fairy at lolita birthday waffles meetup

Dear Fairies,

I am back from a terribly long and unpredictable hiatus. Things have been crazy as I near the end of my college career. I have a lot to catch up on as I have done a few things I would like to post here to share with you ^_^

I am part of the lolita community in my area, so I have joined maybe three meetups so far as I build up my frilly wardrobe. One of the girls, Xochitl, was having a birthday party at a lovely waffle and pastry cafe called Cafe Brown Sugar.

This was my first real lolita meetup since I went to my first one ever in a sax Bodyline dress that I'm currently reconstructing. I couldn't figure out what to wear to the meetup considering I was a fairy, with very few frilly pieces, going to a lolita gathering. I wanted to look just as cute and a bit more formal to match the lolita style. Therefore, I came up with the idea of creating a sort of fairy kei/ cult party kei hybrid to wear to the meetup. Personally, I think it was a great choice as I had a few compliments from the girls at the meet ^_^ I was even surprised to know that one of them knew what cult party kei was!

I had earlier made Xochitl some fairy kei accessories in return for her generous donation towards the original play I was working on to produce, Tchaikovsky. I still hadn't had the chance to give them to her, so I put them in a little gift bag along with some candy (a Ring Pop and Fun Dip) and I headed out to the cafe.

A lot of the other girls had awesome waffles and coffee. Xochitl got a green tea ice cream waffle which looked amazing. I wasn't feeling the huge waffles, so I just settled for some small yummy fish-shaped waffle pastries filled with sweet red bean.

Photo Taken by Allred Photography

The cafe itself was very nice and had two stories with a brick interior. I liked the quotes and paintings on the walls with quotes from famous people. The wall we took pictures in front of had a quote from J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. I love Barrie and Peter Pan ^_^

Photo Taken by Stephanie Rose

Photo Taken by Stephanie Rose

Photo Taken by Allred Photography

The other girls were so lovely and we had a good time looking around at some Korean shops in the area where they had groceries, books, cosmetics, and tons of cute things. There is a wonderful Korean cosmetics store called The Faceshop which has some amazing stuff. The only thing I bought while at this meetup was a peach-colored lip gloss from The Faceshop, and I signed up for their rewards program. I highly recommend the Chia Seed line since I have the moisturizer, which can change my dry skin to smooth in one application.

I had to leave early from the party, but this was a fun meetup and I definitely won't be afraid to wear fairy kei to a lolita event again ^_^ In fact, I would highly recommend it to some of you lonely fairies looking for J-fashion friends whom you can even educate on fairy kei.

 What I Wore

Bow Barrette: made by me

Blue Sparkly Glasses: Claire’s (on sale)

Shirt: Papaya (on sale)

Blue Nightgown (skirt): thrift

Cream Pengoir: thrift

Pink Tights: Nordstrom (gift)

White Tights (underneath): Target (full price)

Hello Kitty Angel Socks: H & M (full price)

Pumps: Charlotte Russe (full price)

Necklace: made by me

Little Twin Stars Wristband: Sanrio

Fluffy Heart Pin: made by me

Sparkly Pink Ribbon Pin: made by me

Hello Kitty Purse: Sanrio (on sale)

~Sparkling Ga Eul

Faith, Trust and Fairy Kei Dust!

confession #8: i don’t own wigs!

TokyoFashion.com-Yuria

Dear fairies,

So, today I will talk about wigs. My confession is that I don’t own any fashion wigs and it’s possible I might not ever. 

I really do like wigs, especially if they’re the right color and are  gorgeously styled.Though I notice many other western fairies favor wigs. Why is this? The only things I can think of would be that some sweet lolis carry their wigs over to fairy kei or that some fairies are not up for committing to dyeing their hair, which is understandable.

Personally, I think wearing a wig never quite has the same effect as when you dye your own hair. It's almost like the color becomes a part of you as opposed to something like makeup where you can take it off easily.

I kind of like it when you can see the natural hair color coming through in brightly colored dyed hair.

