Saturday, March 25, 2017

52 Weeks of Lolita - 3 trends I wish would come back

Hey peeps!
It's Keiko here~

It is time for another (on time) installment of 52 weeks of lolita. The topic for this week is my top three lolita trends I wish would make a comeback. Without further ado, let's get to them!

1. OTT Sweet

Like many other people online, I miss the 2009-2012 golden age of sweet. It's funny that I would, since it is not a style that I would normally wear, but I really enjoy seeing those kind of fluffy, pastel carousel, cupcake ensembles. I feel like its replacement, OTT classic, just does not have the same whimsicality. This was cemented for me by the Omnia Varitas  OTT Classic and OTT Gothic outfits. They were extremely gorgeous, but I did not feel the same spark of excitement as I do when I see OTT sweet.

Image from MintyFrills' tumblr
2. Scepters

I remember one convention --I think it was Anime Matsuri before its true nature came out,-- in which a bunch of lolitas had very intricate scepters with glass detailing. I don't know if they were made with curtain rods, but they looked high quality. They were so beautiful and complemented their coordinates so well I fell in love with the idea of scepters since then. That was the year that everone and their mom made scepters, though, so people got tired of them real quick. I, for one, still think they can really bring 'oomph' to an outfit, but I tend to like the more extravagant ones with glass tears, crystal balls, and the like.

3. Casual Lolita

It's funny that I'd miss this trend when the first two trends I mentioned are explicitly over the top, but I feel like we need to come to an agreement over what casual lolita is and is not. I have seen so many people post their outfits of full coordinates with basic, but well-rounded accessories and say that they are wearing casual lolita. Of course, casual lolita is a full coordinate, but I think the line has been blurred between it and normal coordinates because we look at OTT as the standard.
Image from queranruffles' tumblr
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How about you? What kind of trends do you wish came back to fashion? Do you follow them anyway, even if they're out of style?

Keiko out~!

Sunday, March 19, 2017

52 Weeks of Lolita - Combining other fashions with Lolita

Hey there evveryone,

Keiko here with another late post!

Today's topic is combining fashions.

I don't really combine other fashions with lolita, but I've seen some good combinations of morikei, decora, and fairykei with it. I also enjoy outfits that lie between otome and lolita, since the they tend to be colorful and quirky. However, I don't feel like I have a good enough sense of color and fashion to be able to pull it off, but I really love  to see them in other people.

Originally, I wanted to combine creepy cute with lolita, which I realize now is a bit overdone for my taste and hard to do correctly. I admire people that do it, but I don't think I could quite pull it off.

One of my oldest attempts at a coordinate, with decora-like elements

Again, trying to be "decora" by piling on as many accessories as I had. Unsuccessfully (lol)
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What kind of styles do you like outside lolita? Are you a gyaru? A pastel goth? Do you ever try to incorporate your other interests in lolita? Let me know the path you have chosen in the comments below~

Keiko out~!

Saturday, March 11, 2017

52 Weeks of Lolita Double Feature - How I found out about lolita & 5 keywords that describe my style

Hey everyone!
It's Keiko here surviving a cold!
I'm sorry I missed the post last week. I got sick and didn't really feel like writing anything. But that means that today we get a double feature post to make up for it!

Today's topics are: How I found out about Lolita and 5 Keywords that describe my Style

Without further ado, let's begin!

How I first found out about Lolita Fashion

I stumbled upon lolita fashion via anime. I used to watch Rozen Maiden when I was younger, around the early 2000s and such, and recall loving the outfits of the characters in the series.
I would often google "Rozen Maiden Clothes" or "Rozen Maiden Outfits" and, somehow, those search terms led me to lolita fashion. I did not know what it was at first, since I had only pictures to go by, but soon I learned about the Gaia community and, though I never joined, I lurked fashion forums looking for more pictures. Eventually, I got to Livejournal and realized how expensive the clothes were. As a teenager in a third world country with a terrible economy and worsening political climate, Lolita became an impossible dream. I renounced it, unable to even look from afar and disillusion myself.

It was when I moved to the United States for college--nearly ten years later,-- that I took the plunge into the fashion. In the end, I was happy to find out that there was even a Rozen Maiden Innocent World collection! Maybe I'll purchase Shinku's set if I see it around someday...

5 Keywords that Describe My Style

This year will soon be three years since I first purchased a lolita dress. How fast time flies! I can also confidently say my lolita style has changed since that first purchase of the Milky Planet black OP. Where I used to want to follow 2010-2012 sweet OTT trends and mix them in with 'bittersweet' and creepy cute aesthetics, now I want to my prints of mixed styles to be comfortable and wearable in those rare occasions I wear them. As you might have guessed, my keywords are as follows:

Prints: One thing that has not changed from the moment I entered the world of lolita is my love for prints. I hate them in normal clothing, but I feel like in lolita they make outfits so interesting and fun to look at. I tend to like certain designs and hunt them down until they are in my wardrobe --so much so that I only have one dress left on my wishlist!
Mixed: I use the word mixed to represent the fact that, while I'm primarily a sweet lolita, I wear coordinates from all three main lolita styles. I enjoy a versatile piece as much as the next person, and this is reflected in my wardrobe. I tend to like pieces I can dress up or wear simply to let the print speak. As my lolita aesthetic evolves, I wonder if I'll get more pieces to mix and match the three main lolita styles even more than now.

Comfortable: While I tend to forgo this aspect of wearing clothes every so often, I have found that I prefer my main pieces to not be hard to wear for extended periods of time. Tightness and uncomfortableness make lolita less fun for me, even if it looks beautiful,

Wearable: Because I don't have much occasion to wear lolita, I try to make my coordinates go more towards the casual side. That way I can wear them to simpler outings that are not necessarily special occasions. This is the polar opposite of what I originally wanted to do when I entered the fashion!

Occasion-driven: I unfortunately don't go out much in general. I work full time now at a place with a business casual dress code, so I can't wear lolita to work either. As a result, I have depended on meetups and special outings with friends to wear lolita at all, much less dress it up with special themes and the like. I particularly enjoy themed meetups when I am able to match the suggested topic. It's fun to rise up to the challenge on those rare times!

Did you first find out about lolita through magazines, forums, or somewhere else entirely? How has your style changed since your first encounter? Feel free to share in the comments below ^^!

Keiko out~!