Sadly, this was the only Midwestria outfit of mine that I managed to take snaps of before leaving... yay lack of organization!
For the first day of Midwestria, I decided to do a casual Lolita Sweetie Belle outfit. No wig though, because the only suitable one I had is a bit too small for my current amount of hair.
Skirt: Metamorphose Temps de Fille
Bolero: Bodyline
Shoes: Bodyline
Apron: Taobao
Hairbow/Neckbow: Chocomint
Long time no update!! I've been quite busy with life in general, as well as with fun things like Midwestria! Hopefully I'll have the few photos I snapped from that edited and uploaded soon, but in the meantime, I will just say that I had a fantastic time and was extremely pleased at how friendly and laid-back the entire convention was. I loved it, and I really hope I can make it again next year!
With the increasing amount of dancing I've been doing, my pointe shoes were well and dead. In fact, Maan and I took about a week-long break from our privates because the new pointe shoes I had ordered just weren't arriving. And then Chicago Dance Supply had their October Wednesdays sale and I thought hey, what better than 50% off pointe shoes??!! As it turns out, they didn't actually have the exact specifications I had originally wanted, but I tried on a few slight variations in width/shank and now have three different versions of the Grishko 2007 pointe shoe to try out.
My original pair was a size 3 XXXX width with a medium shank. Once broken in, these were far more comfortable and easier to dance in than the Bloch Serenades I had been wearing previously. The only slightly complaint was that the box sometimes felt too wide, and my foot would slide forward if I was having a slightly skinnier-foot-day. That's how I got my bruised toenail, which was a wonderful adventure. I now use gel caps on my big toes, and have a permanently glued-in piece of gel padding above the big toe area of my left shoe to make it the same length as the second toe on that foot (my two feet are different shapes, yes...). I tried sticking the Gaynor Minden box liner in there, but that made it too small, so I gave up on that and just padded my big toes.
The current new pair is still a size 3 XXXX width, but now with a soft shank. Obviously these are breaking in much faster than the previous pair, and I have a feeling I'll wear these out in half the time if not sooner. Even on the second wearing, my feet already feel like they did in the previous pair after a few months... so... I have the same complaint with these in that the first time my feet kept slipping forward the tiniest bit in the box, but the Gaynor Minden liners made them too too tight. I'll be interested to see if the narrower pair I got for half-price fits any better (or if I can even get my foot in them at all if I'm having a fat-foot-day...).
The comparison sequence for now has me concluding that if I really need to break in some shoes pronto, soft shanks are fine, but I do still prefer the feel of a medium shank. Another possibility is that I could use a soft shank on my left foot and a medium shank on my right foot, as they have differing extremes in tendencies to go not-far-enough or too-far over the box.
Now that I've started doing the Cardio Hiphop and Zumba classes where there's some arm-work with free weights, more of my private sessions are being devoted to pointework rather than being split between Pilates reformer work and pointe exercises.
This means more time for practicing doing things en pointe, and also more time to be learning variations! This past week was the Lilac Fairy Variation from Sleeping Beauty, in which I attempted a reprise of the Italian fouette.
I love this variation because while it's not super complex, it's actually more difficult to pull off looking floaty and calm than one might think. Or maybe I've just been really off balance lately (also true). In any case, it was delightful to learn, even if executed messily.
My favorite rendition of it is probably that by Marianela Nunez (who just overall is such a beautiful dancer):
Instead of her crazy fouette sequence at the end, I tried to do Italian fouettes, although that didn't work out so well by the end of the session when I was too tired. Will definitely keep practicing this one though ^_^
Perhaps next I should learn the Bluebird Variation. Apparently the boys have learned the male part of that, so it could be fun to actually do a little bit of partnering (and it's simple).
Also... NEED NEW POINTE SHOES. Soft shoes too, but those are somewhat less urgent.
This year's megameet was once again in Millenium Park, and the weather obliged by being beautiful! Not too hot in our little shaded spot, and not raining so we didn't have to seek shelter like last year ^_^
As I generally save my JSKs and OPs for bigger meetups, since they're a little harder to incorporate into daily outfits, I decided to wear my Meta Twinkle Journey! I adore this print, but since I have the JSK only, I do not indulge in wearing it very often.
Although the weather was reasonably mild for the middle of summer, it was still hot enough to merit a hairstyle that would keep things off my neck as much as possible, so back to my good old trusty pigtail buns! I'm also wearing my rose corsage clips that I made ^_^
The meetup was great fun, and I think the best organized it's ever been so far, with tons of games and prizes! only wish that my camera were in somewhat more stable state so I could've brought it and taken photos T_T
Progress with ballet has been steady albeit slow. I think I've crossed the last of the sharp increase period and now am back in slow grinding mode. But I shall press on, and there are definitely concrete improvements (particularly in my pointework).
In fact, I finally managed to do a double pirouette en pointe in my private lesson this week! My teacher has been nudging me to attempt them for the past few lessons now, but I've always either chickened out or just outright failed when I tried. However, on Tuesday I actually did a really nice double! Not even a fake one, it was complete with suspension at the end, and to think it was actually kind of by accident, and on my left side too. Apparently I am a leftie for turns this week!
