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Dear Loli's,
Perhaps some of you might have already heard the news already, but Black Alice will be graduating on 31 Jan 2012. Though I will still retain the name "Black Alice", we won't have any major activities after Jan 2012. During each year, if there are exciting activities to participate (i.e. EOY's annual Lolita fashion runway), we will make announcements for those.
I thought it very long, and very hard, before deciding to graduate Black Alice. It was a very exciting 4 years, and I learnt many, many things through Black Alice. I lost a few friends, but I made many, many new friends. When we first initially started BA, we wanted to upgrade the standard of Loli, because there were so many Ita-Loli's those days. We really loved the idea of sharing this fashion with people, and educate them on how to carry themselves well.
We did many tea parties, conducted make up classes, did movie screenings (Shimotsuma Monogatari & Alice in Wonderland), to even more non-conventional things like ice-skating and scrap booking.
During the past 4 years, I really had a very enjoyable time running Black Alice. We started off as a small booth in Cosfest, then moved out to Bugis, before settling at Cathay for 2 years. We're still currently at Far East Plaza, sharing a space with Dark Royalties now.
It has always been my dream to open a Loli retail store, and Black Alice exceeded what I imagined it to be. I never thought that one day we will get to be the distributor for BABY, Angelic Pretty, Innocent World, Mary Magdalene, Victorian Maiden and even Putumayo. These were brands that I never thought I would get to work with. I met up with Akinori Isobe, the owner of Baby, and also visited the offices of BABY, AP and IW. It was really a very magical experience.
Back in those days, I still couldn't speak Japanese, but recently I went to Japan, and met up with Tocco, our account manager at BABY, and I was so happy that I could converse with her in simple Japanese. Together with Junne, we talked for hours in Japanese at the Alice in Wonderland and Criston cafe at Shinjuku. They really treated me like old time friends.
Over the years, I've watched and seen Loli's come and go, and I've seen how regular girls transform into the pretty ladies that you are today. For some of you, I remember the day I first saw you at Black Alice, when you bought your first dress, when you attended our first tea party; but you eventually graduated to become the pretty Loli you are today. Your coordinates got better, your make up skills improved and you made many friends.
Among the many things I got from Black Alice, the friendships I made with some of you were really one of the best. The days that I had lunches with you all, hear about your lives and see the challenges you go through. I've also seen quite a number of you through your dating times, right all the way till you got married.
Seeing how close the Lolita community has become has made me very happy. It made me feel that everything that me and Ling have worked so hard for, was worth it. In a way, when I look at all of you, it makes me think that hey..., perhaps my job is done. My dream and desire has been fufilled, and perhaps it is time for me to go, for me to move on.
Opening Black Alice was one of the best things that ever happened in my life. It proved to me that we can pursue what we love in life, against all odds, even when other people think that it is ridiculous. Without Black Alice, I would never have gotten the chance to run EOY, where running stage productions became one of my passions.
I was just doing an interview with Grace the other day, and she asked me what I'll like to do again, if I were to be able to live my life all over again.
I will still marry Ling, buy the same cars that I own, live in the same house, and I will still open Black Alice, and I'll still do EOY. I will live my life exactly the same way again, even if I am given another chance.
In this same notion, I hope that I have inspired you, also, to pursue your dreams and passions in life.
The upcoming Doll's tea party (26/12) will be the last tea party for Black Alice, so please do RSVP to Sheryl, and I really, really hope you can join us for our graduation tea party.
Next, the current consolidate batch for BABY (http://www.babyssb.co.jp) will also be the final one, so please browse whatever order you would like to make for this one by this week. For the final consolidation order, we will extend a 10% discount on all orders.
Also, as a special preview to our sale, there is a 40% discount of all existing Black Alice items if you are joining us for our tea party this coming week. You may browse our site (http://www.blackalice.com) and get Sheryl to reserve the items for you (by Thursday 12:59 pm). Once you have reserved an item, I will bring it down during the tea party.
In closing, I want to thank you for being part of my life, and for being part of Black Alice's. It has been an honor serving the Lolita community; sometimes I feel that you're all my little daughters, and it brought out a bit of a fatherly nature in me.
Perhaps I might have changed some of your lives, but deep inside, I am very, very grateful that you, have changed mine. Because of you, I was, and still am, the very, very proud owner of Black Alice.
Just for you, my lunch will always be open to you, because Loli's will have a special place in my heart. Thank you for being part of this family, and I'll never, ever forget this. Even when I die, I'll bring all the happy memories of Black Alice to heaven with me.
I'll see you at the tea party.
And with that, my calling for Black Alice has been fulfilled.
Love,
Tim
Date:
busy
