Finally posted my summer ILD art market tripletting coord, Cyber Neon Girl jsk in the black colorway from Metamorphose Temps de Filles! Only my fellow lolitas can understand that sentence completely, maybe, lol. Check out my blog for my rundown of this coord, and yes that's Steve Buscemi Starscream on my bag.
https://starsbegantofall.com/2026/06/26/fashion-cyber-neon-girl-for-summer-ild/
Check out my latest entry on my Barbiecore lookbook video! I came up with 5 very spontaneous pink and Barbie-related outfits and painstakingly created a 4 second video using a soundclip from the Barbie movie. It seriously took hours to make a short video lol. But I love most of the outfits and wanted to share.
I didn't do a post for April as I was getting ready for an overseas trip that was so stressful lol. But I'm back now. I don't want to dress up because it's humid out, but I had this inspired idea brewing for a while and I want to share it before I forget.
[alt text for readers: titled Japanese Fashion Spectrum (effort versus accrual). Left side states lifestyle (gyaru, hime gyaru, agejo) with a picture of a hime gyaru model, captioned "the most effort; hair, makeup, nails or skin upkeep. The center states "vibes" (jirai kei, larme, mori kei, any trend on tiktok probably, western styles - cottagecore, etc) with a picture of a larme kei model, captioned "amount of effort and clothes vary as long as the vibe is recognizable and complete". The right side states wardrobe (lolita, historical styles) with a picture of a lolita model wearing a red jumperskirt, captioned "the most stuff: clothes, accessories, shoes, structure garments"]
Obviously this is a very high level overview of Japanese street fashion, not including the fact that most common fashion items for Japanese women are baggy neutral clothing straight out of Uniqlo. There can be variables between substyles within each category, but for a general summary, I think this chart differentiates the most popular fashion trends succinctly for the new or casual fan of Japanese fashion.
Let's start with the lifestyle, or most effort side, in which I placed gyaru even though it's no longer popular in Japan (although it seems to be making a slight comeback with idols and Korean or Chinese trends.) This includes hime gyaru, hime kaji, agejo, maybe even shironuri, all of the styles in which personal individual effort is required, especially for makeup and hair, and depending on the substyle, skin and nails care. Clothes and jewelry are of course important, but if you didn't make an attempt with makeup or hair, you really did not complete the assignment, whereas if you have the perfect hair/makeup, you can wear more casual normie clothes and still be recognized as a gyaru. I call this lifestyle because the time put in makes the style, which takes a part of your day, as you need to either learn the skills or go to a salon or have a friend do it for you. The question is, if you decide to not wear makeup for a while because you are having a rash or eczema flareup for example, are you in the fashion? Many gyarus would say they compensate by putting extra effort into their hair or nails or clothes and maybe do some gyaru life stuff, like blogging or shopping or socializing. But the appeal and fun of these fashions is the time/effort in the upkeep of personal appearance. (Addendum, this is not necessarily a daily lifestyle fashion, although it usually is for many gyarus because they love makeup that much, however, some fashions do aim for fairly long-lasting changes to their appearance like bleaching or perming hair or tanning, and that's key to this fashion versus the other 2 categories which are much more temporary or require no change.)
I titled the middle of the spectrum "vibes" for lack of a better word. This includes many smaller street fashion trends that pop up in Harajuku and Shibuya, some of which include jirai kei, larme, mori kei, cult party kei, yami kawaii, menhera, etc although I might classify decora more towards wardrobe. This category also includes tiktok/douyin trends and western trends, like cottage-core, history bounding, dark academia, royalty core, ren faire, etc. It does not include established Western subcultures such as goth and punk, which are a little deeper than trends or fashions in my opinion. What is common about these "vibes" fashions is neither physical appearance nor clothes are more important, as long as the head to toe look is complete and recognized by other people who know the trend. Although buying a new set of clothes is the easiest way to make the look, many people can start most of these fashions from their existing closet with only a few extra purchases. Lifestyle is an optional part of these trends; some are more involved such as cottage-core which can encompass your house and daily activities, others are just the right clothes and quick hairstyling for going out with friends. I also consider these easier for beginners to get into, especially cottagecore or dark academia.
The last part of the fashion spectrum is wardrobe, or accrual, which covers lolita and historical styles (that is not history bounding). This is where the clothes and stuff you have is the most important, and your physical appearance much less important or doesn't even matter if you don't have the right clothes. For example, you can only truly be called a lolita if you have a complete lolita outfit. It doesn't have to be all brand name, but it needs to be a head to toe coord by definition of any lolita out there. You do not have to style your hair or have any specific makeup although it would help for historical styles like 1940s retro vintage pinup or rococco era French nobility. As long as you have the right clothes, including undergarments and structure garments and shoes, that's like 99% of the look and everything else is icing on the cake. This is especially so now that makeup trends and hairstyles are more natural and inclusive with these fashions, since previously the trends were more over the top layered makeup and artificial hair color wigs, at least for lolitas. (Addendum: what if you only have part of a lolita outfit in your wardrobe, are you a lolita in waiting? Nope, still not a lolita, but most lolita clothes can be incorporated into the other styles in the vibes category and honestly, I think that's just as good and a really great use of the money you spent.)
