I Have Nothing To Wear!

Hello everyone! Today I'm going to be talking to something that happens to many of us all too frequently: Looking at all the clothing strewn about one's room after trying on a bunch of different items and going: "I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!" This is a bit of a follow-up to my wardrobe building series of posts (Part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4) since I've had plenty of time to build a new wardrobe. I recommend you read them first if you haven't already, since they're the foundation for this post. Otherwise, let's go!

 So I said I had plenty of time to build a wardrobe, right? So why am I saying I have nothing to wear now? Well ya see, there's this thing called changing seasons and not planning ahead because who wants to buy a sweater when it's so hot and humid you don't want to even think about leaving your nice, air conditioned room? So, thanks to my planning, I was able to build a very nice Spring and Summer wardrobe, but now the weather is turning and I have no idea what to wear anymore. So what's a fashionista to do?

#1: Re-evaluate your style preferences.
 Alright, so maybe you had the perfect, pastel Fairy Kei wardrobe for warmer weather. Do you want to keep wearing pastels in Fall and Winter though? Or do you want to indulge your inner Goth or rockstar and switch things up completely? It's time to go visit the mall or thrift store and try on everything you can again. I would suggest avoiding buying anything the first few times or keep purchases small and limited to things you already wanted for your wardrobe. If you want to try wearing a different style from what you already own, try to limit your purchases to main pieces that aren't too expensive so you aren't impacting your budget too heavily. *cough*totally did that*cough* Try wearing the new style you're trying for a few days in a row using what you have and any additions you got to see if it's really something you want to wear that'll make you happy.

Here's what happened for me: I have a very cute, pastel versatile wardrobe based around Fairy Kei for the Spring and Summer. When the weather started getting colder, I decided to start wearing Goth fashion more to go with the changing colors of fashion. However, I found myself still wanting to wear my Fairy Kei outfits more than Goth or jewel toned items. I've decided I want to start wearing Lolita more often due to its built in layers as well as ease of layering underneath as well as some warmer Fairy Kei based outfits with some off-white pieces mixed in.

#2: Decide what additions your wardrobe needs.
 Now's the time to go through your wardrobe and pull out all the out-of-season clothing you've been hiding away. Can you make your new style plans work with what you already have, or are you going to have to sell off all your sweaters or shorts and buy new ones? This is a good time to evaluate condition as well as if it fits your wardrobe, so if you have an item that's got a ton of holes and snags that aren't supposed to be there, now is the time to throw it away or fix it. (If you have a sweater that's just shrunk in the dryer, you can stretch it back out with some work. I found this tutorial extremely helpful when recovering a cashmere sweater.) Make a list of any items you feel you need to make your wardrobe more complete and wearable during the changing seasons.

 Since I'm keeping my wardrobe mainly pastel, but still need to stay warm, I decided to talk to some of my fashion friends in the area and see what they do to stay warm as well as re-watch Lovely Lor's Lolita Fashion in Extreme Weather video for ideas. I decided I needed some layering pieces as well as some patterned statement pieces (my wardrobe's mostly solid color), a long sleeved blouse, and some comfy, yet cute shoes that will survive snow.

#3: Go forth and buy.
 Now's the time to start buying the additions your wardrobe needs. Try and get more basic or generic pieces from places like Target, Walmart, or thrift stores (or your country's equivalent) in order to have more money to spend on the main pieces. Probably most of us don't have the money to go buying 1000 bucks worth of Angelic Pretty dresses new, so look into less expensive alternatives. There's a lot of US and international sales groups on Facebook, you just have to search for the type of fashion you're interested in along with sales. (In addition, if you're already in a few sales groups, Facebook will suggest some similar groups in the side bar while you're browsing that group.) Lace Market, eBay, and Storenvy are some good places to look for used or less expensive pieces and there's always Bodyline for inexpensive pieces.

 I want a couple statement pieces with prints, but I very much do NOT have $400 to drop on used Angelic Pretty or Baby the Stars Shine Bright dresses, so I'm considering a couple Bodyline JSKs as well as searching through Lace Market for some less expensive pieces. I also want a long sleeved blouse and colorful socks which can also be found on those sites. I've already got one short sleeved blouse on the way which, even though it's not great for Winter, is something I've been wanting to add to my wardrobe since my current short sleeved blouse is a bit big on me.

 I hope you all have fun with dressing for the changing seasons and that I've given you some ideas to help avoid over-spending!

