Category Archive for Reader Questions
READER QUESTION ABOUT HONG KONG LOLITAS. JAPANESE STREETS SWEET LOLITA TEENS, ANGELIC PRETTY HARAJUKU FASHION PHOTOSHOOT.
NOTE: This blog post was written years ago…I’ve since visited Hong Kong and done many more articles about Goth/Lolita and Visual Kei culture. You can read all my articles here, and there’s some Lolita shopping maps here.
Japanese Streets, a comprehensive resource on Harajuku street style, kindly gave me permission to post these Sweet Lolita photos. The models are aged 13, 14, and 19 and mostly wearing Angelic Pretty — and their candy-floss hair is to die for! You can see more from the shoot on Japanese Streets.
Now, let’s reach for the Reader Questions mail bag. Liz writes, “I’ve got some questions for you Carmina :) They relate to Hong Kong…”
1. When you travel to Hong Kong do you dress to the nines in Lolita gear? I find HK to be a pretty conservative country, being blonde attracts enough attention for me — I’m curious how your experience with the HK people is if you dress “crazy” here? Do you get a lot of photo requests, etc.?
Ah, you gotta love Hong Kong attitude. In Japan, you can be half-naked and drenched in fake blood — and everyone will politely walk by. Whereas in Hong Kong, you’ll get scrunched-up faces and pointing fingers and a chorus of “Ai-yahs”! HK fashion can be pretty crazy, but the acceptability standard is: would a Cantopop singer wear it? If not (eg, Lolita/Goth/Punk), then you can expect some rudeness from strangers.
2. Do you have any favorite HK fashion spots for Gothic Lolita style?
I did a post about Hong Kong Lolita stores Spider, Baby Cupid and Dracula; you can read it here. It includes a map and detailed directions.
A few more to add to the Hong Kong shopping list:
† Sogo in Causeway Bay has a Liz Lisa (Princess Kei) and Hangry and Angry (the casual cat mascots from h.NAOTO) on the third floor.
† Right behind Sogo is Laforet. Several of the boutiques sell Japanese young women’s brands such as Milk and Jane Marple.
† Anna House sells custom-made Lolita clothing. The shop is near the Kwun Tong subway stop.
3. Where are all the HK Lolitas?! I’ve seen a small handful, usually in TST taking photos so I presume they’re not locals :( It’s such an interesting genre of style, and you probably know how into “street” fashion people are here. I’d love to get some photos of girls here dressed up & start publicizing more “unusual” fashion.
You’ll see Lolita and Harajuku-inspired outfits around town, but other than individual meetups, there aren’t really any events where the girls gather. Hong Kong is funny about fashion and money. Cantonese stars don’t wear the fashion, so few girls are interested. And there isn’t any money to be made by having Goth/industrial parties. However — dum dum dum — there may be an invasion in the works… keep reading and all will be revealed!
I welcome you to ask me questions, which I’ll reply in this blog feature (shoot me an email any time!). You can see my previous responses to Reader Questions here.
Song of the Day #188: Genki Rockets – Heavenly Star (the first song in my new Scottish Fold video — have you seen it yet?)
SHARE & COMMENT
READER Q&A: HOW DO YOU MANAGE YOUR TIME & MULTI-TASK? TIPS FOR JUGGLING SEVERAL ROLES?
Kikoo you !!!
Oki … I said that I had a question for you and here it is !!! I see that you are a blogger, author, lifestyle authority and designer. My question is, how do you manage your time, per ‘role’ each day ? How do you prioritize when you are clubbing, doing public apperances, writing content for your blog, working on upcoming books … the works.
You seem to have so many pots on the fire I wonder how you compartmentalize everything. I don’t really want to talk about myself here but I will say that I am awed at your ability to multi-task. I have many things in front of me including soon to be moving to Europe to be with my fiance and having to support myself financially. My training/speciality is advertising and marketing so I feel that I can ‘bounce’.
I am very curious as to how you pull this off!
Best to you and Basil. Your silly, dark sister in New England.
– Ging
† † † † † † †
On my lengthy list of OCD fixations, productivity is written in caps. I think there are always ways in which we can “work smarter” without sacrificing sleep (and heaven knows I catch almost as many ZZZs as Basil Farrow!).
Everyone knows the tricks for getting work done: find a well-lit and quiet environment, limit distractions, plan in advance, write down little goals for the day (such as studying up to a certain chapter)…
So if we know all the answers, then why are we panicking the night before our Japanese exam? Because it’s one thing to list ways to be productive, and quite another to tick the boxes.
† It is my MINDSET that compels me to finish tasks: my attitude towards productivity is unusually tyrannical.
† Stop letting things slide and crack the whip.
† Spit it out. Hem and haw, and you’ll never shoot the video or start the kitty blog. The product might not be as polished, but better to release an imperfect pearl than let it fester in your shell.
Today, for example, I worked on… something (can’t tell you yet!). I wasn’t 100% sure about it, but sent it off nonetheless. Chances are that it’s fine and I won’t have to dwell on the thing any longer. If it’s not, then better to get feedback ASAP and make changes.
† Buck up. This is a favorite saying among some of my friends, used in the context of going out: “Buck up! Put on those heels and get on the Yamanote Line!”
Again, it’s all about mindset: to stay on the couch is to be feeble. Strength means showing your face at two Tokyo all-night parties in a row. The main purpose of these outings (for me, at least) isn’t hedonism, but inspiration; rejuvenation. And what better way to meet “like-minded travelers” that open your eyes to new opportunities?
† The image of “juggling many roles” is an intimidating one. I view my daily schedule as a series of tiny tasks: writing a blog post, finishing caption edits, drafting a design, replying to an advertiser and my agent, prepping photos for future posts. These tasks may be for different ends, but they’re all manageable… as long as I get them done. From this perspective, I don’t think I have more roles than normal; some of you are students with part-time jobs, or have children/cats to care for…
(Do it yourself and do it now!)
Rants, reactions? Hit me in the comments, and I invite you to send me questions to answer in subsequent posts. Do it!
Song of the Day #118: Pink Martini – Je Ne Veux Pas Travailler
LA CARMINA
