[diy] Misako Aoko sewing hair accessories

 Oops, I forgot to post my latest projects for Me-Made May this year! I made a blog post about 2 new sewing projects from Misako Aoki’s sewing book volume 1 (reviewed here), a pair of hairbows and a beret! Please check out the post below for more details on how I made these items.

 

 

https://starsbegantofall.com/2026/05/14/fashion-misako-aoki-sewing-book-hair-accessories/

 

 

[review] Bonnets and Sweet Tea southern US lolitas zine - recipe and sewing pattern!

 I received my pre-order of the Bonnets and Sweet Tea – Lolitas of the South zine published in 2025 and I am excited to share my thoughts on this cute little zine and the apron sewing pattern and the recipe that came with it.

 Check out the blog post link below for more, including a review of the apron sewing pattern included with the zine! 

Bonnets and Sweet Tea zine!

 https://starsbegantofall.com/2026/04/16/zine-fashion-food-bonnets-and-sweet-tea-zine-and-apron-and-recipe-review/

 

 

[coord] French afternoon tea classic lolita

 Went to a French afternoon tea and rewore a coord from years ago but with a few new accessories. Wow, I was hoping to dress up in lolita every 2 months but it's been 3 months, my bad. I will do better when things aren't so bad in this world (so never lol).

 

[dress: Bodyline; headband, bracelet: offbrand; socks: Metamorphose Temps de Filles; shoes: Secret/Sosic shop; jacket (not pictured): Zara; earrings: Iconografi; ring: BisouLovely, Liz Lisa, offbrand] 

Check out more details and my review of several local tea places here!

https://starsbegantofall.com/2026/04/04/fashion-french-afternoon-tea-classic-lolita/

 

[coord] Atelier Pierrot purple x black bustle jumperskirt review

 Happy belated International Lolita Day! Here is a very hasty coord for my plus size Atelier Pierrot jumperskirt. Check the link for more.

 

https://starsbegantofall.com/2024/06/03/fashion-atelier-pierrot-plus-size-jumperskirt/

[meet/coord] Okashi-con 2023 - J-fashion Mixer!

 I decided to not post this on my domain anyway, I feel like it's kind of personal stuff that doesn't need to be archived forever on a portfolio site. Lol. Anyway, here are some photos from Okashi-con 2023 and related J-fashion recaps!

Okashicon is a small convention in Pflugerville, Texas and emphasizes inclusivity, Japanese street fashion and a safe and welcoming environment for all Japanese culture fans. This year the con invited Japanese guests Haruka Kurebayashi and Sebastian Masuda, along with a handful of western indie brands and vendors. They have a fashion show, several J-fashion panels, a swapmeet and a fashion mixer each year (when able to meet in person) along with the usual anime panels, cosplay contest, tabletop gaming, maid cafe, voice-actor guests, artist alley and dealer's room. If you are even slightly interested in Japanese fashion and kawaii culture and have the means and desire to travel to Texas in the summer, you could do much worse (I mean that literally lol).

One of the panels I went to is the Lolita Loteria! It's basically bingo but with lolita related imagery, some of which were translated to Spanish but some not for entertainment factor. I won the first round and got a cute little sweet!

Unlike a traditional lolita brand-sponsored tea party, the fashion mixer is open to all Japanese street fashions such as lolita, decora, ouji, gyaru, fairy-kei, rave, etcetera. This year's theme is space uchuu, featuring the cutest space girl mascot and very creative table decorations! The favor bags for attendees are hefty ones with tons of space-themed treats and small goodies from the vendors and fashion guests, kudos to the staff for putting it together!

 

[coord] Black History Month gothic outfit

 February is Black History Month in America and even though this post doesn't actually help Black people around the world in any significant way, I'd like to give a review of lolita and gothic pieces from black-owned businesses and creators through this gothic outfit. This review is unpaid, I bought these pieces with my own money to support fellow indie artists and POC business owners. My hope is that you are so impressed by this coord you click on the links and support black creators all throughout the year, every year.

