Where In The World Is Annika? ~Paris, France 2011 Edition, Part 2

Paris, France 2011 Edition, Part 2: Versailles, Laduree, More Food, and Baby the Stars Shine Bright!

And weclooooome back to this episode of: Where In The World Is Annika?, where we are returning for the second episode of Paris, France 2011 Edition. In this episode we shall cover the magical pink frills of Baby the Stars Shine Bright, the glittering royalty of the Versailles palace and grounds, and more cute Parisian treats from Laduree!

We all had to know that this segment was going to be opened with my visit to the Baby the Stars Shine Bright shop in Paris! I made it my absolute mission to visit this store, even if I saw nothing else, as it was the first brand shop I had ever been to and of course, Baby is my first love. I must say that the men that got dragged along were less than enthused for this venture, perhaps even to say dismayed, as the one knew nothing about Lolita fashion and thought it strange.

The store front is a big sparkling pink gem in the middle of a rather normal, blase looking street and just a short walk from the subway station. Prominently displayed on the window was the Baby logo, set off by the beautiful dresses, shoes, and accessories shining elegantly in its shadow. Ah, and there it sat, calling out to my frilly soul to come inside and stay awhile.

Step inside, and you are greeted by the sweetest French shop girl, dressed in gorgeous old school Baby threads! It is a small shop, but small in a way that is warm, friendly, and inviting. Each display is set up with care, each piece laid out to look like a lovely work of art to admire. I spent a good deal of time carefully roaming through each dress and garment on the racks, taking in as much detail as I could, and as they say, "When in Rome Baby..." I decided to try some things on! (I know you're not supposed to take photos but I couldn't help it! Oh what a bad influence you have on me!)

Alas, my dream had to end but not before the shop girl informed me that I had coincidentally just missed Mr. Isobe himself, and left with a pair of cute ribbon socks!

My heart was not heavy for too long, as the next day we hopped a train to go visit the magnanimous dream world that is: Versailles! I cannot express to you in words what a magical place this is, so instead, I will have to show you. It's truly amazing! (I took over 200 photos of Versailles alone, so here are the best.)

Sigh. Wasn't that wonderful? And that's only a few of the photos. Visiting the Versailles grounds was like being transported back in time. I really hope that I am able to visit their again one day, and I might I recommend if you visit: rent a little golf cart! Not only does it blast opera music the entire time you drive, but you are able to see all the grounds so quickly especially if it's chilly chilly cold like in March!

And lastly, to fulfill our little photo journey of France... one cannot visit without going to Laduree!
What a queue! They are so popular you had to wait nearly an hour just to get to the front of the line.
I can only imagine how divine it might have been to dine at the restaurant!

Now while I may say this to the aghast of many, I think macaroons are adorable but I do not much care for the taste. However, I absolutely adored the packaging and cakes we bought there! I kept the boxes. : )

Visiting Paris was an absolute dream come true for me! It was one of the best weeks of my life, and I sincerely hope that I will be able to revisit France one day and explore more of its gorgeous landscape and sights.

I hope you've enjoyed this brief interlude of traveling with me! : ) xo Annika

Our Next Journey: China? Scotland? Thailand? It's up to you! Tell me, where you would like to see next! : )

Where In The World Is Annika? ~Paris, France 2011 Edition, Part 1

Though I am no renowned Carmen Sandiego with a fire engine red trench coat or tall enough to be spotted in any crowd, let alone be Waldo, I have been blessed with a fair amount of traveling in my days. This is not to say that I have sated my wanderlust, far from it, but that the countries I have been able to travel to have not only been memorable but absolutely beautiful, each in their own way.

I thought this might be a fun way to share the world with you, dear readers, and that you and I might reflect together on the experiences, swap stories, and overall enjoy traveling. I have always been grateful to travel outside the States, as I think so many people (especially when you come from and live in a small community like I do, with the likelihood of narrow views and minds) never get the chance to the view the world as a whole, to gain perspective, and realize that in the grander scheme of things you are very small in comparison to what the world offers.