TokyoFashion.com- Kumamiki

I do think in Japan they are more compelled to alter their appearances in fashion because of their strict society and can get out of their boundaries a little. Therefore, I do think dying one’s hair is one of the “safest” sorts of self-expression since I’ve tinted it different colors several times myself.

TokyoFashion.com- Tavuchi

In conclusion, while I really do like wigs, I would rather dye my hair an unnatural color than wear wigs. I love my own hair and it’s inexpensive compared to buying many wigs in all colors considering I don’t dye it very often (and I can change colors easily!).

~Sparkling Ga Eul

Faith, Trust and Fairy Kei Dust!

definitely never too old to express yourself, even more so in fairy kei!

Dear Fairies,

I wanted to share with you all something that the owner of fairy indie brand, Candy Geisha, said to me after I wrote my 7th confession. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to buy one of her kawaii creations before she closed down :-/

She's rockin' the kawaii-ness at her age and is proud of it

Photo Belongs to CandyGeisha

CandyGeishaSAYS:

Hello (*^_^*)
I came across a repost of your confession titled “confession #7: you’re not too old for fairy kei!”

After I finished reading it, I just felt like shouting on top of my lungs “Alleluia!!!!!!!”. You’re a star!!!!

Some cynical and over analytic souls might say that I may be trying to recapture the essence of my childhood, so might even go as far as saying that I may have issues :D And others with less intellectual steam power might simply say that I am plain restarted. Well to all of them I will say: “How long have you been in this mental prison of yours???”.

And why do I say this? Because I am an 80s child. Yes Sir! I was 10 years old in 1983 so I shall leave you to your calculations. Popples, Rainbow Brite, MLP, Care Bears, Punky Brewster, Strawberry Shortcake, Atari video games, Flashy bright colours, high top kicks, cassettes played on my bulky Walkman, Game & Watch portable electronic games, The Never Ending Story, SANRIO’s universe, Hello Kitty, My Melody, Little Twin Stars, animes, Japanese cute culture and so many more iconic elements that never left me!!! 

I went through the 90’s and the millennium  evolving at my pace, experimenting with fashion and visuals, being generaly alternative, playing with mainstream fashion, being my own boss and not caring about others’ judgements. But now that I am closely looking at my fast approaching 40th year on this planet, I feel the need to tell them: “Live!”. I am a fully grown adult with a fully grown up everyday life. Ok, the fact that I always have been in a creative environment may help me to think outside the box when it comes to visuals but still, why putting so many conventions around your appearance when it could be such a fun outlet in this already very stressful world. I love the imagery of the 80s and even if it sends me back closer to my childhood, I am not a child anymore. 

Fairy Kei emulates a lot of what has been part of my early life on this planet, but what the hell!!! It emulates it so well and yet with its own twist that it would be mad not to fall in love with it all over again! Besides, it leaves room for extra creativeness. I do not wish to look or act like 10 years old me. I am just having fun with so many elements that I was and still am fond of. I mix and match and add my woman touch to it. My life experience, abilities to function and maturity have nothing to do with it. So if you are in your 20s and already feeling too old for Fairy Kei, well don’t be! Be your own canvas, your own artist, create, have fun! The way you see the world and grow as an adult should not be affected by the way you look. Who decided that you look silly? You or them? Who decided what is age appropriate or not? Are you really what you wear? Don’t let anybody dictate your fashion sense. As long as you are a functioning adult with good common sense and compassion.

Be you!

And when I die, I want my friends to pimp up my coffin as creepy cute and Kawaii as they can!

Life goes on… 

confession #7: you’re not too old for fairy kei!

Japanese Streets- Tavuchi & Choco

Dear fairies,

Today I’d like to discuss how I’ve come across a few things, concerning fairy kei, in which girls talk about how they feel fairy kei is too “juvenile,” think they’re too old for fairy kei, or think it’s only for teenagers in which you grow out of the fashion into, say, something like cult party kei.

