30 Day Lolita Challenge - Day One: 10 things about your lolita bubble

Keiko here~

After a long time of deliberation, I decided that the best way to begin the year and this blog would be to try to post every day for the first month. I have been saving the 30 day lolita challenge floating around on Tumblr for quite a long time, and I feel like there is no better time to begin it than now! Without further ado, I present you day one:

10 Things About Your Lolita Bubble

1. I first came in contact with lolita fashion through Rozen Maiden. I was young and I loved the anime –especially the clothes. So I went on to look for the type of dress Suigintou was wearing and I stumbled onto lolita. While I fell in love with the fashion, conditions in my country and my lack of income kept me thinking I’d never be able to wear it or even see it in person. I observed from afar for many years.
2. My boyfriend helped me pay for my first dress as a birthday present year, encouraging me to enter the fashion I had followed for so long and dreamed of wearing.
3. I worked my way up from Fairy Kei to lolita outright. I was afraid it would be too much at once for me to jump straight into lolita, so I settled for the cheaper, easily thrifted fairy kei clothes. I ended up gathering a lot of decorations and loliable accessories during my fairy kei time and I still wear it from time to time, but it was essentially my gateway to lolita fashion.
4. Wearing lolita is something I’m able to do thanks to the people that support me, and to my own work and discipline and saving. I pay for nearly all my lolita—barring some gifts from friends—with money I have saved over the years or that I earn by working a lot of hours and budgeting. It has really taught me the value of work, money, and resource management.
5. I generally prefer brand for my main pieces because I love the intricacy of the prints and have not been that attracted to accessible indie prints. I’m am more open to offbrand for everything other than main pieces, even if I still prefer brand. My favorite brand is Angelic Pretty by far. I love their prints so much. Their bags and socks are super cute, too. I like Baby, The Stars Shine Bright and Alice And The Pirates for accessories, though. And I really like Emily Temple Cute but I’d never fit in the dresses TwT
6. As I dived headfirst into the fashion, I converted a few of my friends as well. They lean more towards classic and sailor trends, where I am an absolute sweet lolita. We poke fun at each other’s styles playfully~
7. Wearing lolita has heightened my fashion sense in general. I am much more aware of details that go into outfits thanks to putting together coordinates.
8. Wearing lolita was a huge first step for me in terms of self-care and self-confidence. I used to sacrifice myself a lot for the benefits of others and with a hobby as spendy and conspicuous as lolita, I’ve had to make some decisions regarding what I’m willing to spend on myself vs. others and how I want to prioritize myself more in the future in order to do things that make me happy vs. what I (feel I) should be doing.
9. My wardrobe has grown a lot in a year of being a lolita. I own about 16 dresses currently, have sold a few, and am selling a few as well. I own several accessories as well, but my favorites are berets <3 they’re so pretty
10. Once I started to wear lolita, I became much more active in my decoration style. I have put together displays of brand bags, of tags, of business cards from sellers and shopping services, of plushies. Basically anything cutesy. This was also a really big step for me because I lived in an environment I didn’t really feel was mine before, so all this decoration has helped me make a home of a foreign land in a sterile dorm room. It’s really comforting and relaxing to me to see so many positive colors and cute shapes.

What about you? What kind of stories have developed from your lolita life? Have you changed a lot since starting? Or have you remained the same? Let me know in the comments below!

Keiko out~