Paris - La Vie en Rose - Part Three

Hello everyone,

This is finally my last post about my trip to Paris. I hope you like reading about my day.

 Sunday, the 22nd of February

I woke up feeling super tired and a bit depressed because I knew it'd be my last day in the house with the best house mates in existence. I was also a bit worried about my outfit. I had gone a bit nuts with creating things to wear the day before the event and although I loved it in theory wearing something so ridiculously OTT freaked me out since it was so damn out of my confort zone. Still I wanted to wear something different for a change and all my other btssb/aatp sets are a bit playing it safe so I gave it a go. 

I asked the girls to help me though because I knew that without the right hair and makeup it would look ridiculously and I couldn't have asked for more, they just made it all come together. 

The interesting part was that out of the 5 of us, 3 of us had circus themed coordinates and I had no idea whatsoever! How amazing is that?

The circus team, all of us looking completely different which is great.

Me and my amazing room mates. They were by far the best thing out of the trip. 

We left right on time to enter the tea party which for me was a bit late because all the staff was there before that. 

We decided to go on foot because according to the map app it wasn't that far from where we were. The weather was amazing, the best it had been so far and it was actually a nice walk. On the way there people stared of course, we knew how ott we looked haha and it was very amusing because along the way we crossed the "rue du cirque" which means circus street and it was totally unexpected and a total obligatory photo moment. 

When we finally arrived there was a huge line of lolitas waiting and of course some of them were familiar faces so I went to the end of the line with the girls, said hello to a few people and then left to the entrance to reunite with the staff. 

I got in, left my coat and went up. I got a short briefing and waited with the rest of the staff for the tea party to start. 

When the time came we stood at the entrance and greeted every guest one by one which was fun. I talked to people for a bit after that and then went to find a place to sit. We tried seating in some areas but ended up in a corner of the room and our party was separated which sucked to be honest. The space was very pink and bright and the ateendees all looked amazing again. 

This was the entrance, the stairs where we stood to greet everyone are on the right in this shot. 

This table was where some of the nicest people sat hehe, the table next to mine - the one there in the back.  

I walked around a bit and asked to take photos of everyone, it seemed natural plus I wanted to redeem myself from taking almost no photos the day before. I still failed at taking photos with people though, and my ott made me a bit more shy, not sure why.

This is the first section of the space, then in the back where I was standing there's another room and then another space in the entrance where tf staff sat along with most of sfe and french cafe.

  

One of the things that made it impossible to move was the space and seating distribution.  I mean for all those people to sit it couldn't be helped but yes people had to ask others if they wanted to pass etc. It made it easier to see everyone's outfits though. hehe

Look, its Fidel in the back! He looked amazing! And I heard the lovely Marlessa in brown there won the best Alice and the Pirates coordinate! She always has the most incredible hair and accessories ever. 

The food was yummy and stunning. There was a tower of macarons and eclairs and some fireworks envolved. Guests all could chose from tea or hot choco which could be refiled. There was also one glass of orange juice per guest and 2 macarons and 1 eclair per guest. But there was a surplus so if one went outside we could get one or two more. There were also other 3 bites of sugary goodness later on. 

This is what I wore (and I'd like to thank the two photographers and my friend Marissa for taking these shots of me!):

Hat: handmade 

Sash: handmade

Scepter: handmade

Bag: Innocent World

Jsk: Alice and the Pirates

Boots: BABY, the stars shine bright

Socks: tutuanna

Necklace: Alice and the Pirates

Shirt: Mille fleurs

With our number tag we also got a couple of papers to vote for our favorite btssb and aatp coordinate. Also there was paper available to write nice notes to friends and people who we admire. I loved that idea and wrote as many as I could myself. And thank you for all the ones I got, i loved them and they made me happy during that plane ride back.

 

There were so many amazing outfits that day I wish I had taken more photos but the time was limited and it was all a bit confusing for me so again I failed to take many shots. This time I also did not get photos with the btssb guests, most of the atendees and my friends. I always regret that but its too late now.  

After this I unfortunately had to rush and leave because of my plane. So I said my goodbyes and rushed out. I asked for a cab because i could not get home myself and got home soon after. I took a phew photos of the amazing art in the house, i loved that place so much, i could totally live there. 

How wicked are these? 

I also took some more shots of my outfit and then got undressed and changed to confortable clothes for the ride. I got everything ready on time which was good. 

After I took this shot something happened... i realised I had left my coat at the tea party venue!!!!!! I was so upset with myself for being so irresponsible. I rushed to get a cab, asked the driver to stop there, got my coat (which was weird because the atendees were all leaving and I was running in there to get my coat looking completely different from before) and after I got it i just got into the cab again. 

The driver was super friendly and we chatted a lot in my broken french, he asked me about the event, about my trip, we talked about kids and travelling, it made me relax and feel happier about leaving so suddently. 

