Frock On! 2013

Last month I had a chance to go to one of the biggest lolita events in London and also model for the first fashion show. The event was Frock On! and was organized by the people who did the Juliette et Justine meet last year. I really enjoyed the JetJ event so I definetly thought this would be good too. I managed to get a VIP ticket and was asked to model for Haenuli.

Follow the break for a long post about the event!

 What I wore for Frock On:

JSK, Necklace: Alice and the Pirates

Blouse: Metamorphose

Bag: Some shop in Harajuku

Shoes, accesories, hat: Handmade/Ebay

The venue was at the Royal Horseguards which I got to take a good look at before the actual event as the models were asked to come in the night before for a dress rehearsal. It was all very fancy and the events all took place on the top level. There was an elevator at least for the girls with trickier shoes. We couldn't get onto the runway in the rehearsal until a bit after 9 but practiced in another room. I've never done runway before so I was really happy to get some pointers and clear instruction before the show. I think a lot of girls were also new to runway among the group selected but I think everyone was trying to help each other out in terms of walking. My dress and bonnet hadn't arrived when I showed up at the rehearsal but it later came in a giant van. You basically had an army of lolis carrying a ton of boxes up the stairs of a bunch of clothes and equipment. I can't imagine what the security guard was thinking. 

At the rehearsals there was also Hitomi, the Grimoire designer. She seemed to be alone a couple of times here and there so I started up a conversation when she seemed to just be standing about. I thought she was really nice and I tried to ask her about her inspirations and what she thinks about her designs being so popular overseas. I never really get to talk to designers so this was exciting for me at least. I went to the Grimoire shop while in Japan but Hitomi wasn't around though the girls working there were just as fun to talk to. The store itself is a good experience though a little hard to find.

 

As you can see, I was very serious at the rehearsals. Just so you can also get a sense of how fancy this place was, this is the bathroom.

Anyway, onto the actual event and more pictures! 

 

 

Lolitas getting ready back stage for the fashion show.

Some photos of the venue!

I took a lot of photos of the fashion show though a friend used my camera for the first fashion show. It's hard to take photos while on the actual runway. We hadn't walked to actual music but I found the classical music was fine to talk to. We all seemed pretty nervous at the back and a couple of people caught us walking to the runway room in a line. A couple of the girls were wearing new collection pieces so we were asked to keep on the quiet side about what some of us were exactly wearing. It was really interesting to me to be able to see the new JetJ stuff before it was officially seen in magazines. 

There was a large combination of different brands and a large mixture of indie and more well known brands from Japan. I was very excited to model for Haenuli and more excited when I found out I was going to be wearing the Royal Kitten OP as I really liked the print and the design.

It's like I'm really a model.

I won't be able to fit all the runway photos in this post but I may make a separate post if requested. Here's a couple of outfits I liked at least.

 

 

 

I didn't attend some of the panels and tutorials they did that day but I can talk about what I did experience at the event. 

For one, they had a good storage area and I could keep changing my impossible heels to flats if I needed to get out money and lunch. The bring and buy was pretty good and well set up in one of the rooms with some very interesting pieces to find. At the end of the day I decided to just take a look and haggled a girl down from the asking price to a slighter cheaper price for a Metamorphose JSK that I thought would be perfect for college. My friend also found an AP skirt she wanted for a good price and I think there must've been some great bargains through out the day. They also set up a sort of 'photo' room in the opposite room which had a purikura type photo booth that people could go in with friends and take four photos with different backgrounds. After about a couple of minutes the photos would print out on a sheet and have a Frock On logo on the bottom. You didn't have to scan these in which I liked as they were all uploaded to the website under a passworded album name. 

The general selling hall was also pretty good with a large selection of brands. I was a little skint back then but it was really good to have a chance to buy some brand without shipping and also Hitomi had a stall to sell Grimoire tights and also the perfume which can't be shipped overseas. I didn't attend the panels but I did attend the raffle and general closing show of the day. On each ticket was a number much like the JetJ event and would be your raffle number. The volunteers of the day all got small prizes and we were all given two cute champagne chocolates in a small box. They had also hidden a piece of paper or something in one of them randomly who got a prize. The prize was a handmade accesory from Minori.

My ticket and chocolates.

The raffle was done by picking paper out of a bucket and calling out numbers. If the number wasn't there another number was picked. A couple of people who were called weren't there, I'm guessing either couldn't come to the event or maybe went home early. The prizes ranged from small accesories, prints of lolita models to a full outfit. I won a small Baby accessory in the raffle myself!

There were a couple of more handouts and then group pictures! It was pretty hard to fit us all in I think but we tried. We also tried some group photos on the stairs. After that I headed home. It was central London so it was pretty easy to get there. 

 

Frock On VIP tote bag. 

Overall a really good event and I can't wait to see what the next big London lolita event is!