critiques are so much fun just kidding.

Photos of my dress from my draping final. I quite like how it came out. I chose a navy toile an cream lace. All I had was stark white lace so I tea dyed it with Harney and Sons Vanilla Comoro.
It looks a little funny because I don't have a petticoat large enough to fill the whole skirt. The necklace was made by me too. I've never made jewelry before so it took a while for me to get it done. Instead of stringing the beads, I used wires so make links. Might do a tutorial on that.

While it wasn't necessary for the presentation, I included an illustration with different colorways the dress would come in. It made me a little sad after making it because I would personally rather have the pink colorway than the navy! After our critiques, Emily and I tried on our final dresses and took pictures in them. I took it back home and showed my mom. Then my dad came in and I told him to check out the dress I made. You made that? he asked. And your teacher didn't give you an A? Nope. Then what IS a A?! Beats me. Nothing I make, apparently. Bummer. It's break but I'm busy being sick and going to doctors and doing applications and business things and other fun things like that. Love, Kaia

countdown one two three over.

Today is the last day of the semester. Boy am I glad it's finally over. On Sunday, I pulled a late night to finish my dress for my draping final. On Monday I pulled a late night to study for my art history exam. On Tuesday I pulled an all nighter to finish my tailored jacket. On Wednesday I pulled an all nighter to work on my design final. Yesterday I was supposed to study for costume history and world civilizations until late, but I crashed an burned by 2:30am, because I reached the end of my line. Five nights without sleep is far too long.

This is what I spent all wednesday night working on.
It's for my design class. Required for our presentations were at least 10 looks, flats, swatches, inspiration board, research on designers, two phases of croquis, and a mock up of one of the looks. I usually take pictures of my presentations during design critiques, but I forgot this time.

I'll be posting pictures from other critiques, probably tomorrow. Tomorrow is my first official free day in a long time! I think I'm going holiday shopping tomorrow. After my last final today, I went to the mailroom to see if I had anything waiting for me. Surprise! My friend Jeff, who is an artist I respect highly, did a kickstarter this past summer and it was super successful!
In total he has over a thousand orders to send out. I couldn't be more excited to receive mine! The artbook is a compilation of works he did over the years. With the success of the kickstarter, pledges over a certain amount also get a pair of plushies. In the package, he also sent me mini prints, buttons and three t-shirts!


 I haven't really slept at all these past days, but I took power naps in 30 minute intervals a few times. They don't help.
I had so much stuff on my bed that instead of sacrificing the time that I had to clean it off, I moved my bed to the ground and power napped on the ground instead.

With the little amount of sleep that I got, you might be wondering why I'm awake.
I'm not.
Goodnight. As soon as my bed and maybe some parts of the room are cleaned up.

Love, Kaia.

international lolita day.

Happy December! Yesterday was International Lolita Day, which takes place twice every year, once in June and once in December. I bought a lucky pack from Angelic Pretty during their 2nd anniversary event online, hoping I could wear that yesterday. I've never bought a dress from Angelic Pretty before, so getting one was pretty exciting! The only thing is that I'm not a huge fan of sweet styles and Angelic Pretty is all about sweet. I was just hoping I wouldn't get pink.
First reaction: welp bummer, it's pink. Which isn't totally unsuspected, since pink is often the color left over. Pink is my favorite color. Just not Angelic Pretty pink. Or Baby the Stars Shine Bright pink (I like Victorian Maiden or Innocent World pink).
I looked it up, and this one is called Polka Dot Chocolate. It's cute, but I didn't quite get that lucky with my lucky pack because I was hoping for not-pink not-satin not-onepiece. I'm a jsk kind of gal.
Needless to say, I sold it for about the same price that I got it for. I figured a cute dress deserves an owner that would wear it. I snapped a couple pictures of it tried on.
On an unrelated note my hair turned kind of reddish in a freak accident. I flipped out the same way Howl did when his hair turned black. There was a New York tea party event with the other lolitas in the area yesterday, but I didn't go because money, the lack of, and time. I had a field trip and a bunch of errands to run in the city that I didn't make it back to my dorm until 11. I forgot to put into account that several trains are under construction on weekends, so I ran around transferring all over. Hectic. So I didn't dress up because I'd be running around and also because it's like 30 degrees.

Welcome back, colder weather!

Love,
Kaia

quick rewind.

A couple weeks back the GSA at my school had an event so I attended. It's called Genderfu*k, "an informal open mic to commemorate the LGBTQA Community." I wanted to more outgoing this year and join some clubs. I'm a member to a couple clubs but club meetings are so awkward that I just don't attend except to the club events. I attended the first meeting of comic club and it was just all around awkward because I was late because I got lost in the building looking for the right room, and when I arrived there were tons of people and no chairs left and I stood around in a corner for a while till more chairs were grabbed out. Then they were playing a drawing game and I couldn't join because I got there too late and just. I didn't go back for a meeting, just the events. For the event, crossdressing was encouraged but it's a little harder with my long hair so I wore a beanie. I think I just looked like how I normally dress.

Jacket from Forever 21, Free People sweater free from swap box, button up shirt from Goodwill, Zara pants, Converse, hat and scarf from Beacons Closet

I didn't take too many pictures at the event. Quite a few people attended. The whole back table was food and refreshments. There was a lot of food! Sandwiches, donuts, jello, lots of food. I wish I'd been more hungry. I bought a shirt for $5. They're hand printed and the money that's earned is donated toward Sandy relief. Those who stayed till the very end got this neat keychain ornament. I wasn't a speaker or performer (I wanted to sign up to dance but I'm a terrible dancer. I've tried), but it was great and worthwhile to go to see other people express themselves and speak out about identity and struggles and acceptance.