In this edition, let's pack up and head to the most romantic capital of the world: Paris, France!

Paris, France. March 2011

There are two places that I have longed to travel to the most in this world: France and Japan! I consider these two places my dream destinations as they coincide with my true love: fashion. In my junior year at university in the midst of obtaining my Bachelor's degree in fashion design, I was given the opportunity to travel to Paris, France during fashion week with the person I was in a relationship with at the time. A friend of his, was a friend with Nicolas Andreas Taralis, and he had gotten tickets into a fairly exclusive fashion show for this designer~ both of them were fans of Taralis' work, collecting some of his men's wear pieces.

And so in March, just in time for my birthday, we hopped on a plane and took off to Paris!
(Embarrassingly, I must admit that I spoke only a few phrases in French as I had studied Spanish in my high school years, but would have loved to have been more fluent. )

It was by far, one of the shortest flights that I have had to be on, a little over 8 hours and with some fenagling and charm from my dear sweet father who happens to be a retired airline pilot, we got very nice seats in the front of the plane. It was a night flight so we slept most of the way, and when I awoke we were in Paris! (Well, Charles du Gaulle airport to be exact.)

Paris was as cute and quaint as I had imagined it would be! I was brimming with excitement, everywhere I looked there were shops filled with beautiful clothing and I couldn't sketch fast enough. I felt as though I couldn't possibly close my eyes or I wouldn't be able to take it all in. I was constantly stopping to stare in the windows of shops, lusting after pieces, or just taking photos like a terrible (but cute!) tourist.

We stayed in a small, cute hotel within view of the Arc de Triumph and close enough to walk to a small bakery where we ate breakfast every day we were there. These are the beautiful sights that greeted us each morning, yum!

We were able to spend a day going to the Louvre museum, which is so massive that I am sure you must need at least several days to back and forth to view everything. There are simply so many photos I'm not sure I can include them all!

 

I was taking a lot of art histories at the time, so I tried to snap as many photos as possible and was always delighted when I took one of a painting that I had seen in class and reveled in that feeling of staring deeply into its hues, realizing I was seeing it in person. 

 But of course, being the Rococophile that I am, insisted on seeing King Louis' apartments, which were on display at that time. I think, if I had a choice, I would have lived there and simply never left! Every single room you went to was exquisite. Everything you looked at was breath taking. It hardly felt real that all of these things could have existed in another time and people actually used them! 

To finish off this particular set of photos (let's face it, Versailles needs its own blog post...) are a few photos from the private Nicolas Andreas Taralis fashion show we were able to attend. It was a very short event, the longest part of course was waiting to get in and everyone's attitudes around us were entirely too serious for my liking. The air was thick with an almost tense anxiety, an event of who's who from the people who received invitations filled with turned up noses and long sideways glances. 

The event was held in an empty gallery, and the seating was made up of sitting on concrete stair blocks or standing against the wall. It was loud, loud enough for the pulsating music to rumble the concrete and terribly dark. Though I enjoyed looking at the clothing, and being a part of a live fashion show, the style is not one that I'm suited to, though Taralis really is a master of silhouette and fine cut tailoring. I'm afraid the venue was too dark to get any decent photographs.

And in case you wanted to know what it was like to actually be there in person, here is a short albeit poor quality, video of the event. I also apologize you either have to turn your head or computer sideways to view it...Hm.

 

Next chapter: Versailles, Laduree, More Food, and Baby the Stars Shine Bright!

La Farfa: A Plus Size Japanese Fashion Magazine for "Marshmallow Girls"

Inspired by Victoria Suzanne Stella Alice's recent blog post (aka: Parfait Doll), I also wanted to share this amazing article about the first ever Japanese fashion magazine for the every day, plus size gals out there, La Farfa! (You can also read the original article here and here.)