While I think peoples’, and my own, styles are always evolving in which one could go from fairy kei to another fashion like cult party kei, I think that there shouldn’t be a line drawn as far as what age you say you stop wearing a certain fashion! (though, there are exceptions to people who just don’t have good fashion sense to begin with)

I think people in the Japanese fashion community should be the least concerned with “age-appropriateness” considering how many of the best styles in Japan are many times misconstrued as “childish” or “costume-y” to some critical westerners with narrow views of what fashion really is.

Why even be part of Japanese fashion if you are going to restrict yourself??

With that said, I think people tend to think fairy kei is “childish” due to the dominant color scheme and use of 80s childrens’ characters like Popples and Care Bears. If fairy kei was meant to be for children, then wouldn’t it be a style only worn by girls under ten years old, considering the characters and bright colors?

Of course, on the contrary, fairy kei is usually worn by girls 17 and over! Not to mention, our representative girls at  6% Tokidoki and Spank! are over the age of 20!! Miss Tavuchi was about 23 years old when she began Spank! and will be over 30 years old soon!

Japanese Streets-Yuka

Tavuchi, in an interview, said that her customers range from 12 years old to 40 years old! To her, Spank! is more about the 80s culture than anything else, it seems.

It makes sense that young women (not young girls) would be into fairy kei. After all, those of us who were children in the 80s and 90s, who enjoyed fairy kei inspirations, are now over the age of 18! Fairy kei is nostalgic and speaks to our childhood in many ways, which makes it all the more appealing.

Really and truly, this fashion is for the young at heart.

"Style is style, fashion is fashion." If you have style, then you don’t need fashion, nor do you need to adhere to any "rules" like age limits. Tavuchi created her own style, likely not caring what the "rules" were. 

BOTTOM LINE: If you want to dress fairy kei, then you are not too old for fairy kei! Dress how you want and do it with style and you will be alright.

Do YOU think you are or will ever be too old for fairy kei?

24-year-old Kumamiki is a designer who created her own fairy kei style indie brand, Party Baby! She and her creations are adorable ^_^

Japanese Streets- Kumamiki

~Sparkling Ga Eul

Faith, Trust and Fairy Kei Dust!

confession #6: i think fairy kei is more than just pastels!

Dear fairies,

For my sixth confession, I am going to say that pastels are not always necessary in order to have a successful fairy kei outfit!

When I first began to research and start my fairy kei wardrobe, I was overwhelmed with this constant idea that fairy kei MUST be pastel in order to complete the look! I was scrambling to find any pastel accessories and clothing in my own wardrobe and found very little to pass the pastel “rule.”

After much deliberation in creating pastel accessories, I continued my research to find, with much joy, that pastels were not really a must have in every fairy kei outfit!

With that said, I do get and keep pastel items in my wardrobe to give off that 80s innocent feel that seems to define fairy kei. Yet, I do not think that the colors alone define fairy kei!

Just wearing certain colors of certain fashions doesn’t necessarily make it the fashion For example, wearing a sepia color scheme does not make an outfit Steampunk or wearing all black doesn’t make it goth.

So, wearing all pastels does not make an outfit fairy kei.

To give you a very obvious visual: this woman would hopefully not be considered fairy kei. 

But she’s wearing pastels and is cute. Yet we know that fairy kei is defined by something more than the pastel colors and cuteness. If that were the case, then the past summer trend of pastels would make the all the women who wore pastels fairy kei, which we know is not true.

There are different ways to approach the fairy kei color palette. You can wear any other bold brights, neons, or even black! It just depends on what you feel like and what looks right.

So, don’t let the all-pastel “rule” get you down! It doesn’t exist! Don’t be afraid to go into the brighter or bolder colors and patterns.

6%DokiDoki opts for vibrancy in colors and theme, Spank goes for second-hand pop and rock inspired 80s kitsch, and Nile Perch is a proponent of softer, kinder colors such as pinks and pastels.

