Another visitor for Fluffit!

Yesterday the Fluffit group had another one of those exciting meet-ups where we get to meet lolitas visiting Iceland. This time our visitor was Maja!

The meet-up place was Sandholt as usual because there really are not many cafes in all Iceland that can compete with it, and those that can are located elsewhere (f.ex. Fjöruhúsið at Snæfellsnes). It was a crazily busy day at Sandholt but otherwise great.

Detail shot because I'm so jelly of that hair... :3

Sorry about the general quality of photos, my camera is oooold and should probably retire soon... in any case here's the Sigga.

Her bf makes absolutely perfect bows so we had to document one. 

Miss F. being perfect as always.

There were more people at the meet-up but a few declined being in a photo, so it was actually a bit bigger group than this. :D

...annnnd me. A new dress that was originally a set of sheets. ) : D

Same with outwear included + a detail shot of my hairpin because puffins. 

Outfit rundown:

JSK + puffin clip: selfmade

Cardigan: Vero Moda

Hat: Fox Cherry

All else: vintage + offbrand.

Lolita meet-up etiquette: Iceland version.

During the Närcon's lolita meet-up we spoke with one local girl and an interesting topic came up: what are you allowed to wear to a lolita meet-up. She seemed positively astounded to hear that the Icelandic lolita community has absolutely no rules regarding this, and that showing up to a meet-up in your normal clothes/some other style that's not within the lolita umbrella was totally ok, so I thought to put together an official meet-up dress etiquette for Fluff It Like a Puffin for future reference.

1. All and any styles are allowed. Love gyaru? Come as one! Lolita? Naturally! You don't own any lolita clothes but you're interested in the style? Come as you are.

Because let's be realistic, this is a very fresh hobby in Iceland. While people of the comm all share a love for Japanese fashion styles not everyone even has lolita clothes yet OR they prefer to go for some other style. As an admin it's my opinion that they don't need to own any to be a part of the community. Fluffit exists solely as a place for people to gather together around a common interest and we don't turn anyone away just because they either don't have or choose to not wear lolita to meet-ups that don't have a specific dress code.

If you want to host a meet-up on your own any rules and dress codes are entirely up to you of course, the above one is only for the community's official meet-ups. :)

2. What we DO care about is how you behave though.

Always take others into account. I cannot stress this enough, remember that the main point of meet-ups is hanging out with friends, so don't inconvenience the others.

Be in time, don't force the others to wait for you unless you know they have a chance of doing that in a comfortable place - you know what the weather can be like at worst but even on the sunniest day standing on a spot, wondering if one missing person is going to arrive at all, is very unpleasant. If you're going to be late let someone know so the others can go ahead with the meet-up and you can join it as you arrive.

If someone's hosting a meet-up with a limited number of people allowed, don't hog a place unless you're 100% certain you're going to come. Don't use the "maybe" option on FB for these meet-ups. "Maybeing" is totally ok if there's no attendance limit but if one exists, taking a place and then fading on the group is not acceptable because that chance of attending is away from someone else.

If a meet-up is hosted at someone's place, remember to also leave in time. When the meet-up is over it's over, thank the host for fun tiems and don't linger. The host may want to start cleaning up, they may have more things on their schedule for the day, they may just want to rest. Lending one's place for a meet-up is a really generous gesture and awesome for everyone so don't scare hosts away from doing that.

3. So wait, this community is for Icelanders only? Is there a way of meeting you guys if I'm coming over?

This community in fact is not only for Icelanders, but we do have one condition on joining the community: being here. This means that you can join the comm if you're an Icelander living in Iceland, foreigner living in Iceland, Icelander or a foreigner planning to move to Iceland or visiting Iceland as a tourist. The languages acceptable in the comm are Icelandic and English.

Therefore if you're planning a trip to Iceland and would like to meet the local lolitas why not drop us a note! We won't automatically accept people into the comm if their FB profiles don't show obvious connection to the country, so PM one of the admins/moderators on Fluffit and let us know of your plans. Most likely we can arrange a meet-up on some easy to reach location downtown, f.ex. a cafe.

Can't bring a coord? No problem. Our group is first and foremost interested in meeting the person themselves - the first dress code rule (iow no dress code) means everyone. :)

LBC: Your Dream Lolita Event/Meet-up.

