[coord] My Melody x Liz Lisa hime gyaru

Heyo... I should have another lolita event for Halloween and I do have the beginnings of a coord for that one, but the weather is still a bit warm and humid, so here is a hime gyaru outfit with this Liz Lisa My Melody one piece I got on clearance! I also bought these My Melody shoes from Taobao and I do have a My Melody purse and socks but the pinks didn't match so you are spared from that travesty.

[dress and purse: Liz Lisa, headband: Angelic Pretty, necklace: Daiso, bracelets and socks and shoes: off-brand, rings: H&M and Forever 21 and handmade]

As you can see, I love wearing hime gyaru and fairy kei in Texas summers, I hate sweating in my lolita clothes, getting gross armpit and collar stains on my somewhat expensive blouses. No way. Plus you could layer on fairy kei and gyaru in the winters, although the spontaneous breeziness could get lost under the coat and sweaters. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the matter.

[coord] white ouji redo from A-kon 2017

I finally had the strength of will to redo my white ouji coord from A-kon last year. I was not feeling wearing so many layers in summer, but I missed my chance to do it in the one week it was cold in the winter lol. I changed the wig and socks to white and switched to the gold crown I had ordered from China which came in after A-kon ended. I think this is the best possible coord I could have created, so here it is!

[jacket: Dear Celine, blouse: off-brand, shorts: taobao, socks and shoes and cuffs: Alice and the Pirates, stole: Forever 21, sash: Pier Imports, brooches: Angelic Pretty, jewelry: H&M and Forever 21, crown: ebay]

Anyway, I managed to fit in some Alice and the Pirates stuff which is the intent. I will need to buy a new white wig someday, this wig is getting a little ratty, but I just really love how it looks with my white outfits. My ultimate goal was to add a cape, and I do have a white cosplay cape but I was not going to iron it and wear it when I'm already sweating bullets lmao.

[coord] Alphonse Mucha for New Year's

Sorry it's been so long, I haven't had the opportunity or desire to wear lolita anymore, so I have been selling more than wearing. But here is a recreation of my New Year's tea coord from 6 months ago. The theme of the day was "Fancy as F/ck" as we were going to a tea house meet (there was no Btssb tea party at Ikki-con this year.) I ended up driving home in the hail and ice for five hours instead of attending the new year's eve festivities because I had work the next day, at least the tea earlier that day with my friends was so nice!

[JSK: Quaintlass; blouse: Innocent World; tights: Grimoire; shoes: Taobao; purse: Angelic Pretty; headbow: Baby the Stars Shine Bright; jewelry: Forever 21, H&M]

I love the print and silk and lace textures of this Mucha dress but sadly this Quaintlass (a Chinese Taobao brand) dress just did not match anything in my wardrobe. I was lucky to find a deep green hairbow on sale from Baby, but otherwise everything, especially the off white (more like a golden cream) did not match. I originally wore this with a mori-kei sweater, but I was sweating into a bout of heat exhaustion wearing this coord in a Texas summer indoors so no go on the winter layering lol. If I could redo this coord, I'd attempt to find more emerald green necklaces or hair accessories, but otherwise, I felt pretty good with this simple classic coord. I may sell this dress later if I don't find anything else to wear with it, but I felt out of all of the Mucha print dresses, this was one of the better designs, Innocent World's was too simple.

[coord] Happy Balloon by Meta

Hmm, I have no readers of this blog, but oh well, it amuses me to write the entries, so I will keep doing so. Last weekend, I did a test coord of this Happy Balloon jsk I got in a lucky pack. Instead of that ouji coord from early summer lol. While I didn't mind getting this print and style and colorway, bright blue was not a common color in my wardrobe and I didn't want to get new accessories and jewelry just for it when I have a fellow local lolita who loves ducks.

JSK, hairbows, blouse, socks, necklace: Metamorphose; shoes: Bodyline; rose pins: ShoujoMonsta

This pink wig I got at a con actually looks really awful on my skintone in real life without heavy filters, but I just wanted to wear it one last time before I attempt to sell it. This is a simple mostly Meta coord, with a lucky pack blouse I may also try to sell. I think I could have abandoned the pink wig and socks and went for more red and gold and white to bring out the colors of the balloons and clouds, since I don't own a lot of bright blue stuff. But as it is, it's not too bad. 

[coord] Rose Leopard casual-ish lolita

I wore this coveted Metamorphose Rose Leopard piece a while ago for dim-sum in Austin but was too lazy to get a photo, so here it is now while it's fairly warm but not too warm, lol. (One day when it's cold I'll do my ouji coord.) The only difference since the last time I wore it is that I found the matching hair-bow clip on Wunderwelt, so there are a few more accessories than before. Thus not as casual as it could be, but due to the cut, it still feels pretty casual and ready for sleepwear than most lolita dresses.

Dress, hairbow x 2: Metamorphose; purse, ring: Angelic Pretty; boots: Bodyline; tights, necklace, mini hair clips: Forever 21; bracelet, ring, necklace: off-brand, Bling-up

Again, I don't really like baby-coll or sack cuts since they don't appear as flattering as they should be, but the huge bonus is that you can eat a lot and not feel restricted as much except by your tights or petticoats and that's worth looking dumpy! Anyway, I love leopard print, and Rose Leopard is by far the prettiest print Meta has released, even if it's the oldest. I just wish the hairbow wasn't so awkward clipped onto my real hair, oh well!

