Tokyo Pop Cultural Salon

This past weekend, the DFWCG hosted a little tea party with the theme of Tokyo Pop.  This could mean anything from traditional kimonos, to anime, to Harajuku street fashions.  Anime/cosplay is not really my thing, and I don't own a kimono, so I poked around some Harajuku websites and discovered mori girl fashions.  I think I've been a closet mori girl my entire life and didn't even know it!  Mori girls are supposed to look like they came from an enchanted forest.  This aesthetic has lots of loose layers, pale neutral colors, and details taken from nature.  As much as I love dressing up in well tailored dressy dresses, I'm more of a laid back hippie in real life, so this suited me quite perfectly.

I wish I had more time to work on a proper mori girl outfit because my head is bursting with ideas now, but I only had one day to whip something up, so I ended up making a quick sheath dress from one of my 70's patterns.  I lengthened the skirt to make it a maxidress, and I had to enlarge it a bit to fit my hips, so unfortunately now the top is falling off of me.  Not my finest attempt at sewing, but I didn't have time for alterations, so eh... whatever.  The dress is made out of a $2 curtain that I bought at Goodwill and lined with .25 cents worth of estate sale fabric that I dyed green.

My favorite part of this outfit is the shawl, which I bought on etsy.  I've already worn it a few times in my everyday wardrobe, and I love it to pieces.  The purse and belt came from estate sales, the bamboo bracelets were from a local antique shop.  I finished it by making a floral headband out of some cherry blossom silk flowers from World Market.

The event was a lot of fun, and I really enjoy these more laid-back gatherings where I can just sit and talk and enjoy hanging out with my friends while wearing silly clothes.  We also got to admire the hostess's amazing hothouse of orchids, we had a lady bring her ball-jointed dolls to play with (a little creepy, but beautiful at the same time), and I taught the group a bit of money origami as a fundraser for a Japanese earthquake relief fund.  It was a lovely afternoon, and I thank Dawni for organizing this event for us!  As usual, my photos are all on flickr, but here are a few of my favorites to give you a taste of the day.