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~!