[coord] the harmacy cottagecore coord - redo again

 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.

[JSK: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright; socks: Alice and the Pirates; boots, parasol: Bodyline; shoes: Sosic Shop; blouse: Cheval du Bois; kerchief: Tealovecrochet; apron: MorunxMunna Stoik; necklace/ring: TxarraOtsoa; headbow: Metamorphose; other hairclips, necklaces and jewelry: offbrand]

Neither coord is perfect, but both look so much prettier and less garish than the beige coords. The light sage green color helped a lot, even though I didn't wear any other green items, I feel green bridged the brown and off-white much better than the beige or even the pink or dark brown would have. I probably shouldn't have worn the striped socks, off-white lace socks would have fitted better, but there were brown/cream stripes in the dress, why not wear these socks I never wear?

I also decided to put on a cottagecore version because I've been meaning to wear the kerchief and apron after binging videos from costume youtubers who got into cottagecore hobbit fashions all during the pandemic. The kerchief makes my face look so round lol, but I've embraced my muffin-like qualities. If I could fix this coord, I would buy one or two more sage green accent pieces. The few green lolita accessories I own are dark forest green or mint green, I don't even own any fabric or ribbons in sage green to make accessories. I don't think I'll fully commit to cottagecore because that would require being able to keep plants alive which I cannot do, but I would like to have the option, so I will see about incorporating more green (well, more green than beige anyway).

[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!

[coord] cat day leopard print coord nya

 This isn't actually a new coord or even a new photoset, I just decided to publish because February 22 (yesterday) was Cat Day in Japan (due to the number two pronounced ni, as in n-ya, the sound a cat makes), and February 22 of 2022 is Super Cat Day. Now if Japan survives until the year 2222, that will be the ultimate cat day, but I'm not going to live that long, so 02/22/2022 it is, lol.

You may recognize the pink leopard print and bolero from a previous post, in which I tried to upcycle/thrift flip a shirt in my donation bin. Later in 2021, I decided to wear a coord based on that post to a local meetup with my lolita pals to get boba and taiyaki. It was a warm and humid night, so I just put my hair in braids and went blouse-less with a bolero and short socks. I didn't take a photo. I also didn't wear the patch although that would have been a good idea.  

This photo below was taken earlier this month while taking other coord photos. I decided to wear a wig because my hair was greasy or something and I added a bracelet, but otherwise the coord is the same.

[jsk: Diamond Honey; bolero: handmade; socks, shoes, ring, bracelet, earrings: Liz Lisa; headband: Angelic Pretty; necklace: Puvithel]

The bolero covers it, but the top of the bodice actually has cat ears peeking above the chest bow which I thought was adorable. The bolero wasn't as scratchy as I thought it would be when worn for a short time, or at least it wasn't any scratchier than the lace socks. This dress makes for a great sweet or punk look, depending on your blouse and shoes and accessories.  For example, wear a black moto jacket and combat boots for a punk look, or wear tea parties and a fur collar and kitty ears for a sweet look. I like this coord as is, and honestly don't have much else in my wardrobe that I'd wear that matches at this time, as this is a warm bubblegum pink and everything I own is either baby blush pink or dusty greyish rose pink.  Thinking about getting another moto jacket though...

[coord] revamp lucky pack dress and lovecore outfit

Today I'm bringing you a Valentine's/Galentine's lovecore coord salvaged from a 2021 lucky pack dress from Long Ears Sharp Ears, a Taobao brand from China. I already showed off the qi-lolita dress from that same lucky pack last year and finally got around to fixing up this jumperskirt so I can wear it this year. 

Here is the before photo, the left photo includes all the accessories that came with the jsk in the lucky pack: 2 hair clips, a choker, 2 wristcuffs. The chest bow, waist ribbons and overskirt are not detachable.

This is an adorable print of castles and keys and bunnies and kittens, labeled "the Lock of Heart," but what makes this a true lucky pack item in the tradition of Japanese lolita brand lucky packs is the mish mash of various fabrics and trims likely gathered from leftover stuff in the warehouse and/or a design they clearly nixed for production. Nothing wrong with that, I love the qi lolita dress I got even though it was missing a skirt/belt that was part of the set for sale. But this red jsk I just couldn't love, too much going on, and I didn't feel like I could resell it as is either. So I pulled out the scissors this year and did some cutting, to at least get some cute photos out of it if I can't ever sell it. This is my first major alteration of a brand (albeit a lucky pack item from a Taobao brand), as I never did get around to fixing the zipper of my Meta dress.

What do you think of this after photo?  Much better now, in my opinion. I took out the shiny holographic ribbon from the choker and hair clips, left the wrist cuffs alone, and cut out the shiny lace overskirt and Frankensteined chest bow.  I tried to remake the chest bow with just the red fabric and key charm and a strip of white lace, but the bow part was made of 2 sewn rectangles instead of a properly sewn tube, so it could not be rescued into any bow-like creation and then I broke the pin I sewed onto it.  I gave up by that point, it was not destined, lol.  Now I like the idea of lace overskirts, but sometimes they obscure a perfectly good print underneath, which was the case in this dress. Also the lace used for the overskirt was a weird green-tinted gold lace that did not go with the reds and pinks and blues on the print. There is still a hint of the holographic ribbon in the shoulder straps and the back corset lacing, but I was not going to unpick the straps to remove it.