~TokyoFashion.com

~Sparkling Ga Eul

Faith, Trust and Fairy Kei Dust!

popples birthday gifts~

Dear Fairies,

I’ve finally been able to take these pics to share with you all of the Popples gifts my lovely boyfriend gave to me for my birthday!

A set of Popples buttons with every Popple on them (perfect for fairy kei), a Popples bento box and a Prize Popple plush (which is the same one that Tavuchi from Spank! and Lisa, from Electric Alice, own ^_^)!

 

I’m so excited to have these things! I will definitely be wearing the buttons very often with my outfits; the bento box will be perfect for when I can just make my lunch the night before to take with me to class; and Prize Popple has taken a place on my bed amongst my other plushes…

~Sparkling Ga Eul

Faith, Trust and Fairy Kei Dust!

confession #4: i love fairy kei for its 80s/90s aspect!

Dear fairies,

I <3 the 80s part of fairy kei, and if there wasn’t any 80s inspiration, I’d probably never do fairy kei XD Honestly, what is fairy kei without the 80s aspect??

Ever feel like you were born in the wrong decade? Well I should’ve been born in the 70s so I could live in the 80s! I love the fashion, music, movies, TV shows, cute toy franchises, and pretty much everything 80s pop culture. When it was pick a decade day at school, of course the teachers were telling me I looked like Tony Basil or Cyndi Lauper!

For the longest time throughout my life I’ve been wanting to wear 80s clothing! Finally I found fairy kei which gives me the “excuse” to wear 80s style all I want despite many people having a distaste for 80s fashion >3<

Tights, buttons, legwarmers, large bows, side ponytails, scarves, cute socks, cardigans, suspenders, high tops, fake glasses, cute skirts. 

These are all the things I love to wear which makes fairy kei the perfect style for me!

It wasn’t the girly colors or even the cuteness of fairy kei, but the 80s style which now has me hook line and sinker!

~Sparkling Ga Eul

Faith, Trust and Fairy Kei Dust!

Confession #3: it can sometimes be weird that there doesn't seem to be a straight "definition" of fairy kei

Dear fairies,

For my next confession, I have to say that I’ve come to realize that fairy kei is an almost loose term…

Did 6% DokiDoki or Spank! invent fairy kei? Tabuchi Sayuri (founder of Spank!) thought her clothing line differed from the “fairy kei” style itself, but in a way, she has defined the style. After all, I read in an interview with her that “fairy kei” came around after the opening of her store. At the same time, 6% DokiDoki, open long before Spank!, seems to be defined as a fairy kei (and decora) brand by TokyoFashion.com 

6% DokiDoki

Ok, well, there isn’t a REAL answer to the origin, but I realize that Spank! is by no means decora, while 6%DokiDoki seems to have decora as one of their main proponents, yet both brands are described as fairy kei.

But there HAS to be several defining factors that make or break a fairy kei ensemble or otherwise it would just be considered decora, lolita, deco-lolita, cult party kei, or other Japanese fashion. I would like to try and define these things in many more future posts.

Spank!

With that said, look at other fashions such as scene, punk, goth, hipster, lolita, cyberpunk, and steampunk. Each of those styles may be related in many ways (especially the first three) to each other but there are several things which make them distinct from one another.

Nile Perch

You can say that goth and scene may have stemmed from the punk style, but that does not make those two styles punk or make punk goth or scene, right? Therefore, I think this idea could be similarly applied to fairy kei or any other Japanese fashion. 

Fairy kei likely has its origins, but has come into its own kind of fashion that is not the same as its origin.

%6Dokidoki, Spank! and Nile Perch

TokyoFashion.com seems to define all three of these brands as residing under the "fairy kei" umbrella but all three have very distinct looks from each other. Dokidoki 6% has decora elements with bright colors, Spank! plays more on vintage clothing with a combination of brights and pastels, and Nile Perch is a sweeter look with mostly pastels.