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Lolita on a Budget: Offbrand and Bodyline

I recently got my first ever order from Bodyline, so I figured now would be a good time to not only review those products, but also go over a few off brands that are less expensive than Brand.

*Please note* I am not being payed to review or suggest any of the products. All were bought at my own expense. Additionally, all views are my own and do not in any way reflect those of any other companies or organizations.

Bodyline Product Review
 So, I decided to order two different skirts and a pair of socks from Bodyline a little while ago and went with the EMS shipping option. The first thing I noticed when ordering from Bodyline was the sizes. All of their measurements are taken in cm and the sizes (m, L, 2L, etc.) vary from item to item. I have large measurements compared to a petite Japanese girl, so I was finding that my size was typically coming out to be L or 2L. This made it rather difficult to settle on an item, but I was eventually able to find a couple of cute skirts I could afford as well as a pair of socks to include in my order. I selected EMS shipping as opposed to Air because EMS was free and Air would have cost more than my whole order combined. I was surprised at how soon after placing the order my items were shipped out as the order page stated that items shipped via EMS would be shipped on Tuesdays and I had placed my order on a Thursday. Two days later I had my tracking information and the package quickly moved between stops in Japan. Then tracking stopped for a good long while (as stated on their home page) and arrived about two and a half weeks after ordering.

Upon arrival, the first thing I noticed was that the corners of the closing flap were slightly open. Upon opening the package though, everything inside was undamaged and packaged in cute reuseable wrappers.

All of the items I received were good quality and arrived undamaged. Both of the skirts were slightly shorter than most Lolita skirts tend to be, but still very wearable! The lace and trim was all of a fairly good quality too, no scratchy lace here! I was super excited to find out that one of them had detachable waist ties and a detachable bow as well! The socks were a nice, soft material and are super comfy. I've worn them a bunch of times and will randomly wear them just 'cause. I unfortunately don't have any pictures to share at this moment, but I will be sure to post some eventually! I would highly recommend Bodyline to new Lolitas or Lolitas on a budget!

One note about Bodyline: A lot of their prints are replicas of popular prints from brands like Angelic Pretty and Baby the Stars Shine Bright. If you're uncomfortable with buying replicas, I would recommend researching a print before buying a piece with it to avoid mistakenly buying a replica. Unlike some replicas, Bodyline's replica prints are not exact copies of the originals and will often times not have the Brand name or logo in the print itself. There are also slight modifications to some of the prints.

Hot Topic
 Recently, Hot Topic has been carying more and more clothing that can work for certain styles of Lolita. I purchased one of their Hell Bunny sailor style dresses a while back and it works perfectly for Sailor Lolita with the addition of a blouse and petticoat. I've seen a few other skirts that could work for Lolita, one of which sadly looked like an ita sort of skirt (scratchy, cheap lace, bad fabric choice). Unfortunately, one problem Hot Topic skirts and dresses have is that they are usually shorter than a proper Lolita skirt. In the case of my sailor dress, I just layer a plain white fabric petticoat underneath so it looks like a ruffle at the bottom edge. An alternative would be to add a ruffle to the bottom of a skirt. Hot Topic products are fairly inexpensive compared to brand and typically cost around as much as Bodyline.

Thrift Store
 My last recommendation for inexpensive off brand Lolita clothing is checking your local thrift stores. It has become increasingly harder for me to find blouses that fit (even my home made ones are too tight at the shoulders now), so I've begun checking my local thrift stores to see if they have something that will work. Thrift stores are always give and take, so I recomend checking them as frequently as possible as well as keeping an eye out for modifyable pieces if you can sew. If your thrift store doesn't have a fitting room, I'd advise wearing tight fitting clothing so you can try items on in store and get a more acurate fitting than if you were to try something on over a JSK. And make sure to bring cash in case your thrift store doesn't accept card!

Thrift Store Find: Sweet Lolita Skirt

Whenever I visit a thrift store, I like looking through the linnens section to see if there's anything that would look cute as a dress or a skirt. A while ago I found some curtains with a very cute print and ruffles along the edges, so I bought them and made one of them into a skirt. The skirt turned out a bit longer than the ones on my other Lolita dresses, but it's a very nice skirt. I don't wear it very often mainly due to the fact that I don't have a blouse that works well with it. I found one that works alright as long as I pull the skirt waistband down around my hips though. I plan on turning the second curtain into a blouse once I find a pattern that I like.
 I'd run out of waistband elastic at the time I made the skirt, so I instead used a ribbon I had lying around. It turned out very nicely.

All images were taken by me unless otherwise noted. Check me out on Twitter.