 This magazine is specifically created for the larger, curvy gals that they call "pocchari" or "marshmallow girls" that completely bucks the trend of the ideal "skinny" girl that are plastered on the covers and glossy pages of magazines all over the world. And I think this is a monumental step for the fashion world, absolutely fantastic!

You can flip through any fashion magazine, regardless of its origin, and most of the time you will only see the typical media enhanced images of women who are airbrushed to be thinner, as they try to obtain that "ideal" but unrealistic, and completely impossible version of "perfection." Pushing this idea of the perfect weight, the perfect size, and perfect shape according to the fashion industry and media is something that effects women and girls, of every age, everywhere as this unattainable image of beauty that they can't acheive and results in a lot of negative thinking, especially about one's body. As a culture, this forces a lot of those ideas into women's heads which get internalized, and when they look in the mirror all they see are these "mistakes" about their bodies, which is complete malarkey!

And as a designer, as a woman, I find that absurd. As that one Girl Code meme says:
 

Because the "ideal" is unattainable, a lot of girls find that their natural state of beauty is flawed, imperfect, and therefore makes them "ugly" or "not pretty" or undesirable to women or men. I see so many gorgeous photos of girls on Tumblr and they are actually apologizing to viewers because they "look tired" or their face "looks weird", etc etc, and it absolutely baffles me. And then there are the comments/messages from girls around the world to their internet famous lolita idols asking, "How do I look like you? How do I wear what you wear without looking stupid or ugly because I'm a bigger girl, or a taller girl, or have ____ body shape?"

A lot of my curvy friends always feel like they have to cover up, or clothes have to be designed a certain way to hide parts of their body that they find are too embarrassing to show, regardless if it's lolita or just normal ready to wear. Curvy girls shouldn't have to cater to fashion, fashion should be catering to them as a market. They should be able to wear silhouetted garments that are cute, and flatter their body type and shape.

There's some negative commentary in one of the articles about how the magazine is confusing a cute term with girls that simply should lose weight, or are fat, and should be dismissed altogether. Typical responses to anything that gives positive reinforcement to girls who are simply different, and bucking against the fake "ideal" of society. But I think Seina responded beautifully and with class.

In which, Goto Seina responds cleverly and cheerfully, on an article for JapanCrush (which I will not link because of the ignorant commentary in response to the article:)

"Goto Seina, who is actually introduced in the pages of the magazine as a marshmallow girl, is positive: “Of course there will be different opinions — people who say ‘you’re a pig’ or ‘you’re a fatty’, but for me, [marshmallow girl] makes me really happy”. Goto also said that she would be happy if the term “marshmallow girl” would spread, and she’s happy if she or the magazine help people to know about it."

And that's where La Farfa and Goto Seina come in, and they're like "**** that, we are marshmallow girls and we can rock anything, any time, with any body type!" There has been a huge boost of body positive media floating around the internet this year, but this magazine really tops it! Not only are they putting actual girls on the runway, with real curves, and real bodies, but they are designing clothes that are ADORABLE. Look at Goto Seina rocking that mini skirt, short shorts, and heels, and there are some with thigh highs: she looks flawless! (I also loved that for the fashion show they picked real life readers of the magazine as models! See pics here.)

Particularly in Japan, there is this misconception that plus size girls just shouldn't exist because they need to lose weight to conform with the rest of the society. So I love the idea that La Farfa, a Japanese fashion magazine, is advocating to combat fat shaming, and negative body imagery, with this idea of "marshmallow girls" which gives a softer, cuter, positive ideal for plus size girls. (I mean, shoot, you guys know I'm a sucker for pro-body image/ideas of any variety, so this just delights me to no end as its right up my fashion alley!)

To quote my adorable, curvy friend in response to the article: "I don't know if this means I am squishy and enjoyable or delicious after being toasted over open flame. Either way, I am pleased." (My friend also proposed the idea of "pixie stick girls" for those of us, like me, who are extremely short and petite who fit into nothing because we are so tiny, which made me chuckle. I believe she's on to something there!)

