Well, it’s been more than a while. Nearly five years! I come back to the blog as a “32-year-old lady” (love you, Jenna Marbles) who has been living in the North-West of England since October 2019. There’ve been many times when I’ve wanted to start this blog up again but I’ve not felt enough motivation until now.
Outfits from the last year…
I’ve been wearing lolita fashion on and off since my last post. But would you believe I haven’t been able to make it to a meet for the last two years bar two online meets with my Perth Comm. On top of that, the only lolita purchases I’ve made has been a blouse and a pair of shoes. I’ve begun wearing lolita more recently and I finally realised a lolita fashion dream of mine, singing whilst dressed up.
The convergence of wearing the fashion more often, having a better handle on finances and becoming more mentally resilient has led me to set some pretty big goals for myself.
Develop my lolita wardrobe through vintage shopping
Wear lolita more often in daily life
Exercise more, improve my mood and lose weight
1. Develop my lolita wardrobe
I want to dedicate £50 a month to spend on expanding my lolita wardrobe. Specifically I want to go to vintage shops and get blouses, cardigans and shoes that will suit a casual lolita wardrobe.
2. Wear lolita more often
I would like to wear more thought out clothes in my daily life. I often wear very casual clothes outside of lolita and going out. I feel like if I am more conscious of what I wear it will improve my self-image and self-worth. I’d like to wear something that inspires me and gives me confidence.
3. Exercising more
Since 2017, I’ve gained 25kg and lost 10kg. I still fit into some of my pieces but many are too tight. Ideally, I’d like to get back to my weight in 2017. More than that, exercising will greatly improve my mental health and now that I’ve started coming off anti-depressants, I would like the natural mood boost that exercising provides. Lolita fashion is just another motivating factor in going to the gym.
So, where does the blog come in?
Basically, accountability. I’d like to track my progress with these goals using the blog. I think it would make an interesting story to see how my style shifts when I start incorporating vintage pieces and I plan on going to meets in the near future too. With the goals I have, it gives me a reason to blog every month and provide updates on what I’ve bought and what I’ve worn.
Next month I hope to update you on
My current wardrobe
Outfits I’ve worn
My exercise routine
I hope you’ll join me on this journey and if you have some lolita goals for this year let me know.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a lolita quiz night organised by Susie. The meet was incredibly well organised and a lot of fun. One of the lolitas said it really well when they said that they really enjoy the meets that are held at people's houses because they are relaxed and people really dress up because it's usually held inside.
The host and I. Cute! I went for pout but ended up in blue steel territory.
Getting Ready
I was running around all day doing shopping and washing like an adult. When I looked at my watch, it was only an hour until the meet and I wasn't even close to ready! I hadn't even decided what I should wear, only that I wanted to use my own hair which I realised would be impossible with the limited time I had. So that went out the window. -sad face- I went with my favourite long wig from Gothic Lolita wigs.
I recently pulled all my lolita clothes out and started to display them on a rack in my room. I'm still undecided on whether I should get a manikin or not but it's tempting! So I looked through my items and went for Kuma Kumya's Sweet Chocolate babydoll dress in dark brown and mint by Baby the Stars Shine Bright. I paired it with a very traditional mix of a cotton blouse, beige socks, chunky shoes and I used the waist bow as a head bow to create volume. It's definitely one of my favourite coordinates from this year so far.
Gotta love filters.
Dress, blouse, socks - BTSSB
Wig - Gothic Lolita Wigs
Shoes - Bodyline
At the Meet
I arrived quite late but was able to slot into a team with two good friends, Siobhan and Frances, at the beginning of the second round. The quiz had a number of different rounds and was a mix of lolita and general knowledge. Susie had a power point made up complete with a kawaii golem picture to introduce the final round ("one round to rule them all" was the title). I managed to help with some of the answers in the quiz too. -fist pump- Susie was an fantastic quiz master and kept the 15 or so people that turned up very entertained. At the end of the quiz the team that I was in won! Susie had prizes for each person in the team in gorgeous hand-decorated bags. Here are some of the prizes that we won:
There was also a gold butterfly clip and a bracelet with a bird cage and a green ribbon on it. You can see the butterfly clip in a few of the shots here because I put it on immediately. The bracelet that I got I gave to a team member because she has a print with a bird cage on it and I don't have any green in my wardrobe. I know she'll be able to wear it a lot more often than me. It has a good home now and will get the attention it deserves. -single tear- Meanwhile I'm so happy with my stickers which I will use in scrap booking and letter writing. I also love Elizabeth from Gintama.
