Tuesday, August 25, 2015

International Harajuku Fashion Walk Day - The Netherlands


The weekend of July 25th and 26th was a very special one, since it was International Harajuku Fashion Walk Day! Every month in Harajuku in Tokyo, Japan, a big fashion walk is held. Now, the organisers of the Japanese fashion walk decided to ‘organise’ an international fashion walk all over the world! They made a video asking everyone who wanted to organise a fashion walk in the weekend of 25/26 July and the idea was very well received! Fashion walk event pages popped up from all over the world, from South America to Europe to Israel to Asia! Luckily, there would be a fashion walk in my own country too and I was very excited to participate!
Unfortunately, due to circumstances, the original organiser wasn’t able to continue the preparations for the fashion walk, but a lot of people were already looking forward to it! In some strange way, I ended up taking over together with my two friends Anna and Marinda! We were very happy the fashion walk could take place after all and put quite a bit of work into our preparations, including travelling to Utrecht (the city the walk would take place in) to test the route we had set up.
Finally, Sunday July 26th came. I decided to go with a very bright pastelly Sweet Lolita outfit. I am never sure when something is considered OTT Sweet Lolita, but I did feel very OTT happy with my outfit! I really needed a bit of a Sweet boost after my literal hot adventures in Paris. This was my outfit, I hope you like it! ♥
✯ Jewelry Sugar Jelly ✯
My outfit rundown:
Head bow: Angelic Pretty’s Jewelry Jelly
Blouse: Bodyline
Jsk: Angelic Pretty’s Jewelry Jelly
Socks: Angelic Pretty
Shoes: Bodyline
Hairclips: Claire’s and Chocomint
Necklaces: Angelic Pretty and Claire’s
Rosette: Summer Tales Boutique
Pink bow: Chocomint
Bracelets: 6% Dokidoki, Paris Kid’s, Primark and offbrand
Wristcuffs: Angelic Pretty
Rings: 6% Dokidoki
Sorry for the mountain of pictures, but my mom took too many nice ones. ^^ I especially adored the pastel cross I wore. I always felt a bit reluctant to wear crosses, but this one is just so over the top sparkly it’s just too pretty not to wear! ✧
Together with my faithful personal photographer (and mom) I went to Utrecht by car, took the bus and soon arrived at Utrecht Central Station, where everyone would meet. I was the very first to arrive, but was soon joined by other people. Even though the poll we had set up in the Facebook group asking people what style they would wear and ‘Lolita’ came out the most, there were a lot of different styles present which was awesome! Mori, fairy kei, decore, ouji, visual kei and even an amazing guy wearing shironuri! You’ll see some pictures down this post.
Finally, it was time to start walking!
Time to start walking!

We followed the route through Hoog Catharijne, which is the shopping mall attached to the station. Very soon we discovered that no matter how slow we walked in the front, the back somehow couldn’t keep up. It was challenging, but we learned quickly and had one of the organisers walk in the back.
Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun already!

We were super lucky since the weather was amazing! A blue sky with some white clouds and lots of sun.
We did, as expected, draw a lot of attention. I could hear one or two negative comments, but the plus side of walking in a group is that people notice ‘something is going on’ and bug you a bit less. ^^
We followed the route (standing still now and then) and walked up to the amazing Domtower. Utrecht truly is one of my favourite places in my country, I was so happy we were doing the fashion walk here!
Walking up to the Domtower.

We walked underneath the Domtower, where Anna, Marinda and I announced we would have a little break in the Domtower garden. The Domtower garden is a lovely place to take pictures, since it’s such a lovely place.
The Domtower garden. The open halls surrounding it always remind me of Hogwarts.

People spread and went to take pictures, which gave me the perfect opportunity to film a bit for my video (which you can see down this post).
I was so happy to see so many people wearing such wonderful styles! I was especially incredibly happy Jochem had decided to attend as well. I had seen pictures of him at a different event and he looked so amazing I was really hoping I could meet him someday! So when he walked into the station I was overjoyed!
Me and Jochem. He looked so incredibly amazing!

Before you ask: yes, he really is that tall. Not only does he do an amazing job at shironuri, with his incredible height he is like an ethereal being. ♥ I hope I wasn’t too awkward because I was fangirling like an idiot… ^^’
Because my mom took pictures I could focus on making videos. I made sure I filmed a lot for my video this time and I think I quite succeeded. In the meantime, I admired everyone’s awesome outfits!
A small selection of some of the amazing outfits at the fashion walk.

I was happy to see people talking, taking outfit pictures and taking a break for a moment. The weather was so lovely and the Domtower garden was, despite a group of tourists, quite serene.
Some of the lovely Lolitas attending the walk. ♥

Finally the break was over and the walk continued. We left the Domtower garden and walked back underneath the Domtower itself.
Our fashionable fashion walk group walking underneath the Domtower.

We walked on through the beautiful streets of Utrecht. I ran back and forth a lot to make videos, so I probably walked the whole route twice technically speaking! But well, I enjoyed myself a lot so it was more than ok. ^^
‘Wave at the camera everyone!’

We walked around one of the canals, through a small side street and arrived at our final destination: a big open square called ‘Vredenburg’. Even though there were quite some people, we weren’t bothered by them at all when we took our group picture.
The Harajuku Fashion Walk Group - the Netherlands!

The walk had come to an end and Marinda, Anna and I thanked everyone for coming. We were very happy to hear everyone had enjoyed themselves! Later, when we asked the Facebook group for feedback, most of the comments were ‘Please make the walk longer next time’, so that is definitely a good sign! ^^
The three organisers: Marinda, me and Anna. ♥ I loved how the
other two girls tried a style different from their usual Lolita style!

I was happy to be able to take some last pictures with people. I had been running around so much I didn’t really have the chance to do so before, so this was the perfect opportunity.
A final collage to show you some more awesome outfits!

Slowly, people were leaving to go to the Starbucks and I made sure I was the last one to leave. I was sad the walk was over, but I had also noticed the sky was slowly getting more grey. Actually, it started raining in the afternoon, so we were really lucky! ^^
Bye bye~!

My mom and I walked around to find a place to eat, but we ended up in our favourite restaurant next to the Domtower, where we had some lovely sandwiches. A girl sitting on the table next to us asked me for a picture, because her friend is a Lolita! How lovely! ♥ There was also an older couple completely in awe when they spotted me. It was so cute!
Posing in front of the Domtower and our lovely lunch.

After our delicious lunch, we went to have some frozen yoghurt and then headed for the bus. It had been a super fun day and I am glad everyone enjoyed themselves! See you next year..?

And to finish this post: here is the video I made of the Dutch Harajuku Fashion Walk. Please check it out if you have to time. I hope you like it! ♥


Thank you for reading! ~☆~

6 comments:

  1. Looks like all of the people had lotsa fun~~ I am impressed with most coords~~ Yours was quite cute too.

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    1. Thank you so much, I am so happy you like my outfit! =D

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  2. You are definitely one of the cutest girl I ever seen *_*
    And, my god, all of these outfits are totally amazing! and and and.. THIS GUY IS TOO PERFECT TO LIVE (Jochem, I mean) I have no words to describe how perfect he is :o

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    1. Oh dear you really are too kind, I don't know what to say. ;___; <3
      Jochem is amazing. :3

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  3. Great article and awesome photos! I find really interesting and even fascinating this culture, i like almost everything about Harajuku fashion and style and the Japanese culture, it is just amasing! Great work and nicely done !

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    1. Thank you very much! ^^ I am glad you like my blogpost. <3

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