[discussion] Lolita Blog Carnival - 5 Things That Didn't Work

Sorry, it's been too hot in Texas for me to want to rewear my A-kon ouji coords for proper outfit photos and rundown. So here is a belated lolita blog carnival topic that I chose to do, 5 plans that didn't pan out!

1. Fairy kei - I like pastel colors in general, and cute motifs and retro mascots, but on me, fairy kei style doesn't look good, sadly. This coord below was a really fun outfit to plan because I love going over the top with accessories, but the wig wasn't the most flattering shade of pink to my skin tone in real life with no instagram filters, rocking horse shoes felt weird to wear, and I was uncomfortable trying to project a cutesy fun attention-grabbing aura that wasn't my usual personality. Even with this Angelic Pretty Fantastic Dolly getup with a lot of black polka dots and classy French make-up motifs mixed with the kawaii, it was not something I want to wear again. So I sold the dress! Though I still have the jewelry I bought lmao... I guess I have hope someday of pulling a casual fairy-key look off.

2. Boleros - I bought a handful of boleros and cardigans with the intent of wearing them for layers or warmth over a blouse-less jsk outfit. But they look really shapeless and old-grandma on me, never fitting smoothly over puff-sleeve blouses or ruffly bodices, or mismatching in general. Basically, they have been more trouble to coord than they were worth. I think structured military jackets fit my personal style better, because they are thick enough to squish down puffs and frills for a smooth silhouette and also I can wear them every day in real life. Multi-use, hell yeah!

3. Princess Sleeve Blouse - also something I thought I would like. They look good on other people, but I would end up dragging my sleeves in food or get them caught on velcro or chains. Princess sleeves I think don't look so great on someone with extra small arms, they are an overwhelming feature. Perhaps a slimmer not as dramatic ruffle would have looked better on me. I sold this blouse, too.

4. These Bodyline shoes - shoes are always a source of regret for me because my feet always hurt even in comfortable old grandma sneakers but that's more me getting old and having nerve pain, not the shoes' fault. I bought these shoes because they were cheap and had an interchangeable crown panel that would have been cute for a steampunk look. But somehow this brown was difficult to match with my wardrobe at the time, and I decided in the end I didn't want to relive the 90s clunky block-heel shoe look and go for a slimmer (but more painful) heel instead. Lol.

5. Meta Lucky Pack blouse - I gave this blouse away because I felt like wide ruffly peter pan collars were not for me. Smaller sized round collars look best on me, no one has told me otherwise, but this particular cut was too baggy for my tastes.  Notice a pattern here? One day I will get a blouse in a Meta lucky pack that I will like!!! 

Anyway, I have a lot of regrets and plans that didn't work out. I am not a perfect dresser by any means. But hey, you learn from your mistakes, you try to teach others, and keep trying to improve or at least not get worse. Everything you buy has value then.

[event] Project A-kon and tea party coord!

I was on J-fashion staff again this year for Project A-kon, and sure enough, things were suuuper hectic with the new venue in a new city and only our second year running a full program of events, with even more guests! But despite the last minute changes and constant chaos, what I saw of the programming was as good as it got. I hope we can learn from the gaps, expected and unexpected, and do even better next year, I'm like pretty sure of this, lol.

First of all, I had no part in this, but everyone in the community was super jazzed for our guests, Haenuli and Miss Octopie and Atelier Pierrot, who had apparently come to A-kon years ago but didn't have a great time, and a cameo from Minpha of the J-rock band, Pentagon (Japan.) I don't think we could have had a better lineup from overseas guests and local guests, good job to the higher ups who managed to get them to come to Texas. I hope they had a good time!

The panels this year covered both the basics and advanced topics of lolita, as well as a few other fashion styles. I wasn't able to make as many as I could due to work, only my own ouji/aristocrat panel, not even the fashion show, which was a bummer. But of course I had to put in work for the tea party! It took place in the Hilton, while we were packing and checking out, which I had to do for our room, lmao. We packed and distributed the cute tote bags with amaaaazing goodies, and we did my attempt at a parlor game, the shiritori game but to go with the "travel" theme. Raffle and prizes were done, and gifts for the guests, including these huge tacky Texas gift baskets from guest relations, lol.

Anyway, onto the important part of my post, my coord for the tea party. I was going to wear Atelier Pierrot, but the skirt I got was a mini-skirt, so I wore it Friday and rewore my Enchanted Fawn dress instead. I had grand plans for a completely new coord, but scaled plans back because I had to work on my ouji panel and a simple cosplay instead.

So here I am with Nunu, who said I was her deer princess, aww. Don't we look perfectly radiant? Anyway, I'm too lazy at the moment to rewear this outfit for a proper coord shot, so let me describe it quickly.

JSK: Haenuli; socks: Metamorphose; shoes: Secret Shop; blouse, horn headdress, jewelry, glasses, scarf: off brand, Forever 21, Daiso, H & M

I made the headdress from a set of golden horns on a headband I got from yesstyle by sewing Daiso and vintage lace and flowers on, then decorating one of the horns with wire strung with pearls and acrylic beads. Only one because I ran out of time to do the other one, lol. I also hung gold tassels on the horns and tried to elegantly drape this Pier Imports scarf over the back of the horns for a sort of mori-kei look. Overall, I really loved how everything looked so different from my previous coord, even though my glasses from cosplay were too shiny, lol, I had to wear them because I didn't get good sleep so I wanted to cover my red and puffy eyes. Here is a close-up!

Ouji outfit and panel info coming up next!