As we had anticipated on Twitter, on August 31st we flew in London to attend Frock On!, the international meetup organized by The Tea Party Club, the Gothic Lolita community in the UK. At the event there were more than 300 girls from all over the Europe, as well as numerous brands from all over the world, including Grimoire and Atelier Pierrot.
The beautiful location chosen for Frock On! was One Whitehall Place, in the heart of London, a short walk from the Big Ben and Trafalgar Square. A lot of activities were provided in the (amazing!) rooms reserved for us, including workshops, fashion shows and a photobooth. Also, for the duration of the event there were two rooms used as market places. The main one, in the magnificent Gladstone Library, housed the brand that partecipated at the convention (listed below), while the smallest River Room was dedicated for the second hand market.
The brands at Frock On!: 4 O’Clock, Atelier Pierrot, Baroque, Chérie Cerise, Cloudberry Lady, Cute Lou, , Dreamy Bows, Elergy, Femme Jolie, The Flowers Shop, Grimoire, Haenuli, Icing Sugar, Juliette et Justine, Lady Sloth, Lief, Little Drawer, Lockshop, Mille Fleurs, Now, Voyager, One Day in Paradise, Pinkhime, Rekami Stworzone, Roxie Sweetheart, Strawberry Mushrooms, Stocking Shock, Snowfield, Sweet Mildred, Wise Wolf Clothing.
The Reading & Writing Room was instead dedicated to special events, starting with two fashion shows, the first for the brand that cannot physically attend the convention and the second for the ones in London. Among the girls who walked the runway, many of them volunteers, there were also Itrill, admin of our national Gothic Lolita Zone, and Chokelate, model and owner of Lockshop, one of the most famous stores specialized in wigs and more.
As already said, Frock On! also proposed some workshop dedicated to several aspects of Lolita “world”. The most interesting and fun was definitely the posing workshop, presented by Chokelate, who gave a lot of tips on how to best pose during a photoshoot, focusing on the positions of the torso, the legs and the arms. For example, never overdo with strange or unnatural position, do not keep crooked legs (inwards or excessively crossed) or apart. It was also very nice the outfit challenge made by Michaela and Kyra, the two organizers. By acclamation, the audience was invited to choose between two differents Lolita outfits, brand and off-brand. The winner? Well, according to the audience you do not need to use brand clothes to create a nice outfit, but is sure helps!
Chokelate presents the posing workshop.
The day ended with the screening of some videos, including a hilarious video message from MC Melody Doll and the latest project from Deerstalker Pictures. Finally, there was the classic raffle, giving away great prizes, including a complete outfit. We have not won, but we had some delicious chocolates offered to all participants.
Despite some organizational flaws (inevitable, since the scale of the event), Frock On! was undoubtedly a very fun experience, which allowed us not only to meet Lolitas from all over Europe (or italians transplanted abroad), but also to see the small and large differences in the interpreation of this fashion style in other countries. Thank you to the organizers for their work, but also thanks to our traveling companions who have made our London days even more fun! 😀