I tripped and fell into Gyaru

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 For those of you who follow my Instragram you already know this but...

A few months ago I suddenly became interested in Gyaru. Since I first got into J Fashion I've always been sort of interested in it, but after finding some awesome blogs and instagrams I decided to give it a try. I don't own anything Brand myself so all of these outfits were made with clothing from Local stores!

Floral Onee-sama

This was my first official attempt at Gyaru. I chose to go for a more Onee-gyaru look because I wanted an older asthetic. I figured it would be easier for me to transition that way

Dress: Khol's
Shawl: Second hand
Hat/Necklace: Forever 21

Sweet Heart Girl

With this outfit I tried to go for a sweeter look, once again using Items I already own.  I wore this one to class!

Dress: Forever 21
Sweater: Papaya
Boots: Second hand

Rock and roll baby
This time I tried to play around with a little more of a Roku or IDK traditional club style. one of my favorite girls to follow on Instagram wears this style a lot so I wanted to give it a go. If only I had a fun belt to go with it!

Shirt: Khol's
Skirt: Forever 21
Tights/Boots: Second hand
Beret: Ebay

 Black Friday Deals
This outfit I made after buying some things for Black friday. I didn't spend much money but I still loved what I got
Sweater/Boots: Forever 21
Skirt: Off brand

Chocolate Soldier
This is the outfit I wore to my last day off class for the semester! This is one of the first outfits I planned but i didn't get a chance to wear it until then.
I also died my hair! Can you tell it's lighter?

Dress: papaya
blouse: Khol's
Hat/Tights: Second hand
Boots: Forever 21

ART

This last outfit is the outfit I wore to my dear friends graduation show. She's an extremely talented art student so all of her friends and I got together to go see her work. It was really amazing, even if we did knock down one of the pieces

Top/Tights/Boots: Second hand
Skirt/Necklace: Forever 21
Earings: Hand made

Merry Christmas~
 B

Long Absence

Unfortunately I don't really have a whole lot of fun to talk about just yet. Right now I'm just going to explain my absence. Things have been really rough for me as of late. I suffer from clinical depression. I've been dealing with it for a few years now, but I've been medicated for it for about two years. Earlier this year I thought that It would be safe to come off my medication, and that I could handle myself without it. That was not the case at all.

My depression mounted and became extremely severe. It strained my job, my grades, and my relationships with my friends. I don't feel like I have any reason to lie or to not speak the story as it happened, so I'm going to tell the truth. I became suicidal. It's very hard for me to say that word. I would say things like "I hit my low." or "I almost did something stupid" but what all that means is that I I tried to kill myself. It's really scary now that I look back on it, and it makes me so glad that my  father was there when he was. If he hadn't been I might not be able to write this.

But everything is reflective. I look back on that and am so grateful that I wasn't given a chance to go through with it now. Things are getting better now. I'm back on a steady regiment of my medication.  I was able to purchase a car which allows me more mobility to see my friends. It's really nice, and I am getting better.

Things are a little stressful though. I'm working a lot and my school is requiring a lot of my attention, so I'm not really doing a whole lot of anything. I'm going to try and post more regularly though, if anything to just give me a chance to clear my mind.

I leave you guys with a photo from my Halloween. Enjoy the image of Drunk Me on the floor
See you guys next time
~<3 B

Cosplay Adventures: Saint Augustine.

So a few weeks ago some friends and I decided to get together and do a big photo shoot in saint Augustine, Florida. Doing a photo shoot on location like this was really different from doing them at cons. Over all it was a rather stress free en devour, at least for me. We scheduled everything out before hand, and since we weren't trying to cram photo shoots in to small parts of our day, while trying to do everything else that goes along with a con, it ended up being a pretty hassle free weekend.

Other then being stress free though, the difference between location shoots and con weekend shoots is the peoples around you. We did shoots at Flagler College, our hotel, (attempted) outside a church, the fort, and a beach. Over all most of these locations were pretty public, so of course when you're walking around a beach in Kancolle things are going to get interesting. People handle there responses to inquires differently. I have a friend who likes to just tell people it's for a school project, and since Flagler college is a liberal arts school that tends to leave people at ease. I, myself, don't mind taking a few seconds to describe what it is we're doing. I like to explain, politely, what a cosplayer is (usually alluding to Comicon to give them some reference point) and then say we're doing photo shoots. It may be my naivety but I've never had some react poorly to me giving them an exact explanation of what it is we're doing. People, more often then not, find it interesting. As long as you approach them with respect and the understanding that you DON'T look normal, most people will carry on about their day around you.