What's funny is that my turns in soft shoes have been completely disasterific. If I can just figure out what exactly it is that I'm doing so very different when I turn in pointe shoes, maybe my turns will all improve overall. I think being terrified and thus extra careful/concentrated has something to do with it, but I can't identify the physical ramifications of this mindset.
In any case, I've learned three more variations over the past few weeks. About a month ago, I learned the second odalisque solo from Le Corsaire. We did it in one lesson, and that was it, since it's short and fairly simple. It's so cute! (Scroll to 3:57)
Then, about three weeks ago, we started the first solo variation of the pas de trois from Swan Lake Act I. It took I think 3 lessons to finish learning it. I love it because it's a lot of fun to do ^_^ Made me realize I have rather low stamina for these sorts of things though, haha! (Scroll to 2:24)
And during my last lesson, I learned Odette's variation from Swan Lake Act II. It's not a complicated variation, and slow enough for my brain to process in realtime, but it's deceptively easy-looking. I actually find it quite difficult, and I certainly can't do it well. My arms flail all over the place and I have the worst sense of balance for those rond de jambes at the beginning T_T But I'm really pleased to be learning it, since it's one of my favorite variations ^_^ (Scroll to 2:53)
Onwards and upwards! Hopefully we will work at least a little bit more on the Odette variation. My teacher also mentioned that we might revisit Giselle's Act I variation, which I learned the steps to during class (in soft shoes), but never actually attempted in pointe shoes. And here's to trying to do more double pirouettes and hopefully not breaking anything ^_^;;
Apparently outfit snaps are few and far between during the summer. Most of the time I've been either wearing grungy clothes for finishing up the moving process or lounging around in pajamas XD Moving is finally done and over with though, and my room is nice and set up now. Unfortunately, that means now I need to start writing my QP for reals, so I might just be lounging around in pajamas curled up on my bed anyways.
JSK: Innocent World
Bolero: Baby the Stars Shine Bright
Headbow: Innocent World
Socks: Target
Shoes: Antaina
This is a lovely song that I've always wanted to cover. It's "Scarlet" from 'Ayashi no Ceres' (a lovely, if sad, anime by the way) originally sung by Iwao Junko.
I tried actually showing myself singing in this video... not sure if good thing or not yet, but I do know I love my little Flip camera. I just wish it had a wider capture range, or that I had a larger space so I could actually use it to video my dancing.
Speaking of which, I made up some random choreography to fill in the instrumental break. Obviously, I need more space to actually dance in, and so I can put my camera far away enough that I'm not off the screen half the time T_T But I tried...?
Her style shares a large majority of the aesthetics that I love and try to incorporate in my own outfits. Although she tends to use more JSKs and OPs than I prefer to, she's a fantastic inspiration for color coordination, using cute but still subdued accessories, ways to combine motifs, etc. I also love the way she does her hair and makeup, and definitely take a lot of inspiration from her as I slowly learn how to do my own styling better. I absolutely adore that her hairstyles are generally natural-looking and not overly elaborate, which is great for wearing on a daily basis.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="420"] Image from http://lemontree11blog.blogspot.com/2012/06/fairytale-boutique-grand-opening.html[/caption]
When I first began my foray into Lolita fashion, I signed up on the (I think now defunct) lolita mentor Livejournal community, and was very very fortunate to be paired with Oli as my mentor. Not only does she dress in a lovely style that is really all her own, but she is also a fantastic artist and seamstress. We share a lot of common aesthetics, and she's offered me really great advice about the fashion. I adore her outfits, her artwork, and the dresses she makes, and really enjoy writing her as a penpal!
While she is not really a Lolita, what I take inspiration from is the etherealness of her style. She pulls it off perfectly from the clothes down to the hair and makeup. I look to her for ideas when I need to create a more porcelain-doll type of makeup look. I also adore the fact that she has lavender hair, and wish I were brave enough to do something like that ^_^ When I want to go for a lighter more floaty sort of outfit, I think about the sorts of things AMO uses in her outfits and try to incorporate the features that I especially like.
First of all, she is an incredibly sweet girl and was really lovely and encouraging to me, offering me all sorts of useful tips and help when I was being an awkward penguin trying to model for Angelic Pretty at ACEN 2012. I like that she has a lot of range in the styles she wears and pulls them all off fantastically. I love watching her makeup videos and taking some ideas from them for when I need dramatic styling. I also like the way she styles her hair, and while it's more elaborate than I can manage on a daily basis, I've definitely borrowed some inspiration for meetup hairstyles!
I find myself always feeling a bit wistful when I see girls who are in high school and already have such a well-developed sense of personal style and confidence. I definitely did not have the awareness or the self-esteem at that age. This girl wears a range of styles, but mostly tends towards cutesy styles like Lolita and Fairy Kei. She also changes her hair color a lot (which I think is super cool). I love looking at her photos, just to bask in the adorableness and wish that I could wear the things she wears (still don't have the confidence to really pull them off).
Ever since classes ended and it got ridiculously hot and humid, I've been hibernating in my apartment with 3 fans and a dehumidifier, so I haven't really been dressing up or going out much XD But here's a couple of outfits from the last month or so :-P
JSK/Headbow: Innocent World
Cardigan: Target
Socks: Sockdreams
Shoes: Secret Shop
Skirt/Hairbow: Innocent World
Cutsew: Baby the Stars Shine Bright
Tights: Sockdreams
Shoes: Antaina
