Dress Envy

Rilakkuma Day "Kawaii Girl" Coordinate  This past weekend, I had the good fortune of being selected to serve as a Kawaii Girl at the Rilakkuma Day events in New York. (I hope everyone had a chance to pick up some fun freebies and take photos with Rilakkuma!) I wore this particular coordinate while promoting the Rilakkuma event at New York Comic Con on Thursday. I tried my best to incorporate accessories that worked with both the Rilakkuma theme and the tasty dessert print on my IW dress.

Items in this coord:

Innocent World dessert JSK (not sure of name...?)

Amavel Petit Chambres Blouse

Q-Lia Biscuit Shoulder Bag

Korilakkuma Hugging Should Bag

Korilakkuma Plush Ear Hair Clips

Rilakkuma Plush Card Holder

Secret Shop Bow Shoes

Sweet Mildred Chocolate Sweet Hairclip

Taobao Short Scalloped Socks (unknown source)

Princess Doll Evening Stars Coordinate Yikes, I haven't updated my blog in such a long time! Unfortunately (or fortunately?), my current work schedule makes it so I'm not home during the day, and I can rarely get good lighting for photos. Luckily, I got off somewhat early this afternoon, so I had a chance to put together a coordinate post.

While browsing a recent issue of Kera magazine, I caught sight of this beautiful JSK from Japanese indie brand Princess Doll. My lovely shopping service (Tokyo Pirates) told me that the name of the dress roughly translated to "Night Star Pile Up on Me Dress" (!?) or maybe "Covered with Evening Stars." But what's in a name? I adore constellation prints and I adore town prints, so this dress was absolute LOVE at first sight!

Items in this coord:

Princess Doll わたしにつもる星の夜ワンピース (Covered with Evening Stars JSK)

Taobao Dear Celine Princess Sleeve Chiffon Blouse

Taobao 7Bufa T-Strap Shoes in Cream

Taobao Mu Fish Starry Night Tights

Taobao KIRAKIRA Navy Hairclip

Krad Lanrete Lost in the Deep Blue Sea Coordinate I've had a tough time thinking of how to coordinate Krad Lanrete's popular Lost in the Deep Blue Sea JSK. I picked up bits and pieces over several months and think I'm finally satisfied with the ensemble.

Sorry for the bad photos...  >_<  I lost my digital camera and was forced to use my cellphone camera.

Items in this coord:

Taobao Krad Lanrete Lost in the Deep Blue Sea Navy JSK (Short)

Taobao Magic Tea Party Vera Lace Chiffon Blouse in Navy

Taobao 7Bufa T-Strap Shoes in Cream

Taobao Silver Star Stockings in Navy (can't remember source!)

Innocent World Petit Bag

Shirley Temple Cute Valentine's Day Coordinate With Shirley Temple's recent death, I thought I would make a Valentine's Day coordinate in honor of her. I put together a simple, casual coord using an adorable gobelin skirt from the Japanese clothing brand Shirley Temple Cute. The pattern on the skirt features various cakes and pastries with fruit. 

Items in this coord:

Shirley Temple Cute cake gobelin skirt

Emily Temple Cute bolero 

High-neck cream blouse (offbrand—Japanese brand Ropé)

Secret Shop bow shoes (replicas of BtSSB Antique Ribbon Shoes)

Ivory lace tight (offbrand—Nordic Tights from SockDreams)

Ophanim floral headband

Candy heart purse (offbrand—Aldo Shoes, available in-store)

IW Bouquet Doll OP Coordinate Thanks to the kind people at Dolluxe and Rockstar Wigs, I've received an invitation to attend a New York Fashion Week runway show for Furne Amato! (No, seriously, check out the gallery of his work--IT'S GORGEOUS). Guests have been asked to attend the event wearing lolita, and I've been playing around with ideas. I think I've settled on wearing a dress I grabbed off the EGL Sales Comm last week--even though it was released in 2011, the style of the dress (especially the collar and front ruffles) really reminds me of my first IW pieces from 2004.

...AHHH, I'M SO EXCITED!!

Items in this coord:

Innocent World Bouquet Doll OP

Secret Shop Victorian Maiden-Style Boots

Cream Wristcuffs (handmade--chiichick on LJ)

Brown Beret (handmade by myself--details here)

Bow purse (offbrand—Kimchi Blue//Urban Outfitters)

Brown stripe stockings (offbrand--Hue)

Meta Old Emblem Ribbon JSK Coord After absolutely awful, below-zero crap weather in my area, we're suddenly going to have a few warm days! Some members of my local comm will be visiting an art museum this weekend to see a Balthus exhibit. (I know--it's probably going to be a little creepy showing up in "lolita" clothing at a Balthus exhibit.) I'm planning to wear one of my favorite dresses, Meta's Old Emblem Ribbon JSK. 

Items in this coord:

Metamorphose Old Emblem Ribbon JSK

Alice & the Pirates 2014 Lucky Pack Purse

Metamorphose Red Cutsew

Red Beret (vintage-thrifted)

Navy-and-Black Diamond Stockings (offbrand)

Military Favour Black Rosette (handmade--PetiteRoyale)

Brown MM Lieselotte Winter Coord A small group of ladies in my local comm will be visiting a museum tomorrow night. Unfortunately, the weather forecast is predicting negative temperatures and snow! (At least the cold weather will be an excuse to wear one of my favorite fabrics: velvet.) I've been playing around with ideas for a coord that's both museum and winter-appropriate, and this is what I've come up with so far.