I thanked him and got into my bus towards beauvais airport. After getting there everything was pretty easy and I still had time to get some souveniers (got cheese and mustard for my husband and chocolate for mari).

On the plane i decided to have something to eat, some ratatoulle. It was the first time I bought food on a plane, not joking haha. It was ok, I was really hungry. When I arrived in Oporto, my husband and Mari were there to pick me up. I hugged her really close and cried like a baby. I was really happy to be back despite it all.

And that was it. I am sure i forgot a lot of things and people but its been a while now and my memory is terrible so this was the best I could manage. haha.
I was bummed i missed the raffle, the best coordinate election, the group photo and the after party but I was happy that, despite leaving my coat behind, i could get to the airport on time.

Love,
Jo

Paris - La Vie en Rose - Part Two

                                                 Saturday, the 21th February

I woke up very early, knowing what to wear makes it easier but I totally thought i'd have more time because I ended up having to leave the house with no makeup on. I put my hat in a bag, gathered all the makeup stuff and left the house on my own because my schedule was different from that of the regular atendees. 

I arrived at the venue right on time which was good. The minute I got there I left my things in the storage room and just started working.

The first thing to do was to take all the sales stall boxes downstairs so i decided I should take my shoes off and just went on barefoot which was somewhat strange i suppose. It made it easier for me and made me work faster. After that we then started putting all the merchandise on the tables. I helped with the japanese indies brand's stall but since there were already people there someone asked me to get the triple fortune boxes too. I ended up placing tf articles up for sale (omg those bonnets all went through my hands hehe). Fortunately I had help and soon we had finished. Me and Vief who also had had no time to put makeup on, managed to have some time to go back to the stock room and finally get ready. 

We sat there for a while and got ready, Vief helped me with the lashes because I am terrible with that sort of stuff (but I managed to put them on!) and then we left. My last official job before the opening was to great the guests at the entrance and to ask them to separate into 2 rows, the VIP and Valentines. 

And the game was on, suddently guests were finally checking in and LVER started. <3

First batch of guests! I took this photo right when i left the entrance after separating the lines. These are the first guests for LVER.

Once guests went down there would be two desks for ticket control. In this room there were 4 stalls in the 4 corners, Syrup, Btssb, Triple Fortune and Grimoire. There was also the place to leave guest belongings and the buffet area. 

That is where the triple fortune stall was, it seemed as if everyone just rushed to it first in fear that the bonnets would not be enough. Triple Fortune made a LOT of bonnets though so in the end everyone who wanted one had the chance to get one, unless they wanted a specific color.

Some of the beautiful outfits in LVER, everyone looked so amazing, it was a bit overwhelming!

This is part of the select shop stall. 

And this is one of the best bits of the trip for me, Moss Marchen. I have always known Martha online and we only met now and I love her, she is (I dare to say) someone i can clearly see me befriend if only i had been lucky to live close to her. I think she is awesome in every way possible. Her items are also perfection and I wanted everything. <3

And every time I see Fidel David in an event it makes me happy. He is a really nice person and his creations are incredible. 

Grimoire Stall. I honestly had almost no time to check things, I found myself to be like a little lost busy bee this year, I think it was the year in which I had less time for myself. 

The adorable Syrup stall, look at all the girly adorable accessories! I later regretted not having had the time to check everything carefully. I love what my friends got from the stall.

This is the outfit I chose for this day. I knew I'd have to move around a lot and work so I chose one of my newest dresses. I always wanted an Enchantilic Enchantilly dress because I love the fabric choice, the themes and also i love how fairy tale everything looks but when i tried it on I understood that having a designer/owner who isn't petite is a plus. The way this dress is cut shows that she understands the need for confort and the shirring doesn't squeeze me like others do and the shoulders are wide enough for my frame, its just perfect. I am not keen on the full shirring cuts now but I do love the fit. I also chose the hat because I knew I was going to work for triple fortune for 2 hours and I thought it would be respectful to wear something visible from them. I also wore a colar made by a Portuguese non-lolita designer to represent my country. I honestly love that i did not have to use a wig because it would be super tiring to have one on. Unfortunately none of the photographers asked me for a photo during the event so I have no decent shots of my outfit alone. And there goes one of my lolita dreams, to appear in a lolita major publication as a style reference and not in a group shot. This saddened me, I must confess.

After taking a walk around the room and chatting with some people it was then time for me to work at the triple fortune booth. Unfortunately that meant I couldn't go on stage to great the visitors in Portuguese but seeing as there were (that I know of) only two portuguese girls in the event - and one of those was me) not much was lost i suppose.

Working for triple fortune was interesting, I got to use my very basic japanese with Babi and Kaie and I hope they appreciated that I tried my best to help out that way. I did not get to speak to them about non business related things because I wanted to be professional and also because i'm shy and i was very busy haha. Rosalynn has a photo of me there, which I like a lot. It's the only one I have. <3

It was very interesting to feel how much the attendees wanted those bonnets and i tried my best to advise them on the best colors to match their styles/outfits.