I really applaud La Farfa for giving plus size girls all around the world a magazine that promotes such cute clothing with the idea that girls of all shapes, sizes, and silhouettes are beautiful. I hope this advocates in the industry globally and we start to see more and more magazines created for the natural beauties of the world!

It is personally inspiring to me, and more and more I want to learn how to draft patterns for my curvy princesses so I can be skilled enough to also make them beautiful garments. : 3 I really look forward to seeing more of these kinds of articles, magazines, and posts! I hope you too found it inspiring and positive!

Go, go, go marshmallow girls and girls of all shapes, sizes, and types everywhere!

And in conclusion to quote the Militant Baker from the article, "Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls... So I Will:"

"You are fucking beautiful. I'm saying this with a straight face and seriously meaningful look where I maintain eye contact for an uncomfortable amount of time. I know you don't feel like you fit into the category of gorgeous that our world creates. I know that its hard. I know that it's a daily battle. But fuck their fascist beauty standards. The second you stop looking for a skinny model in your mirror and start looking at YOU... is the second you will start to appreciate what you are. Stop looking for flaws. Stop looking for differences. You are perfect. You are more than enough. You are the best thing that has ever happened to you. And you are fucking beautiful." -Militant Baker

A Quick Look at a New Design!

During this super snowy week/end with work cancelled, we have gotten a little bit of time back to design and work on some new pieces in between the in progress commissions! As I have been in a bit of creative rut lately, I decided to try something different: an all black piece, with only the difference of fabric choices as accents. This is what happened, you can look at it for sale here:

One of my dear friends, a few years ago, had given me this beautiful vintage velvet swiss dot tulle fabric and I have had it tucked away in the drawer as I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to go with it, or what I wanted to do. There was only two yards of it, so I knew until I was sure, I didn't want to waste it!

For the fabrics, I had a small piece of gorgeous, premium black velvet left over from a previous design and so I chose that for the bodice. I decided to do another sheer chiffon neckline, and accent that with a lightly shimmered organza sleeve. For the under skirt, I selected a baroque black satin that I felt had just enough sheen to make the over skirt swiss dot pop.

When I started playing with the pattern, I knew I wanted to have a more elegant silhouette so I really scooped the neckline so it would go up, over the shoulder, and swoop down along the back to expose the shoulder blades of the wearer. I've always found lower necklines on the back of dresses terribly attractive on women!

Originally, I had wanted a silhouette of a very, very full skirt and sleeves but because I had so little of the vintage tulle and width of the organza was a certain size, I went with something more toned down and classic. I compensated that desire of over the top with the over sized, elegant bow and the pretty corset like back with silver eyelets. Beneath the corset like lace up, I inserted a shirred panel which is hidden by the velvet privacy panels.

Instead of doing something aesthetically even, I decided to do something asymmetrical with the bow at the shoulder and the waist line. Overall, I'm really pleased with how it turned out which I haven't been for a long time, which is a relief. And apparently you all like it too which just pleases me greatly! I have never had over a 1,000+ notes on anything before on tumblr but all the comments have made me really happy! Thank you for that!

I hope to show you more in the future, and get my creative head back in the game!
xo
Annika

Vote for Mary in her Pop Princess creation for the GLW Muse Contest!

Just a quick post today, to support and encourage my beautiful and amazing friend, Mary! You all know her as one of the Pop Princess ambassadors and models of our brand, and this week she has entered into the Gothic Lolita Wigs contest to be a "muse" at Anime Matsuri!

This photo belongs to Gothic Lolita Wigs!

She decided to submit her photos wearing the GLW white bob wig and her very own lovely JSK from the Pop Princess Starry Garden collection! Doesn't she look super pretty!

So vote away here for Princess Mary, and enjoy these adorableeee photos! : )

Credits:
Photo and editing: Minso Photo
JSK: Pop Princess
Wig: Gothic Lolita Wigs
Contacts: Alice and Rabbit's Shop
Model: Marma K