Kaze Photography

(Pictured: Hibrrry, Truly Outragous Cosplay, Nyftee, Kysis Cosplay)

Friday was really easy for me because I didn't have any shoots scheduled, but I did get to try and play photographer for a little. I actually managed to get one or two shots I was actually really proud of! Especially since my knowledge of a camera equated to a five minute crash course on the white balance adjustment while my friend waited for her camera battery to charge. However, being the dunce that I am, I accidentally erased my photos of my memory card when attempting to film something a few days later.

Saturday was an interesting adventure over all. I ended up sleeping super late because I had been up for about 36 hours straight due to my own inability to manage my time. I assumed I'd be able to make a piece of armor a lot quicker then I was able to. I would never suggest anyone do that. Ever. All nighters never end well, But when i did finally get to sleep friday night I hit the bed and crashed (much to the annoyance of my friends were were trying to set up their own sleeping arrangements around me) I slept for what felt like weeks. Our group, who was staying at a near by friends house, went out to lunch before heading to the hotel to meet and hang out at the pool. I, of course having packed my bag on no sleep, forgot that going to a pool/beach/hotel/ meant I would want to bring one of those bikini contraptions with me, so I ended up sitting under an umbrella by the side of the pool until it was....TIME.

Kaze Photography

(Pictured: Fai-tality Cosplay, Jean, Vikki Kafei-Bloody Coffee)

You see one of the biggest things for the weekend was that we had planned not one, but TWO surprise cosplays for our photographer friend, who loves them ship girls, and Saturday afternoon was prime ship girl time. However, since our photographer WAS staying at the hotel we had to figure out how to get him away from the room while the three of us who were cosplaying that day got ready. So after a quick rouse of the other two needing to get into their "Haikyuu Beach episode" cosplays, and myself going to get some water and rest, we went up to the room. The other girls in a timely manner, took our photog friend down to the beach and buried him in the sand, successfully distracting him for the hour and a half it took us to get dressed.

(Pictured: Kaze Photography, Truly Outrageous Cosplay, Hibrrry, Doridatchi Cosplay, Kysis Cosplay, Lovely Ribbon Cosplay, Vikki Kafei-Bloody Coffee)

The shoot was a wet, sandy and fun success and I look forward to seeing the photos from it as they come out. I, having lived in Florida for 13 years now, still haven't figured out how shoes and sand work, so I spent most of my shoot trying to hold my poses on my toes while my heals sunk backwards. Despite that I like to think that our photographer really enjoyed the cosplays and that he enjoyed the shoot.

Kaze Photography

(Pictured: Vikki Kafei-Bloody Coffee, Nyftee, Truly Outrageous Cosplay, Doridatchi Cosplay, Lovely Ribbon Cosplay)

That night we all met up at the hotel for a big group dinner, made by one of our friends. It was a lot of fun, relaxing, and a rather good end to the evening.

The fun didn't all end Saturday night though.  We woke up at the crack of dawn the next day, got into cosplay, did our hair and make up, and slunk off to meet our photog's hotel room where the other members of our second surprise group were getting ready. We were all giddy with excitement to show our photographer what we had planned.

Once we were all ready we knocked on his door, and once we got the ok to Enter, we one by one, filed in, in our full Kancolle Sub fleet costumes. Our friend literally fell onto the bed in the greatest reaction I've yet to see out of him! It made all the work well worth it!

Kaze Photography

(Pictured: Nyftee, Vikki Kafei-Bloody Coffee, Hibrrry, Fai-tality Cosplay, Lovely Ribbon Cosplay)

Shooting by the pool with that group of girls was a blast. It was amazing to get the change to experience all of this with them. Once shoots were over we relaxed, showered, got dressed, and after a little while of just hanging in the hotel relaxing we went down town to the historic district, got gellato, and unwillingly said our goodbyes.

Kaze Photography

(Pictured: Kaze Photography, Lovely Ribbon Cosplay, Hibrry)

That weekend was an amazing end to my summer and I can't imagine what it would be like to not have all those awesome people in my life. Love you all and can't wait to see you again!

(Cosplayer Credits: Doridatchi Cosplay, Fai-tality Cosplay, Hibrrry, Jean, Lovely Ribbon Cosplay, Truly Outrageous Cosplay, Vikki Kafei-Bloody Coffee)

The art of Shironuri Makeup

Shironuri is an fascinating Japanese street fashion that combines old hints of Kabuki makeup with the insanity that is modern day Japanese Harajuku asthetic. I love it. Shironuri is one of my favorite things to do for photo shoots. I really try to do two or three looks a year, though whether or not that happens generally varies because the makeup and outfits require a lot of fore thought and the photo shoots require a really talented photographer.

