Alice au Pays du Salève

October 22, 2015 / lolitaland / 2 Comments

As some of you may know, I spent my spring semester studying and interning abroad in Geneva, Switzerland. My last two days in Geneva was spent photoshoot-ing with the amazing Studio du Petit Oiseau. I worked with them a few times over the course of my semester abroad, and every photoshoot was a lovely experience. This will be a photo-heavy post because I love too many photos from this set!

I wanted to write this blog post earlier, but did not find the time to finish this post until now. Looking back at these photos brings back lovely memories of sunny days spent outside… I still miss living in Europe. Genève, tu me manques!

Basically, here is how these photoshoots worked out: I took a bus to the Swiss/French border, and that’s where Studio du Petit Oiseau met up with me. For the Alice au Pays du Salève shoots, we drove up Salève (a mountain, which I called my home mountain throughout my stay since I could spot it from anywhere in Genève) each day to shoot. The first day was difficult since there was a mysterious car rally going on; I’m still not sure what was happening to be honest. The next day, we went up the mountain and were able to take many more photos.

“Mais je n’ai nulle envie d’aller chez les fous”, fit remarquer Alice.
“Oh ! vous ne sauriez faire autrement, dit le Chat : Ici, tout le monde est fou. Je suis fou. Vous êtes folle.”
“Comment savez-vous que je suis folle ?” demanda Alice.
“Il faut croire que vous l’êtes, répondit le Chat ; sinon, vous ne seriez pas venue ici.”

-Alice au pays des merveilles

And now, let’s look at some of the photos from the second time we went to Salève! (And this was my last day in Europe. The day after this shoot, I flew back to the United States!)

In the background of some of these photos, you can see Lac Léman and Genève~!

This shoot was part photoshooting and part sight-seeing…

It was really cold up in the mountain! I should have brought a warmer jacket with me… (Down in Geneva, it was really hot. What a stark contrast in temperature!)

Salève is definitely one of my favorite places. It’s so breathtakingly beautiful, and I feel like I could go there 100 times and still never get bored of looking around. “Alice au Pays du Salève” is what Studio du Petit Oiseau named this photoshoot. I thought it was such an adorable name, since it’s a play on the French title for Alice in Wonderland, “Alice au pays des merveilles.” This blog’s name is Alice in Lolitaland, so this title is too perfect.

Merci beaucoup, Studio du Petit Oiseau!

Aren’t these cows so cute? The time spent photoshooting on Salève will always be in my memories, even if they feel like dreams now. If I ever return to Switzerland, I definitely want to visit Salève again. Is there a place you wish you could return to?

Check out my Facebook albums for more photos from these two photoshoots: First album & Second album.

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Le Premier Meeting Lolita à Paris

April 10, 2015 / lolitaland / 2 Comments

Cet évènement, qui s’appelle “Meeting avec Li-Li (et 39 ans de la vieille Mimi),” était génial ! // This event, which was for my first time attending a Parisian lolita meetup as well as celebrating Mimi’s birthday, was awesome!

Mon amie Camille a dit sur la page pour l’évènement : “Elle parle très bien français et m’a dit avoir envie d’un petit meeting Lolita et de manger des crêpes et des macarons !” …Mais, selon moi, mon français n’est pas au niveau de “très bien.” Mais tout le monde était très sympa et je pouvais parler en français sans être mal à l’aise. MERCI, TOUT LE MONDE. ❤ C’était un plaisir de vous rencontrer, j’espère que je peux vous revoir un jour !

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C’est moi et Camille! (Photo credit: Ercylla)

I wanted to make this post bilingual, but I’m rather stressed out with financial aid applications and academic work… so I’m going to write in English from here on out. If you want to see the above paragraph translated into English, just let me know and I will be glad to edit in the translation at a later time. ^_^ The lolita meetup was a tea party at the Hyatt Paris Madeleine on Saturday, April 4. There were four types of green tea: matcha, sencha, genmaicha, and houjicha. And of course, there were some adorable little pastries to eat! Here was the menu:

• Deux tranches de moelleux roll cakes

• Petits sablés

• Toads : petites tartelettes façon crumble à la vanille, au yuzu ou au chocolat

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Don’t they look adorable? They were so tasty too… If I had to choose a favorite, it would be the vanilla toad!

