Angelic Pretty Tea Party Omiya

There are more Angelic Pretty tea parties than the Grande Princess Dreamy Carnival. The smaller stores outside of Tokyo give their own cute tea parties to delight their loyal Lolita customers.
If you were lucky you managed to see the Tea Party video before it got taken down.
There are however some pictures that I am allowed to show you

I hope you liked our styles! See you next time!
x
Cat

FACTS and SECRETS of 2014

Time flies when you are having FUN and fun I - but I also did work A LOT
Nevertheless, I still had some absolutely fantastic moments in 2014 and I want to take a short breath in and think of those moments with you.

For a quick reference here is the 2014 Recap video that gives you a speed-dash-flash flashback to some of the videos of 2014:



I am also kind of person who thinks it is so amazing that you are all watching the videos I create.
Surprise:
I still can't really believe it all.
Yes I am serious!

The fact there are people around the world, small, tall, young, old, male, female, transgender, people of all colors, shapes, ideas, opinions and believes, and they chose to watch my videos. That is a truly fantastic thing.
And whenever I get a comment of you saying you like my videos, it makes me the happiest girl. I am the type of YouTuber, I really believe in the power of my viewers. And sometimes I need to pinch myself to believe it all. Most of the time, I can't quite believe it. Thank you so much.

Thank you all so much for being on this journey with me!
I am also surprised how many "long-term" viewers recently have emerged. I don't mean since I started, but people that have stayed with me for so long, they will write reminiscent posts about past videos. Everytime I am like "WOW you remember my older video? You have actually seen it?"
See, I still can't quite believe you guys are watching.
You are all so sweet.

Surprisingly, even though I was insanely busy in 2014 (to a level of getting sick a lot) I realized I actually uploaded more videos than in 2013. A Miracle.
I uploaded a total of 44 videos in 2014.
Furthermore, I still have a whole pile of videos that have not been edited yet! AAH!

So here are some facts and secrets of 2014:

1) I was blessed with being able to celebrate my birthday in three countries: Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom. Being able to see how many of my friends still care (and remember) me was the biggest gift I got this year and it's worth more than all the money in the world. Even if I am not much in touch because I am so busy, I hope they will still remember me for years to come.

2) I started working in Japan - SERIOUSLY. Some days I am working up to 11 hours in a room with no windows, and there is lots of unpaid time we have to put in. It is NOT a piece of cake (yum), and not everyone can do it. My health has crumbled a lot but I am fighting hard to make it possible to combine a busy work schedule with making videos for you-

3) KAWAII PATEEN is kind enough to let me be their fashion photographer. Which lead to some of the best moments I had and I am very grateful for the chance to meet Aoki Misako, Yui Minakata and Kimura U. They are all very beautiful talented fashion models and it was a great honor to meet them.

4)  a BIG TECHNICAL PROBLEM I had this year was my editing software.
Sony  Vegas used to be great, but now no matter how many times I re-install it,
it keeps crashing on me whenever I edit a video longer than 3 minutes.
And then it takes 3 hours to fix the error and the quality really suffers.

5) The convention I helped founding called "MOE MOE CON" went into its second year! It really made me feel like I have set a milestone for my old university and I hope the future Anime Manga society will be able to make many more great conventions for years to come.

6) I reached over 9.000 subscribers! .... Which naturally means I am checking every day how far it will be until I get ooooh 10.000!!! I actually feel like a child before Christmas. Even more. Like the ultimate Christmas coming up.

7) I danced on camera. Well, I try to avoid dancing on youtube to be honest but... we rehearsed and practiced the Youkai dance for the Harajuku Halloween Walk. I actually love dancing, however for a variety of reasons I am not a youtube dancer. I still dance though. Especially when a good song comes up in my playlist, and when my room is not cluttered with stuff so I don't step on dresses

8) I spend A LOT on fashion this year. A SERIOUS AMOUNT of my salary seems to straight go from my account into dresses. Magic. Frilly magic. If you watch my channel you probably know. But counting it all up, I must have spend a serious fortune this year on my hobby. But then a friend said:
"You are young - buy more dresses" and I think she is right.