Picking a photographer for a Shironuri Shoot is really difficult because when you apply Shironuri makeup you're basically erasing all the contours of your face, and starting from scratch, and the paint is super super reflective, so your photographer has to be aware of how different it is too shoot compared to a normal cosplay or fashion shoot

Photographer: Kaze Photography

Shironuri comes in many different styles. The most popular to westerners is probably the Mori, or forest style that was made popular by Shironuri artist Minori

Photo Credit- Minori

Minori is a crazy talented artist and seamstress and the reason that Shironuri has reached as far as it has. She made it into a true art form by connecting her hand made outfits and stunning makeup to the scenery in which she shoots.

But Shironuri doesn't only have to be the look of fairies and forest nymphs. While that look is most definitely gorgeous, Shironuri seems to have it's roots in much darker, Gothic looks. Mixing it with a black and red seifuku for instance is still a very popular look that pops up a lot around Halloween.

On the streets of Harajuku itself though one of the most wearable looks seems to go with mixing it with Lolita fashion

Photo Cred: Tokyo Fashion

This is a look that, other then recreating Minori's famous  vintage woodsy aesthetic, is a look that is very popular among western fans as well. A look that I, myself, am personally really fond of. It is allows you to mix the fun of the makeup with clothing that is already well suited to reflect the stark contrast of whatever makeup you choose to use

Photo Cred: Tiger Shot Productions

Photo Cred: Superrlynn Photography

 Personally what I love most about Shironuri though is being able to tell a story with your makeup. You can create a character, a personality, and a world all what you paint on your face, and that to me is the most exciting part of the makeup. I look forward to a chance to do even bigger projects with more photographers in the future, and to seeing what the ever growing number of shironuri artists are able to produce as well.

Plaid, eyeliner, and some peace of mind

This is something that I've been  thinking about quite a bit recently. I've had a lot of down time to myself so sometimes I sit around and wonder just why I spend so much money on clothes, makeup , accessories, and so on. After all there are definitely more productive things I could be doing with my days then dressing up and wondering around waiting to show off what I've put together that day, but none the less, that's what I do with my free time.

I've really always dabbled in my clothing. Ever since my last year in Junior high, I've had a strange taste in what type of clothe I cover my body with. My quirky sense of style probably came from the fact my mother had always told me as long as I didn't look like I was trying to give it away, she didn't care what I wore. So as long as I didn't look like a prostitute (which let me promise you, being the little goth kid I was made that rather easy) I was free to wear whatever I wanted. 

It wasn't until my freshman year of college though that I really started to experiment with my clothing. Having moved out of the house I had no quiet judgement on what I had left the house in, and while my parents were never vocal about disapproving in my style, there's always a little bit more embarrassment leaving your parents house in strange clothing then there is flicking off your roommates if they give you a strange look.

At first my outfits were really nothing special. I wanted to start doing more J fashion looks, having spent most of my free time on tumblr, and seeing the things people would wear there made me want to mimic it. I drew a lot of inspiration from Gyaru, since that was really my first really impression of J fashion and made due with what I had in my closet. My clothing started to act as the way I would introduce myself to people. I wouldn't say I was a shy person, but moving away to a new city and a new school can make things a little intimidating, but whenever I came over to try and talk to someone for the first time, and they would tell me they thought I was cute, it instantly made it easier to get to know the people in the area.

As time went by I began to experiment with things that I had seen from other popular online J fashion models, following Tokyo Fashion and Kera models to help see what was popular in japna. I found the aesthetic of J fashion fun, loud, and much more experimental then the fashion that was popular in the US at the time. I've always been a rather loud and outgoing person so I liked the idea of my clothes reflecting that. I started to embrace the baggy, top heavy asthetic. Loose shirts, thigh highs, and heels.

Clothing was what helped me get through the day. Around this time, I started to suffer from rather sever depression. I was forced to move away from my college and my friends because of a car accident, and I started to feel depressed with the idea that I didn't get to see the people closest to me anymore. There were days when I literally could not drag myself out of bed. And I think around this time was when I really started to let clothing do a lot for me.

I really started using clothing as a way to get past the things that pained me. I've always suffered from huge self esteem problems.The source of which, put simply, is a boy I thought I cared quite a bit about. However, when I put on these clothes, my wardrobe became a shield. My clothing became an armor of sort, an armor that made me feel like something special, the invisible level 90 warlock of the Island. I felt like I could separate how I felt about my physical appearance from what I was wearing that day. Even if I was having a horrible day, and I felt disgusting. I knew that at least my clothes looked fantastic, and the idea that people would be looking at my outfit instead of my was comforting.

I got to meet some amazing people because I let my clothing start to speak for me. Other people who were not afraid to let anyone tell them how to act or how to dress. People who experimented with things they enjoyed.

For me, clothing is more then a means of getting dressed in the morning

 Its the ultimate expression of my personality. It tells you so much about who I am without even having to meet you. It's helped me become a little more confident in who I am, and at the same time acting as an armor to the things I'm uncomfortable with. My clothing is who I am.