[JSK, tights: Haenuli x Mossbadger; beret: Onicake; glasses, ring: iconografi; choker, boots: In Control clothing; earrings, necklace: Asami Moon; blouse, bat collar: Elegy Clothing; ring: BisouLovely, Fantastic Grim, Liz Lisa, H&M, Claire's maybe]

Obviously not all of the pieces were from black-owned businesses, for some reason I couldn't find a great hair accessory other than the beret that came with the dress which I didn't pre-order, so I decided to use this perfectly fitting beret I bought from Onicake at an artist alley, not a black-owned business that I'm aware of. And the Liz Lisa and H&M rings are filler rings because I like to wear at least 6 rings in a coord if possible, obviously not black-owned.

The dress and tights (that you can't see lol) were pre-ordered and are fantastic quality, with sturdy fabric and flawless construction details including adjustable straps, back shirring and corset lacing and of course, the gorgeous mystical tarot print.  The tights are thick and high waisted but very comfortable and stretchy, with an equally detailed print of corset lacing on the front. Mossbadger also makes other items like jewelry which I have purchased and love.

The blouse, custom made by Elegy Clothing, is made of a cotton blend and feels smooth against my skin which is rare these days.  The bat wing collar is sewn of velvet and lined, very versatile for gothic coords and just happens to fit the mood of this witchy coord well. I own two more blouses from them and highly recommend their work, well worth the money.

I was so happy to get these pieces from Asami Moon on etsy, that witch necklace with a moon centerpiece was perfect. The sun/moon tarot earrings are a bit pastel, but they fit right into the cosmic tarot theme of the dress anyway.

The choker and boots were purchased from In Control Clothing, which specializes in cute, gothic and kawaii clothing and accessories. I don't see myself using the Ouija choker much as it's a little too hardcore, but it was on sale and I'm glad I bought it. The boots are high heeled ankle-high booties that are generally uncomfortable for me, but I do like the classy look. Now that I think about it, I probably should have gotten the bat-themed boots, I just didn't want such a high platform that will be hidden by the dress length anyway.

Bisoulovely makes creative jewelry with anime and game inspirations, everyone probably knows about them by now.  You can't see it here, but I'm wearing the Aurora gold ring. Not related to the coord, but it's just so dainty and pretty I like to wear it with all my lolita coords.

I got a ring and some earrings for another coord from Fantastic Grim on etsy, but decided to wear a steampunk clock gears ring to round out the look with something dark and mysterious.

Finally, these amazing star sunglasses are from Iconografi, who sells lots of anime and game themed jewelry and accessories. I also am wearing a purple cute star ring here.  Check out their selection, you will definitely find something you like.

I am also wearing makeup from black-owned businesses!  My eyeshadow is from Makeup Scientist, my lipstick, concealer and blush/contour is from Beauty Bakerie, and my powder and highlighter is from Fenty Beauty. Highly recommend these particular products, I dunno about the rest of their stuff though, don't ask me.

Final thoughts: I actually attempted this coord before, but it wasn't great, so I never posted those photos. Then I found this wig on clearance from Michaels and tried again with a few more purchases specifically for a witch coord. The wig is clearly cheap and low-quality, my neck seems lost in all the ruffles and ribbons, yet this coord somehow looks elegant and edgy and mysterious. Kudos to me for not giving up on my vision and of course kudos to these amazing black artists and creators and business owners for their hard work! Check out their shops! Or else!

[discussion] dream dresses wishlist

Well, I now have fabric for 2 dresses (I bought more fabric on sale, what) and plenty of unworn brand/indie dresses, and 2 more preorders coming in. Though I probably won't get to posting about those until next year when they arrive. For now, I want to discuss all of my dream dresses, aka dresses (and items) I would love to own and would treasure forever, since it's the holidays and wishlist-making season.

1. Sakizo x Mary Magdalene Perfume Bottle JSK (2012) (already got)

• This is my favorite dress of all time because it is from a classic lolita brand that is hard to obtain outside Japan, one of the original classic brands alongside Victorian Maiden, and it is also designed by one of my favorite lolita-adjacent and fantasy artists, Sakizo. I could not ask for a more perfect dress, and in my desired colorway, mint whip. The pink, purple and brown colorways are also nice, but the mint color sets off the brown and pink in the perfume bottles just right. I was in shock to find this dress on lacemarket in the US and I immediately bought it for $381 (about $100 more than the actual price). Note the one piece dress is also wonderful, but I think it was tighter on the waist and also I felt the bib collar was too overwhelming. The JSK fits me still and is flattering and can even go sweet or hime instead of classic.  Anyway, once I got this dress, I didn't need any other dress, other dresses were just "nice to have" dresses, not dream dresses lol. Check my latest coord of this JSK in this post here and my first attempt to coord it here!

