Sakura Con: Masquerade Ball

The first day of Sakura Con was so packed full of things to do I thought I was going to pass out around lunchtime. But the Masquerade Ball was that night and I had to stick it out. I had spent a night earlier that week making my mask and it took all night. I had to wear it in public.

Finding dinner was a bit of a hassle with so many people around the Convention Center so we got back to our hotel late to get ready. I didn't have a problem because my getting ready was making my hair as big as possible and putting on clothes. I didn't have the money to buy a nice mask and I had even less money to buy a nice dress so I decided to go the opposite direction. For Halloween I had pieced clothes from my closet together to create a ragdoll look and I adopted that for my Masquerade outfit. Instead of painting my face I tore up old clothes to attatch to a mask base that turned out way better than I thought it would. (I'm not super visually creative.) Michi was stuck working all week so I had to do it myself.

Michi and Shelby had a lot more work to do. Michi decided to use her makeup skills to paint on her mask instead of buying or making one. She also cut her red wig to fit the occasion. But the real treat was Shelby in a long Victorian outfit and a small, green, somehow dainty Medusa mask that I didn't get any pictures of!

 Me
Michi


Shelby

It took us a while to find the right room but after a while we walked into a very large mass of people in masks and knew we were in the right place. Sort of. Everyone was kind of walking in different directions and eventually we just picked one and, after losing a member of our party to the chaos (she went back to the room and hung out with Adolfo) found the front door. But they were full. The line was huge to get in and they were going one for one. One comes out, one goes in. We got in line anyway and crossed our fingers. After getting in ourselves the line just continued to stretch on behind us until all we could do was be grateful were in the front half. It actually didn't take too long! But I worry a lot of people didn't get in.

The room was huge! The lights were low and surrounding center of the room, the dance floor, were rows and rows of chairs. We made our way to the back to sit at the tables and sort of take it all in. There were people everywhere. All dressed in different sorts of outfits. From super fancy to cosplay to Michi's very short dress. At first we played around on the dance floor. Shelby taught me how to waltz and I am not amazing at it but it was fun anyway. Then we decided to try an experiment. It was Shelby's idea. She wanted to see what would happen if we took a seat near the dance floor and watched. Would we get asked to dance? Oh yes. We did. It was so neat! Boys would just walk up, hold out their hand, and ask if they could have this dance. Yes. It was very fancy and so much fun. It was like playing dress up and pretending you were in a whole different world, like when you were young, only when someone asked you to dance they were real and you really walked out to waltz. I was even asked a few times by a very nice man with an epic name. (He was actually named after someone from Dr. Who. What a cool mom!) At first I tried to keep track of how many times Michi was asked to dance but it was impossible. She was very, very popular and with the ladies too. 

We stayed until the unmasking and then the last song before we finally shuffled, some of us shoeless, back through Seattle to our hotel room to collapse into our beds and dream about three-four time.

♥ Amanda Leigh

Sakura Con: New Friends!

During the weekend at Sakura Con, Michi, Hana, and I frequented the Angelic Pretty booth. We were looking for clothes and to spend all of our money and we succeeded. What we didn't expect was to make such cute and wonderful friends!

The first day, after the booth finally opened after a VIP event, the three of us stopped by to at least touch and lust after the garments. Immediately Hana was stopped by three of the girls, workers from the San Francisco store, who loudly gushed about her Cecil McBee purse. The four laughed and shouted in Japanese so I pulled out the camera to get their picture for her.



I hadn't intended at all to be pulled in for a picture myself and before I knew what was happening Michi was there too and the lot of us were playing musical pictures between the racks and swapping contact information.

Aki, Michi, Me, Hana, Mayo

Aki, Michi, Me, Mayo, Natsuki


For the rest of the week we visited the girls, talking music and fashion and the cute boys next door. Natsu's... obsession with Michi's boobs and how good she is at hiding things in the top of her dress. (Lolita's don't need pockets!) We brought marble cake from Uwajimaya and on Saturday found out that Natsuki wanted to see Moi dix Mois as much as we did. So we invited her along.