Now, let’s talk about the general experience I had that afternoon. First off, everyone looked so gorgeous at the tea party! I loved seeing all the coordinates… And I realized how much I really missed lolita. It was amazing to finally see gorgeous dresses and coordinates in person. We had a good mix of different styles: gothic to classic to sweet. And we also had a variety of brands! From Bodyline to Moi Même Moitié to BTSSB … and even a 100% handmade lolita coordinate! I was impressed by everyone’s outfits.

The lolitas were also all very friendly, and I did not feel left out or awkward even though the only person I knew beforehand was Camille. I was so shocked by the compliments I received; quite a few people said I spoke French well. I really love the French language but feel like I struggle with it a lot… so hearing this meant a lot to me! I plan to declare French as my second major this fall. 🙂

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Photo Credit: Opaline

This was also my first time print-twinning in Lolita! Camille’s ultimate dream dress is Midsummer Night’s Dream, so she owns several pieces from the collection. I wore the ivory set, and she wore the black set. ^_^ It was so nice of her to let me wear her dream dress for the tea party! (I also absolutely love bonnets… I need to buy a bonnet of my own at some point. This bonnet was so much fun to wear! It was comfortable too.)

After the tea party, a few of us went to Princess Crêpe, a crêperie owned by Baby the Stars Shine Bright Paris.

I had a matcha green tea ice cream crêpe! If you’ve been here, let me know what your favorite crêpe was. I loved it so much that I went back on Wednesday. xD On Wednesday, I had a caramel ice cream cheesecake crêpe.

If I have time, I will write some more posts about Spring Break and possibly other aspects of travel! I made a new category for my blog, “Travel,” and I added my previous Paris lolita blog post to the category (from two years ago… my first time studying in Paris!). To be honest, I also have some old drafts of posts I haven’t finished… So I might work on those and post them (even if they will be belated posts). But better late than never, right? I’ll try to post them for a “Throwback Thursday” or something so they don’t seem completely out of the blue. Thanks for reading!

(Et MERCI BEAUCOUP à Camille pour m’a prêtée sa belle tenue de Midsummer Night’s Dream !)

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A French Lolita Tea Party

September 8, 2013April 10, 2015 / lolitaland / 9 Comments

Since Miss Milly and I met in July (during my first time studying abroad), we have become pretty close friends even though we only knew each other for a short period of time. I was thrilled to meet another French Lolita! Besides Miss Milly, I also met a few other lovely Lolitas during my time studying in Paris, France. Miss Milly was kind enough to invite me over for a sleepover, and we had fun looking at manga, flipping through Lolita magazines, watching Kamikaze Girls, and painting our nails! We even spent time browsing through the wonderful items on Taobao. I also had the amazing experience of an authentic French dinner with Miss Milly’s family and family friends. In the morning after the sleepover, Miss Milly and I cooked and baked and set up a delicious and delightful tea party (for two)!

Here I am, making pancakes!

Look at all the food… ❤

I am really happy I had the chance to have a Lolita Tea Party with Miss Milly. This was a wonderful experience that I know I will remember far into the future! After the tea party, we took a walk to the local riding club. There were so many beautiful horses at the stables! ❤ I even got to see an adorable shetland pony, a llama (with totally crooked teeth), and an energetic goat!

Isn’t this horse beautiful?

We even had the chance to imitate Momoko from Kamikaze Girls! After all, it was not too long before we came across animal dung… (Ewww…. We do not approve. But it was a great photo opportunity! >w<) Miss Milly is an amazing person, and you should totally check out her blog! The dress she is wearing in these photos is a dress that she made herself. She is truly a talented person! (She is also a cosplayer, and a lover of other Japanese street fashions such as Fairy Kei.) Update: I now have a Facebook page! Feel free to like the page if you want to stay in touch with me outside WordPress.