2.  any leopard print dress (currently looking for Angelic Pretty Rebecca Leopard as of October 2021)

• I love leopard print and I've been collecting leopard print dresses as they get released. Metamorphose is one of my favorite brands for releasing horribly tacky prints such as camo and leopard print. Angelic Pretty and Baby have also released some leopard print items over the years, especially in the form of fake fur accessories. I have collected leopard print from Taobao brands and also non-lolita Japanese brands like Swimmer. I feel like at this point, I've completed my collection (though I know I missed some fur accessories and Taobao releases) and will just attempt to buy the dresses as they come out. But should the opportunity arrive, I would love to get different cuts of some of them to fit better. For example, Jewel Leopard low waist JSK's zipper broke the first time I put it on and I haven't gotten around to fixing it because I hate zippers but I don't trust a tailor. Girly Leopard OP is too tight on the waist, I would like to get the JSK instead. Now I am waiting for the Rebecca Leopard to release in the US Angelic Pretty store, but not sure if I can get it since all cuts/styles are already sold out in Japan, yikes! Guess I'll wait for a scalper to resell it.

3. wa-lolita from Metamorphose, older styles pre 2014

• Metamorphose is the only major brand known for wa-lolita, from what I recall. A few of the gothic brands occasionally release kimono-fabric items such as skirts and purses, and Angelic Pretty does release wa or qi lolita dresses but they're more like custom made wedding dresses so I don't really count those. And of course, Taobao shops, for some reason the Chinese designers are ok with traditional Japanese clothing inspirations. (FYI, I feel anyone of any background can wear wa-lolita or qi-lolita if they wear it properly and at the right occasion, but that's my opinion as a Vietnamese-American, others can disagree and still be correct as this really depends on the environment and culture around you.)  Anyway, I already own my current favorites from Meta, Daydreaming Goldfish and Kaleidoscope of Fortune Deer, but I would like to get the older dresses that are full traditional kimono prints rather than cutesy illustrated border or accent prints. Those are harder to find second-hand in good condition, and also they most likely don't fit me now lol, so that's why they're on my lolibrary wishlist. This particular pink and red dress shown above matches a random hairbow I bought on Lacemarket, so I would like to get it first... However the waist seems to be 4cm too small (on a good day). Oh well!

4. Roland jacket or the "Alucard" Vargossa coat

• I have to admit I don't have the face for ouji anymore since I'm getting rounder, but it would be nice to have an Atelier Boz piece like the versatile Roland jacket. And I would never say no to the so-called Alucard coat by Alice and the Pirates, which I believe is the Vargossa coat. Should have bought the Roland jacket before Boz closed their shop, but I still have hope Aatp will re-release an Alucard-like coat someday since they're not easy to find secondhand... Of course, it's too hot in Texas to wear coats a lot, so they will be worn only twice a year at most, but I would cherish them dearly.

That's my current wishlist of dream items for 2021!  If you see any of these being sold secondhand for a reasonable markup and in good condition (doesn't have to be perfect), let me know! If any of you are looking for wishlist items, I hope you get them this season as well. Take care.

Edit - OH WAIT. I forgot one more dress, it's a denim dress, yes, you got it, I want a jolita dress lol. I believe Atelier Boz made one, but yes, that's the ultimate dress for me!

[walkthrough] how to sew a dress from otome no sewing - image heavy!

In case anyone is interested in how to sew from Otome no Sewing, I've made a quick walkthrough of how I made my recent koi fish jumperskirt (Otome no Sewing volume 14, page 15 #25). This tutorial is meant for intermediate sewers who have sewing machines, if you are a true beginner, I recommend picking up a sewing book or checking out newbie tutorials on Youtube.