Anyways I would like to thank you all for being part of my journey!
Please keep supporting me from now on too!
You are what makes this channel so much fun to do.

Lots of Love and many thanks,

Cathy Cat

Moshi Moshi Japan Festival

Exciting, creative, controversial and quirky. There are some words to sum up the "Moshi Moshi Japan" Festival that happened last month. Set as an event to celebrate Japanese culture, Moshi Moshi Nippon festival comes from the same creators that have brought us Harajuku Kawaii festival. This time based in a stadium the festival was uniting fashion, music, otaku and other pop- and subcultures.

The festival aimed especially at foreigners with two very controversial deals:
1) Foreigners got in for free if they booked in advanced and showed their passport.
2) There was a segregated area in front of the stage, exclusively for foreigners.

Certainly this must have been done with the best intentions, but it still felt kind of wrong to me on certain levels. I'd rather have us all pay 1000 yen entrance fee and have equal opportunities than letting the Japanese nationals pay over 2000 yen while I walked in for free.

Visitors got a MoshiMoshiNippon Bag, a Kyari clear file and tons of flyers

 There were several stages, ranging from Idol groups (Dempagumi etc) over fashion shows (KERA fashion show) and stage artists like Kyari Pamyu Pamyu. There were also stalls, ranging from hair stylists, wig shops, nail design and merchandise to fashion brands and even cosplay.

Innocent World Lolita fashion show during the KERA stage

The set up with stalls and stages was quite impressive and there were many people with press tags taking pictures and videos. Unfortunately for "normal" visitors most things were "NO PICTURES" so I could not really make a video about the event.

The final event featured a fashion show with 100 models, a (slighly cringe worthy) Karaoke Contest and a Kyari Pamyu Pamyu live show. Personally it was worth waiting for Kyari. She even sang Fashion Monster and Pon Pon Pon, so I was more than happy to see some of my favourite songs performed on stage. I was jumping and singing along until I almost lost my voice, it was that much fun.

From the distance the bow looked like a little bit like bra to some eyes

Check out the face of the guy on the right

All in all it was a very impressive event. I just hope next time it is either free for everyone or we all pay the same price. Special treatment for foreigners somewhat does not sit right with me. I would like us all to be equal, on all levels. Nevertheless I am grateful for a fun day out. Hopefully next time the organizers throw an event like this, there will be more chances for us to take pictures too, so I can make a video for you guys.
And yes, as always, my head is in YouTuber mode. I want to make fun videos for you wherever I go. It has altered the way I think about fun events. I always think "I want to show my viewer friends this", even if it means that I am experiencing only half of the event by setting up my camera and dashing around. I hope it is worth it and gives you a taste of being here with me.

All the best from Japan
x
Cathy Cat

Metamorphose temps de fille Lolita Halloween Tea Party 2014

The Kawaii Hello Kitty theme park was bursting with girls in gorgeous dresses, for the Lolita fashion brand Metamorphose temps de file and its annual Halloween Party. Here are some delicious extra snaps, info and videos for you to give you a feel of the real experience. The ticket, which could be bought in the Metamorphose shop in Harajuku also contained also a full day ticket for the Hello Kitty amusement park "Sanrio Puroland".

Sanrio Puroland the nicknamed "Hello Kitty Land" amusement park is called and it focuses around many if Sanrio's famous merchandise characters: Hello Kitty, The Littlest Twin Stars, Cinnamonroll, Sugar Bunnies, Badz Maru and many many more. The inside of the park resembles a magical wonderland, with lanterns, music, and cute things to explore behind every corner.