Items in this coord:

Mary Magdalene Lieselotte JSK

Innocent World Petit Bag

Ivory high-collar blouse (offbrand—Axes Femme)

Brown beret (handmade—see details here)

Rose hairpins (offbrand—Forever21)

Velvet rose bow (handmade—from my friend Invie Alamode)

Brown fur boots (offbrand—Axes Femme)

Fur lace boots (offbrand—Axes Femme)

Faux fur tippet (offbrand—Uniqlo)

Gray Rose Coordinate for ILD Winter 2013 OK, I lied! I found a different coord to wear for this ILD (I'm just really indecisive). My friends wanted to meet at an English-style restaurant for tea, so I put together a more elegant, classic (tea-appropriate?) coord.

Items in this coord:

Metamorphose gray rose skirt (name unknown?)

Innocent World Petit Bag

Innocent World blouse

Handmade violin rose hairband (Sweet Mildred) 

Gothic Lolita Wigs Straight Classic 

Gray lace vest (offbrand--Axes Femme)

Fur lace boots (offbrand--Axes Femme)

Faux fur tippet (offbrand--Uniqlo)

Chocolate Fascinate Coordinate for ILD Winter 2013

I've been SO indecisive about my coord for International Lolita Day. Initially I wanted something grand and glamorous--not the usual fare for just any lolita meetup. Unfortunately, with a forecast of snow in the upcoming days, I'd be better off with something warmer. A few weeks ago, I managed to nab one of my dream dresses (I shouldn't take credit for this--I owe a lot of thanks to Tokyo Pirates for stalking Closet Child and procuring it for me). I haven't had a chance to wear it yet, and this is very much the perfect occasion!  Hopefully I'll also get some nice photos this weekend to share. Good luck to all of you celebrating ILD, and have a very frilly Friday! Items in this coord:

BtSSB Chocolate Fascinate Chocolierre JSK

Innocent World Original Lace Millefeuille Tulle Lace Bolero

Brown handmade beret (see details here)

Faux fur tippet (offbrand--Uniqlo)

Pink high-neck ribbon blouse (offbrand--Axes Femme)

Bow purse (offbrand--Kimchi Blue//Urban Outfitters)

Brown stripe tights (offbrand--Hue)

The New York lolitas hosted a swap meet this weekend, and I decided to put together a new coord using items from my IW Oddments Lucky Pack. I originally felt inspired to use the pink roses in the print to incorporate other pink elements--but with the dark, cool autumn weather, I opted instead for something with a much more classic feel. 

The items in this rose bouquet coord include:

Innocent World Bouquet Stripe JSK

Innocent World Tiny Twin Ribbon Bolero

Innocent World Tuck-Frill Short Sleeve Blouse

Miniature "book" bag (offbrand--Axes Femme)

Victoria booties (offbrand--Mojo Moxie)

Brown stripe tights (offbrand--Hue)

Custom floral headband from Sweet Mildred

Warning, warning! Boring, overly-wordy post ahead!

Yesterday, I was having a merry time in Tumblr-land when I stumbled across a fairly nasty argument raging over a post on F Yeah Lolita. People were rehashing the age-old dispute on the worthiness of "brand" vs. "non-brand" clothing. As I read through the argument, I couldn't help but feel a lot of drama in the lolita community might be blamed on people's low self-esteem and desire for validation.

I think this is why the infamous "brand-whore" idea is largely considered a myth, whereas I've much more frequently encountered lolitas (including IRL) that display a bizarre "offbrand"-elitism. Given the opportunity, these "Bodyline Warriors" launch into a rant about the merits of Bodyline and "non-brand" clothing, including implied insults to people who own brand dresses. It's almost like they have a very raw, sensitive wound that warrants a furious defense, even before anyone's prodded it. And everyone else needs to exercise extreme care or else be accused of being a rich bitch princess.

All of this reminded me of something that happened when the movie Mean Girls was wildly popular. The country wanted to have a discussion about bullying in schools--a discussion I appreciated since I was constantly bullied like many girls. As part of the anti-bullying campaign, Dr. Phil hosted a television show where they brought on "real-life mean girls" and their "victims."

Their (very transparent) intention was to vilify these "mean girls." However, as the show progressed, it became apparent that the situation was rather complex.

Dr. Phil repeatedly pointed to the name-brand clothes worn by the "mean girls" as the representation of injustice. The show attempted to construct a scenario where the only way to explain the confidence and popularity of the "mean girls" was through their assumed wealth and oppression of other less affluent girls...and all of this was symbolized through clothes.

This turned out to be untrue. The "mean girls" revealed that they actually came from lower-income families and worked part-time jobs to buy their clothing. They were confused about the bullying accusations because (according to their accounts) they rarely interacted with the "victim girls" in school. At this point it became unclear how much the "mean girls" were to blame for the low self-esteem suffered by the "victims."

I am not saying that real bullying doesn't exist among high school girls or in lolita communities--I've personally witnessed and experienced many situations where one party is absolutely acting in aggression with the intention of undermining the other.

During the past week, I've been picking through my wardrobe, searching for an outfit to wear for an upcoming meetup. I settled on a coord featuring IW's Dollhouse Print Skirt and then thought about what to do next. I've always admired Moss Märchen and other lolita blogs that assemble beautiful coordinates, and I decided to try my hand at one of these photographic displays for the first time.

The items in this dollhouse coord include:

Innocent World Dollhouse Print Skirt

Emily Temple Cute bolero 

High-neck cream blouse (offbrand--from Rakuten)

Bow purse (offbrand--from Kimchi Blue//Urban Outfitters)

Ivory lace tight (offbrand--Nordic Tights from SockDreams)

Bow shoes (replicas of BtSSB Antique Ribbon Shoes)

Pink fur mittens (offbrand--secondhand on sales comm)

Custom floral headband from Sweet Mildred