Saturday, December 31, 2016
Lolita 52 Challenge: 3 Things I Wish I Was Told When I Was a New Lolita
Hello everyone! Today we're back with another Lolita 52 challenge topic: 3 things I wish I was told when I was a new Lolita. Let's go!
#1:Lolita in anime is different from Lolita in real life
One of the main places I saw Lolita fashion outside of the Gothic & Lolita Bible was anime when I first started getting into the style. Because of this, I saw a lot more "Lolita style" rather than actual Lolita outfits. While many of the dresses I saw in animes were similar to some Old School styles, which at the time were more current than they are now, it took me a while to separate anime Lolita from actual Lolita mentally and come to accept the changes in the fashion as well as learn how to not look like a horrible ita.
#2: BODYLINE: YOU CAN BUY IT
I really wish I'd been a bit more savvy about buying things online when I was getting into Lolita because I could have started building a decent wardrobe much sooner. I'm not sure exactly how long Bodyline's been shipping overseas and been decent quality, but judging from Princess Peachie's wardrobe tour, I'd hazard a guess that I would have been able to get some pieces a few years after I discovered Lolita. One of the things I wish I could have done is experiment more with my wardrobe in J-fashion during my mid-teens, so if I'd known how to order on Bodyline, I could potentially have a stronger wardrobe by this point like many of the Lolitas I admire.
#3: For the love of all that is good, DON'T BUY THOSE SHOES
Yeah, I still feel really stupid about buying a pair of really clunky shoes that were three sizes too big for me at the thrift store thinking I could throw some lace and ribbons on them and have them be Lolita and magically fit me. Basically, I wish I could have told myself what would and wouldn't work for Lolita and prevent myself from making horrible fashion mistakes as well as wasting money. I wish I had had someone who could have showed me what good quality Lolita looked like, what nice lace felt like, and generally given me some more knowledge of what is good quality Lolita VS poor quality Lolita or things better suited to Lolita's earliest days.
Is there any advice you'd give your younger self about the style you currently wear? Let me know in the comments below!
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Saturday, December 24, 2016
Lolita 52 Challenge: Lolitas I Have Met in Real Life and Lolitas I Would Love to Meet
Hello everyone! For today I'm combining two of the Lolita 52 Challenge topics: Lolitas I have met in real life and Lolitas I would love to meet. Due to the ambiguity of this prompt, I'm going to be talking about well known Lolitas, brand designers, and other popular Lolitas rather than just every single person I've seen in a frilly dress over the years.
Lolitas I have met in real life
So as you probably know if you've been following this blog for a while or read all of the back-log I'm friends with a Californian Lolita designer, Miss Carlyfornia. She's not a big company name or even all that popular outside of the Northern California con scene as best as I can tell, and her products are becoming less and less Lolita due to product costs and customer interest unfortunately. Other than Miss Carlyfornia, I'm friends with Mahou Prince (Typically Decora, but he does wear Lolita on occasion) and his girlfriend Danni (She's the cutest) as well as Mina or Minaminakawaii as is her username on YouTube.
Lolitas I would love to meet
Some of the more famous Lolitas I would like to meet are Lovely Lor, Yui Minakata, Misako Aoki, and Mana. Lovely Lor is one of my favorite YouTubers and I love how creative she is with her coordinates with items like a pancake stack headdress and Rilakuma ears. Yui Minakata is my personal Lolita rolemodel. I just adore how cute and innocent she looks and acts and would love to someday meet her in person and get a picture or purricura with her. Misako Aoki is, of course, the Lolita queen in a way and as such I would like to meet her at least once as she somewhat reminds me of Momoko from Kamikaze Girls with how her lifestyle is centered around Lolita. Lastly, Mana is the main reason Lolita really took off back in the day and he is also one of the most beautiful and handsome people I have ever seen. I'm still in awe of how androgynous he can be looking amazing as either a male or female. I would probably be the happiest person alive if I could ever meet him or even see him in person as deep down he's the main reason I came to love Lolita and eventually expand into other J-Fashion.
In terms of slightly less famous and widely known Lolitas I would like to meet in person are my two lovely friends Alis Rosen (owner of Rosa Hermetica) and Nonobunny. Both are very sweet ladies, but are unfortunately in a different country from me and so I have never met either of them in person.
Are there any famous Lolitas you've met or would like to meet? Let me know in the comments below!
Go like and follow me on Facebook: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Subscribe to me on Youtube: WatashiWaChoCho
See my shameless spamming: @ChoChoButterfly
Peruse my wares: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
Lolitas I have met in real life
So as you probably know if you've been following this blog for a while or read all of the back-log I'm friends with a Californian Lolita designer, Miss Carlyfornia. She's not a big company name or even all that popular outside of the Northern California con scene as best as I can tell, and her products are becoming less and less Lolita due to product costs and customer interest unfortunately. Other than Miss Carlyfornia, I'm friends with Mahou Prince (Typically Decora, but he does wear Lolita on occasion) and his girlfriend Danni (She's the cutest) as well as Mina or Minaminakawaii as is her username on YouTube.