What place would be better for to wearing your favourite Lolita fashion Halloween co-ords? Five Lolita girls went together and we had the time of our live playing and prancing about, flaunting our dresses and taking pictures inside the park before the tea party.

First, let me show you the park and the sugary, cute goodness of it in the first video. I really tried to capture the feeling and the sheer overkill of Kawaii:

We especially loved The Littlest Twin Stars area, which told a story at first. We had to unite our powers to make something magical happen: how good that we all had magical wands with our co-ords! From there on you could enter the fluffy cute and sparkly world of Kiki and Rara, the Littlest Twin Stars.

Trivia: the star that looked like a washing machine that you saw in the video, is actually a magical device that will create cute things. Usually you only get one item but our friend Hina won the jackpot and all things appeared at once, as you will have seen.

Standing in line for the machine...

 Photo Spot Hint: This is possibly one of the best areas to take your Lolita pictures in, as you can see by the sheer amount of pictures we took. The lighting is however changing a lot, which makes it a little more difficult (our faces at a different color on some pictures).

The Metamorphose temps de fille Halloween Party 2014

Time was flying by and before we realized it, it was already time for the tea party!!

One of the restaurants had been completely reserved for the tea party. At the door we were greeted by the shop staff of Metamorphose who gave us a very warm welcome. As soon as we had taken our seats, we were served a delicious warm dinner - which was surprising as most tea parties stick with light meals and cake. The staff told us that this dinner was not on the Puroland menu and had been made especially for us.

I also sat right opposite the three types of chocolate fountains, which caught my eye - A LOT!

After a short welcome speech we had "free time" - a time slot allocated for taking pictures, socializing I with other Lolitas, making new friends or simply eating the dinner before it can get cold. After free time, we were kindly told to take our seats to enjoy the fashion show.

Metamorphose temps de fille autumn/winter collection 2014

Designer Taira was the MC of the Metamorphose autum and winter collection 2014 fashion show. While one beautiful dress after another came on stage, she gave us details about the design.
Surprisingly models would not only walk onstage - they also walked through the audience. This gave everyone the chance to marvel at the designs and take pictures.

She fashion show opened with the "Minarai" (Apprentice) release. Cute and cheeky, these designs reminded me of a magical Lolita Hogwards Academy.

Metamorphose temps de fille Minrai Apprentice Release

Especially exciting was the Magical Moonlight (English name of the release is Magical Starry Sky) release. Three different designs were introduced, one more exciting than the other, and brought many exclamations from the audience.

Metamorphose Magical Starry Sky OP (one piece)

Metamorphose Fingerless ribbon gloves

My personal favourite was the OP. The one piece dress shows a creative side cut of the material. The Bordeaux red was absolutely beautiful. And the fingerless ribbon gloves - held by the middle finger - had little polygons and pearls on it. Looking quite magical!

Metamorphose temps de fille Magical  Starry Sky 2014

The pinafore dress, coming up gently until under the bust, made a very mature and flattering body shape. The padding on the sides made the model look very curvy for a Lolita - who normally hide their curves away.

Metamorphose tems de fille Magical Starry Sky JSK (Jumper skirt) in blue

The jumper skirt was the frilliest and used the most material. The cut was rather classic compared to the other designs and probably used more printed material than the one piece.

We also got to the an exclusive pre-release design. Metamorphose temps de fille made a collaboration with the famous Butler Cafe Swallowtail and this collaboration included a creamy white jumper skirt and a long maid dress. Visitors could exclusively put their names down for pre-orders at the event.

After the fashion show there was again some time to take pictures with the models and designer Taira - as well as socializing and dipping marshmallows and cream puffs into the chocolate fountains. A dream come true!

Metamorphose designer Taira and Cathy Cat moi

At this point I think it's best if you enjoy the video, otherwise you spoil yourself some details! The fashion show is most exciting when actually seeing the girls walk.

