52 Weeks of Lolita Double Feature - Lolitas I'd Love to Meet & 3 Things I wish I was Told When I Started

Hello everyone!
Sorry it's been a while!

It's Keiko here with a double feature post since I missed last week's entry. It was for good reason, I promise ;)!

Today's entry I will tell you about the lolitas I'd love to meet in person and talk to you about three pieces of advice I wish I'd been told when I first got into lolita. Without further ado, let's get this started!

Lolitas I'd Love to Meet

There are so many lolitas I'd love to meet in person! However, I managed to narrow it down to five lolitas who were not brand models (Misako, Midori, RinRin, etc)

Nokecha - Finnish Lolita whose sweet style is an inspiration for me. I looooove her princess coordinates and use of color.

Vysanthe - Australian Lolita behind Deerstalker Pictures. Not only is her classic style gorgeous, but I think it would be really interesting to talk to her about cinematography and the ups and downs of documenting and entertaining the lolita community worldwide.

Lemontree11 - Lolita from the U.S. I love her art and wish I could keep a journal like her. Her coordinates have this fluffy air to them.

Marie Dauphine - Gothic lolita from the United States. One of the few people who I think pull of OTT gothic flawlessly every time. She's also a taxidermist!

Melva Yan - A sweet lolita living in Sweden. Amazing outfits --I follow her lookbook!

There are, of course, may other talented lolitas whom I'd love to make their acquaintance. However, the list would go on and on if I did not set my foot down on just five :)

On to the next topic!

Three things I wish I was told when I started Lolita

When I first got into lolita, I made sure to research the fashion and read as much as I could in order to not look like an ita. At the time, there were many posts online complaining about people who did not take the time to read up on the styles and just jumped in without the nuanced knowledge on how to put together a coordinate. Even though I tried my best to inform myself, are just some things that don't get said enough or even at all. The following are three pieces of advice I wish had been emphasized more.

1. Don't buy things just because they are cheap - Cheap does not necessarily mean good quality. In fact it's often the opposite. Even if you get lucky, however, blindly buying cheap quality things does not mean that your wardrobe will be cohesive. I ran into this issue when I bought items I thought I liked due to price and ended up not being able to coordinate them together.

2. Make sure to buy all the basics first - I ran ahead and bought multiple dresses without ensuring I had blouses, shoes, or even a petticoat! It is easy to get seduced by the novelty and excitement of main pieces, but it's super important that all the basics are covered before you buy main pieces so that you can actually wear them.

3. Learn how to use Japanese secondhand sites and Taobao - I wish I'd heard about this more. Though I became acquainted with mbok fairly early, I wish I'd know more about Mercari, Fril., Yahoo Auctions, etc. I'm still in the process of learning more about Taobao, but I feel like beginners can have better luck looking for cheaper dresses on Taobao and get more of a bang for their buck that way.

That is all I have for you today, friends! Please feel free to leave a comment below on who you'd like to meet in person or any pieces of advice you may have for lolita newbies.

Keiko out~!