Leap Day Coordinate!

Happy Leap Day! For today, I have two super cute coordinates to show you~ If you were at this past Ohayocon, you saw these in The Elegant Wardrobe panel! But for the majority of you, here they are. Aren't they super cute? I really like the colored blouse look instead of just plain white ones in sweet, it makes the coordinate feel more complex and even sweeter! I hope they inspire you to try coordinating your sweet outfits with colored blouses~

Two Sweet Coordinates by cat91151 featuring light blue shoes

DIY This Outfit! : Pink Girl

Hello! Welcome to the first edition of "DIY This Outfit!" This feature will *hopefully* inspire you all to get creative and either modify or make your own fabulous items for your lolita wardrobe! This time, we have an Angelic Pretty cardigan paired with a cute Bodyline skirt~!

Pink Girl~ by cat91151 featuring bow jewelry

It's a light and casual feeling coordinate, but it doesn't miss out on saving where it counts! That skirt costs $40 new from Bodyline, and it's a great staple piece in a sweet wardrobe. The socks can easily be swapped out for a pair of cute printed tights or a pair of socks you already own even. Here's where it gets pricey. That cardigan from Angelic Pretty costs over $100! I don't know about you, but I sure can't afford to pay that. So with some simple sewing skills (no machine required!), you can DIY that top and make it all your own.

First off, you'll need a base cardigan. This one is made from a type of cloth called Jersey (t-shirt material!) and it's super comfy. Just search up "Jersey cardigan" and some results should pop up that you can choose from. You can pick any color you'd like too, another great benefit of DIYing! Once you have the cardigan, all you'll need to do is decorate it. To make one similar to the one in the outfit, you'll need get some extra fabric to match your base cardigan from a local fabric store. Conversely, you could also get some patterned fabric and make the decorations stand out from the base. For instance, you could make it match the skirt by getting some light pink fabric and doing the decorations. If you plan to make your decorations out of the same type of jersey fabric (this is key for doing the ruffles seen in the AP one!), you'll need to know how to sew with the knit fabric. There are plenty of resources on this, I highly recommend this Youtube video though!

If you'd just like to add some bows down the front, that's pretty easy. You can make the bows out of cotton if you'd like, as they don't need to stretch at all. Follow an Alice bow tutorial, I personally like this one, but there are tons of them out there. Make as many bows as you want, whatever size you want. However, to achieve the look of the ones on this cardigan, the finished size should be around 3 inches by 2 inches. To make a bow that size, the fabric rectangles should be 6 in x 4 in (you'll have to add a seam allowance to those measurements!), and you'll need four bows. Once you have your bows made, simply attach them to your cardigan. Make sure you sew only one side down though. The other side can be closed by adding snaps to the bows and the base. If you want to add some to the sleeves, they should be a little smaller, and can be sewn down to the sleeves.

For the rest of the outfit, you can just pick from jewelry, shoes, and accessories you already have that match! Or you can make or buy some new ones, whatever you like best! What do you think of DIY This Outfit? What types of items would you like to see here? I hope to hear lots of feedback from all of my readers!

Transitioning from Summer to Fall

The season change between summer and fall is perhaps the most drastic one of the whole year. It goes from unbearably hot and sunny to cold and dark in a few short weeks. However, Lolita is a fashion that requires layers year-round, making fall and spring perfect for coordinating. Since it's cooler, you have many more options than when it's warm out. There's a world of options that become available from fall through mid-spring or so.

Boleros

A bolero is a sort of sweater that's much shorter than a cardigan. For

lolita, it's usually frilly around the neckline, bottom, and cuffs. They come in long or short sleeves and in a wide variety of colors. Many brands and off-brands make boleros for all seasons. In the summer, there are chiffon ones that are translucent and let air in. In the winter, there are knit ones that keep you a bit warmer. Boleros are a replacement item for a blouse, in other words, if you're wearing a bolero then you don't need to wear a blouse. In addition, boleros are commercially available and many work well in Lolita fashion. When looking on Lolita clothing store websites, check under the "cut and sewn" or "knit" sections to find them.