For those of you who are little more experienced, I highly recommend Mode a la Belle's youtube channel and blog for detailed instructions on how to sew from Otome no Sewing, as well as Simplicity and drafting your own patterns. They also scan in and generate dress patterns, here's the jsk that I chose to make that you can actually purchase at their online shop and print out your size range and make on your own. A true lolita sewist's resource!

If you can't read Japanese, which I'm assuming is most people reading this English blog, here is a very helpful blog that translates common terms and whole patterns to get you started. I've used their tutorials and patterns before, would recommend~

http://www.japanesesewingbooks.com/2012/01/17/understanding-a-typical-japanese-sewing-pattern/

Many other lolitas have posted sewing videos and pattern reviews on blogs, they come up in a quick google search. But here is my walkthrough and helpful notes and learning points (not mistakes).

Preparation Steps

• Select your design and gather materials needed. 
• You will need minimum 2 yards/meters for blouses/skirts, and 3 to 4 yards/meters for dresses so be aware.
• I only bought 2 yards of cotton so I left out the waist ties and used cotton muslin as strap and bodice linings and shortened the ruffles.
• Trace the desired size pattern on scrap paper or draft the pattern as instructed, and label each piece clearly, including grain lines and notches and placement markings.
• Otome no Sewing only goes from Asian small to Asian "large "(which is like a medium petite in Western sizes) so to draft a larger size, follow a resizing tutorial such as this one.
• This pattern had the bodice front and front facing in the included pattern paper. I taped together scrap paper and traced out the large size pattern bodice. All the other pattern pieces were basically rectangles, so I marked them out on the fabric with chalk and marker.
• Add seam allowance (1/2 inch, 5/8 inch, etc) to appropriate areas or remind yourself to add seam allowances and don't forget. Common mistake!
• Optional but highly recommended: make a mock-up or muslin out of scrap fabric, or drape the paper on your dressform or your own self to make sure you won't need adjustments before cutting into your final fashion fabric.
• Here's my materials photo for reference! Note, I only have a small household Janome sewing machine, not an industrial and certainly not a serger. That affects the decisions I make when sewing lolita dresses. 

[coord] Singing Deer - Qi Lolita look

I stayed up late last Sunday to take some test photos of one of my newest dresses from Taobao brand, Long Ears Sharp Ears! I purchased their Chinese New Years lucky pack during the February Garnet Gateau event and it was shipped EMS to me last week. I purchased random wrist cuffs and nail decals as well, but the wrist cuffs were out of stock. I am interested to see how these nail decals work out. But to the lucky pack, I got a high waist jumperskirt, a blouse, and a matching entire JSK + headdress + wristcuffs set. A pretty good deal even with the shipping costs. I happened to have blue and black Chinese accessories lying around, so I wore the qi lolita high waist dress to try it out.

[JSK: Long Ears Sharp Ears; hair flowers: off brand, Daiso; earrings: Metamorphose; necklace: Forever 21; blouse, red tassels, fan: Taobao; flower brooch: MarrKuma; bracelet: handmade; rings: Bisou Lovely, Etsy; tights: Taobao; shoes: Taobao]

I think this picture below is the original version of Singing Deer JSK II, it has an embroidered flap on the front that the dress I got doesn't have, which is fine by me for a lucky pack item. The flap doesn't seem to match the dress as much, it's a little too light-colored, so I don't miss it. The original headdress is a ribbon and roses hairband which looked meh, I would not have paid for it, I shall make do with whatever I have.

This dress features detachable off-shoulder sleeve ruffles, a detachable sparkly tulle overskirt, as well as plain waist ties that I took off and attached to my hair flowers. The full shirring and empire waist is quite comfortable, however combined with the below knee length makes me look pregnant... But that is the price you pay for hanfu-inspired lolita dresses lol. I don't think even the skinniest girls can pull it off, so you just have to embrace it and enjoy a lot of food. But I like the ethereal print of a deer deity and floating lanterns, very Chinese and works with many colors, such as red, blue, black and gold. I didn't intend to wear the blouse and tights and shoes, I think all the black turned me into a black blob from afar, but kinda ties in with the night forest scenery of the print.  Also they were just what I had laying around that matched the dress best. I was happy to use the fan (even though it definitely did not match the theme) and the umbrella (bought for a cosplay) though.

