Lolita Art

 Hello and welcome!

This is my first post in a while. There has been a couple lolita art contests sponsored by Baby, The Stars Shine Bright and Alice and the Pirates, as well as a couple of #drawthisinyourstyle challenges by lolita artists. Some truly beautiful pieces have been created for these contests and challenges, and it got me in the mood to talk about lolita art in general.

One of the artists participating in both BTSSB drawing challenges is also holding a Draw This In Your Style challenge. In Instagram, their username is snow_priestess. You can see that snow_priestess' highlights includes the DTIYS entries for the challenge so far. The deadline to turn in your entry is October 11th as per this post. 

Another artist who has started a DTIYS challenge is one of my lolita artist favorites, Lulu Van Hoagland. Lulu's art for this challenge can be found in her Instagram post here. Lulu's artwork is simpler and evokes a melancholy feeling. I don't think there is a particular deadline for this challenge, but you may want to do it sooner than later!

Honorable mention to the always amazing choconokecha. Her art Insta is can be found here. I mentioned her in this list specifically for her entry to the BTSSB contest, which can be found on her twitter.

I draw a bit myself, but I'm nowhere near confident enough to do commission work or participate in contests, so I've been content just drawing for fun. Here's one of my most recent pieces: 

Do you like to draw? Or do you prefer to commission works when you are able? I'd recommend to give the Draw This In Your Style challenges if you have the chance. Even taking a picture inspired by them is fun!

Until next time,

Keiko

My top 5 Style Influencers

Hello everyone! Long time no see!

Miss Lillith made me want AP's Gloria 

I was watching Lovely Lor's video What Influenced My Style?, and it got me thinking about where I get inspiration from --and who I think of when I try to picture what I want my ideal coordinates to look like. Though I had not consciously thought about it in a while, I was able to come up with a list pretty fast. There are just some lolitas that really left an impression of me. Here are my top 5 style influencers in no particular order:

5. Miss Lillith - Miss Lillith is a video game design student who loves otome games- a genre she is planning to add on with her own game. She no longer wears lolita often but, when she did, she wore gothic with a somewhat sweet touch. I picture her when I think of the word 'Koakuma' (Little Devil) because of her dark but doll-like aesthetic.

Marie Dauphine serving gothic looks

  4. Marie Dauphine - Speaking of gothic, Marie Dauphine is a gothic queen. She seems to be inspired by historical mourning wear, and blends her interest in taxidermy and the natural world with lolita. Her impeccable taste and ability to put together coordinates with different kinds of textures simply blows me away.

  3. MintKismet - Mintkismet has a mature sweet style. She has been dressing more in classic coordinates lately, but I take inspiration mostly from her sweeter side. She runs a shopping service in Japan. You can see her blog here, but she mostly posts on instagram these days.

My favorite MintKismet coord

Noke's coords are #goals 

2. Choconokecha (Noke): This Finnish lolita has flawless coordinates. Whether she is wearing an outfit for a big event or dressing down for casual errand running, Choconokecha's looks are put together with great attention to detail. She is also a fantastic illustrator and has a tumblr and a twitter. You can find her amazing art here. 

  1. Milkyfawn: This lolita has been gone from the fashion for quite some time. She starred in several of Deerstalker Pictures 2's videos, and garnered a lot of unwanted attention. As a result, she moved on elsewhere on her fashion journey. It is difficult for me to explain why I like Milkyfawn's style. It is not that I like specific coordinates, or that her blog hits Rilakkuma, chocolate, and pancakes --all of which I love. I believe that I am mostly a fan of the feeling that her coordinates evoke in me. 

I miss her quite a bit sometimes

I was fairly new to lolita when Deerstalker Pictures' videos were coming out, but I remember distinctly seeing how she behaved like a person in lolita as opposed to a perfect doll. She was depicted as unapologetically surrounded by what she loved, and I admire both that and her vast collection at the time. I also remember being quite sad when she left the fashion, but I am grateful she left up her old blog for coord inspiration and a trip down memory lane. While today I find some of her coordinates to be simple, I feel nostalgia for that simplicity. It was simplicity found not only in her coordinates but in my outlook of lolita in general. But more on that on another time. For now, I will leave you some questions:

Who or what do you draw inspiration from? 

What about them is special for you?

Thank you all for sticking around, and hopefully I'll see you all soon ^^!

- Keiko

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~!

Cool Lolitas from instagram

Hey everyone~

Keiko here and I have resuscitated once again!

I have come back from the land of the inactive to bring you a post about some of my favorite instagram lolitas. I follow a lot of people, but these few stand out to me for one reason or another.

10 Instagram Lolitas

• Taharakeiko – I like her hairstyle variety. She’s a sweet lolita but posts a little bit of everything

• Enen1217 – Taiwanese lolita. She dresses mostly in sweet, with some variety. She has a lot of outfit shots by herself and with friends, as well as some aesthetic shots. Her wardrobe is so cuuute!

• Starmiyas – Lolita from Portland. I love her coordinates and use of color! She’s super pretty and has a good mix of coordinate shots, pictures with lolita friends, and aesthetic pictures.

• _caaake_ - _caaake_ dresses in a variety of clothes that cross the thresholds of different fashions. She seems to be primarily a lolita, but wears otome frequently in her gorgeous outfit shots. I really admire the thematic playfulness in her outfits and her delicate, fluffy aesthetic.

• junie_green – A lolita from San Francisco. My favorite part of her outfit pictures is her detail shots. They bring a depth to the coordinate that you can’t get from afar. She also has some cute art on her Instagram and lots of aesthetic pictures.

• Hmao_owo – This lolita dresses in styles as varied as her amazing artworks. Her pictures are high quality and with beautiful backgrounds, so I enjoy looking at them as a snapshot of an idealized lolita reality outside of mundane day-to-day.

• eleanorrrain – Chinese lolita who also wears nanchatte. She has a carefully curated wardrobe that skirts between sweet and classic and usually posts detail floordinate shots that inspire me to get coordinating!

• baaohaan – Another lolita with an amazing wardrobe. Baaohaan has an amazing sense of style that treads the line separating classic and sweet. Her pictures are crisp and her use of color is very attention catching. I really enjoy looking at her outfit pictures and selfies. She looks like a real princess!

• candy_seraffi - Wonderful coordinates, and neat sense of style and clear pictures are always a good combination. Another lolita whose wardrobe is super amazing and varied!

• laurel0405 - laurel0405 has few posts, but she makes up for it with a sort of natural charm in her poses and pictures. I admire the way she pulls off her looks, even though it's not necessarily my personal style.

Do you use social media a lot for lolita? Have you met people through it, or just followed others' work? Let me know in the comments below and have a great rest of your day~

Keiko out!