Sadly Hana had to go before the show but Shelby, Michi and I managed to make it about three rows back in the pit. (Thank you priority passes!) We waited and held some space for Natsu while we waited for her to get off work. Somehow, while none of us were paying attention she ninja'd her way through fifteen rows worth of people and popped up with a wave. The four of us couldn't stand still while we waited for the show and did even worse when it started.

Afterwards, exhausted, we stumbled back towards our hotels learning we had way too much in common. Seattle really didn't need to know how scary we wanted our men or our plans to use Michi's boobs to get them but by the time we had to part ways it felt like we had been friends for years. Natsu apparently felt the same way and cried and hugged us for being so nice to her. We sent her along and reminded her we would see her tomorrow, a promise we of course kept.

On the last night we ran into Natsu again after she had gotten her CD signed by Moi dix Mois and quickly made plans to get dinner on her way back to work. After the Con finished our friend came to pick us up and we grabbed a table at Blue C Sushi. The girls were stuck working for way longer than we expected but we were happy to wait. We thought it was only going to be Natsu but Aki and Mayo came along too! The only real bump came when Michi's phone died and we had no way to get ahold of anyone. So Michi ventured out to find their hotel and eventually brought them back. Easter Dinner consisted of sushi and super yummy drinks with old and new friends.

Me and Natsu's drink.

Mayo and Aki's sexy drink face.



We ended up accidentally staying past close but we spent so much money I don't think they minded all that much. We stayed for hours, yelling and laughing and eating and having drinks. Apparently two was a little too much for me but they all sounded so good! I don't remember exactly what my first one was but most of us finished with a melonaid. Sort of a midori lemonaid drink. Earlier on Michi had a midori sour with cucumber that was different than I've ever tasted before. We stayed way too late and I felt guilty but Adolfo and Justin said it was okay, the girls would be going back to San Fransisco and we wouldn't see them in a while. The three hours of sleep and hangover at work the next day were worth it. I love those girls and it was so hard to say goodbye. But you don't click with people like that for no reason. Now this means we just have to go down to Cali to see them :P

If only I really could go see LM.C with Natsu!!

Sakura Con: h. NAOTO Fashion Show

On the second day of Sakura Con, Saturday, I attended an h. NAOTO fashion show! The designer himself was attending the convention and we got to see his new work. Michi and our friend Shelby and I had priority passes because of our Sakura Con sponsored hotel, which means anyone with a pass got in before the regular line. We gave Hana and my other roommate Adolfo our extras and managed to grab seats right behind the press on the left side of the runway. Adolfo wasn't familiar at all with the brand but he enjoyed watching us and taking embarrassing pictures. The rest of us sat on the edges of our seats.

The mood was slow and thick and eery and the models moved as if they were in a trance. I found myself filled with anticipation, the kind that makes your skin crawl and your pulse rise. I couldn't have asked for more from the man that inspires us to see so much beauty in the dark.




At times I was distracted by the images behind the models. Somewhere in the middle of the show there were images from an old line with the models standing in the clothes with their heads covered. It was gorey and creepy and beautiful and I had to force myself to remember what I was supposed to be watching.



Beautifully simple and perfect for Hana who was able to buy the blouse after the show at the booth.












My true love! The blouse and skirt that I held in my arms but will never, ever be mine. I leaned forward to watch it walk by and nudged both Hana and Shelby as if they couldn't see it.



I literally gasped and pointed when she turned around.



This jacket was even more gorgeous in person. The back is so intricate. I hope that everyone got a chance to go by and see it. The runway didn't do it justice.









Even Adolfo fell in love with something. If he could have he would have bought this jacket.









The gold dress. Michi immediately fell in love with it and it immediately fell in love with her. Naoto-san fell in love with Michi in it.

In his words: ゴールドドレス宜しく!!











Naoto-San and his incredible models. Mostly from here and chosen from volunteers.




I am so blessed to have been allowed to attend this show.

♥ Amanda Leigh