Now one thing I do like about many qi lolita jumperskirts and one-piece dresses is that you can wear it without a blouse and it doesn't look as weird as wa lolita dresses would! See below. Obviously a lot of qi lolita dresses follow the qipao/cheongsam fitted sleeveless high-neck bodice style, which naturally lends itself to no blouses, but even the high-waist ancient hanfu style which traditionally has long floaty sleeves I often see worn by the Chinese models sleeveless, or with a sheer shawl or cape. Is it simply too hot where they're taking photos? Well, that works for me, living in Texas!

Anyway, I would like to get nicer photos of this dress outside in a garden or by water, but I doubt that will happen even outside a pandemic due to Texas being ugly and I'm not great at posing due to bad posture, so bathroom photos it is.

One last thought for your consideration... can non-Chinese and Japanese wear qi-lolita and wa-lolita? The answer is, if Baby and Meta and Taobao resellers sell it to you overseas, you can wear it. Kimono and qipao or hanfu are normal clothes that working class people wear, and the ones being sold by lolita brands do not have ceremonial or religious significance, they are not selling you the Asian equivalents of indigenous tribal feather headdresses reserved for their most honored and elite. As long as you do 10 minutes of research on how to wear kimono or hanfu properly (always right over left), you don't yellow-face or get mixed up between China and Japan and Korea and other Asian countries, you should be fine. Lolita is already so gaudy and far removed from the original clothing style with its puffy knee-length petticoats silhouette, wa-lolita would just look like a costume or cosplay to the average non-lolita Asian person, rather than anything worth throwing a fit about.

But I am Vietnamese, I cannot speak for China and Japan, and this is only my opinion based on what I've seen, including historical exchange between the East and West in which people experimented with different fabrics and dress styles from both hemispheres. You, fair reader, should always do your own research and ask people from that specific country or culture if you have doubts about your place in it. If you still have doubts, simply don't do it, there are tons of other non-specific styles that would look great on anyone, trust me. But if you do your research and wear the legally obtained item in good faith in an appropriate setting (e.g., not a wedding) without any cringe behavior, then you have learned something about another culture not familiar to you and are on the path to enlightenment and have helped an independent (mostly) business thrive.  That's basically a win/win situation.

[shopping] experiences with Taobao and Chinese brands (part 1)

I thought I'd provide an update to Chinese brands aka Taobao brands since my last post 5 years ago. First a general update since the heyday of the 2010s, lolita (and alternative street fashion in general) has somewhat declined in popularity in Japan. Several brands have gone out of business and closed permanently, or consolidated to cooperative/collective retailers such as Atelier Pierrot. You no longer see as many teenagers or students wearing outlandish styles out in the streets, which could be due to the original fashion pioneers from the 90s growing up and having full time jobs or just trends cycling out, like skinny jeans in the West. We could be due for a revival this decade, who knows, let's hope so!

So what does this mean for lolita, an higher-cost and labor intensive fashion style that is surely not easy to fund year to year? It seems like the major brands such as Baby the Stars Shine Bright and Angelic Pretty have been supported partially by overseas customers, such as the West (America and Europe) and now also China. China is a prime market because of their significant number of consumers with the money to buy imported goods. However, China is also a manufacturing center of its own that has experience producing for the Japanese brands, and thus many Chinese entrepreneurs have successfully ventured into the lolita market tailored for their own lolitas. The first attempts may have been the object of much scrutiny to us who have been following the major brands for years, but as the market grew, so did the quality. 

Now as a word of caution, there could still be Taobao shops out there that sell dresses that don't look exactly like on their site photos or are straight up crappy replicas that don't fit any human body. So you can potentially get a cheap poorly made product not worth the shipping and custom fees and taxes. But many more Chinese brands have been able to secure the means to produce items that are comparable in quality to the original Japanese brands for the rapidly growing number of Chinese lolitas, and those brands are worth the effort to obtain a custom-sized coord that not many other lolitas will be wearing.

Onto the original and reseller sites! Ones in English!