~Sparkling Ga Eul

Faith, Trust and Fairy Kei Dust!

confession #2: i don’t follow western fairy kei trends

Dear fairies,

So, for my second confession, I have realized, over the years, that learning about anything is best to go to the place of origin!

Therefore, I think it’s safe to say that the Japanese are the ones with the best inspiration in fairy kei considering that it is a Japanese style. So, my research and inspirations come from all Japanese women and girls, such as Spank! girls and other fairies who are just lovers of the fashion.

One Japanese woman, in particular, is a huge pioneer when it comes to fairy kei ! Her name is Tabuchi Sayuri. If you dont know her, then you should! She is the founder of Spank!. To me, she is the mother fairy, and I look to her whenever I am in a fairy kei outfit predicament (colors, accessories, pieces, hair, etc).

This is a picture of Tabuchi Sayuri surrounded by 80s cuteness ^_^

~Sparkling Ga Eul

Faith, Trust and Fairy Kei Dust!

dallas/fort worth metroplex fairy kei facebook group ~

Dear fairies,

I just want everyone to know that there is now an official fairy kei group on Facebook for fairies in and around the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas Metroplex!! So, if you live anywhere nearby, join in on the lovely fairy fun!

Please join even if you are in another J-fashion and/or are an admirer of fairy kei!

We want to build up more members and get to know each other~

It’s so great that now I get to meet with other fairies in person!

Click here to see the Metroplex Fairies group!

~Sparkling Ga Eul

Faith, Trust and Fairy Kei Dust!

confession #1: yes, i'm new to fairy kei

I found fairy kei fashion a few months ago and I was taken in completely by the fashion for its cute 80s/DIY style elements. I may be new to the fairy kei fashion, but I have been a Japanese fashion enthusiast for nearly 7 years now. 

This is my blog on my own thoughts and adventures in fairy kei and Japanese fashion. I’m hoping that anyone reading this will not only enjoy and benefit from my own posts, but will share any thoughts, ideas, experiences, and pictures with me! I think it may be helpful to those who are stuck or unsure in how to go about fairy kei as well!

I am also an aspiring theatre costume designer and Japanese fashion has always been one of my guilty pleasures.

Please feel free to submit a fairy kei related questions, pictures, thoughts, ideas, DIY pages or experiences to me!

Also, I will call all fairy kei girls “fairies” because it’s fitting, so darn cute and I absolutely adore fairies!

Now for my first confession of many to come! 

Yes, I had only been aware of fairy kei for only about four months or so when I began this blog on Tumblr. With that said, I don't claim to have an amazing wardrobe or that I am fairy kei expert. But I have definitely done much research and tried my best to understand fairy kei. So, hopefully this blog will show my own progression and be a help to those new (or even not so new) to fairy kei.

I hope to give my own and ideas on fairy kei through this blog, and while I think I have good points to make, again, I dont claim to be an expert at all! There is still much for me to learn and I want so much for other Japanese fashionistas to see what I have to say and maybe learn from me too!

~Sparkling Ga Eul

Faith, Trust and Fairy Kei Dust!

fairy shopping meetup

Dear Fairies,

About a week ago, I planned my first "official" fairy kei meetup. I planned to go back-to-school shopping. Although only one girl, Jazmine, could make it out of the group, but we had a lovely little time ^_^

First off, we went to a thrift store to see what we could find. Jazmine bought quite a few things including a very cute 80s retro sweater in pastel yellow and pink with ribbons on it. I had seen this sweater on the rack first, but I decided to give it to Jazmine since she's new to the fashion and needed something super cute to add to her fairy wardrobe. As for me, I only bought two tops. One is an 80s/90s purple floral blouse with a cute scalloped collar. The other was a handmade shirt made of a sprinkles fabric which I liked a lot and decided to use as a reconstruction project.

Next, we decided to go look around a bit and saw two other resale shops. I didn't find anything I wanted to buy at either place, but Jazmine bought three sets of cute pastel hoop earrings in pink, purple, and blue as well as a bag. Of course, every place we went into people were curious about our style XD

While driving to the thrift store, I saw a frozen yogurt place which looked interesting, so I proposed we stop by and have a bite. It's a local frozen yogurt company called 

Monster Yogurt. 