Lolitas I would love to meet
Some of the more famous Lolitas I would like to meet are Lovely Lor, Yui Minakata, Misako Aoki, and Mana. Lovely Lor is one of my favorite YouTubers and I love how creative she is with her coordinates with items like a pancake stack headdress and Rilakuma ears. Yui Minakata is my personal Lolita rolemodel. I just adore how cute and innocent she looks and acts and would love to someday meet her in person and get a picture or purricura with her. Misako Aoki is, of course, the Lolita queen in a way and as such I would like to meet her at least once as she somewhat reminds me of Momoko from Kamikaze Girls with how her lifestyle is centered around Lolita. Lastly, Mana is the main reason Lolita really took off back in the day and he is also one of the most beautiful and handsome people I have ever seen. I'm still in awe of how androgynous he can be looking amazing as either a male or female. I would probably be the happiest person alive if I could ever meet him or even see him in person as deep down he's the main reason I came to love Lolita and eventually expand into other J-Fashion.
In terms of slightly less famous and widely known Lolitas I would like to meet in person are my two lovely friends Alis Rosen (owner of Rosa Hermetica) and Nonobunny. Both are very sweet ladies, but are unfortunately in a different country from me and so I have never met either of them in person.
Are there any famous Lolitas you've met or would like to meet? Let me know in the comments below!
Go like and follow me on Facebook: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Subscribe to me on Youtube: WatashiWaChoCho
See my shameless spamming: @ChoChoButterfly
Peruse my wares: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Lolita 52 Challenge: Combining Other Fashions with Lolita
Hello everyone! Today's Lolita 52 Challenge topic is combining other fashions with Lolita, which somewhat confuses me. I'm not entirely sure what this topic's asking for, but I'm guessing I'm supposed to talk about how to mix Lolita with other styles or mixing other styles into Lolita? So that's what I'm going to talk about.
So, as we all know, Lolita has a lot of "rules" or guidelines that make it what it is. Modest knecklines, skirts at the knee, cupcake shaped skirts, so how do you mix this in with a different style without it looking like you did a terrible job making a Lolita coordinate? I'm going to be talking about mixing Lolita pieces into three different non-Lolita styles: Goth, Decora, and Fairy Kei.
#1: Goth
So as many of us seasoned Lolitas know, Lolita started out with a lot of takeaways from Gothic and Visual Kei fashion. It's since grown and changed into its own separate thing, but there are still ties such as Gothic Lolita. Because of this, it's fairly easy to wear Lolita and still be consided to be wearing Goth clothing. However, much like Lolita, Goth fashion has many different substyles, so what works for Lolita might not always work for a different substyle of Goth. So let's work with just one of those styles, Romantic Goth. Rather than just say wear Elegant Gothic Lolita (EGL) and sending you on your way, let's talk about what some things you can add to a typical Gothic Lolita outfit to make it have more of a Romantic Goth feel. First of all, choose a dress with a corset detailing on it and change the ribbon so it contrasts to create a more noticeable look or wear a skirt and blouse combo with a corset on top. Choose jewelry with black or dark jewel toned gems in it such as a choker and rings. If you're wearing a skirt or JSK, add a lace or chiffon blouse with flowing sleeves underneath. Choose a skirt with an asymmetrical or hi-low style cut or put a sheer to semi-sheer overskirt on over or under the skirt (but over the petticoats to retain the shape) to add more detail. Choose accessories such as lace gauntlets or gloves, fishnet or patterned black tights, and a coffin shaped purse. Shoes with a more pointed toe or a narrower rounded toe than teaparties would look best for this.
#2: Decora
Back when I was first getting into Lolita this new sub-style called Deco Lolita was just coming into style. It combined Lolita dresses with more than typical accessories, colorful wigs, and colored tennis shoes instead of mary janes or teaparties. Nowadays we have styles such as OTT Lolita (Over the top Lolita) that are accessory overload. What I want to talk about is taking Deco Lolita and revamping it by incorporating more modern Decora trends into a coordinate. One of the first things you can do is layering pieces differently. While Lolita tends to have a very put-together look, Decora can be all over the place. Try bringing that look into a coord by layering a skirt in a different colorway and print over a JSK, wearing a bulkier jacket, or having colorful petticoats peeking out from under a skirt or even on top! Rather than the typical OTT layering of accessories, try adding pieces in different colors from your main pieces. Add bulky bangles, watches, legwarmers, and lots of hair clips to your coordinate. Also, similar to the Deco Lolita of old, wear brightly colored tennis shoes, fuzzy slippers, or platforms instead of typical Lolita footwear.
