Facing my fears: first Lolita meet

I've found out about Lolita fashion  in February this year but I started wearing it properly sometime in early summer, because I had to learn about Lolita and wait for my orders from Taobao :) 

My first meet was held in Bristol, in August 2011. I found out about it from Gothic Lolita UK Live Journal forum. At first I thought that it's way to far away from me, because I've never travelled by myself in UK (plus me being foreign and having no orientation skills... ). But the need to meet "real" Lolitas was so strong that I finally decided to face my fears and attend this meet.

I've never seen anyone wearing Lolita clothes on the street, I only knew this fashion from Internet. I tried to find as much information about meet ups on the Internet, to know how I should behave, what I should wear etc etc, because I've read that Lolitas can be a bit "sensitive" about others outfits, for example not wearing branded clothes or coordinating in wrong way. Being honest I also read that some Lolitas can be bitchy too... That worried me the most, as at that time I started taking my medications and bitchiness was something I was trying to ran away from in my life. 

I don't really remember what Lolita clothes I owed before Bristol meet. I'm pretty sure that I had some off brand white shirts (which were not perfect and I don't wear them anymore) and maybe one or two Bodyline skirts. I know that I already had my first brand JSK from Innocent World, because after reading all the "advices" from the Internet, I thought that it will be safe if I wear branded dress and I won't offend anyone. But at the same time I was waiting for my first Taobao order and so I didn't have any shirt I could coordinate with Innocent World dress. Luckily I started making my own Lolita clothes too and I finally decided to wear my first handmade floral OP. I got beautiful fabric from eBay and I used vintage sewing pattern. 

Yep, I look funny and I think my tummy is a bit chubby... I really don't look good on photos. Actually wearing Lolita made me get used to having photos of me taken and I don't think I bother that much now :)

Me doing stupid things..... ^_^

I tried to protect myself from direct sun, I used my umbrella and I had unexpected photo taken :)

We went to Bristol Zoo, had a walk around and a picnic with tons of lush food and this amazing black coffin cake!

Fooling around again..... :)

Our group photos ^^

And two short videos:

I am so happy that I faced my fears and went to Bristol meet! It was so far my favourite meet, probably because it was the first one and you always remember first times :) Everything I read on the Internet about Lolitas and meet ups was totally untrue! I thought that everyone will be judging my coord, but nothing like this happened. Instead all the girls were amazingly nice and friendly to me. I was sitting while eating picnic nibbles and listen to girls chatting about Lolita fashion, computer and PlayStation games, cosplay and I thought: "Wow! I've never met such crazy and amazing girls!" :) Before I thought that I'm the weird one where I live, but these girls were much more original and eccentric than me. 

That was my first meet and it made me totally addicted to Lolita meets :) It opened my eyes  and made me realise that I don't have to limit myself to people from my work. Now I know that there are people out there who can accept me for person I really am. People I can be myself with and I don't have to be ashamed or embarrassed about my hobbies and interests. 

I became friends with some of girls I met in Bristol and I can't wait when I see almost all of them in December on the Bath Market Meet (which will also be International Lolita Day! Yay! ) I would like to say that I met girl who's blog I've been following for some time, Bexy from the Glass Princess blog.

Photo by Darren Drysdale

I felt like I met a celebrity! I know it sounds silly, but it's a weird feeling when you follow someones blog and then suddenly you meet this person in real life. Especially if it's Lolita :) Like I said before, this was first time I saw Lolitas in real life and I was totally overwhelmed by amount of frills, petticoats, dresses , bows and long lashes! :) Bexy is a lovely person and I've been seeing her at almost every meet I attended after the Bristol one :) 

I hope you enjoyed this long post and thank you for visiting my blog!