• 1. Fanplus Friend / Neo-Ludwig (https://www.fanplusfriend.com/)
• The OG Chinese brand that all lolitas know, with their own website and an Etsy shop since 2014 for easy buying. I don't consider them "Taobao" as they have always been a successful company on their own site. They stock petticoats, cage skirts, custom sized blouses for women and men, steampunk items as well as their own original dresses. They also produce costumes, kids clothing and non-lolita related historical clothing, like silk pajamas. I have a blouse and 2 hats from them, but my favorite item is this steampunk underbust corset. Read the Etsy reviews for customer comments on quality, service and sizing.
• 
• 2. Clobba Online (https://www.clobbaonline.com/)
• This is a reseller of many different Chinese brands, one of the first English sites I remember using. I used them to buy my off-brand lolita shoes (such as Antaina and Sosic Shop) and now they stock a lot of other items, too, including dress reservations. I haven't used them in years, so I don't know what the quality/service is like now, but probably on par with other resellers.
• 3. Lolita Wardrobe (https://www.lolitawardrobe.com/)
• A more recent reseller based in China, hosting a large number of brands and an easy to use site in English. They have a slight emphasis on ouji compared to other sites, but otherwise the same as other resellers, using the actual Taobao brand's photos and measurements, etc for their listings. I've never had a problem with the service or items not matching and I've used them 4 times already for wonderfully unique dresses and accessories, to be reviewed in part 2 of this series. It's a lot lol...
• 4. Devil Inspired (https://www.devilinspired.com/)
• Another new reseller based in China. They do carry similar lolita brands as Lolita Wardrobe, but they also stock kawaii and vintage non-lolita outfits and wigs and makeup. I think the main difference is the number/types of releases from each brand differs, so one brand preorder found on one site may not be found on the other, so it's a good idea to check both if you are searching for something specific. I just got my first preorder in and will review it later. Note that they only send 1 package at a time, so you have to buy separately if you can't wait for the preorder to arrive 3 months in the future and want the items already in stock and ready to ship sooner.
• 5. Souffle Song (http://www.soufflesong.com)
• This is an older Chinese brand with their own site in English, probably the second purchase I've made from China. This may be the company that left an empty cookie wrapper in the packing box lol. Souffle Song has intricate, richly colored prints, custom sizing, reasonable prices, and can be found on many reseller sites, too. I bought the Arabian Nights special discount jumperskirt  in purple, so not as fancy as the version below, very plain with no lace or ruffles, you may remember from this post here.
• 
  
  
  
  
• Random retail sites
• You can find resellers of lolita or lolita-adjacent brands on yesstyle.com and also aliexpress.com. But the quality/service/shipping is even less guaranteed than the lolita-specific resellers and you never know if the profit is really going to the actual manufacturer/designer or not. I bought a Sosic Shop pair of shoes at Aliexpress for 33.35 but I could have gotten them from clobbaonline for 29.95. Now the Aliexpress listing has disappeared (very common lol). So a lot more sketchy in my opinion, buyer beware. Personally knowing what I know now, I would advise to only buy something small if you're already buying another non-lolita item like household goods or skin care and don't care much about the quality or when it gets to you.
• Lolita Collective (https://store.lolitacollective.com/)
• Lolita Collective focuses on Western indie brands with a few Korean and Chinese and smaller Japanese brands, but they now do drop-ships for more Chinese brands and include otome/gyaru fashion. The store owners provide friendly and prompt service, but for items they do not ship directly from their warehouse which you will see on the listing details, you can be waiting for weeks/months, so be aware of the timeline. 
• Long Ears and Sharp Ears (https://lnsears.storenvy.com/)
• I recently ordered a lucky pack with them, but this is a brand featured on other reseller sites that has their own little storenvy shop for their preorders and current stock listed. All for the convenience to us English-speakers! I love their wispy and elegant and detailed designs, very imaginative and Rococco style, will review my pack when I get it.
• Superbuy and other shopping services
• There are several shopping services out there that can purchase directly from Taobao shops that have no English sites for you. This is the case for items that cannot be found on the reseller sites, such as preorders or rare stuff. I used Superbuy to buy some shoes and everything was fine, but the cost of Airmail shipping combined with my cosplay and merch purchases was easily as expensive as the worth of the order... I honestly don't know if I want to deal with shipping from Asia unless it's the sea mail method just because EMS is so delayed and DHL can get much more expensive. As a final note, you can't easily browse Taobao shops unless you have an account. I don't have an account so I'm just searching other people's links, not an efficient method... 

