After months of preparations, the day has finally come to travel to Amsterdam. Let’s take you with us on this wonderful day!
5:00 – Oh dear, my eyes won’t open properly, but my heart is already beating from excitement (okay, and quite nervous as well). Time to get up, and get dressed as well! Luckily we did pack the car last night and some fresh coffee rolls me into action.
6:30 – Some minor last touches for the fashion show items, mostly for the headwear, and off they go with the outfits. Checking if we have all the essentials with us and into the car!
8:30 – Luckily, the Dutch roads aren’t that packed on an early Saturday morning, so we arrive at the wonderful venue and start unpacking the car. As always, I pack way too much and Lolita is not the ideal outfit for lifting heavy boxes teehee. Yet, I have my sweet helping hand Sanne with me!
Then it’s time to set up our booth, some brands have already arrived and my eyes almost fall out of my sockets. So many lovely items and also great indie brands from all over the world. Some even came from America to join this event in Amsterdam!
Oh dear, back to unpacking. As I said before, I always take more then the booth can handle, so it’s a lot of redecorating and making choices.
Before we knew it, the VIP hour has opened, and lovely dressed girls and boys came pouring into the venue. Our booth was upstairs, so we had a lovely view of all the gorgeous coordinations coming in. We didn’t have a lot of time to look around since the VIP found their way upstairs really quickly, and before we knew it we were busily helping out our customers.
I was so happy that Sanne wanted to come with me, she has been an intern at our shop for seven months (!!), so it was a real crown to her internship to be able to experience this event from the vendor side. Because, before I knew it, it was time to get my models ready for the fashion show!
For Under the Sea we have gotten the opportunity to create three different outfits for the fashion show. The designs have been in my head since they’ve announced the theme and they couldn’t get out anymore. Trough the outfits I wanted to lay the emphasis on the versatility of our brand combined with the sea theme. Summer Tales for me isn’t bounded by a particular style, since I like to wear the different styles of Lolita as well.
Although the core of my wardrobe and brand is classic, I really like to combine it in a sweet/classic or gothic/classic manner. I hope you will also see this trough the three designs we’ve made for Under the Sea.
First up was Anne to show our new ‘Batholomeus’ Skirt in combination with our newly designed Princess Sleeve blouse in black and ‘Alexandra’ bustier with lovely antique golden buttons on the front. The ‘Bartholomeus’ Skirt featured the artwork ‘Schuttersmaaltijd ter viering van de Vrede van Munster’ from 1648, by Bartholomeus van der Helst. This painter lived in Amsterdam, therefore I though it was so fitting to use this lovely vibrant artwork for our new collection. The Princess Sleeve blouse is made from soft and sheer chiffon, made with meters and meters of frilly details (like, no kidding, around 30 meters of frills are in this blouse). It comes with a detachable neckbow and has elegant black rose buttons.
The ‘Alexandra’ bustier was also newly designed for Under the Sea. Perfect to wear with a skirt to give it the look of a JSK.
Next up was the elegant Lyci, showing our Fairy Dream Jumperskirt in a soft and classical coordinate. The jumperskirt is made from a gorgous dusty pink chiffon, with little dots on them. It changes it colour while moving, therefore quite hard to capture on camera, teehee.
It has a lovely big ribbon on the front, but also lots of frilly chiffon details along the neckline, shoulders and bottom of the skirt. The jumperskirt actually looks like an OP (and can be worn without a blouse), yet it doesn’t have sleeves. Lovely for summer days!
Wow, then it was time for my final outfit, which was one again the hardest of the new collection. Ever since La vie en Rose last year, I was determined to make another onepiece with lots of chiffon layers. When the Sea theme was announced, I could think of nothing else but a pastel blue jellyfish dreamdress! The Jellyfish Princess Onepiece did cost me another year of my life I think, teehee, but totally worth it.
Made with over 50 meters of chiffon frills and lots of little bows, it one of my favourite pieces so far. I’m extra pleased with the overall look, open neckline and the lovely princess sleeves.
After the fashion show I helped my models get redressed again and hurried back to the booth. Sanne was still doing fine and around noon some of our new collection has already sold out! After this the time flew by again, and didn’t see much of the rest of the event.
Yet, I did get to talk to a lot of girls which I haven’t seen in a while. It’s so lovely to see how these international events bring so much lovers of Japanese fashion together, and friendships arise out of them.
Aah! And before I forget, my own outfit of the day:
Outfit rundown
Hat: Jolanda
Necklace: MossMarchen
Blouse: Summer Tales Boutique
Bustier: Summer Tales Boutique
Bloomers & Cage Skirt: Summer Tales Boutique
Tights: Offbrand
Shoes: Alice and the Pirates
Small accessories: Offbrand
It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t think of bold, not yet practiced design to make for an event this big (I’m so stubborn at times). So there I was, 3 o’clock in the night, still working on making my first ever cage skirt, and scolding myself for not making a jumperskirt or onepiece (you know, one of those items I’ve made plenty of times before). But in the end, I was quite content with my outfit, and it was pleasantly chilly on this hot day!
My verdict?
It was one of the most amazing days in my life and it felt truly amazing to have been part on the organizing side as well. It warmed my heart so much to see so many happy faces from our products. Many items, most made especially for Under the Sea, were sold out within hours. Nothing makes me happier then to see other people get happy from the items I made with my own hands and from my own designs.
For all who stepped by our booth, bought an items (or maybe more!), thank you so much for making it possible for me to pursue my dream!
Hopefully we’ll meet again on the next Street Fashion Europe event!
x – Miss Summer