Mini-Games
Susie also organised two mini games. One was a caption the meme game, which was hilarious in its own right. The other was a "create your own ouji accessory" game. An ouji accessory is the gentleman wearing aristocrat or boy style fashion who caters to your every whim as a lolita. A concept created by Australian filmmakers, Deerstalker Pictures.
We had some very -ahem- sexy paper dolls to decorate as we liked. The dolls were designed and drawn by the host herself which was impressive! Then we had a voting competition with all the decorated paper dolls to choose the winner of the prize. Voting consisted of sticking stickers of cats onto a post-it note beside each entry. Each part of the night was lovingly organised and lolita-appropriate.
Sexy paper dolls. I love the names though: Randy Grills, Harry Hotter and Bill McSexyface.
In the end it was Siobhan and I who came a draw and we had to do an "ouji-off" and explain why we had the best ouji accessory. I started the ouji-off by explaining that my ouji accessory had a matching coordinate and a credit card at my disposal. Siobhan began her spiel "as you can see, my ouji is already laying down so you don't have to step in that puddle". It just continued to get better including a completely reversible outfit which was white. Needless to say, I didn't have any problem coming second after a hilarious explanation.
Food
This meet was "bring a plate" style. I brought along some dips and biscuits because they're easy to eat and garlic bread for something warm because it was a drizzly day. However, none of my food got touched or even taken out of the fridge because there was already so much food available! Some of it was home made and some of it was shop-bought. It was everything (apart from macarons) that a lolita would want.
Here are some of the items:
Pizza, homemade green tea and chocolate cupcakes (which were delicious), cream puffs, brownies which had edible sparkles, an amazing lemon meringue pie, chocolate mousse cake and even vegetables sticks and dip to offset the cake.
There was hardly enough space on the table to put everything and I had fun putting aside whatever plan I had for healthy eating for the night and simply enjoying what was on offer.
Photos
After the quiz and mini-games had finished, we went to Susie's space where she keeps all her lolita dresses to take photos of our outfits. Firstly, take a look at this space. It's an entire room dedicated to frills and whimsy.
And now onto the outfits of some of the attendees.
I was really happy with my coordinate. I was inspired by old-school ones that were simple with thick fabrics and chunky shoes. My pose was inspired by all the kuro gyaru videos I've been watching.
Another Sarah! As sweet as all of the cakes at the meet. I love the flower crown and crown tights tying the theme together in this outfit. I also love the rhapsody wig.
Classy and sweet with the matching beret, no less! This displays the power of an experienced lolita - both the dress and beret were bought separately. I love this print and the appliqué. There are a few designs with these kinds of details on them such as embroidery and I think they make the dress so unique. That's her own hair too.
Circus twins, Mhairi and Chelsea! Both of these are really strong circus prints. I love the border print style of each dress. The matching hats are too adorable. These two are mysterious beings and not much else is known about them.
Karina, I love this colour on you. I am definitely part of the sash brigade. Regal themes have got to be one of my favourite themes in lolita. I also have a lot of love for buttons and tassels and this dress has both. And you know I can't get enough of berets and barrettes.
Karina also has an instagram featuring her cosplays as well as her lolita: http://instagram.com/rafiraga She's a self-confessed traffic cone enthusiast.
Megan was a Gothic Queen. I really like how the tights tie in with the theme of the dress. I felt that the hair colour was a good choice too as it was an ashy colour like a ghost but it had enough colour in it to be able to hold its own with the deep colour of the dress.
Check out Megan's lolita outfits, other fashion styles and some of her illustrations on her instagram: http://instagram.com/meganscream
Our host, Susie. Susie loved this outfit and so did everyone at the meet. With big frame glasses and a grey wig, she called herself a granny lolita, which everyone went along with by calling her "Gran" for the night. I thought the juxtaposition of the youthful sweet lolita outfit was great with the glasses and grey hair. I felt it worked because the dress had no print and also had a cape making it look a little "old fashioned". The coordinate was fun and looked like it was quite comfortable too.
Finally, here are some photos I managed to snap. I need to get better at taking lots of photos.
Thank you!
This meet contained a lot of food, a lot of laughs and a lot of fun. I know it wasn't just me that really enjoyed it too. I want to take the time to thank Susie for going all out including moving her furniture so fifteen or so frilly butts could fit in her lounge room, organising for her gorgeous dogs to sleep over to protect our dresses, buying a whole bunch of gorgeous prizes with her hard-earned dollars, doing a huge raffle, organising a quiz, drawing sexy paper dolls and letting us use her house for what was a fantastic meet. It was a lot of work and it didn't go unnoticed by any means. Thank you so much Susie!
