[coords] Other Japanese fashion styles besides lolita

Even though I have been interested in lolita for the most consistent amount of time, I also enjoy the other Japanese fashion styles. Back in the old days, I admired young Japanese people for trying to break out of the mold that society has built for them through fashion, even if just for a little while, it was pretty inspiring, no matter what the style. As mentioned some posts ago, I got into lolita through visual kei, so I liked visual kei, gothic and punk styles a lot. I got into the Fruits magazine through my friends, though I was never much of a decora person myself. I also admired the lavish princess materialism lifestyle of hime and gyaru that I would see in anime/manga. Everything was cool to me, especially compared to the alternative fashions in America which were just not as cute and flattering and quality-obsessed at the time. (Jnco anyone?) I think the quality of alt fashion in America has only improved by now because of ability to get things overseas lol.

Here is a hime gyaru coord focusing on a Liz Lisa one piece I got in a lucky pack on my trip to Japan in 2014. I never wore it because pastels in this combination don't look so great on me, and the long-sleeve but short-skirt combo in a synthetic chiffon material felt weird. But I gave it the good old college try and I thought it looked actually nice in the end!

Liz Lisa onepiece, Forever 21 jewelry and hair accessories, and off-brand crown, hairclip, purse with Guess platform sandals.

Now the thing I love most about Jesus Diamante and Liz Lisa are the shoes, but I could never justify the price/shipping from Japan for them since I never wear heels. But yep, shoes covered with roses and puff-balls and feathers and crystals, the dream. I think big sparkly deco gyaru nails and short frill white socks would make this outfit better, but I'm too lazy to get those. My inspiration for hime gyaru style is of course, emi-chan, I highly recommend her blog for constant updates on the state of Liz Lisa releases, larme-kei and all things gyaru.

Here I did 2 ouji outfits in a burst of motivation one night, and then was too drained to follow through lmao. All coords were made using items I never really wore or had been trying to sell but no one ever bought, and I just wanted to give them some loving.

Fan Plus Friend blouse, Putumayo socks, Innocent World shoes, Alice and the Pirates shorts, Spin Doctor vest, offbrand hat and accessories.

The reason I never wore this blouse was because of course, the shade of red didn't match any other red item I owned, annoying but not surprising! I think a black jacket would have made a good addition, maybe lessened the mismatching blacks/reds, but the two I had were frumpy looking and I didn't want to mess with it at the time.

Alice and the Pirates blouse, Fan Plus Friend corset and hat, Zara jacket, Baroque x Sakizo tights, offbrand shorts, shoes, handmade accessories.

My inspiration for this look was my friend Tiffany, who lived in Japan for a year and always comes up with great unique coords, especially mori kei style. I love the look of mori and dolly kei, but by the time I finish putting on all those layers, I'm sweating buckets, so I went for a natural-kei ouji look here, like a woodland fairy prince. At least my legs were cool-ish. Those Sakizo tights needed wearing, anyway.

I had intended to give dolly-kei, mori-kei and fairy-kei a try, but 1) I didn't have enough clothing pieces to make a full cohesive outfit and 2) it was hot and I was lazy. Which is pretty much the limiting factor for everything I do in this world! But soon, I think I might have enough for OTT sweet lolita and then possibly fairy-kei/cult-party kei. Keep an eye out for those in the summer!