Tea party and the cruel return to reality. Two completely contrasting things. Hold on to your petticoats, because the second part of the best J-fashion weekend of this year is here!
Waking up after Saturday’s afterparty was quite alright. Alcohol is darn expensive in Finland, so I only had one drink, so there was no need to recover from anything the other day. Not that I had planned anything like that if it were possible. Anyway, I needed to allocate enough time for makeup and outfit preparation in the morning. I estimated the time well so I did everything I needed to do just in time. The random glitters on my cheeks were probably off… I didn’t have a detailed plan for what I would like to create on my face, but next time I should prepare some plan… I need to experiment more with makeup. I was still contemplating whether or not to wear contact lenses. Tad told me to put them on. They are costume lenses, so not very natural. But due to the theme of the event, it probably didn’t matter.
A few words about my coord… I didn’t know what to wear… The original plan was to sew Necropolis JSK. I’ve had a beautiful design in my head for several months, but I didn’t have enough time to finish a new version of the Necropolis print and send it for printing. Anyway, I’ll do it in the future. I want those JSKs! After several attempts to put something together, It ended up with a Camellia skirt made by me, and a blouse bought in Mohito. I bought beautiful stockings in Calzedonia and also created a thematic headpiece with lots of artificial flowers, butterflies, and even a little bird. Horns are made by Only Horns Shop. I shortened the wig a bit to get rid of the ugly ends, and I braided a few braids with black wool, where I put some glass beads here and there. A detail that almost no one noticed 😂 but I was happy with it! Under the blouse, I bought a black lace bodysuit literally at the last minute. The black lace peeking at the neckline seemed like a nice idea to me on how to combine it all in a combination of pink and black and at the same time reduce by a few centimetres the depth of the neckline. I added a thematic brooch with a deer from Stoklasa store and other fancy accessories that I bought from Le Petit Four the day before, except for the double clip. That one is made by me.
I went to the tea party and I felt very nervous. I didn’t know many people there, Tad didn’t come with me, and those I did know already had their friends there. I was waiting for Mari to show up and in the meantime, the tables around me filled with all those wonderfully dressed people. Since I came from the Czech comm alone, it was kind of strange. My extremely introverted nature didn’t allow me to sit with someone and simply start a conversation. I simply waited for Mari to appear so that we could sit together at the table. We spoke the day before that I could join her for the tea party. It was a kind gesture from her. I was kind of despaired… ^__^ And finally, she’s here! So, we sat at a table with several other people. We were in an interesting mix from different parts of the world. I could finally focus on observing everything and everyone properly. Another group of people joined, and to sit next to each other, Mari and I moved one seat over. That previous seat of mine was the seat of fortune. But more on that later.
The tea party just begun! It was time to fetch some refreshments. There was a selection of various salads, some bread, mini desserts… Of course, we all took a little bit of everything. For drinks, there were several types of teas, coffee with and without milk, and I think some juice. I had blue tea with an interesting chocolatey aftertaste. I had never had anything like it before. I’ll have to ask what kind of tea it was because I still remember the taste, and I liked it a lot, even though It seemed kind of suspicious when I poured it into the cup and saw the blue colour.
The next part of the tea party program was some kind of theatrical performance with the theme of the entire event and J fashion. It was funny, the crowd shouted with enthusiasm and cheered on the main characters. The highlight of the whole afternoon was, of course, the raffle. When we sat down at the table, each of us had postcards, stickers, and one ticket for the raffle at our place. Mari won a beautiful pink bonnet! Congratulations once again :3 And that was the seat of fortune I was talking about because I originally sat in that spot with the winning raffle ticket. And then we moved one place over, ahahahaha…
In the end, the designers from Atelier Pierrot and Metamorphose chose the “best-dressed” participants. A few words were said by the main organizers, and then it was time to go home. Personally, I missed a large group photo there; it is such a pity because there was a huge number of people dressed in lolita so the photo would look absolutely magnificent. But otherwise, I was amazed by the event!
