Closet Child in Ikebukuro :)

Take the east exit from Ikebukuro station, for Sunshine City. Still follow the road up towards Tokyu Hans, like the old directions say. On the path past the Milky Way cafe and towards Tokyu Hans you will come to a Sega arcade;

Turn LEFT here and carry on down to the next corner, which has a TGI Fridays on it;
Turn Left again, so you are walking down the road shown in the picture past TGIs. At the next corner, on the right hand side is a Starbucks. Closet Child is above Starbucks on the 3rd Floor!

Happy Shopping!

It's only in retrospect that I realise how haphazard my photo-taking really is. Regardless, I'm going to post what I have. Of course, once I get home to the UK I'll make a proper post with my camera photos and video, and some "real" blog posts... maybe. But for now, here's what I have on my phone :p

Here is an image of a mural in Shinjuku's Marui One. I know in most of the shop, no photos are allowed, but I checked for signs an saw none, so figured a low quality phone cam shot, not being used for any material gain would be okay.
Marui One does funny things to my heart. Particularly Excentrique and Alice and the Pirates (where I bought two skirts and a waistcoat - erk). There is almost nothing, in all 8 floors of that shop that I didn't want! But I settled for my AATP booty, and some Queen Bee Boots!
After shopping, we stopped for tea and cake. I had this one, a "Berry Berry Crepe" cup-cake thing. It was delicious. Speaking of delicious things;
MELON SODA. I cannot express in words how much I missed Melon Soda in the UK. And I will miss it all over again. Right now though, I have been drinking as much of the screaming-green nectar as humanly possible. That said, while away from home, I miss Irn Bru a lot too.
Now, our hotel is only a stone's throw away from Akiba's main drag, so seeing everyday things plastered with anime is quite common around here. But for some reason, this van took my attention enough to warrant a photo;
Anime Van! Why not?
Our Hotel is a traditional Ryoukan, we have tatami flooring and sleep on futons. It takes a bit of getting used to, but is supposed to be very good for your back? Most of the hotel is nice, and looks something like this;
The serene tea-ceremony room.
Our room, right now, after a weekend of shopping looks like thiiiiis;

... that is a horrendous mess.
It will be tidied up soon though.

If you want to see more of my random snaps, as they happen, I post semi regularly on my tumblr; http://ohvelveteena.tumblr.com

                                                       http://www.morganacryptoria.com

Almost two months ago now, I made a small order from Morgana Crytoria, after reading a lot of good reviews on her products. So, now, I'd like to quickly offer my impressions of her custom lip glosses.

The ordering process was very simple, and I was very impressed by the fact that you can choose the scent you want in your lipgloss. I chose Blueberry scent for "Silver Rainbow" and Mint Chocolate for "Dracula's Mist". I chose these colours, mostly becuase they were unusual and interesting.

The order took around two months to get to me, but this is detailed on the site, and was not a surprise or because of a problem. However, it really puts me off ordering from there again, as in the meantime I've found pretty good substitutes for the products I bought.

The glosses themselves are very well pigmented, and cover completely with just a tiny amount which is nice. They came with the specified scents, although the 'blueberry' really just smells faintly of chemicals, the Chocolate Mint scent is very strong and true.

The only serious let-down is the packaging. The gloss is very runny, and sticky.. and it's in a small grey pot (shown above). When I saw the pots, I assumed it would be more solid, but it really isn't, and is very easy to spill and difficult to use without it running all over the place and sticking to your hands when you try and twist the lid on or off.

So overall the product is deffinately good quality, and I do intend to use them once I get the hang of it. But I wouldn't buy from her again, since there are plenty other, faster, and better designed more user-friendly options out there.

I have entered the Spokesmodel Search for GLW, and would greatly appreciate your votes;
Gothic Lolita Wigs Entry (OhVelveteena)
Thank You!

Here's a face-shot of the makeup I wore for the firecracker photoshoot last night. The image I was trying to portray was of a kind of gothic Clown. (hense the ruff). There are no avaliable photos of my full outfit yet, but ocne the final images are avaliable, I'll post some of them here!

This was the first shoot I've arranged through the service, Model Mayhem. After joining it over christmas, I got the proverbial deluge of requests for nudes that many other MM users had previously warned me about, but amoung them were offers for more interesting shoots too!
One photographer approached me about a 'firecracker' shoot. Basically, a photoshoot done at night, lit by contolled fireworks.

My first concern was of course about the photographer himself, and whether or not he was legitimate. A quick look at his profile and a google search confirmed he was infact, 'the real deal' as it were, and he was happy to both meet me in a public place and have my boyfriend come along with me. So far so good!
The there was the fire aspect. I didn't want to end up on fire myself. However, as it happens, I was never personally required to be in close proximity to the flame, or ever be in contol of it. Phew.

We had some trouble finding each other at the beggining, despite having exchanged phone numbers, as the photographer was waiting just off where we had agreed to meet in his car. However, after a quick phonecall, he came to us and we were set to go.

the photographer used fine wire wool tied to a chain, spun at high speed to make the firework effect. That, and a slow shutter speed, so the full circle will be visile in the photos.

being at night, it was quite cold, and I'd been requested to wear a corset, but I kept my jacket on between bouts of shooting and it wasn't so bad at all.

Posing proved a little awkward, since I was basically let to just "do whatever poses" with no direction, and we weren't done after I'd done all the poses I could think of myself. Harry had some ideas to lend me though, so that was nice!

This being only the second photoshoot I've done with a photographer I didn't know personally, I was worried about being camera-shy. But because it was night (to allow for the firecracker lighting), I couldn't even see the camera og photographer much, and wasn't too shy at all I feel. Lol.

The final photos should be avaliable by next weekend, which is exciting. The results will be very interesting to see.

Ties, cravats, ribbons and bows!

Minori-san's style is one I have admired for a long time. She is truly an inspiration to me, and I think she is a perfect example of Shiro Goth <3

Her personal blog is here; http://ameblo.jp/mi-no-ri-cute.html