Posts Tagged ‘lolitas’

It’s a dream come true… I’m hosting a coolhunting travel show for Huffington Post / AOL! And guess what I’m wearing in the intro to the first episode? Lip Service – Brocade Piracy dress.

In the first episode, I’m a fish out of water — a Goth girl in Wisconsin. I explore a kitschy theme hotel, complete with a bondage bed!

Will you kindly take a minute to check out my alternative travel show + Like/Share/Tweet it? This will enable me to keep the series going — and keep wearing Lippy on it. The link is: http://t.co/BRQAvIh

La Carmina‘s jetsetting adventures recently took me to Hong Kong, China — also known as shopping paradise. Naturally, I went on a treasure-hunt for Hong Kong’s best Gothic and Lolita shops.

I’ll warn you: there aren’t that many Gothic Lolita Punk shops in Hong Kong. But you can pick up terrific pieces from various Mongkok stalls, to build up a fashion-forward Gothic look. And the prices can’t be beat.

Spider is one of my favorites Gothloli clothing brands. Two sweet sisters run the small Mongkok shop. They design all the fashion, with close attention to detailing, and produce in small runs.

The clothes tend to be on the Gothic Punk side, which suits me perfectly. I love the corset lacing, punk plaids, and frills.

I bought these three items and the rose skirt, and wear them constantly (you’ve probably glimpsed them in my outfit posts). If you’re in Hong Kong and can only make it to one destination, I hope it’ll be Spider. Please say hi to owners Natalie and Queenie for me.

Spider is located at shop 130, King Wah Centre, 628 Nathan Road, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong (Map) Tel: (852) 2740 9366

Mongkok is my favorite Hong Kong district for shopping. (Take the subway there and explore the Nathan Road area). There are so many little malls that sell bright, alternative, trendy street style — at crazy low prices. Such as:

Argyle Centre Mall, 688 Nathan Road in Hong Kong (map).

This “Gothic Lolita & Punk” store is located at Shop 67, 1F in Argyle Centre. However, Mongkok stalls move around constantly; they’re open one week and closed the next. Instead of worrying about finding specific stores, I recommend exploring at random. You’ll undoubtedly come across alternative fashions.

Mongkok’s clothes aren’t the highest quality (comparable to, say, Forever 21). However, the styles are way ahead of the curve, and prices are incredible: you’ll rarely pay more than $5-15 US for any clothing item.

Hong Kong’s Goth scene is basically nonexistent (there are no club nights or gatherings). However, you can find Gothic/alternative items in the Mongkok mix — such as this jewelry, guarded by Edward Scissorhands.

I could have taken a million photos of Hong Kong shops. Rocking horse shoes; rose rings. (More shopping photos in this Mongkok post.)

Want to learn more about Hong Kong’s Gothloli and kawaii fashion? Check out La Carmina’s Hong Kong Gothic Lolita guide.

What do you think — is Hong Kong shopping heaven? Which items in this post would you most like to own?

Now I’m off to JAPAN, for a new TV hosting job with Food Network… you can see details and Tokyo fashion photos on my blog. Sayonara!

XXX LA CARMINA XXX

http://www.lacarmina.com/

How I longed to attend this year’s Wave Gotik Treffen (largest Goth music gathering in the world)! In early June, SiSEN, G-suS and other spooky friends flew to Leipzig, Germany for the festivities.

I couldn’t make it due to travel and scheduling conflicts… but I’m not complaining. Sebastiano and I were flown to Florence, to take part in Luisaviaroma Firenze4Ever (event for 40 top fashion bloggers from around the world). Naturally, we still wore our Goth-Visual clothes! You can see photos from the cocktail party and styling lab on my blog.

Thankfully, talented photographers Seventh Sin (Jen Hoffert and Holger Karas) were front and center at WGT, and wrote this report on the bands and fashion. Is Lolita on the decline? How is steampunk changing? Keep reading to find out. (All images by Seventh Sin.)

Wave Gotik Treffen 2011 was a special one, as it was the 20th anniversary of a gathering of dark people from all over the world. The percentage of foreigners increases every year; this time, we met people from Japan, China, US, Australia and many European countries. The performing artists also come from all over the globe including a metal band from China. With approximately 50 venues spread throughout Leipzig, people gathered at various far-off places, and so the famous WGT catwalk at the Agra Messepark was sometimes rather deserted.

In addition over 250 bands playing over five days, there were many other things to see and do — including free entrance for WGT visitors to museums, the opera and the symphony. One of the largest cinemas hosted a “Twilight” marathon, and smaller ones played indie films like Goths on the Move. At least two independently-organised art exhibitions took place: SEELENFRESSER Titten + Ärsche + Über-Ich at the Werk II venue and S.C.L.S.: State – Society – Landscapes – Society featuring the work of Laibach and Neue Slovenische Kunst.

Fashion-wise there was no obvious new trends this year, but definitely shifts in the most prevalent outfits. While the whole Lolita theme seems to be decreasing, there is a certain increase in both historical and Victorian dresses as well as Steampunk. The Cyber Goth style seemed to decline at the Agra venue, but this might be due to the fragmentation of the festival into three or more hot spots.

The historical-recreation fraction of the Treffen still is mostly a DIY trend, although there are a few specialty brands available that serve this community. The dresses seem to get more elaborate as over the time the sewing skills increase.

In addition to the labels vending at the market, there were some new, smaller labels handing out advertisements: Dark Fusion Boutique, USA, Royal Black, Austria, and Steampunk II, Elfenrausch, Germany.

