It all started with a picture I drew. The picture expressed all my love for sailor lolita:
Gelato break in sailor lolita. 🍦
Imagine: it’s a warm day, but there’s a gentle fresh breeze coming from the sea. You have a meet near the seaside and just decided to get gelato. The scent of flowers is mixed to the sweetness of the gelato, and the salt of the sea and sunscreen. You are in the shade and the sea sparkles. You can hear it and also the distant birds. It is a good day.The place is inspired by the Italian seaside places. We call them lungomare, I’m unsure of how this translates to English, but you basically can walk and there are usually lots of shops, seats, and cafés or restaurants. Some of them may be in high up places like this one.
Instagram post – July 7, 2022
The dresses and accessories are inspired by two real sailor dresses I own by Innocent World, and one by Meta that I just really desire.
Two of my beloved friends commented saying that they’d like to have a meet like this, and so we did!
We picked a date that worked for everyone on a weekend, then Jessica suggested a place that we could reach through a ferry – because we all fancied the idea of being on a ferry in sailor lolita – and then we started organizing.
I mentioned in the post that sailor lolita is a big passion of mine, and if you checked my wardrobe post you should know I accumulated several sailor dresses – without even considering the sailor cutsews! So it just naturally happened that I provided the dresses for everyone!
I don’t mind sharing dresses, especially if they can be washed easily, are sturdy, and I know I can trust the people to treat them well. Plus, while wearing lolita is fun, I find it even better when I can look at people in pretty dresses while I have a good time, so it really wasn’t a problem.
We made sure that each person would fit in a dress, and then I prepared each in its own plastic bag the day before.
The planning for the meet also quickly spiraled in a picnic, because that’s what usually happens when Marianna and I are involved, and she makes the best sweets!
On the day of the meet, I think I woke up at 6:30 out of sheer excitement. I had to take the underground, then a train, then Jessica, bless her, came to pick me up, so we could go together to the ferry for the last bit. We met with Marianna and her friend Sarah, and got ready. Everyone already had a petticoat, and Sarah also had a blouse, I provided the dresses and headpieces.
Here’s what I brought:
Sarah wore my Bodyline Navy Sailor JSK and IW’s Latin Head Bow in navy.
Marianna wore my Baroque – Decent Collar set in Sax plus the coordinated hat – and she fell in love with it, and now it’s hers! 😀
I wore IW’s UV Cut Stripe Sailor OP in sax, an offbrand straw hat, the crab purse, cute short white socks and red Sosic shop high heels shoes.
Jessica wore IW’s Francine OP in beige plus IW’s Braid Ribbon Head Bow also in beige.
You can see us all lined up below:
In the beginning, we were so excited about taking the ferry that we didn’t realize that it would be a short ride, but it was still awesome!
We then started to walk towards a place to picnic. It was very hot! For the occasion I brought both my parasols and Lucia’s precious fan, and they’ve really made a difference!
Photos by Marianna
Once we reached the right spot, Marianna and Sarah delighted us with homemade cookies and two cheesecakes with no lactose! Marianna also brought her picnic duvet, and if you see me smiling in every pic/video you can easily guess why. The cakes were sooo delicious! I made a simple chocolate cake and didn’t really curate the aesthetics, but at least it tasted good.
Photos by Marianna, Sarah, Jessica and I.
You can also notice Marianna doing some mending: Jessica’s petticoat decided to give up and be a bit too floppy. I had a sewing kit with me, so Marianna used her marvelous hands to fix it a little bit. Did you know she has her own brand?? Verbena Creazioni.
I actually also made proper picnic food the day before, and stored it in the fridge. Then my partner took out Luna’s food, and placed it above my picnic food. In the morning, I didn’t notice and accidentally brought Luna’s food instead of the picnic one. I was in disbelief when I noticed!
Luckily there was a pretty garden that also had some food, so we grabbed a bite there. The owner was also very enthusiastic about our outfits!
Definitely not hungry anymore, we went on and decided to explore also the rest of the isle. We happened to meet a very nice bed and breakfast owner and a store owner who took this pretty picture of us and even showed us to the local castle, all while telling us about interesting facts about Montisola, which used to be an isle where fishing nets were made, until the production moved off the isle.
Then she presented us to the people at the castle, who showed us around. We’re considering to hold a meet here, would you come?
We also managed to snap some pretty pictures.
Once satisfied with our visit, we went back and planned to get ice cream, just like in the picture, but were all too thirsty and ended up getting a granita instead! And the owners wanted a picture as well! Overall the reception in group to the fashion has been great, people were polite and in awe, and honestly, I was in awe the whole time because this was really happening.
Finally tired, we took the ferry to go back, change clothes, and rest. I washed everything and since it was very hot it also dried up pretty fast. Overall, the meet was a blast!
I don’t know if these words are really enough to express how grateful and lucky I am that I had these wonderful, amazing, splendid people with me that day. This has to be the best day of 2022 for me.
If you’re curious, here’s the video reel of the day:
And here‘s one by Marianna!
As a bonus, Jessica also drew the focalita with us, which stemmed from the constant use of seal emojis we had while organizing the meet (also started by Jessica). Isn’t it adorable and also a whole mood? 🦭