Next meet is the International Lolita Day meet on the first Saturday of June. I am already thinking about what to wear!
It's been a dream of mine for a while now to participate in a Lolita fashion show and the Madman Anime Festival presented a perfect opportunity to get involved in one.
Working full-time I haven't had a lot of time to do much Lolita so when the organiser asked for a coordinate picture, my submission was a previous outfit I had worn. I was very excited when it came to the day and spent quite a lot of time on preparations which included going all out by putting on bottom lashes!
I only found the wig at the last minute as it was tucked away in a totally non-Lolita bag (most embarrassing behaviour). I was really happy with the way the outfit turned out.
We all met up in the foyer and were led to a green room out the back of the theatre stage. It was a proper, proper dressing room with lights around the mirrors. I took a couple of dressing room pictures with all the frills inside the one room.
The good lighting created perfect selfie conditions and this created a photographic frenzy from the shutter happy amongst us (including myself).
Here are some of the outfits from the fashion show. I apologise if I didn't get around to taking a picture for those that didn't get one.
Prince and Princess. The only pair coordinate in the fashion show and superbly done. The princess's head dress is actually made by the model with string of pearls that hang between the spires. Making sure the headdress was secure looked like a task but it surely paid off for the walk.
I love the blend of old-school Lolita here with the head dress and rocking horses mixed with the relatively recent trend of adding boz jackets to frilly dresses. Usually reserved for the comparatively unfrilly gothic and lolita or aristocrat sub genres.
The walk that these two frill-seekers did during the show was nothing short of adorable. I've always loved the Bodyline Cinderella Bunny print!
I actually love this coordinate. Particularly the dress which is from Taobao. The fabric was lovely too.
Well, you can tell what I thought from this filter. #godess
I loved the all white coordinate balanced out with darker shoes and accessories.
I really love this print and the umbrella made the whole coordinate look so elegant.
This coordinate was a deliberate mix of genres. Spooky and cute. The horns were a great touch, I thought. I would like to implement some in a coordinate one day, myself.
I really enjoyed dressing up, seeing everyone and their amazing coordinates and planning the fashion show. Unfortunately there were some hiccups with the organisation of the show that did put a dampener on things. We were forgotten in the dressing room and ended up starting an hour late. However, the show came off smoothly and we went into the festival afterwards to enjoy the show.
There was a room filled with many stalls with DVDs, manga, merchandise and other things; a stage for interviews; movie room and a maid cafe. I was only interested in going to the maid cafe and checking out the Sailor Moon goods because it's usually quite expensive at these kinds of events. The line to the maid cafe was really long so I went straight to the stalls. There were cardboard cutouts of LoveLive characters and some posters of popular anime. I enjoyed posing in front of a Sailor Moon poster and taking selfies. I also got my picture taken in front of a cherry blossom background and got a print out for free!
In the end, I didn't end up buying any merchandise or going to the cafe. The Sailor Moon DVDs didn't even tempt me. I was hoping for a box set with pretty cover art. Unfortunate but on the positive side, I didn't spend any money.
I really enjoyed dressing up in lolita after a long while and enjoyed participating in the fashion show. I hope I can do it again next year.
Well, it's been a while! I've been back in Australia for a while now (since June 2016) and living in Perth.
Amongst adult-ing for the past nine or ten months, I've not been out in frills or updated the blog. However, I had the most marvellous chance to head out for a high-tea at the Crown Casino this last weekend. Although the weather has been incredibly hot recently, I was enthusiastic about joining the Perth Community for cake and a cup of coffee.
Thoughts on Preparedness...
When the actual day came, the weather was warm but not overly hot. I had decided previously that I would wear Esprit de la Belle Époque de Paris by Baby and wear it with the matching bonnet, which I hadn't had the chance to wear out as yet. I chose a short-sleeve blouse (the same one I picked up at Baby the Stars Shine Bright Kyoto in April last year) because of the summer heat and my go to off-white wrist cuffs. Honestly, I can't say how useful the Innocent World haul has been for my wardrobe. I knew that the brown bag and the shoes would match the dark brown bows on the dress and just like that my outfit had come together. Thanks to my lovely friend Stephanie who gets the all the preparedness awards for bringing a nifty little camera and taking outfit photos of everyone, including mine.