When I joined today's LBC theme I made the decision to limit myself a little and build this entry on ideas that could realistically happen. Naturally they'd take a lot of time and effort but they're not indefinitely out of my, or anybody else's, reach. This means that they'll all take place in Iceland too and I kept in mind that they'd be equally pleasant to Icelandic and foreign lolitas.

You will see though that my dream meet-ups do not have any set plan of action. There are two reasons for this: number one, Iceland can be unpredictable so there's always a need to be able to improvise any given moment. Number two, I prefer a large amount of freedom in a meet-up. I like it when there's plenty of time, lots of food and then... just letting the meet-up happen the way it wants to. This might be the reason I absolutely love picnics, you arrive and assemble the foods and the rest is pleasant feeding/frill-bonding/photoshoot time!

Idea #1: the botanical garden in Reykjavík.

A meet-up in the botanical garden, of course! It's a lovely place and though it's small it only adds up to its charm (besides entry is free). The cafe is a pleasant spot for some coffee/tea and cakes and has even a goldfish pool, there are beautiful photoshoot locations absolutely everywhere.

Let me sell you this idea with example photos:

My apologies that the photos were taken on a cloudy day. Regardless, the botanical garden's strong point is just how varying the scenes are within. There's a park-like part, right to the side of this part is small group of trees and little pathways through them -

- and suddenly the lush garden turns to this (those small white signs are a bit of a turn off though). Which is located right next to -

- a small group of evergreens with flower beds in the middle. There are more areas than these but I selected them because they're my favourites.

*****

Idea #2: Árbæjarsafn.

The open air museum Árbæjarsafn with its beautiful, old Icelandic houses hosts large celebrations such as weddings far as I know, so I'm sure that they'd do a meet-up as well. They could also handle a large amount of guests at the same time which is a rarity in Iceland. The only downside to this would be that it'll always cost somewhat - be it a small meet-up with no space rental (entrance fee) or a large one (rental fee).

Let me sell you this idea with example photos:

The museum is technically a collection of old Icelandic houses from various time periods so there's definitely something for everyone. Not all the exhibitions are available to just walk in, but many of the houses still offer wonderful scenes.

Besides you can walk in many of the rooms. Just touching's a no-no. :D There's wealthy families' wood houses...

...turf houses (this is a stable connected to the main house by a corridor)...

...and of course my favourite place, the store that sells f.ex. traditional Icelandic sugar candy. :3

*****

Idea #3: lolita road trip.

Lolita road trip. Lolita road trip! Load up a few jeeps with lolitas, foods and clothes and do a 1-5 days drive to the natural wonders of Iceland. Staying overnight at motels would cost some money though and there's the price of gas, so the length of the trip would define the price of it. But hey, a photoshoot at Dimmuborgir anyone? Any of the gazillion-or-so waterfalls? To rock formations of the south coast? Puffin cliffs (I know everyone loves this one)? Flatey?

The awesome part of this is that many of these sites are well within a day's drive so it could totally be done. The not-so-awesome part is the driving necessary and that the more-than-likely wind will toss any hairdo to oblivion. On another thought though the wind also makes for amazing photos with billowing going on everywhere (remember to wear bloomers)...

Here's an example of five minutes outside in the wind -hair.

But! Here are two examples of how epic the wind can make you look!

Let me sell you this idea with example photos:

Mývatn: if starting from the capital city this one would need minimum two days, preferably three. One to drive there, one for photos in the various awesome locations all around this lake, and one for returning to Reykjavík. However, prepare your frilly butts for the insects... Mý means a midge in Icelandic and the lake is thus named for a reason (EW FUKKEN EW).

Thankfully the midge problem is more of a lake-side matter. You won't really see them at Dimmuborgir (= Dark City). The scenes may look a bit, eh, rocky but there are well-kept walkways all around the area. There's also a more demanding walk route to the most amazing areas but the only thing you'll need is good walking shoes. I walked the route in a long skirt and had no trouble.

Dimmuborgir again.

Talking about waterfalls there's several beautiful ones along the way to Mývatn, most including an easy walking route. Góðafoss takes maybe 5-10 min walking, easily accessible.