Wow, this is a long post already and I only included 2 photos and no detailed product reviews lol. Stay tuned for part two in which I will go over the Taobao-specific brands in more detail that were not already reviewed in previous posts.

[shopping links] Supporting Black-Owned Businesses in J-fashion

Happy Black History Month! Please remember to follow BIPOC who have been active and innovating in alternative and Japanese fashions. I'll be reviewing my purchases from independent Black-owned businesses so you can decide if you want to invest in their products as well. Also, be mindful and do not buy things all at once, many of these businesses have just one employee, so they would not be able to handle a huge influx of orders. Try to buy in the spring or fall (the slow seasons) instead!

I also have an ongoing twitter thread that I add to for boosting which includes beauty and home products if you're not into fashion or just want gifts for friends. 

https://twitter.com/atelierinsomnie/status/1345195524811579392

First up, Moshimelon at https://moshimelon.com, a NBPOC crew with a focus on cute kawaii art and clothing and accessories. I bought some pastel and menhera accessories for when I just want to look cute, and was very pleased with the quality of the art and fulfillment.

Next is Kid Taro Studios at https://www.kidtarostudio.com/. Their shop is currently down, I actually bought a cute resin glitter shaker charm from them that isn't pictured. Feel free to follow their twitter for hip and cute art perfect for decora kei.

Also see Plus Size Kawaii Fashion at https://www.etsy.com/shop/PlusHiiKawaii. They have plus size lolita and fairy kei clothing and accessories, along with resin jewelry that is both cute and creepy. I cannot wait to wear my strawberry shortcake barrette.

Finally, consider Elegy clothing at http://www.elegyclothing.com/lolita, also currently closed for new orders, for all of your gothic and lolita needs. I got two custom-sized blouses that look professional (certainly 1000 times better than I can sew lol) and feel soft and comfortable to wear but don't wrinkle as easily as cotton.

Oops, forgot to add this to my Black-owned businesses thread, it was in my small businesses thread, but Miss Candyholic at https://misscandyholic.com also sells a variety of clothing, accessories and masks for lolita and fairy kei fans. Look at these adorable San/rio facemasks! Check out their plush purses too.

I actually have bought from a few other black-owned businesses from the before times, you know, when we went to cons around other people unmasked, but don't have any recent purchases to write an honest review from so they were not included.

Also check out Lolita Collective for different sellers around the world specializing in a variety of styles that you can get all from one handy dandy site. https://store.lolitacollective.com I especially like Mossbadger's masks and earrings here.

Anyway, feel free to ask more questions on my social media if you want my honest reviews! I will continue to buy more stuff (but slowly as to not overwhelm anyone of course) and share haul pics on twitter and instagram!

[review] taobao and Chinese brands in general

Taobao and group orders from Chinese designers have only been a recent thing for me. Before, in the early days of yore, you were advised against anything coming from China, for fear they would be cheaply made copies that barely looked like the stock photo (which was most likely stolen or edited), or replicas with ink that would run at the slightest dampness or faded colors or backwards writing. I had been content buying from the Japanese brand sites, or official American/English-speaking resellers of Korean and indie brands. (Technically most of the above are probably partially made in China anyway.) Bodyline was my closest contact to mainland China for a while lmao.

Last year, I bought replica shoes and petticoats from a Canadian reseller and an English site, and I have made a successful purchase through Aliexpress, which lists some Taobao shops in English instead of Chinese. Everything went well, the shoes looked great and fit fine, the price plus shipping was a reasonable 50% off buying the brand shoe. Shoes are a no-brainer, though, as long as you measure your foot precisely, the stock photos can't really be misleading of what you're going to get.

I then ordered off English version sites of Chinese brands some blouses and dresses and a corset. Customer service was excellent, the value was reasonable, shipping not too bad. The items were as described, and came with a free necklace and extra handmade bows, as well as an empty cookie wrapper (which I guess a packer was snacking on lol.) Definitely would order again from these sites, in conclusion.