[jumperskirt, choker, wristcuffs, hairclips: Long Ears Sharp Ears; blouse: Innocent World; hairband: Liz Lisa; necklace: Angelic Pretty; socks: Baby the Stars Shine Bright; shoes: Sosic Shop; ring: Metamorphose; earrings, ring, jacket, purse: offbrand, Shojomonsta]

And here is a lovecore Valentine's themed coord I put together just for kicks. I think I'm going to sell this wig as it doesn't look good with my skin tone and the wig cap part is too small for my giant head, so you can see my hairline underneath. I guess I could wear this if I did go to a Valentine's meet, red and pink are always on point, and while there isn't much lovey going on in the print, the keys do represent the key to your heart according to the print name lol.  Anyway, even with all the wonkiness of the wig and wild hairclips contrasting with my tired face, I do like this set of photos and felt the half hour spent cutting away the extra fabric was worth it! 

[discussion] wishlist update!

 I'm not in the mood to dress up even though winter is prime season to wear lolita and layers. So instead, here is an update on my wish list post I made last year in preparation for the holiday shopping season!

https://starsbegantofall.blogspot.com/2021/11/discussion-dream-dresses-wishlist.html

I was able to add the last leopard print dress on my wish list to my wardrobe, the Angelic Pretty Rebecca Leopard release from fall 2021. For a while, only the one-piece dresses were for resale on lacemarket, which have no shirring and would be too tight for me, but I finally found someone selling the jumperskirt which did have shirring and was only tried on by the seller! It is in a gray color instead of tan or pink, and I don't have a lot of gray accessories, but I figured I could make it work. The dress cost well over $200 but not as expensive as list price, and also the American website only has the OP which was my only other option at the time.

I also got the Alice and the Pirates Vargossa jacket (not coat) in black x black well under list price. I didn't realize it was the jacket version until I got it, but that's fine, as I live in Texas and it is coat weather for at most a couple of weeks a year. The jacket is not made of thick wool material like what I assume the coat to be made of, and has the weight and heft of a suit jacket or blazer. It would definitely not keep you warm in freezing temperatures. If I ever felt like it, I would get the jacket or coat in black x gold as that is Alucard's style of coat, but that's not a pressing need.

Finally, some surprise wishlist additions I wasn't even thinking about when I made the list, and that is adding to my collection of Sakizou-designed lolita items. I bought another pair of tights from a different series, and I am hoping to win the bidding on a secondhand jumperskirt at lacemarket. (I guess I could pay the buy it now price though lol.) I do love Sakizou's artwork so much, so I think it's worth making space in my closet for these additions.

Anyway, I feel supremely lucky to be able to find these items secondhand in America (instead of having to pay out the nose for shipping from Japanese secondhand shops). Obviously I still have to order from Japan if I want new releases from any brand other than Angelic Pretty and Baby, but otherwise I'm very happy with how shopping is going so far. Now if I can just force myself to wear these dresses while the weather is still cold lol.

[coord] clown lolita coord from Taobao

Starting off year 3 of the pandemic strong with a clown lolita look! 🤡 I had no real intention of ever doing a clown coord, not because I hate clowns, but it wasn't really my personality or a theme I would invest money in. However, at one point in time, the local comm did a circus theme for a New Year's meet and while I probably won't join an in-person themed meet for A WHILE, and I would assume there would be no repeats on the themes either, I just thought I might as well be ready since I feel like the world is clowning me these past 2 years. I bought this dress from Devilinspired a couple of years ago along with circus themed tights, but the tights were bright white while the dress was mostly cream, so I decided to not bother trying to force them on my legs. Also it's winter and I avoid shaving my legs during winter, thin tights won't do lol.

[Dress, hat: Less Than Maiden (Taobao); socks: Metamorphose; shoes: Bodyline; rings: off-brand, iconografi; hair clips: off-brand, Shoujomonsta]

This coord was simple to put together since the dress has long sleeves and came with a jester hat and various bows you can pin wherever you like, and also an extra red velvet hairbow headband for when the hat is too much. I say if you're going to be a clown lolita, you should always go for too much. I didn't want to wear my red shoes since they are falling apart, but maybe it would have looked better with red shoes, like typical Ronald McDonald shoes. I should shop for replacements.

The hardest point is putting on the clown face makeup on myself, I haven't drawn designs on my face after one aborted attempt at shironuri. I can't draw a straight line on paper in the best situation, much less on a curved surface looking at a mirror wearing circle lenses not as strong as my prescription with my hand at an awkward angle. Presumably with practice, I would get better, but clown makeup is hard to remove lol. Anyway, other than practicing the makeup and buying new red shoes or maybe red/cream socks, this coord is fine as is, I'd make no changes. Love that for me!