I hope this helps clarify some of the Japanese fashion styles, especially if you want to explore a trend for yourself, or want to understand what motivates different fans of Japanese street fashion. Again, this is a personal classification system that I made for fun, it's absolutely not the only way of categorizing or describing the fashion out there. I did try to include the most representative photo to show the differences in appearance all with the same general hairstyle - the gyaru has bleached curled hair and flashy makeup and elaborate nails, the larme kei girl has wavy natural colored hair and soft yet noticeable makeup, while the lolita has (presumably) naturally straight undyed hair and no noticeable makeup. Let me know what you think. And that's that!
Oops, I didn't post the follow-up to the previous coord composition blog post in this entry here... It didn't turn out amazing or memorable so I guess I forgot about it, but in case I don't make a post for February (I skipped Valentine's day which was during the week this year), here is my ILD winter 2022 coord for wearing at home.
As you can see, the first coord on the left was basically the worn version of the final coord of my brainstorming post, except I added a double navy rose chain to the bolero. As expected, you can't see the silver on tights because of my short stubby legs. Overall it looks acceptable, but the cropped length of the bolero didn't mesh with the long length of the dress, it just highlighted the wrinkly expanse of the skirt. I probably would have skipped the rose chain and pearl chain if I were really planning to wear this out, this is better as a simple coord.
Not satisfied, I tried again with a different wig and different accessories for the sweet country look on the right. This was not necessarily better as a concept, but I do prefer cream and off-white accents over pure white, and I like the use of a lacy open front duster/cardigan from normal Western fashion. So this has points for being creative and sort of covering the wrinkly skirt. Here I finally used a cream/gold necklace and headdress made by Minori, and wore an off-brand lacy blouse and cream/gold socks and shoes.
Which do you prefer? I think I prefer the sweet country look. It was too difficult to create a cohesive gothic or classic coord without buying anything new, whereas the lace duster was a really inspired decision with an almost mori-kei vibe that went with the long length better. I'm still divided on this dress. I really wanted a Moi Meme Moitie main piece to keep, especially one so lightweight and unusual, but without matching accessories from the brand itself, I don't think I'll wear this dress out, so it would be better to sell. However, I don't think anyone will buy it lol!
This was the coord I was going to post for summer International Lolita Day except I was doing something else at the time and posted an old coord instead. I love Metamorphose's sailor lolita items, they usually release one banger dress a year as sailor/military seems to be one of their specialties. I ordered this dress new but the pandemmy progressed and I never had a chance to wear it out and even if I did, I have second thoughts about wearing a white dress outside or to eat lol. I didn't even get to order the matching accessories (they were sold out by the time I remembered) and so I made do with DIY and offbrand stuff.
Ignore the sloppy salute, it's bad, I know. Anyway, not much to say about this coord other than I wish I had bought the matching hairpiece, cuffs and socks, but I think flipping it to white stripes on navy is pretty interesting and unexpected and I kinda like it. I sewed the hat myself from Otome no Sewing volume 3. The socks have a little anchor on them. The dress colorway is actually off-white and looks a little dirty and grubby on the seams to me, but through the magic of photography filters, the whites and navys don't look so mismatched in the photo lol.
Most of my dresses aren't A-line, they usually have a seam at the waist and lots of puff for the cupcake look or just an empire-waist babydoll sack cut. A-line dresses may not always fit you perfectly if you don't have the ideal shape (see my nurse dress), but luckily this dress has shirring and back lacing and waist ties and fits me so neatly. Plus the two deep pockets? A rare Meta win!
Yesterday was my birthday, so before I got ready to sleep, I decided to dress up in the lolita dress that most represented me, the pharmacy dress from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. Note, I originally owned this jumperskirt in the beige colorway and last wore it in 2016 at a high tea in the botanical gardens. But I was never happy with the coords I made with this particular colorway; this shade of beige didn't look good with my skintone and trying to coord it with dark brown made it look clunky and amateurish, but trying to match it with other shades of beige made me look like a pile of bland mashed potatoes. I sold the dress, never believing I would find the perfect cut/colorway even though there are 4 variations in 4 different colors. Then I saw mintkismet listing the green Doris jsk for cheaper than I ever saw any variation on lacemarket. I decided to get it and it was a gamble that actually paid off for once lol.
How I compose a coord...
This is a lolita dress with a cowgirl print from a Taobao brand, Artemis, purchased new with tags from a Lacemarket seller. I live in Texas and wanted to do cowboy lolita coords, since that was a long-standing running joke which eventually got co-opted into actual mascots at the local anime convention scene.
The seller included two belts and a pair of tan cowboy boots they had gotten elsewhere. However, there was just 1 thing off about each of those otherwise great items so they did not mesh together perfectly, which is presumably why they were included.
The only things I purchased specifically for this coord that I did not already own were plain black cowboy boots that barely qualify for the term lol and 2 bandanas. Everything else was either gotten years ago or were meant for other styles and coords.
First attempt - no jacket
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.
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!
Another brief interruption from lolita/ouji to talk about menhera, a Japanese street fashion that has followers around the world. Menhera ("mental health/er") has its origins in bringing recognition to mental health issues in Japan through use of art and fashion, and describes a style that can be pastels or gothic ("yami kawaii"). I've always been interested in medical themes since before I got into J-fashion but never felt the urge to wear it as an everyday fashion. But now that we're in a really bad state in most places due to coronavirus, why not give it a shot?! (Pun was not planned.)
I signed up for the Japanese-fashion style walk for Okashi-con (at home!) this summer and was featured in their virtual runway show! I just wanted to share the two outfits I put together plus a third that did not make it. All 3 are Liz Lisa centered with my latest purchases!