Poll for Blog Content

Hello everyone!
 I've decided to do a little poll to try to find out what my current readers and any potential readers would like to see more of. To vote, simply leave a comment below. This specific poll will close in two weeks time, April 24th 2013, so I would appreciate it if readers would avoid posting comments after that date. Without further ado, here's the poll!

What would you like to see more of on Anime & Lolita Couture?

• Cosplay tips.
• Lolita looks on a budget.
•  Recipes for cakes and other sweets.
• Tutorials such as for hair and crafts.
• My home made clothing.
• Reviews of clothing and items I have.
• My various cosplays. (I don't have many cosplays to my name as of now.)
• Other stuff. (List your ideas in your comment please!)

 Make sure to leave a comment below telling me what you'd like to see more of. Thanks for your feedback!

Thrift Store Haul: Loliable Clothes

So, I've been going to thrift stores a lot lately and have been having a lot of luck finding cute new clothes and things. This time I'm blogging about some cute Loliable clothing I found. I love my Lolita dresses, but unfortunately they're a bit too formal for everyday wear, so I've been expanding my wardrobe to include cute casual skirts and blouses that I can wear on a daily basis. This trip I got a new blouse, skirt, and short sleeved cardigan.

The blouse is a very pretty Gothic Lolita like blouse with a mandarin collar and delicate lace accents. The blouse itself is made of a very thin material, so it's best worn with an undershirt or sweater during chilly weather. I really love the lace on it as it ads a pretty touch to the blouse without standing out too much.

The skirt is very cute. It has a nice eyelet type pattern to it giving it both texture and detail. It's got multiple layers which give it a nice little poof and add a level of cuteness to it. My main dislike of this skirt is the waistband, which is wide elastic. This makes it so that the skirt is a bit uncomfortable to wear at times and also makes it so the skirt slides up a bit as the elastic tries to rest on my waist. Other than those slight annoyances, it's a very nice skirt.

 

The cardigan is a very nice color and works very nicely with my new skirt and a lace camisole. The pockets are deeper than they appear which surprised me at first. They're big enough to comfortably hold a smaller cell phone, but the weight of the phone makes the pocket droop a little bit so it's visible from under the bottom edge of the cardigan.

All images are by me unless otherwise noted. Check me out on Twitter.

Thrift Store Haul: New Petticoat

Recently I've been having good luck at my local thrift store. This time I was shocked to walk in and see a black petticoat hanging on the wall! I gave it a try, decided it fit well enough and got it really inexpensively. I was very happy that I had found such a nice petticoat at a good price. And then I decided to try it on under my Gothic Lolita dress and found that real petticoats are VERY poofy. It was also quite a bit longer than my skirt. So I tried it on under a longer skirt that I had made, which it barely fit under. and saw how it gave me a very poofy skirt that looks like I'm wearing a hoop skirt underneath it. Needless to say I have never owned a real petticoat before, just ones that I made myself out of old sheets and bed covers. All the same, I'm happy with my purchase and look forward to finding or making a longer skirt in the Gothic Lolita style to wear it with.

All images were taken by me unless otherwise noted. Check me out on Twitter.

Thrift Store Haul: Sewing Project Supplies

Recently I went thrift store shopping at some local stores. Turns out I was pretty lucky! This post is about the supplies I got for making more Lolita clothing for myself. It's always fun looking through thrift stores. You never know what you can find! This is just a little bit of the things I've gotten from thrift stores in the past. Here's what I got (minus one item since I neglected to take pictures before I started sewing):

In all I got several yards of eyelet lace and a white Eyelet fabric, a bit over a yard of lace elastic, and a new zipper to replace one in a cute skirt I got a few years ago. It was all very inexpensive, especially the eyelet lace which is usually very expensive at craft and fabric stores. Here's some closer pictures:

I'm planning on using both the lace and fabric on a new dress. Now I just need to find a pretty light blue fabric, decide on the design, and get some patterns to make it!

The lace elastic is very pretty. It's a bit too thin for using in skirts or fabric petticoats, but it's nice for sleeves and light weight petticoats.

I intentionally got a zipper that was a bit longer than I needed, so I just cut off the extra before sewing it in. Unfortunately I cut off a bit too much so now I need to put a hook and loop at the top of the zipper.

I'll make sure to do an entry once I make the dress I'm planning on with the lace and fabric. All pictures were taken by me and that's me wearing my skirt. Creative cell phone camera mounts and timers FTW! If you wish to use any of my pictures, please receive permission from me first. Check me out on Twitter.