Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Japanese festival

Hi guys & gals!

Last sunday there was a small festival in my city, to celebrate the visit of the Japanese emperor some years ago. Ever since that visit, the local Japanese museum holds a a yearly festival filled with Japanese art, food and other cultural aspects. Some friends of mine performed a dance, and a lot of my classmates were there as well. I ate some delicious things, met many nice people (and a few annoying..), and had a lot of fun :)
On my way to the city, I encountered a group of lolita's in the train, the 'elite' of the national community. They were, of course, decked head-to-toe in brand and attracted a lot of attention. Of course all of them were wearing OTT Sweet. They were talking with a Japanese lady, and because I was sitting in the same train, I overheard their conversation. It was funny to hear them talk about Japanese things, and realize how little they actually knew. Of course knowledge about Japan isn't obligatory for lolita (in fact you don't have to care about Japan at all and still be a fabulous lolita) but it's funny when people pretend to be experts when they are really ignorant.
I was not wearing lolita at that moment (although I did wear a rather fabulous hat), and it was strange to see these people that I knew from the internet, knowing that we shared so many things and yet they didn't look twice at me.

At the festival, after I changed into lolita as well, I saw them again. They were posing for pictures a lot. One of them notice my Baby skirt and smiled at me. I smiled back, but that was all.
Would they realize I have encountered them numerous times before? Once at the Animecon, twice at the Elf Fantasy Fair, and probably more times. I always recognize them because they're 'famous' and blog a lot, so I know their face from pictures. But would they know me? I wonder...

I still don't think I'd fit into the national community. It would be nice to have some friends with the same interest, but I always get the feeling I wouldn't really get along with those girls. Of course I won't know till I try...

Anyways, here's what I wore:










I went for a casual, summery look. It was very hot and I really wanted to wear pink. Summer always makes me want to wear sweet (or classic-sweet or country or whatever it's called). I doubted between this and Sugary Carnival, but because I knew the 'elite' would be there I didn't want to wear a replica. That's actually kinda funny because I didn't wear socks or anything, so if they are real snobs they'll still call me ita. Oh well.

Talking of ita's... There's always SUCH a clear distinction between the 'elite' and the 'ita's' that I feel a little lost in the middle. Here again, there were a few girls with fishnets, bad lace, bad replica's and horrible wigs, the usual ita-tastic things like cat ears etc. And then on the other side there's the elite. But what about me, where do I go? I don't feel like I fit at either side...

5 comments:

  1. Hee! Ik las je stukje en ik weet over wie je het hebt. De meiden die je tegenkwam zijn heel lief, alleen je moet even op ze afstappen en een praatje maken :3 Eentje die sweet droeg, draagt normaal gothic en hij is echt een van de leukste mensen die ik heb leren kennen.

    En inderdaad, in sweet krijg je veel aandacht, maar ik weet zeker dat ze tegen je gepraat hadden. Misschien waren ze druk. Verder weet ik dat ze nooit iemand een ita vinden omdat ze geen sokken dragen :3 Sowieso is er heel weinig drama en geroddel op het forum.

    Ik meldde mezelf als beginner aan op het forum 4 jaar terug en heb er geen spijt van gehad. Ik leerde steeds meer en heb me nooit buitengesloten gevoeld omdat ik geen sweet droeg. Ook op meetings was iedereen heel erg verwelkomend en lief tegen me.

    Uiteraard was ik er niet bij, maar wilde je even mijn ervaringen laten weten ;D

    Liefs!

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    Replies
    1. Bedankt voor het delen van je ervaring :)

      Het is waar dat ik geen idee heb hoe het er binnen de community aan toe gaat, ik kan alleen vanaf de buitenkant toekijken, zeg maar. Maar het is fijn om te horen dat het aardige mensen zijn :)
      Natuurlijk denk ik niet dat iedereen in de community snobby of onaardig is, en inderdaad, ik begon ook geen gesprek. Ik durfde niet zo goed, het is zo raar om iemand aan te spreken met: "Hey, ik ken je van internet..."

      Maar goed, eigenlijk ben ik wel benieuwd hoe het is in de community. Ik ben wel geregistreerd op het forum maar ik kijk er eigenlijk nooit op... Misschien moet ik eens naar een meet-up gaan. Maar het is zo eng als je niemand kent!

      Liefs!

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  2. I can so realte to to this post!

    I've been dressing up a bit alternative for a long time, a bit more of rock, but always something cute involved. I have made some lolita and cosplay outfits myself, but untill recently just bought my first actual lolita dresses. I can never afford brand clothes like Angelic Pretty or Baby the Stars Shine Bright.

    I also dont have any real life friends that share the same interest to lolita fashion as I do, but I would love to meet some. I recently tried to register to this finnish lolita-forum, but they rejected my "application". o_0
    I had to tell my age and where I live to the registration form and I also said something about me liking lolita and cute things etc.. I was a bit shocked actually that they didnt let me join! Don't even know why.


    I like the picture you have made..there are definetly those little girls with their badly made costumes and wigs and the famous superpretty lolita-bloggers, in here there's also the ones that have amazing cosplay outfits!
    There definetly should be some group for other people that are not snobs or over perky little girls..

    Glad to know theres someone else who has a bit of a same situation as me. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Je ziet er mooi uit!

    En ja wat Josine al zei, die 'elite' meiden zijn erg aardig. ^^ Maar ik kan me voorstellen als je lolitas zit die echt in OTT sweet zijn en echt alles matchy en perfect eruit zien, dat het wel moeilijk is om zoiemand aan te spreken en dat je bang bent dan als ita gezien te worden. Maar dat hoeft dus echt niet!
    Sowieso vind ik de Nederlandse community redelijk open minded. Als het warm is, dan wordt er niemand neergestoken omdat die op een meet geen blouse onder zijn/haar jumperskirt draagt bijvoorbeeld. En ik mix ook allerlei stijlen (zoals cyberlolita) en dat wordt ook gewoon geaccepteerd. :)
    En ja een enkeling is dan wel misschien anti-replica, maar ik heb nog nooit echt iemand op een meet gezien dat die werd buitengesloten omdat die een replica droeg. Mijn ervaring is dat op meets en dergelijke iedereen aardig wordt behandeld. :)

    Maar goed, je ziet er dus erg mooi uit en die rok staat je erg leuk! :D
    Jammer dat ik er zelf niet bij was, misschien dat ik volgend jaar kan komen. ^^

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  4. I really understand you ! Your drawing is so true ! I feel like you when I go to conventions...
    Well, in fact, I am also a Classic Lolita, and, well... It is a style which is quite simple when you look at sweet lolitas for exemple... And I think that at conventions, people don't see Classic as something worth a picture, it isn't "special", braw... Sometimes I really wonder if sweet lolits don't dress like this (with pastel colors, 10 bows and all that) just because they know people will look at them and take pictures... and not,on.y because they like this style...

    ReplyDelete