Bonnet: Esprit de la Belle Époch à Paris - BTSSB
Blouse: Spring Garden Chiffon Blouse - BTSSB
Jumperskirt: Esprit de la Belle Époch à Paris - BTSSB
Wrist cuffs: BTSSB
Socks: Esprit de la Belle Époch à Paris - BTSSB
Shoes: Innocent World
Despite being fatigued from the past few weeks, I became incredibly excited when I tried on the bonnet with a wig and the colours worked well together. I even had enough time to paint my nails and put on some fake lashes so I felt extra special.
If there's something I've learnt about getting ready for meets over the years, it's "prepare in advance". Knowing what you will wear, how much time it will take to get to the meeting place and giving yourself enough time to shower, get make up on, get dressed, change bags and do a last minute check makes things much easier on the day. I will decide what time I need to start getting ready and what time I need to leave the house to get to the meeting place in good time a day or two before the event. Conversely, I've found concentrating on getting ready too much really tires me out so I try not to spend too much more time than usual on doing makeup. I'm sure everyone has their own personal balance. How do you feel about getting ready? Is it tiring or invigorating?
High Tea at the Atrium...
I arrived earlier than expected and waited to meet up with everyone. It was lovely! The lobby had a gorgeous decoration in the centre to celebrate Chinese New Year. It became a feature of our outfit photos when everyone arrived.
I hadn't seen many people for a long time. It was wonderful to meet up with some people I hadn't seen in a while and meet some new people in the comm. First, we took obligatory outfit shots and then headed in for high tea. I snapped a little shot of all our frilly butts before we went in to The Atrium.
The high tea was a buffet and needless to say there were a number of cute desserts available. Many of the lolitas were drawn to the many colourful macaroons on offer and I couldn't help getting a plate full of colour coordinated sweets. Afterwards, I chose a plate of savoury food to balance out the sweet. Well, you wouldn't think that such small cakes would take up so much room but I was close to full so after a final plate of some fruit and marshmallows dipped in chocolate I was done! I regretted eating a full breakfast as I felt it undermined my ability to fully enjoy the dessert buffet.
A Conveniently Placed Bar...
After we left the buffet, we chatted for a while - catching up on recent happenings or simply reminding each other of what jobs we do. A member had prepared a prize lottery for us and I got a gorgeous blue hair clip. It was very unexpected and it seemed that everyone thoroughly enjoyed getting hair clips, bangles and even Sailor Moon socks! Finally, we got tired standing around in our tea parties and t-straps (and Mary Janes) so it was onto a couch with a conveniently placed bar right beside it. And that is how the unofficial cocktail meet began. I ordered a cocktail called Purple Rose (pictured below). Again, I was ruled by my desire for colour and thematic coherence.
I was not alone though, and was very pleased when the lolita wearing Angelic Pretty's Melty Ribbon Chocolate ordered a chocolate cocktail.
Chocolate goes best with chocolate
Looking sophisticated in Melty Ribbon Chocolate
Check out @Rafiraga on Instagram
The chatting lasted for another couple of hours and even when we dispersed, we ended up re-grouping in the car park to discuss how UN-lolita most of our cars were. There must be a collective noun for lolitas somewhere - a giggle, a gaggle, a fluff? Perhaps it's a different noun depending on the style - a murder of gothic lolitas, for instance (I'm sure there was a chat about that on LiveJournal at some point). In any case, lolita was just a fashion when I began and it has become a social activity and a friends circle. I'm so thankful to have a group of people who live close by and are into the fashion. It was a while between drinks (literally and figuratively) but I really enjoyed getting back in the frills and having a chat with my frilly friends from the Perth Community.
After realising I had difficulty making a Lolita-fashion outfit that felt summery I have endeavoured to do some research to help me to create a Lolita fashion coordinate for the summer. I'd like to share what I have found.
If there's anything I've learnt from this research it is the idea of "evocation". One of my favourite fashion books My Basic Note by Naho Mihirogi states that "Clothes show what our inner-selves and our life style is like on the outside. Clothes are the film that connect me to society." What you are doing with fashion is creating an image that is interpreted by your audience. In other words, there is no specific summer lolita fashion and only images that evoke the idea of summer.
Historical Summer Fashion
Lolita is said to be based on historical fashions from the Baroque, Rococo and Victorian period. This is roughly the period from the 15th century right through to the turn of the 18th century. That's around 300 years of skirts and sleeve sizes billowing and contracting and waist lines going up and down much like a hot air balloon attached to a carousel1, 2. Of course, one cannot begin to pigeon hole the thoughts and fashions of the whole world over this period of time so please take what I say with a grain of salt and your own research.
