[coord] redo for a high tea

For a birthday meet / high tea at the botanical garden with some lovely lolitas, I finally completed a halfway decent coord with the pharmacy jumperskirt, the Florence dress from Baby the Stars Shine Bright. Seeing my past failed attempts, I was able to formulate a better plan to work with all the weird details of the dress. I think this was a successful result of the planning, although a few things could always be better, but you have to stop somewhere, lmao.

JSK, hairclip: Baby the Stars Shine Bright; blouse, purse: Innocent World; socks, alice band: Metamorphose; shoes, jewelry: offbrand

I didn't have any matching brown shoes, sold the last pair, otherwise this would have been a little more balanced colorwise, but I didn't care at this point, it looked pretty good overall.

Also, I found a way to work in the barrette, which I find always slides out of my hair/wig hair because of its size/heaviness. For this hairstyle, I didn't want to wear it down since it would look boring and ratty and also it would be hot on my neck while I was walking outside in the heat. I looked up some tutorials on Youtube, and settled on a combination of two from Inky Rose: https://youtu.be/6e21cBj_OoQ

You can't see the side-fishtail braid (from a Misako video) in this particular shot, but I really liked how styling it, even if it turned out messy, made the hair accessories stay put better and just gave it a polished and sophisticated look. Like I said before, most lolitas, at least the ones I've seen in real life so far, style their cosplay wigs with incredible artistry, but generally wear their lolita wigs in 1 of 3 ways: down, high/low pigtails, or buns. Granted, it's hard to justify elaborate hairstyles when you're not going in for a pro photoshoot and just wanna eat and walk around the mall, but I think working in braids and trying updos is a genius way to freshen up a tangled old wig and add new style to a previously worn coord.

Anyway, be prepared for some really awesome coords at A-kon in the beginning of June. By awesome I mean awful. I have no more meets planned until the convention, but I bought a few dresses and accessories that should come in by then, as well as a new Otome no Sewing, so I might pop in with a handmade creation or a test coord! Once all this cosplay is done...

[update] A-kon's first official lolita and Japanese fashion events!

I am fortunate to be working on staff with some go-getter girls in the Dallas Fort Worth area who will be debuting A-kon's full Japanese fashion lineup of events!

I have actually worked as A-kon staff before for lolita panels, events and unofficial tea party back in the good old days, but after Japanese fashion has gotten popular (or as popular as it can get) in the United States at several big conventions in the past five years, our group is trying to get it recognized as a legitimate addition to A-kon's current line up of anime, gaming and cosplay/fandom activities.

We will have fashion vendors, such as Lolita Collective and Lockshop (no Baby, though) as well as Minori starring in the fashion show! So... if you're in the area at the end of May beginning of June, check it out!

Here are some facebook links:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1600819833573138/ (for the tea party)

[coord] Leopard Print and Tea

The day after my birthday was a tea party at a friend's parent's house, so it was like a birthday party, too! Everyone was dressed up beautifully and brought delicious handmade food and teas, and I took out one of the handful of leopard print dresses that I own, salon de the minette in ivory/brown leopard print.

Here are some test coordinates I did a few days before.  I was trying to coordinate it with white so I could use that fur collar, but I ended up using off-white instead since I only have plain white knee socks. I thought these turned out rather well despite the massive bling, but I prefer the final outfit with the golden leaf tiara.

Jumperskirt: Baby the Stars Shine Bright; blouse: Innocent World; cardigan: Alice and the Pirates; purse, socks, jewelry, hair accessories: off brand, Forever 21, handmade; heels, boots: Secret Shop.

(Final outfit: Metamorphose socks and blouse, Claire's and H&M jewelry and hair accessories)

Anyway, I really admire those who rewear their dresses but still manage to make a completely different looking outfit each time. That's my goal, but on the other hand, I love to buy newer and ever tackier dresses, too.

[coord] a simple Kuro-lolita

I just put together a quick comfortable outfit for selling fanart at an artist alley (for the first time, yay!) No jewelry to get caught up anywhere while drawing, and flat tea party knock off shoes for transporting my suitcase into the hotel conference room. (I had an evil megane glint in the first photo, lmao.)

Metamorphose jumperskirt, Innocent World blouse, Bodyline shoes, off brand hair accessories and fuzzy socks. Not pictured - black peace now jacket

All black is the way to go: a lot of people said I looked nice, and black matches a lot easier than any other color, that's for sure. If I were wearing this out to a real meetup, I would add my black Innocent World purse and some black jewelry.

[coord] redoing a previous outfit

Sometimes I go back to my older outfits and see if there is anything I can do to improve them, whether with new accessories or shoes or jewelry, to create a better and more cohesive look. No one starts off perfect in lolita fashion, not even if you buy an entire top-to-bottom coord from a brand, because something might be off with the fit or the hair or shoes, and it takes a little time to see what can be done to improve.

So here is my original outfit from last year; not offensive, but not particularly flattering either. The socks were off-white and gold, which only matched the pearl/gold crucifix, which itself wasn't the best accessory for such a simple look. I later wore space-themed socks with white calf-high boots, but even then I felt it made me look chunky.

Here is my re-wear (to a recent J-fashion staff meeting), capitalizing on the comfort of the baby doll style of the dress, with 2 slightly different looks.

Alice and the Pirates jsk, Innocent World blouse, Angelic Pretty barette, Bodyline shoes, Forever 21 socks and hairclips, Metamorphose necklace, off-brand purse and rings

I wore a new pure white blouse instead of the now ruined off-brand blouse, but kept the same bow tie and purse. I added plain pearls and a couple of barrettes to decorate the beret, and switched to cute nautical socks and shoes that made for a cute, almost sailor lolita style. I even contemplated wearing the sailor hat I made, but it falls off my head and didn't want to look too costumey at a staff meeting, lol.

For this outfit I wore the rose clips on top of my head instead of clipped to the jsk, and also a thrifted jacket (which I brought anyway because it was cool and rainy). I forwent the jewelry at the actual meeting because seriously, who am I impressing lmao. But I like how this coord appears classic/sweet instead of just sailor. Anyway, it turns out even though the shoes fit my foot and are the size I normally order from Bodyline, my toes felt pinched and cramped after walking just a little bit, so I think new shoes a half size up may be in the future...

[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!