Cardigans

I love cardigans! They are just the best. A cardigan is a long sweater that buttons up at the front. They're comfy and also commercially available. Cardigans are perfect for more casual styles. Many cardigans specifically made for Lolita fashion have decoration on the sleeves and up the button area. They often come in cute prints, like hearts and polka dots. Cardigans are also easily made at home. And by this I mean you can get a fairly plain one from somewhere like Target or a second hand store and add decoration in the form of bows, cute buttons, embroidery, etc. Use pictures from your favorite fall coordinates and pieces from lolita shops as inspiration!

Blouses & Cutsews

As you probably know, blouses come in long and short sleeves. But what if it's still warm in the daytime and cools off at night? Well, there's such a thing as detachable sleeves. This is a great solution if you want the more formal look of a blouse but with the options that sleeves offer. I know this sounds a little bit tacky, carrying around detached sleeves in your bag. It sort of reminds me of the zip-off pants they make for men. But it's practical and it's not like the sleeves don't match the blouse. All of the above also goes for cutsews, as they come in detachable sleeve styles as well.

Skirts & Jumpers

Skirts are just not something that I wear a ton of. I own them, I occasionally buy them, but for some reason I just don't wear them often. Skirts for cooler months are not so different from other months. The big difference is in materials. In the cool months, items made with heavy fabrics such as velvets start popping up. They give your coordinate a luxurious look, and I personally associate them with Christmas! This also goes for jumpers. If you're finding that you are getting cold easily, try wearing a plain colored underskirt for an extra layer.

Coats

This is the big change from summer to winter. Many Lolita companies sell coats specifically designed to accommodate the petticoat shape without crushing it. They come in a variety of styles and shapes. It's easy to get caught up in the options when it comes to coats, but remember, you should build up your wardrobe before you get into this sort of unnecessary but nice item. Many coats are plain color, but you'll often find one or two with a pattern. Usually it's a simple print made to go with lots of different things. Polka dots are the most popular by far. In addition to female styles, many companies that make menswear also make coats for men. Coats are very expensive items, ranging from $100 to over $500.

Lolita Coats by cat91151 on Polyvore.com

Accessories

For fall and winter, there are a lot of new accessory options available. In addition to winter-themed bags and jewelry (think gingerbread houses, snowmen, and candy canes) there are plenty of items to keep you warm. Gloves with bows on them, earmuffs, hats, and scarves are all options! There's also this thing called a hand warmer muff, sometimes you see them in period films. It's the furry-looking thing that the ladies carry around in the winter. Innocent World makes a really cute one, but I haven't seen too many others made specifically for lolitas. There are also removable collars, made from faux fur, that you can add to your coat to dress it up.

Finally, I made a coordinate to illustrate just how to take an outfit from summer to fall.

Summer to Fall by cat91151 featuring cream tights

For this example, I went with the Chained Berry Memoir print from BABY. Why? I don't really know. The summer coordinate uses a headbow with berries and knee socks, as well as a short-sleeved blouse with shirring. The socks keep your legs from overheating, and the short sleeved blouse is a must during the hot summer months. For the shoes I chose these sandal-esque ones from Bodyline. The strawberry bag is a little more casual and brings the red to the center of the outfit. Both coordinates use the same strawberry earrings, ring, and necklace. Over on the fall side, you'll see that I swapped the blouse for a cardigan. I also swapped the strawberry bow for a simpler one. In fact, I took all the red accents out of the coordinate. Thick tights replace the socks to keep your knees from getting cold, and I replaced the sandal-style shoes with normal ones. Finally, a bow bag with rhinestones adds a little sparkle and is perfect for storing gloves and a scarf in for the evening.

So with that, you're all set to take on the cool months! Stay warm!