But there's not even a need to drive that far for amazing scenes. Þingvellir, the same place as in the title photo of the roadtrip idea, is within a few hour's drive. Easily accessible, loads of awesome locations.

Another location that's very near the capital city. Not sure of the place though - Þorsmörk?

Here we're even closer to Reykjavík! :D You'd never believe the kind of scenes you can find here.

Annnnd Elliðarárdalur, which is IN the city. Located right next to Breiðholt! Breiðholt the blog warmly recommends the lupin fields and the riverside. :3

Other blogs partaking in this theme:

* Under the Parasol * A Heart's Sound * Ima Princess * McDuffs Auditorium * New Vogue Children * Whimsical Adventures of Me * Sleeping Sweets * The Electric Carousel *

Meet-up at Babalú.

One big problem of hosting meet-ups in Iceland is the lack of cafes that are large enough to host a meet-up group. We were lucky with Babalú's upstairs this time, fitting the whole group in albeit a bit tightly. Taking photos was another problem because there were so many other people there that we couldn't use the insides of the cafe itself without inconveniencing the other customers, but thankfully Babalú also has a terrace. It's currently full of winter decorations (?) just lying around there but we managed to find a less cluttered corner. 

The newest addition to the group, Miss Á!

Le Marty.

A Sig.

IDK what this one is.

EmixLea gyaru represent!

F being effortlessly perfect in every photo despite the coldness and the wind. Btw the wind was quite strong and resulted in lots of failed photos because people's clothes and hair got thoroughly blown around.

The whole group, thank yous to the awesome barista who took the photo for us. ^^

And then we stopped acting normally and entered full dumbass mode. :D

You two managed to do this almost identical moving-at-the-wrong-moment thing a lot. :D

And then there's these two.

...I thought the speech bubble was necessary. 

A small meet-up again + surprise! street snap.

We had a small meet-up for Halloween at Babalú! Great fun and awesome coffee was had, and also a surprising moment when Kristján Leitma approached us and asked to take a photo of us for a street style blog called Rvklooks. The photo itself can be seen here but do go see all the other awesome styles as well. :3

I look wayyyy better in his photo than my own. Well, there's the little difference between us that he actually knows what he's doing whereas I just prop my cam on a fence with the self-timer on but still, whoah I promise you my boots aren't quite that red in reality...

At the Botanical Garden.

We all met at the Botanical Garden. It was an amazingly beautiful day (especially in comparison to the rest of the week) although a bit cold, and the cafe was chock full of wasps. They mostly buzzed around these flowers that were in full bloom though.

Well, occasionally they attacked our tea and soda, which made the whole frilly group scatter in screams - with the exception of F who just calmly stared them down. I have no idea how she does it.

S - once again I'm reminded how much I actually love RHs. They were The Wanted Item in the first years lolita came to Finland and although I never bought myself a pair I always admired them from afar. Headdresses are another point of nostalgia, so all in all a really beautiful old school coord!

A-G and that dress of hers looks way better on her than me. Something about her long legs vs. my long back I assume.

F, I forgot to take a photo while she was out of her coat but the coat itself is totally cute too! I had to crop her photo a little because A-G was sitting in the back (where you can still see her blue sleeve) and had quite a funny look on her face. :D

And me - aaaah on a hindsight I think this looks a bit too much like Raggedy-Ann. Oh well, sometimes the coords fail. :S

Anyway, it was a fun day!

The Welcome Home meet-up.

The girl we were welcoming back is here, Miss S. She's been in Japan for a year as an exchange student and naturally her return meant a definite meet-up occasion!

F. is always so effortlessly perfect. It almost annoys me aaah. :Þ

Tíu Dropar has everything yummy and it's really cute a cafe. You can find it on Laugarvegur near the Múminbúðin (or PRKL as its real name is). The only downside is that the place is really small and going there with a large-ish group means chancing not fitting in. 

This is the only photo of A that I got where she isn't making faces.:D WHY YOU DO THIS

F is clearly planning to make her move soon!

And so is M. I'm getting hungry again just looking at all the food photos...

S. is making friends with a cup of fruit tea.

Here's what I wore. Mostly self-made.