 

When we walked in, all the walls and the floor were lime green. Also, while the yogurt and flavors were pretty standard, I had never seen so many toppings to put on frozen yogurt before! Not only was there a standard bar of toppings, there was a wall and a half of candies, nuts, and cereals. The picture below is about 2/3 of

 the toppings that were on the walls. On top of that, there was not a whipped cream can but a whipped cream machine.

 I got a lovely strawberry yogurt and topped it with white chocolate chips, strawberries, whipped cream, strawberry and cherry syrup, a heart gummy, and the perfect touch was some really awesome chocolate sort of things that looked like pearls. I brought Prize Popple with us too~

The yogurt here was very good, had an awesome selection of toppings, and the price was perfect! I only wish there was a Monster Yogurt in my area. I got a little photo of Jazmine with Prize and my new Hello Kitty bag.

Our last stop for the day was a little cosplay shop that just opened in a new location called Cosplay N Charm (click for their webshop!). We ended up getting a bit lost before actually finding but we made it!

 

Cosplay N Charm is more than just a cosplay store. Not only do they sell cosplay costumes, but anime merchandise, cute accessories handmade by the owners, and clothing/accessories from Korea and Japan. It was quite a cute little store with a wide variety of things from the fashionable to the anime geek. The quality of the items seemed to vary from brand name to offbrand/unknown. There was a Baby Biscuit lolita bag which Jazmine told me was definitely a real name brand item. 

Although I'm mainly fairy kei, I sometimes dabble in classic lolita, so I looked through some of their lolita style clothing and found a cute, good quality offbrand blouse from Korea to go with a lolita skirt I'm going to get soon. I went to the dressing room to try it on. The dressing room was super cute I had to take a picture. I just loved the drapes and mirror.

 The blouse was lovely, so I decided to buy it along with another sale item for only $8: green colored contact lenses!The shop sells Magic Color contact lenses. This was the first time I have bought colored contact lenses. While we were there, one of the owners was working on sewing a little panda plushie. She said that she will soon make it into a vampire panda complete with bat wings to sell at an upcoming anime con.

Although I didn't buy a whole lot of items, I had a lot of fun with Jazmine, was lucky to find such good deals on stuff, and we discovered a couple of cool places.

So, onto what I actually bought! At the thrift store, I bought two shirts. The first is a cute retro 80s/90s blouse with cute little machine embroidery flowers and butterflies on the collar for only $1. The collar is also slightly scalloped on the edges. The second is a handmade shirt made of a cool sprinkles fabric for about $1.50, which I thought would be good to reconstruct.

At Cosplay and Charm I bought green Magic Color contact lenses on sale for $8

 

I also got a Korean offbrand white long-sleeved lolita style blouse with clear sparkly buttons on sale for $10

This is great quality for offbrand as the fabric is nice, there is careful detail including darts down the back and front for a good fit. I just adore it!

 

AND a bonus My NeighborTotoro button! Cosplay N Charm was having a promotion where they were giving free anime buttons to customers. This was definitely a lovely cherry-on-top. The button is a little bigger than an inch with a good quality plastic backing. Ideally, I'd like to start accumulating more Studio Ghibli merchandise since they are the pinnacle of anime.

 What I Wore

Silver Sequin Bow: Claire’s ~ $1

Bow Clip: <$1

Rhinestone Studded Glasses: Claire’s ~$3

Han Solo Shirt: Urban Outfitters (on sale)

Petticoat: Hot Topic (full price)

Black w/ Silver Polka Dot Tights: Target (full price)

Socks: Target (full price)

Shoes w/ Beads added by me: Keds (gift)

Bracelet: made by me

Popples Button: bought on EBay (gift)

~Sparkling Ga Eul

Faith, Trust and Fairy Kei Dust!