I generally don’t watch horror films because they scare me in a way that’s not amusing at all. I’m going to try and watch this though because I want to see the bjds in it, plus I’m really not scared of dolls…obviously. I never understood why most people think dolls are so scary or creepy…
A new outfit available at the shop!
One of the last few days in Tokyo I met up with 3 wonderful girls, Hiroko (Kogumaza), Hiroko (Daisy D) and Kira Imai for shopping at Mokuba, and then we went to Parabolica-bis bookstore nearby. There’s always great exhibitions there and the current one is incredible! There were Etsuko Miura dolls, one of the greatest doll artists of all times in my opinion. Disturbing imagery, wonderfully made, and so inspiring.
Last year she did the cover art for Mylene Farmer’s latest album, Point de Suture. Amazing!
It’s 4 in the afternoon and already dark. I didn’t expect the days to get so short so soon…
I really love going clothes shopping in Tokyo! My favourite department shop is Laforet, that carries the smaller, more “alternative” japanese designers. A walk around Harajuku is always very inspirational. I must say though I’m quite surprised at the prices of even the smallest designers, they’re incredibly steep. Not even London designers cost that much!
My best find was Milkboy, that apparently has been going since the 70s? I thought it was a recent division of Milk. Some of their designs are 100% my taste.
I was really going to get these, until I saw the price. They were more expensive than my Vivienne Westwood rocking horse shoes… which are made in London. I mean come on…
I absolutely love this suit.
I thought this was nice too but I don’t like the fur hood.
Another good find is (yet another) division of H. Naoto called Gramm. Daisy D was wearing a dress from it which was, well, exactly what you’d expect her to wear – black, mid thigh length, with front bib and a ruffle all the way down, pintucks on the back, with eyelets and ribbon fastening at the cuffs. It was wonderful! Unfortunately that line has no men’s clothes, but I could easily wear one of the short dresses as a long shirt, if only I could fit my shoulders in them.
A big favourite is Jane Marple, drawing inspiration from the best of the best of european antique and vintage fashion. Why doesn’t anyone in Europe make anything even remotely as amazing?
And not a japanese designer but worth mentioning was Stella McCartney’s collaboration with Gap kids. Most of the collection was terribly ordinary but there were a couple wonderful items. I don’t know however how she thought it was a good idea to combine a marching band jacket with a plaid shirt and trainers…
Cute dress but the shoes were some godawful trainers! It ruined everything.
So I’m back to London, recovering from jetlag and getting used to the cold weather… It’s proper winter over here now, Tokyo was still nice and sunny.
I’m trying to sort out my purchases. I did not buy much fabric, but rather a lot of ribbon, lace and notions. I need to get extra compartment boxes to store everything as they simply don’t fit anywhere anymore, and I absolutely MUST have a fabric clearout sale, I have piles of fabric sitting around the room as there is no space in the drawers or wardrobe for it anymore.
I missed two japanese lessons and I have a lot to catch up with. It seems to be getting more hectic with every lesson! What I find most complicated so far is anything that has to do with counting. In japanese your can’t say the number and then what you’re counting, for example “one person”. It’s a whole word on its own, and it depends on things like how thin or long the object is or if it’s a month or a year or a floor in a building or an order in a list and so on. It’s insane! T____T Not to mention they have a four digit system, unlike the west that has a three digit, for example you say “two ten thousand” to express 20.000, you can’t say “twenty thousand”, if it wasn’t for international standards they’d be writing it 2.0000.
Well better get to work now…
I’ve neglected my beloved blog once again. But really, October was hell. Earlier in the month I gave up on going to Tokyo for Doll Show 26 because of bad finances, then all of a sudden I could afford it, but had about 10 days left to prepare. Add to that having to make rent, a million bills to pay, studying japanese, and you can imagine my state. But anyhow, I did survive and it was well worth it, as it always is. I’m still in Tokyo now, having a wonderful time.
The Doll show was this past Sunday and it was perhaps the nicest of the three I’ve been in so far. My booth was put together quickly and it was quite simple. I sold three outfits, and they went very well!
I have uploaded lots of pictures on my flickr, so I’ll only post a few selections here.
Two of the offered outfits.
Poupee mecanique Misaki & Amelie with Dylan’s beautiful artwork
Life-size ad! They asked me to sign it. ^_^
And Azone’s display of my girls!
Amazing Korisu factory works
Satomi’s (aka Kitten) lovely booth.
Drawn thread dress, I wish I could have bought it – it sold out immediately of course.
I’m looking forward to Momolita’s new doll, Nano Mau, she’s adorable.
Japanese doll artists are always pushing the standards forward and I must say that I was mostly impressed with the Momoko works I saw. Two of my favourites:
Four leaf clover
Aline
As you can probably tell I really need a new camera. This poor Olympus I use is one of the first 4mp cameras that came out, so you can imagine just how old it is. I’m surprised it still works, I have to keep a tripod attachement permanently screwed on to hold the busted battery door closed – poor thing! I have decided not to buy the Olympus EP-1 I was raving about in my last post as it is rumoured that the EP-2 will be out before the end of the year and it will have a viewfinder! So once again, I shall have to put off the much needed upgrade. But hopefully not for too long.
It’s very late here now and I need to go to bed, must take a trip to the post office in the morning and then head to Nakano broadway to meet the lovely Yu-san, of Yu’s cutie dolls. That website is an institution among vintage japanese doll fans, hehe. So more updates tomorrow…