Raffle

After consuming delicious treats, it was time for the raffle. Every visitor had a number on their entry ticket which automatically took part in the raffle. Taira was drawing the numbers but guess who was handing over the goodies?!

Guest Star: Hello Kitty!

Make space for the massive Kitty!

She came in with a big introduction and the whole room was screaming with  joy. That moment made me realize we are never to old to get excited at a cute mascot entering the room.

Most of the first round prizes went to the brolitas that had come to the event. They looked really happy and shy on stage.

I never thought I would win the main prize but WOW I did. I kind of could not believe it (I had to cut out footage of me going "really?!" and Maria going "Yes really!" before I handed her the camera and went up on stage.) I was so happy I jumped about and teared up at the same time. An amazing moment. I felt like the happiest girl in the world at that moment. Not only going to a great tea party, but also winning main prize made me so incredibly grateful and happy.

As soon as the Raffle part had ended it was unfortunately time to go home, as the amusement park was closing too. On the way out, however, we also got bags with novelty gifts: A tumbler and a napkin of Metamorphose prints!

Maria and I, all bagged up!

Summary

The Metamorphose temps de fille Halloween Tea Party had many lovely things to offer that the other brands do not. A hot meal (AP has one for their grande event, but that is double the prize), a theme park, lots of time to socialize, a family feel and needles to say HELLO KITTY!

I think I really like the family atmosphere, the fact that the staff is really friendly and they take their time for visitors. I have come to like the Metamorphose brand even more and I am looking forward to seeing how they will adapt over the next years.

That's it for today! Thanks for reading

Selfie!

Vogue fashion's Night Out Japan - Harajuku

There is a night in Harajuku like no other nights. Free drinks and streets full of elegant, creative and simply amazing fashion styles. It's the Vogue fashion night!

Cathy Cat at the Vogue fashion's night out

The Harajuku fashion Mecca department store La Foret was right in the heart of the Vogue fashion night and not without a reason: most stores gave visitors the chance to meet their fashion designers, models or collaboration artists right there!

I was so lucky to meet no one rather than the designers Asuka and Maki there! Usually taking pictures inside La Foret and especially the Angelic Pretty store are forbidden, but for this night they even let you take pictures together with the models! I was so happy!

Maki and Asuka at the Angelic Pretty Store in La Foret

I hurried there after work and it was truly a night to remember.

Customers who bought items worth 5.000yen or more got a free drink, a Vogue fashion's night out bag, glow in the dark earrings and a badge.

Vogue Fashion's Night Out Merchandise for free

Most of my lolita friends got their hair (or even their wigs) styled at the Maison de Julietta store who offered hairdos at a really discounted rate. The hair-stylists even let us take a picture with them and their hair creations. Some even got their make up refreshed.

Maison de Julietta hair stylist picture of the day:

The hairstylist (in black) did the adorable hairdo on the right. I wish I knew how to do that with my real hair!

Another famous Lolita was present too, MC Melody Doll from the famous Lolita rap video "Throw it in the bag" was just in Tokyo and spend the evening with us. Cute and classy, it was a real pleasure for me to get to know her.

MC Melody Doll at Maison de Julietta

Once most of us had received their hair-makeover we all took a massive group picture together. Spot the Tokyo international Lolitas you might know from one of my other videos.

Just before we moved on to get our dinner, I spotted Harajuku fashion model and designer Haruka Kurebayashi in the crowd. It is hard to not see her, with all the fun colors and pop fashion items on her outfit. Haruka Kurebayashi was sweet as always. I feel honored she remembers my name by now and she let me take another picture with her.

Haruka Kurebayashi and Cathy Cat

Even though it started raining afterwards and we didn't go down Omote Sando street to check out the Vogue fashion events of other designers, it was still a perfect night.

Cathy Cat and MC Melody Doll

How about you? Have you been to a Vogue Fashion's Night Out in your country?

Let me know! Thanks for reading! Catch you for another fashion post soon!

x
Cathy Cat