The increasing number of Steampunks could be sorted into two categories. There were many people using brands like Lip Service to create their basic Steampunk outfit and then “spicing it up” with custom accessories. Others relied mostly on self made items, sometimes overdoing with props and add ons, although the level of ingenuity in the Steampunk community continues to amaze.

Music was widespread through all genres and there were some extraordinary acts on stage this time. Due to our responsibilities as photographers we couldn’t see them all, but at least we were able to sneak in visits to some of our favorites. (Above: Das Ich, who have played at Midnight Mess in Tokyo.)

In the infamous Moritzbastei I was able to stand at the very front row of a Gothika show.

Andro San gave an amazing performance in his pretty red kimono, while Yoshi was more sexy than ever.

The incomparable Diamanda Galas. (Yukiro reviewed her Swedish performance.)

Another inspiring show was Monica Richards project Infrawarrior, with new musicians and an amazing audio-visual concept with ritualistic influences. The presence of Monica and her main dancer Lucretia was amazing and mind shaking, and fortunately, we were able to capture a visual impression.

Even with a reported 23,000 visitors, Wave Gothic Treffen is still “THE” place to gather and find all of our friends, sometimes without even trying. We literally bumped into many people, including SiSen and G-suS from Tokyo on the opera house steps moments before the doors opened to Diamanda Galas. We saw J-Goth Amiyu a few times, including while crawling home at the end of a wonderful but exhausting five days of dark music, culture and friends.

Thank you to Holger and Jen for the scoop! I recommend that you check out the book Black Celebration – 20 years WGT, edited by Jennifer Hoffert and Alexander Nym, which was presented at several readings. “Black Celebration” is a bilingual (German/English) volume with anecdotes, memories and images from two decades of dark underground culture in Leipzig. Contributing authors include musicians such as Bruno Kramm of Das Ich; the images vary from black and white analog in the nineties to full-color digital photography. Hand numbered copies (limited to 300) are still available, but only directly from the publisher, Ploettner Verlag.

Hungry for more visual inspiration? You can go back in time to my 2009 report about WGT. I also featured Seventh Sin photography in this post about Japan Goth fashion and nightlife.

Many travels ahead… next time, I’ll bring you Global Gothic coverage from Hong Kong and Italy. I also recently released a charity T-shirt line, with proceeds going to help Japan. You can see photos and find out more here. Thanks for supporting!

XXX LA CARMINA XXX
http://www.lacarmina.com/

Anyone in Tokyo this XXX-mas? You are in luck. Japan is the capital of creative, experimental Gothic fashion — and there are several club events happening on December 25th!

Midnight Mess is the longest-running Goth Industrial EBM event in Tokyo. On December 25th, organizer Maya is hosting a † Nightmare After X’mas † party, featuring performer Chaos Royale. For maps, instructions and details, I have a big fat Tokyo club guide on La Carmina blog.

Readers often tell me they feel intimidated to go to Japanese Goth parties alone, especially if they are new to Tokyo. Rest assured that everyone is very nice, and many of the hosts speak English. The crowd may be covered in piercings and leopard print, but they’re some of the nicest folk you’ll ever meet at a club!

Here I am with the Midnight Mess family. In addition to DJs, there are rope suspensions and live musical performers. Covenant, Das Ich, Spanking Machine, Skinny Puppy and more have graced the stage.

On Christmas, Tokyo Decadance is also taking place at J-Pop Cafe in Shibuya. DJ SiSEN and Selia are regular performers.

Organized by Adrien le Danois, Decadance is notorious for its crazy cyber rainbow club fashion. You’ll see every style tribe here — from Gothic Lolita to light-up body suits.

What if you don’t have a flamboyant outfit? You can buy fashion from the booths at the party, such as these custom eyelashes by ViVi.

What if you’re not in Tokyo for the holidays? No problem — the parties happen every month. And Decadance Bar — the hangout of space alien club queens – is open every night of the week.

How to get there? For addresses, RSVP info, maps and reports please check out my Tokyo club guide.

Excellent news - I’m in Los Angeles from December 28 to Jan 10th! Can’t wait to drop by Lip Service headquarters and say hi to the team.

On Saturday, Jan 1st, Sebastiano Serafini and La Carmina are hosting a party at LA’s spookiest nightclub, Bar Sinister in Hollywood.

Two indie-alternative bands are performing that night: Julien-K and The Dreaming. There will be fetish playroom stations, Goth EBM Industrial deejays, and copious amounts of absinthe… we hope you can come!!

WHAT: La Carmina & Sebastiano Serafini — party at Bar Sinister. RSVP on Facebook.

WHEN: Saturday, January 1st, 2011, 10:30pm to late. (Please note this is the evening of Jan 1st, NOT New Year’s Eve)
WHERE: Bar Sinister, 1652 N Cherokee Ave (between Hollywood and Selma), Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $16.50 advance / $20 at the door / $5 off with a MySpace flyer. Bring your receipt and ID (21+).
HOW TO BUY: Go to the Bar Sinister site, scroll down to Jan 1st and click Buy Now for advance tickets. Or just show up and get tickets at the door.

So excited to party with you on Jan 1st! Please save the date and tell all your Los Angeles friends. We promise not to bite… unless you want us to…

Itching for more Japanese Goth Lolita clubbing photos and fashion? I post daily photos and reports on www.lacarmina.com/blog – please check it out.

† Dark Wishes †
LA CARMINA