I have to say I enjoyed Hellocon so much! My social batteries got recharged all along with the “lolita batteries”… Honestly, after everything that happened in the past six months, I was incredibly exhausted physically and mentally. Sudden death in my close family, taking care of my mom, final exams, writing a thesis, releasing a new Sleeping Doll collection, working on the Fashion Corner for Animefest convention, and a lot of other sewing for my brand, along with exhausting shifts at work. All of it fell apart after Animefest. I fell apart. I stopped creating for my brand; I stopped trying to organize EGL events in the Czech Republic; I stopped focusing on anything around the Czech lolita community. I just withdrew into myself. I was demotivated, drained, and devastated. I was even thinking about selling off my whole wardrobe and never wear lolita ever again. It didn’t make any sense to try to do something for a community that doesn’t want to gather and doesn’t want to work as a community, as a one whole community. I was really frustrated that only a few of the same people organize meetups, and they are also tired. We just wanted to come to an event and relax, not organize it. Hellocon was exactly the kind of event which I so desperately needed. I didn’t have to deal with the event organization, I could do some shopping, enjoy the event, have a chit-chat with friends, and then simply let all those precious moments write into my memory. I could breathe in that amazing atmosphere without any stress from organizing. And damn, I missed that! I had a few talks with people from other communities, I also gained inspiration on how to organize events here. To make it less stressful for me and to have more meetups overall.
Now I’ll borrow a few photos from the main event’s website. Credits to @minapamina_.
At the main event, I bought a lot of beautiful things that I had been craving online for a long time, and now I had the opportunity to see it in person and even try it on! Once again, I enjoyed wearing lolita fashion so much. I bought a blouse by Amastacia that I had on my wishlist and also my very first blouse by Atelier Pierrot. Atelier Pierrot is a brand that I have admired online for a long time, but I didn’t have any main pieces from them. Seeing all the Atelier Pierrot’s clothing in person just moved this brand up in my list of favourites. The design and colour palette of individual pieces is exactly my cup of tea!
From Enchanted Dream, I bought a few OTKs because they are of good quality and just so beautiful, long and roomy enough for European legs 😀 As for accessories, I didn’t have any specific ones in mind. I just found some that caught my eye, so I bought them. I also received some from Tad because we agreed in August that for our 6th anniversary, I don’t want anything, and I’d be more grateful if he chose something nice for me a month later in Helsinki.
Here is my loot so you can take a look at all the beauty. We had postcards and stickers at the tea party, as I mentioned before. I bought the print with Mana-sama so I’ll hang it up nicely somewhere in my flat!
My tea party coord once again!
…and because some of the official Vendors Fashion Show photos are out, I will add some of them there as well! ^__^ credits to @minapamina_
Those dresses by Enchanted Dream Couture are truly enchanting, right?
I spent part of Sunday in a slight depression over the fact that it’s really over, and we’ll be flying home soon. I just don’t like travelling by plane. Today, I even had a nightmare about not being able to make it to the airport in time because I couldn’t find the bus stop, I missed the flight, and I didn’t have enough money for another flight. Ew, why I have a dream like that just today? Was it a sign that I should write the second part of this article? I have no idea…
Back to my Helsinki Adventures! Tad and I were circling around the centre of Helsinki until the evening. I forgot to mention that while I was at the tea party, Tad was exploring the beauties of nature near Helsinki. But those are his own adventures so no room to write it here XD…
The next day, on Monday, due to changes in our original flight, we were departing at 9:30 in the morning. So, we left the hotel around half past six. The journey to the airport was smooth. Those trains that go directly to the airport are just something amazing! I want them everywhere. At the airport, I had my last Finnish coffee – pumpkin spiced off course!, the last Finnish cinnamon roll, and the last blueberry juice on the plane…Well, the last ones this year. Because we definitely haven’t visited Hellocon and Finland for the last time! Next time, though, I hope at least one more person from the Czech lolita community will fly with us! Please… It will be fun, I promise 😂
And that’s all from my Finnish lolita adventures! Thank you to everyone who has read it till the end. Don’t forget to leave a comment; it always makes me happy, and see you next time for the next article! Byeee ^__^
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