After that I got to see a bit of the Mix brand / Indies brands fashion show which had a lot of very original looking items and also major brand pieces from brands I love like Atelier Pierrot and Juliette et Justine. There were also non lolita items of course since other styles were involved this year.

Here's a video of the fashion show by rosalynn - LINK

Girls seemed very busy and focused taking photos of one another and more than half of the guests were wearing lighter colors and princessesque coordinates, I felt a bit different i suppose.

There were also fashion shows from Triple Fortune (finally seeing the girls in the full coordinates made the rehearsal movements make total sense, it was a perfect show!).  love that green coordinate and i adore the male stule shirt. And I still want the black, red, ivory argyle pattern bustier.

After that I finally had a bit of time to get some photos taken with some friends or people that I have a connection with. I am glas i managed to get some photos, this year I honestly feel like I rushed so much it made it harder to enjoy myself although I could totally tell the event was a total success which made me happy of course.

I finally got to meet Rosalynn! She is so young and sweet and she is always super excited for everything and cheerful that i guess i cannot help but to adore it. She was wearing sweet lolita which is totally her thing and she looked adorable. I also met her mom and had the chance to tell her that i love how much support she gives to her and how much i wish i had the luck to have the same and that was also one of the special lver moments for me. At least looking back I always seem to remember that moment so I think it is.

Lempicka Maria was also there and I had met her already. We share a love for Moi-même-Moitié 

but although i branch into many other brands and styles she doesn't seem to which I admire.

She is always super sweet to me when we meet and she treats me with much care and respect and I value

that very much. I am so glad we got to take a photo together this year too. <3

Nana and Lea looked amazing of course, they always do and they are so nice, I really like them both. They are so pretty, its ridiculous really.
And on the right is Spiro, one of the amazing russian lolitas at the event. I am a big fan of their community, after being in love with the Finnish community I later fell for the russian in terms of fashion sense. They just really know how to do ott and fabulous coordinates as a whole and they are all such an inspiration for me. Spiro curiously is the only one that I managed to talk to for more than 2 minutes and she was just great to me during the whole event and I am going to be forever grateful.

There's someone I need to meantion in this post too with which I have no photos, Ada. Ada was amazing to me as well. Not because she gave me her raffle prize (how nice does someone have to be) but because I was feeling down, tired and just a bit odd at some point and she just made sure I got in a brighter spirit. Thank you Ada!

I managed to cheat my shy nature and ask Babi and Kaie for a photo when they came to me and gave me one of their catalogues with their autograph to repay me for the help that afternoon. I really like this photo too, i think we look really nice together I must say. <3

The other Portuguese attendee is Isuzu. She is actually living in Paris so technically I was the only one that went from my country which is kinda special but mostly very sad. It was really nice to see her even there, it made me feel more at ease i guess. 

Another great surprise this trip was that I ran into yourpervert who has always been those people who's photo posts i'd usually follow like crazy. Flawless style and great personality. Another one of those people i'd friend irl if only i had been lucky enough to be live near of.

Vief and Annso did not twin as usual but they were still a pair. Vief looked so adorable in Kodona, she totally can pull it off and they were just bubbly and nice as usual. Thank you for everything Vief. 

I also met Shannie Bee during this trip and I feel in love with her outfit for Lver, she added wings to the back of her dress, and the dress was to die for, the whole thing was flawless. She is super sweet, I barely knew her before but now I have discovered her blog and I adore it, I'll surely follow from now on. 

After this I went on stage finally to represent my community and after saying goodbye and helping clean up there was of course the group shots and such. I did not manage to be in the group photo for last year's SFE event so I was glad I managed to be in this years photo.

You can spot me if you watch at 5:40 <3 Thank you Cristina for the video. 

After everyone left I stayed and we took down all the items and made sure nothing was left behind. It was time to leave the venue. 

I then left home and when I arrived everyone was taking a rest but online people were talking about dinner and drink plans so me and Jo decided we'd go out. We made dinner plans with Kyra and got lost so Kyra and her husband came to us. Hah and we had a map! Not our best moment. The place we chose was closed but there was a japanese restaurant nearby and we decided to try it and we were lucky, it was affordable and the food was good. After that we got in the subway and met with the best people and had the (literally) worst Mohito I have ever had. 

But left with the best photo. 

I of course met and talked to many amazing people that day but unfortunately I took very little photos. Every time there's an event I always regret that I did not take enough photos and despite that this repeats itself. 

I have been looking at blog posts and I also talked to people at the event and everyone adored it this year. French Café and all the Street Fashion Europe members did an amazing job. It is an honor to have been part of it again this year. 

Hope you enjoyed reading this post.

Love,

Jo