[coords] dressing up with skirts

I think skirts are an essential part of a lolita wardrobe, but a little trickier to coord with today's lolita trends. With a jumperskirt or one piece, you throw on the dress and 75% of the work is done, but with a skirt, you have a lot more areas to pay attention to, at least if you are going for a full coord and not a casual outfit (which is what I usually use my skirts for.)

Some of the more in-depth lolita guides emphasize a detailed pretty blouse to make the top half of your coord interesting, and of course, they address the eternal question, to tuck in the shirt into the skirt waistband or not. (Personally, I usually tuck, but some blouses have frilly hems that are meant to go over the skirt and some skirts just have plain shirred waistbands that should be covered, however, I must be too short because doing that never looks great on me.) Furthermore, jewelry, accessories, vests, jackets and boleros can be contemplated if you just don't have a very interesting blouse to wear. Otherwise, go full casual and wear a t-shirt or cutsew or tank top lmao.

Here is my latest attempt at a coord using items I haven't worn yet. I got a new hime wig in a chestnut brown color, but it doesn't look much darker than my previous wig, lol, at least it was only 10 dollars. Probably not the best hairdo ever, but I think the rest of the outfit worked pretty well, trying to use a lot of gold and off-white and pink. That knit sleeveless top is somewhat difficult to work into a typically accepted lolita outfit, I've never seen anyone wear it out anyway, so I'm proud of that!

Metamorphose skirt and knit top, Secret Shop shoes, offbrand purse, jacket, blouse, tights, jewelry.

Anyway, I like this challenge and will be trying to coordinate the rest of my skirts in the future, in both casual and not casual way like in this post.

[discussion] Mana and the Gothic Lolita Bible

If you haven't heard the news, Mana recently posted on his blog/twitter that he will no longer be in the Gothic Lolita Bible. I told my brother (who knows only a little about the fashion) and he said it was the equivalent to not mentioning God in the actual Bible. Because it pretty much is! Mana was instrumental in both the creation of the GLB and popularizing gothic lolita (and aristocrat) with his brand Moi Meme Moitie back in the early 2000s, and he has featured in every single issue since.

I wish I knew more about the reasoning behind this. Was Moi Meme Moitie no longer popular or profitable? Did they really find someone better than Mana to represent the style? Is he getting too old and frumpy? Was he asking too much money? Arguing with the staff? All of the above, I imagine there could be no lesser reason to cut him out.

As I've mentioned, I got into this fashion because of Mana and his brand, and I felt that the Gothic Lolita Bible is now going into territory that personally makes me feel unwelcome and old. I don't want to sound like some decrepit J-fashion hipster from the FRUITS-era, but welp, that's exactly what I am, lmao. I feel like the lolita fashion is now an industry meant to make money, and not so much to foster imagination and freedom and personal style. I do love the prints and release hype of the big brands, but that's not what I really love about lolita. I actually admired how Mana kept his style, however weird, in spite of the changes of the other lolita brands. That's the stubbornness I like!

Models come and go, and even though it hurt to see my favorite musicians no longer in the GLB, at least I have Mana, I thought. Wrongly. I didn't want to see him go out with a whimper like that, he deserved more, like idk, a big farewell photoshoot or something.

What will lolita be like now that Mana and his brand have left the Gothic Lolita Bible? Isn't it strange how Baby went back to their classic old-school roots with their new line, but somehow the GLB won't feature Mana anymore? Do you think Moi Meme Moitie is irrelevant these days? Do people dress in aristocrat anymore outside of Japan? How has the music scene changed in Japan from visual kei to idek, post-grunge and did this affect the GLB's decision?

Just... nothing about this makes sense. Someone who has more info, please let me know!

[coords] Black x Ivory Innocent World

Here are some latest coords from a couple of private meetups this weekend. I didn't attend the community's Valentine's/birthday meet up at the Brazilian steak house because I had other stuff to do for Chinese New Year and also didn't want to pay that much for food if my pals wouldn't be there. But heck yeah, I would have loved to gorge on endless meat with lovely girls!!!

Finally wearing this cute striped IW dress, lmao. The black is a little faded and the ivory is a little darker than most ivory colors, but from a distance it worked! I keep telling myself that.

Innocent World dress, socks, blouse, Angelic Pretty purse, offbrand hairbow, jewelry, jacket and shoes

Since this was the next day, I rewore the socks and shoes, lmao, but it made a much better look for this IW apartment dress.

Innocent World dress, socks, blouse, Angelic Pretty purse, offbrand hair accessories, jacket, shoes and fur collar

Wanna see the first time I wore it? It looked pretty bad, bleh legwear, non matching purse, I'm so glad I improved since then. Practice makes almost perfect, so just gotta keep on trying!