GUYS, GUYS, GUYS. IT'S MACARONS. NOT MACAROONS. PLS GET IT TOGETHER, IT'S 2013 OK.
Yesterday an emailed arrived in my inbox and announced a very exciting thing: UNIQLO has partnered with Ladurée to launch a t-shirt collection! The sale of the shirts will beneft IVY, a Japanese charity that aids children who were affected by the 2011 tsunami in Japan.
For those who don't know, Ladurée is a famous French patisserie. They are renowned for making the world's most delicious luxury sweets and are particularly famous for their macarons, which are said to sell at the rate of 15,000 pieces per day! (Who are all these macaron-eating people?!) There are Ladurée shops located in many large cities around the world, like Paris, where the company is headquartered, Tokyo, London, New York, Dubai and Seoul.
Ladurée also launched a makeup collection in 2012 in Japan. It focused mostly on blushes, all of which come beautiful containers. Some of the blushes are even sculpted to look like roses. Of course, everything is a little bit pricy, with some of the powders costing over $100~
Luckily, you can get a bit of that Ladurée sweetness at a very decent price! The UNIQLO shirts are all $20 each and perfectly adorable. Most are patterned with delicious-looking desserts and even come with nice puffed sleeves.
Here are a few examples of the shirts:
Sadly, the shirt on the left is already out of stock in the three colors it was available in! It seems like the shirts are selling fast :3 Hopefully, they will restock it soon~
I purchased two shirts from the collection:
Macarons! And cakes! Yay~ I love both of the prints and I can't wait till the shirts arrive!
What do think of the collection and will you be getting any of the shirts? Let me know in the comments below!
How are you all doing today? I hope your weekend was beautiful and relaxing~
I'm happy to say that I'll soon be resuming a regular posting schedule! My thesis is written and done ^__^v I just have to file some paperwork to go with it. So hopefully this will be the last time I'll be posting two music posts in a row. I'm excited to start writing and sharing the things that make me smile with you all again.
I've also noticed that I've gotten some new readers. Welcome! Thank you for following my blog~ ♥ !!
This week I want to share a Korean indie duo, Raspberry Field (라즈베리필드). The duo is composed of vocalist Soy and guitarist Jang Jun Seon. I discovered their music through Etude House's mini drama series Kiss Note. (You can watch the episodes here, subbed in English, Turn on captions if you have to: ep 1 / ep 2 / ep 3 / ep 4) I love how peaceful and heartfelt Raspberry Field's music is. Soy's vocals are perfectly suited for the tone and mood of each song.
Raspberry Field also released a full-length album this year, titled Sweet & Bitter. It's a beautiful album. My favorite songs in particular are "Lullaby" and "Can You" which features vocals by Takeshi Hosomi of ELLEGARDEN/The Hiatus.
I emerge briefly from the depths of Thesis Oblivion to bring you my first blog post for 2013 and it is about a song that has been fueling many a late night writing session for me. This week's Sunday Afternoon pick is Bottlecaps and Microphones by the very talented Koichi Sanchez a.k.a. TheNightShift.
What I like best about Bottlecaps and Microphones is how chill and unobtrusive it is. Comprised of low,
almost muffled, beats and very light, mellow piano sections, it forms the ideal 3AM soundtrack. The song is also marked by some unique sounds picked up from random objects in Sanchez's studio, making it an even more impressive track:
"I recently bought myself a contact microphone for myself during the winter holiday and wanted to try it out. It's made out of bottlecaps hence the title. All the sounds minus the Piano and Synth Bass sounds are from objects in the studio I mic'd up, mainly the plastic container that houses my business cards. Hope you enjoy this fun sound design experiment, I am really happy with the way this track turned out and will be using this as a basis for a future project!" --from the song's description on Soundcloud (emphasis mine)
Who would have thought that office supplies could form the basis of such awesome music? It just goes to show you what can be achieved with a bit of imagination.
I'm not the kind of person who needs complete silence while working. On the contrary, I find it very difficult to work in complete silence--it's almost like the silence gets too "loud" for me to focus. At the same time, I can't write while listening to music that is dominated by vocals. I end up paying more attention to what the singer is saying rather than my own writing. That's why finding Bottlecaps and Microphones was like striking gold for me. It's the perfect ambient track and one that I find myself returning to again and again, when I know I'll be burning the midnight oil.
Milktee-nu Tiara is a Japanese Lolita designer as well as a talented musician and model. She designs for her own label, Opera the Dream House, and her clothing has been worn by other musical artists like Majjullahalre. In addition, she has modeled for other popular "kawaii-culture" labels, like Pinkhime.
Opera the Dream House features beautiful clothing that balances elements of historical fashion with Milktee-nu Tiara's own distinctive take on Lolita fashion. While Opera the Dream House carries Lolita dresses in traditional lengths and styles, I was first introduced to the fashion when a friend sent me a picture of the label's decadent, floor-length dresses.
I was really impressed with Milktee-nu Tiara's designs as well as her ambition to be involved in so many different creative fields and was very fortunate to be able to arrange an interview with her to talk a little more about her brand, her music, and her plans for the future.
♥ How did you discover
Lolita fashion and what attracted you to it?
I
discovered the fashion while I was a junior high school student. I performed in Lolita at a live house.
♥ Just by looking at the many
kinds of Japanese fashion, we can see so many versions of “kawaii.” What does
“kawaii” mean to you?
A
Kawaii thing can be seen as a fortunate thing.
It is full of positivity and is a method to live strikingly happily.
♥ Do you have any interest
in other fashions besides Lolita?
I
love Japan and am very interested in Japanese traditional culture. I want to
unite Japanese traditional culture with Lolita.
♥ What was the inspiration
behind Opera the Dream House?
I think that the work of old and great artists is still valid at the present and I receive a lot of inspiration from them. But I can receive inspiration from many places and things, from people in history or even just from the universe in general.
♥ Can you tell us a little
bit about your upcoming plans for Opera the Dream House?
I
am making goods which convey the merit and happiness of Japan all over the
world. I’m
starting a new project now. The concept
is the『 Lolita wedding. 』A marriage
ceremony is a moment when a girl is the happiest. I made one special Lolita bridal dress in the
world at the moment. It is specially custom-made.
One of Milktee-nu Tiara's latest designs, which was inspired by the idea of a "Gothic snow fairy."
♥ Do you have any favorite
materials or motifs that you are excited to include in your work at the moment?
I
am pleased with the new kimono that came out of product development. It can be
worn easily and I would like them to be worn overseas one day. It is very
lovely. And it is a new style!
♥ You’re a great musician!
How do you balance music and fashion in your work?
Thank
you, I’m very glad to hear that. I think that they both share common features. I
don’t feel a big difference between making music and clothes. They both feel
very natural to me.
♥ It can be hard to be
creative all the time. Sometimes, we can feel unmotivated or fall into a artistic rut. How do you stay creative
and inspired?
I
am often encouraged by my customers. It is like getting a great message or a
present. I view them as my treasures. Thanks
to them, I can have courage. Thank you very much!!
♥ What advice do you have to
give to girls and boys who want to become musicians or fashion designers?
These
are very great fields of work. However,
there is also a serious thing to remember—both are dependent on passion. If there is passion, you can believe and do
it. Please share with people your great dream!