This year, I dared to do a group order from Taobao with some local lolitas using a shopping service for things other than shoes, although I did order more shoes lol. The process was much like using a Japanese shopping service at first, for example, ordering the thing you want in a language you did not know after much painful searching and trying to google translate everything. Putting in the order with the shopping service. Getting an estimate. Paying up. Waiting for the order to arrive (and for custom orders to be made.) Getting an estimate for shipping, which almost always had to be EMS. Paying up for that with much wincing and regret. Then actually getting the order, hoping against hope it won't be damaged or stuck in customs. Finally, in this situation, getting the items from the person who arranged the order with the shopping service. A much longer ordeal than buying directly from the brand or their official resellers, even without the language barrier. I had been in no hurry for these items, of course, but the months of waiting was gnawing at the back of my mind. The items I got looked as described, but within 1 day of wearing them out, a button fell off on a blouse and a piece of the sole of a shoe broke off as well. Finally, I was made subject to the adage of "you get what you pay for" or "buyer beware." (Which, to be honest, applied to many items bought from the actual Japanese brands, too.) I also felt like the shipping was unusually high, even for EMS and heavy items, but I was aware that overseas prices had increased by a lot, so I was ready to bite the bullet for it.

Did I feel like this group order was worth it? To be honest, no. I much prefer the customer service of brands especially the ones with stock in the country, or the cheapness of shipping from secondhand sellers in America, or the ease and timeliness of ordering from an English version of the Chinese brand. There are plenty of amazing Taobao only Chinese shops with custom sized dresses and unique prints and accessories, but I am not willing to wait months and pay out the nose for shipping for any of them when I could potentially find secondhand brand for the same price and much faster, from someone who speaks the same language. I'll just make my own accessories, honestly.

I am currently in the middle of another taobao order for some aristocrat jacket and a Mucha print dress. How will this shake out? We shall see...

[review] Baby the Stars Shine Bright sale purchases (San Francisco store)

This is my first unboxing type of post, I don't really do them, but figured if I have a lolita blog, I should write about at least one! I ordered (for the first time) from the San Francisco USA branch of Baby the Stars Shine Bright which had a sale going on during January. I didn't have anything in mind after spending for my ouji outfit for Ikki-con at the Japanese webshop, but I did find some pleasant surprises on sale and thought why not lmao. The online purchase and EMS shipping progressed smoothly and on time with no damages, so no issues there.


I bought the Florence Medicine Chest Louisa jumperskirt in ivory with matching ivory barette, Alice and the Pirates brown/ivory stripe socks and Pirates cuffs in off white.

A photo of the package contents, complete with free Baby logo sticker (sorry for the blurry camera phone nighttime shots)

close-up of the print on the bottom of the dress. I'm not so fond of the scallop hem or striped ribbons, the one-piece and the other jumperskirt looked better in that regard, but both were just too over the top for my tastes. But I love the antique bottles of medicine and statue of Florence Nightingale here, it's not often you find a pharmacy-themed dress.

close-up of the pirates cuffs, which unfortunately had every single snap button loosely sewn and about to detach. I'll have to re-attach them if I want to wear them without them falling apart. I guess that's why they were on clearance? 

test coords of the dresses while trying to justify re-wearing this hime wig again. As with my numerous brown/tan/off-white/ivory dresses, it's difficult to find items to match perfectly in color. I tried my best with a light and dark outfit, but I feel like I'd wear neither one out, there are too many shades of brown and ivory and tan to work with, so it looks busy and blocky. (Also that wig.) I'd say the one on the left looks best, maybe an ivory jacket and shoes would pull it together better?

Well, let's take a look at the sample coord from the brand, see how they did it!

Yeah... even using pink and off-white, that's not much better. I wish the chest and skirt bows were detachable, then we wouldn't have to worry about the dark brown stripes and just concentrate on the lighter shades, but there's all that dark wood on the bottom of the dress, too?

Anyway, I'd say this was an all right purchase. Except for the cuffs which need to be fixed, everything was of a decent quality and reasonable sale price for new, in season items. However, I think I may want to find the rest of the Florence accessories (tights, possibly necklace and bracelet or crazy nurse hat) to make this coord even somewhat cohesive. Buuut... that's probably impossible, I'll just have to make do like I always do.