#3: Fairy Kei
Fairy Kei definitely uses Lolita pieces a fair amount, so let's talk about adding Fairy Kei to Lolita! Obviously there's Sweet Lolita and Casual Lolita, but I want to talk about ways to make a Lolita coord that stands apart from those and resembles Fairy Kei more. My first recommendation for this is to incorporate typical 80s cartoon characters from Fairy Kei into a coordinate and avoid prints if you don't have one with these characters on it. For example, wear a cutsew with My Little Pony or Carebears over a blouse, add accessories with little characters on them, or even carry a plush with you. Another idea is to wear the typical colorful Fairy Kei tutus rather than a skirt (though a longer length would be best) or layer them over your skirt instead of having petticoats under your skirt. Like with the Decora look, wearing colorful tennis shoes instead of typical Lolita shoes would add to the look. Be careful to keep typically Lolita elements such as skirt shape and blouses in mind to help ensure your outfit looks more Lolita with a Fairy Kei twist rather than just Fairy Kei using Lolita pieces.
What do you guys think? Would you try any of these looks out? Let me know, and be sure to post a picture on my facebook if you do any of these!
Go like and follow me on Facebook: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Subscribe to me on Youtube: WatashiWaChoCho
See my shameless spamming: @ChoChoButterfly
Peruse my wares: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
So, as we all know, Lolita has a lot of "rules" or guidelines that make it what it is. Modest knecklines, skirts at the knee, cupcake shaped skirts, so how do you mix this in with a different style without it looking like you did a terrible job making a Lolita coordinate? I'm going to be talking about mixing Lolita pieces into three different non-Lolita styles: Goth, Decora, and Fairy Kei.
#1: Goth
So as many of us seasoned Lolitas know, Lolita started out with a lot of takeaways from Gothic and Visual Kei fashion. It's since grown and changed into its own separate thing, but there are still ties such as Gothic Lolita. Because of this, it's fairly easy to wear Lolita and still be consided to be wearing Goth clothing. However, much like Lolita, Goth fashion has many different substyles, so what works for Lolita might not always work for a different substyle of Goth. So let's work with just one of those styles, Romantic Goth. Rather than just say wear Elegant Gothic Lolita (EGL) and sending you on your way, let's talk about what some things you can add to a typical Gothic Lolita outfit to make it have more of a Romantic Goth feel. First of all, choose a dress with a corset detailing on it and change the ribbon so it contrasts to create a more noticeable look or wear a skirt and blouse combo with a corset on top. Choose jewelry with black or dark jewel toned gems in it such as a choker and rings. If you're wearing a skirt or JSK, add a lace or chiffon blouse with flowing sleeves underneath. Choose a skirt with an asymmetrical or hi-low style cut or put a sheer to semi-sheer overskirt on over or under the skirt (but over the petticoats to retain the shape) to add more detail. Choose accessories such as lace gauntlets or gloves, fishnet or patterned black tights, and a coffin shaped purse. Shoes with a more pointed toe or a narrower rounded toe than teaparties would look best for this.
#2: Decora
Back when I was first getting into Lolita this new sub-style called Deco Lolita was just coming into style. It combined Lolita dresses with more than typical accessories, colorful wigs, and colored tennis shoes instead of mary janes or teaparties. Nowadays we have styles such as OTT Lolita (Over the top Lolita) that are accessory overload. What I want to talk about is taking Deco Lolita and revamping it by incorporating more modern Decora trends into a coordinate. One of the first things you can do is layering pieces differently. While Lolita tends to have a very put-together look, Decora can be all over the place. Try bringing that look into a coord by layering a skirt in a different colorway and print over a JSK, wearing a bulkier jacket, or having colorful petticoats peeking out from under a skirt or even on top! Rather than the typical OTT layering of accessories, try adding pieces in different colors from your main pieces. Add bulky bangles, watches, legwarmers, and lots of hair clips to your coordinate. Also, similar to the Deco Lolita of old, wear brightly colored tennis shoes, fuzzy slippers, or platforms instead of typical Lolita footwear.
#3: Fairy Kei
Fairy Kei definitely uses Lolita pieces a fair amount, so let's talk about adding Fairy Kei to Lolita! Obviously there's Sweet Lolita and Casual Lolita, but I want to talk about ways to make a Lolita coord that stands apart from those and resembles Fairy Kei more. My first recommendation for this is to incorporate typical 80s cartoon characters from Fairy Kei into a coordinate and avoid prints if you don't have one with these characters on it. For example, wear a cutsew with My Little Pony or Carebears over a blouse, add accessories with little characters on them, or even carry a plush with you. Another idea is to wear the typical colorful Fairy Kei tutus rather than a skirt (though a longer length would be best) or layer them over your skirt instead of having petticoats under your skirt. Like with the Decora look, wearing colorful tennis shoes instead of typical Lolita shoes would add to the look. Be careful to keep typically Lolita elements such as skirt shape and blouses in mind to help ensure your outfit looks more Lolita with a Fairy Kei twist rather than just Fairy Kei using Lolita pieces.
What do you guys think? Would you try any of these looks out? Let me know, and be sure to post a picture on my facebook if you do any of these!
Go like and follow me on Facebook: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Subscribe to me on Youtube: WatashiWaChoCho
See my shameless spamming: @ChoChoButterfly
Peruse my wares: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
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