[coord] Happy belated International Lolita Day

I didn't wear lolita yesterday, I was in cosplay at Anime Frontier and then felt too exhausted to dress up later. I guess I could have dressed up Friday or today but was not in the mood. However, I will repost an old photo from way back when that didn't seem to be posted in this blog for some reason. Or maybe I did post it, but I couldn't find the files on my media, so here it is again.

[jsk, wrist cuffs, eyepatch, bunny ears: Alice and the Pirates; corset, hat: Fanplus Friend; blouse: offbrand; purse: Innocent World; shoes: thrifted or Bodyline; necklace, eyepatch, gloves, ring: Forever 21; necklace: BB Deco]

I never wore this coord out, these were test outfits for Ikki-con 2016 with special guest Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. I ended up wearing ouji steam-punk white rabbit instead (see the write up here). I wore an alternate version of this with a pirate hat to a Mad Hatter meetup later (see that write up here.)  I had a lot going on in this outfit so I was shy to wear it out and obviously wasn't going to wear an eyepatch to a party where hot tea was served, but I think it's actually pretty good considering I had only re-entered lolita and j-fashion in 2015 after a long hiatus due to college and then graduate school and thus had a limited budget and wardrobe a year later. What I really liked about this coord that didn't copy over well in the Mad Hatter meet is that it even though there were some off-white accents with the pearls, I didn't try to work that in and instead concentrated on the black and brown with just a hint of tan. Thus the semi-sheer diamond tights were a better choice than the white/black card suits socks.

I sold this dress for some reason (that was stupid, I liked the print since I was a musician and wear plenty of black and brown), but if I could rewear this coord, I might change the blouse and wig and either forget the bunny ears or lean into the White Rabbit theme more with like a watch purse or something. I didn't like the pirate hat much looking back at those photos, even though the idea was sound, so maybe I would rewear this mini hat or a wear a black tophat instead.

Finally, my general advice to people who want to get into lolita fashion or wear more lolita but have hit a wall. Lolita fashion has its restrictions and rules and gatekeepy nosy drama queens for a reason, because it's called "lolita," the same as the book by Nabokov. If it wasn't called lolita, if it was called neo-victoriana-baroque-maiden or something not related to a fetish, there would likely be less rules and drama (although no guarantee, the style is elaborate and does attract type A personalities). But lolita developed for a certain purpose in Japan, to rebel against what was expected of young women in Japanese society, and it was labelled maybe carelessly though still intentionally. Therefore, Westerners familiar with the novel interpreted it strictly to keep the community safe and at least sort of relevant to what the Japanese had intended.

Now here is the trick. You don't have to wear lolita perfectly. You don't have to buy a full outfit and 3 different petticoats and abide by all 500 lolita rules and regulations. You don't have to respond to snobby judgmental lolitas if you don't want to, you can ignore and mute them. It's clothes, not a uniform, and should be enjoyed as a personal hobby and artistic expression should be. But you also need to prepare for when you post your photos online and label it in such a way that an online lolita does find it and criticize your outfit, they have their perfectly valid reasons to and you should see where they are coming from. (Whether or not that's their business in the first place is a different question.)  So post your photos to your personal accounts, just don't label it lolita and you're golden. Label it as your personal fashion, otome-kei, granny-kei, kawaii fashion (not a slur by the way, jeez), cottage-core, history-bounding, vintage-dolly, whatever you like, heck, call it neo-victoriana-baroque-maiden.  As many older former lolitas in the fashion (Fanny Rosie, Cursed Kaiser, Tyler from Lily of the Valley, Sanakanin, I Do Declare, Sheri Branson, among a few) will say, they have moved on from lolita fashion, but most still wear brand or DIY lolita pieces in their new style, and either way, lolita communities don't call them traitors to the fashion, at least, not that I know of but then again, I don't facebook or reddit which is where the nasty jumps out.  It's possible, it can be done, and such a style evolution is in fact often admired and emulated.  It's called big-brain thinking, reusing your precious favorite lolita pieces you spent money buying, reworking them into a new style, uniting past with present.  Marie Kondo would approve.

My goal is to one day make a full style evolution like other older lolitas have. But I still have a lot of lolita dresses I want to wear (properly, with the perfect petticoats), and as mentioned in other posts, I also want to take my time to enjoy himekaji and gyaru and larmekei (which can also use lolita pieces by the way). For me to continue wearing lolita, I would appreciate an audience to gear my posts to and you know, sell my stuff to lol. So to all aspiring or tired lolitas out there, keep working at your coords, try making your own stuff, take this break from in person meetups to refine your style or makeup and save cash. You can be a perfect lolita with a little time and effort, but if it turns out lolita is ultimately not for you, you can still hold onto your favorite pieces ala konmari and reuse them out of appreciation by evolving a new style.  Don't give up!  Girls* be ambitious!

*Girls in an inclusive meaning