It seems from what I can glean that although fashion changed it was not as bound by spring, summer, autumn, winter seasons back in those times. In fact, in many places with relatively milder weather, women were expected to stick it out most of the time in the same type of clothes they would wear other times of the year 3, 4. Of course, coats and shawls etc. could be added in winter if required. Clothing appears to be split up into morning, afternoon and evening wear as well as occasion wear such as mourning and wedding clothing. Other places, such as Virginia, had a less forgiving climate so in summer less layers were worn or different materials, such as lustring, silk and light wool were utilised 5. In general, accessories seem to change from heavier fabrics such as velvet in colder months to straw or linen in warmer months 6, 7, 8. 9.
Here are a few portraits from the period to give you an idea of the changing fashions throughout the times. I've tried to include ones with accessories as much as possible.
Portrait of a Lady - Gabriel Metsu (1667)
Left: Portriat of Marquise de Pompadour - Francois Boucher (1759) Middle: Portrait of a Noblewoman - Donat Nonotte (1760) Right: Portrait of the Marchioness Angela Maria Lombardi - Unknown (c.1710)
Left: Unknown Portait - Howard E. Gray (c. 1885) Middle: Portrait of Josephine Bowes - Louis William Desanges (1858) Right: Portriat of Countess Daru - Jacques Louis David (1810)
Colours
As a general rule in fashion, it's thought that the lighter the colour is, the closer it is to summer and the darker the colour is the closer it is to winter. This, however, this doesn't mean a person is only able to wear white in summer. It means that a lighter version of a colour will be viewed as a "Summer Colour". This particular video, featuring Yoshimasa Hoshiba from B.R. Fashion College, explains this concept quite well using a navy jacket as an example 10. As there are no subtitles I have made a few screen caps below.
"As you increase the amount of white in a colour it approaches a summer colour" - 11
"The navy [on this jacket I'm holding] is more of a Spring/Summer navy and the navy that I'm wearing at the moment falls more on the side of Autumn/Winter navy." - 12
According to Lolita Fashion Book
I happened to get a hold of the Lolita Fashion Book by Misako Aoki when I was in Japan in 2014. As well as information about the lolita fashion basics as well as make-up and hair tutorials, it has this to say about Lolita in Summer.
"The trick is to use accessories made with natural materials..."
Go for less petticoats to make your clothes more breathable
Use natural materials for bags and hats etc. to evoke summer
Pair short sleeves with wrist cuffs for cuteness right down to your hands
Summer Lolita Scan from Lolita Fashion Book by Misako Aoki
In Summary
To summarise the above, wearing the same type of clothes in every season can be an option as a personal preference or even from a historical perspective. There are also methods that can evoke a summer-feel to an outfit. These include choosing light or natural fabrics that breath well such as light cotton, chiffon or linen; choosing colours that are a shade brighter such as a bright navy, light brown and rose and choosing accessories made of natural materials, particularly straw or cotton.
My Idea For Summer Outfits
Personally, I think single colour pieces in cotton finished with white lace could really come into their own in summer outfits. I like the idea of "breathable" not only in the use of materials and outfit but in an evocative sense as well. What I'm talking about is spaced out prints: prints that give the impression that the wind could blow through the space between them. This, I believe, will be the corner stone of my personal summer style in lolita fashion. This as well as Marine themes that evoke the seaside, which is a popular summer activity.
Below are some prints from different brands, which I feel could work well in a summer coordinate. I've tried to chose items from different years and in light and darker colours.
Alice and the Pirates Left: Alice's Wonder Marine Treasure JSK (Navy) 2014 Right: Ansie Princess OP (Dark Pink) 2015
Baby the Stars Shine Bright Left: Lilly Rose Basket Bag (Pink) 2013 Right: Alice Brudges OP (Pink) 2012
Innocent World Left: Peter Rabit Just Waist (Sax) 2016 Right: Carousel of Paris (Ivory) 2014
Summer is almost over and I'm still in lock down in terms of lolita purchasing I don't feel I have the right items to create a good summery lolita outfit so I will have to wait until next year to make an actual summer lolita coordinate with my wardrobe. I hope this article will give you inspiration to find your own summer-style for lolita fashion. If you have any summer lolita fashion coordinates you've done I would love to see them too!
