The last two or three weeks might have been nothing but depression for me, but I was fortunate enough to get tickets into a private Janelle Monae event in promotion of her new album "The Electric Lady". If you've been following me for a while, you'd know how I feel about Janelle's music and her artistic spirit. When I got this opportunity my mood instantly lifted up.

First off-- let me talk about her album. She let VH1 embed a stream of her whole album a week before it's release on their website, and when I tell you everyone and their mother was on it? My whole facebook friendslist was enchanted by every song. I liked the ArchAndroid and Metropolis as well, but there was something about this album that just made it the best so far. Every song flowed into the next... and it makes me nostaglic of all the old school tunes from back in the day. The entire album was just fluid and your ears would just melt into the next song. It's very hard to even choose favorites because it all seems like one (hour and change-long) track. Seriously. But the ones I keep replaying over and over again would be "It's Code" (very Jackson 5), "Ghetto Woman" (a song for her mother), Dorothy Dandridge Eyes, Can't Live Without Your Love, and Primetime.

...You already see I practically listed more than half the album. Yyyyeahhhhh. Yeah.



Event photos and story under the cut!

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Earlier in June I attended AnimeNext for the first time. AnimeNext has always been one of those small-scale conventions that for years I've heard stories about it being subpar (besides the friends that hang out there), but this year I gave it a bit of a chance since Baby, the Stars Shine Bright was going to be a special guest, with fashion show and all. Most of all, Akinori Isobe was going to be there, which RARELY happens, which made it a little more interesting than when the brand usually visits places like Otakon or AKon, etc. It really makes me wonder why he would come to these disorganized events versus the actual huge cons that BABY goes to time and time again xD

If you haven't noticed, I also tend to wear a lot of lolita mixed with himegal items. Especially Angelic Pretty's more simpler prints (like their floral prints), a lot of their more 'basic' stuff look very close to some himegyaru stuff (asides from the lolita silhouette). So rather than go all out lolita with blouse and etc, I usually have a bit of a himegal feel.

The Monday after Sakura Matsuri, I had my little presentation on Japanese Fashion in the West at the Fashion Institute of Technology. It was nothing big, just Dr. Kawamura's small class that studies Japanese fashion. I think it went pretty well, my friend Grace came along to model lolita clothing while I was more representative of gyaru. Wishing I looked more together because I looked so washed out from the weeks before. Makeup and everything seemed bad because I was in between being lazy, tired (it was so early in the morning e_e) and trying to look the part. Well...
















Dr. Kawamura was nice enough to make little gift bags for us as thanks for the presentation! It was full  of these Japanese goodies and whatnot~


Potholders... coasters for soups and drinks.. a leopard print tote within a matching pouch (bagception), a cute brown&pink phone charm, and two mini cupcakes in a cute little pink container wrapped with a hairbow (not shown, I sort of ate them before I took the picture = =), and then also a signed copy of her school book entitled "Fashioning Japanese Subcultures". So happy! Especially for the book! xD I hope to do a review on it soon~

I find it a blessing that nowadays you can enjoy iconic events and things from all over the world. Hanami season has always been a favorite part of spring since my weaboo days in high school. Back then it was always about it simply being Japanese and often seen in anime and stuff like that, but as I got older I started to enjoy the actual beauty of the cherry blossoms, and all flowering trees similar to it. I don't know if I'll ever be a serious horticulturist, but growing up with my mom who always had a green thumb, I wouldn't be surprised.

I was lucky enough to see most of the trees in almost every blooming stage, which made them more fascinating to me. This specific set of photos were from a lolita meet I had a week before Brooklyn's Botanical Garden's Sakura Matsuri.

I didn't expect my image to pop up in the 10th Kawaii International Episode at all-- I had no knowledge of it until I suddenly got the e-mail from NHK the night before, asking me to support xD Like WUT WHAT'S GOING ON?

I have no doubt in my mind that one day it'll happen again. And I can't wait. ♥

A few weeks ago I was playing around with some of my Liz Lisa goods and make a cute casualish lolita outfit for service that day~



I had just washed my hair within that week and I was a too lazy to really flat-iron it-- so I thought of this hairstyle instead. When I thought it up, I was thinking of some Micky/Minnie Mouse designs I've seen where their ears are sort of propped to the side. It came out pretty cute, although a bit messy! Next time I attempt it I plan to clean it up and figure out how to part it nicely and stuff.


The outfit itself is pretty light-- not too heavy with lolita accessories and things~

Rundown:
Top - Liz Lisa
Skirt, hair ties - Baby, the Stars Shine Bright
Shoes - An*tai*na
Fur collar - Forever 21
Other accessories (not seen)~ all offbrand