Style Spotlight: Pulling Together a Pirate Look

Today I'd like to tell you all about pirate style! Pirate style is one of those looks that is so hard to put together, and as a result, it's not a common style. It's sort of a weird combination of gothic, classic, and sailor styles. The colors are really up to you, I've seen purples, creams, navy, black, reds, other blues, white, and brown. However, they usually trend towards the darker spectrum. The really great thing about pirate style is that there's a male style and a female style! The ouji-pirate style usually consists of puff pants at or just above the knee, a vest or coat, a blouse (usually more simple than a female style one), the usual socks, and platform or boot shoes. The female counterpart has all the regular types of pieces but in a more pirate-y style. That's sort of an arbitrary sort of thing, but I'm going to attempt to explain what I'm thinking. There are a few staples of a pirate coordinate, that take the outfit from a more gothic or classic style to true pirate style.

1. Asymmetry

Many pirate coordinates are made from a dress or skirt with an asymmetrical design. This look is impossible to achieve without the right piece, and is a distinctly pirate element in a coordinate. Not very many brands or off-brands make asymmetrical skirts, the only ones I could find came from Alice and the Pirates and Moi Meme Moitie. However, you can make a pirate coordinate with other types of designs. Prints, solid pieces, and even plain staple pieces can make killer coordinates.

2. Accessories

Pirate lolita is all about the accessories. Sure, you can make a pirate coordinate with minimal effort in the accessory department, but putting that extra effort to find the perfect pair of boots, the perfect hairpiece, or the perfectly pirate-y jewelry can really make a coordinate go from a borderline pirate outfit to a very obviously pirate one.

The easiest accessory to start with is the hairpiece. Now if you somehow happen to have one of those miniature tricorn hats, then this is automatically a step easier. Those are specifically for pirate style and really scream pirate to me. If you do not, don't worry! There are other options! My favorite right now are the fascinators that I've seen a lot of stores making. They often have a veil and some faux flowers attached to a headband. You can make your own quite easily. There are bunches and bunches of tutorials out there, but my favorites are from The Wedding Bee. It shows how to make the more simple corsage type and the more complicated ones with veils.

Other accessories to change include bags, jewelry, and socks. This might be the only style that I think it's okay to use fishnet stockings in. Of course, these should be layered over other stockings, but it gives it a cool, deconstructed look. Layer dark over light for the best contrast, or by layering with the same color it creates a very textured look. Wearing printed tights underneath the fishnets will create a really busy look, so I don't recommend it. Experiment with different colors and styles to see what you like best!

Bags are not so important in a pirate coordinate. In sweet they have the candy and the animal shapes. In gothic there are bats and coffins. Well for pirate, there are a few shapes available. The most popular (and by far the best) has to be the treasure chest. I saw one in person once and it was absolutely stunning. There's also the trunk-style bag. These would also work well in a classic coordinate, so if you're into both styles, it can be a good investment piece. I'd personally like one so that I can wear lolita to school without having to take my backpack too.

3. Shoes

If you're looking to get shoes for pirate lolita, my recommendation is

boots. Boots are the perfect shoes for pirates, as they keep your socks from being splashed with seawater, they keep your feet safe from falling ropes and crates, and they're made of leather so they are stylish too! If you do a google search for pirate boots, it will come up with a ton of options. You want something not costume-y and without too high of a heal. Ideally, a thicker heal would be best. But low stiletto heals are okay too. Vintage shoes are also an option. Really, it's the element of lacing that makes the shoe feel more pirate to me. For great shoe options that aren't Japanese Brand, I highly recommend Modcloth. They have a wide variety of vintage style shoes perfect for many styles of lolita, not just pirate.

4. Prints

It seems that to be the quintessential "sweet lolita" that your dresses and skirts must have an adorable print on them. Sweet seems to be the only style with this level of emphasis on printed items. While printed items are available in pirate style, they aren't required by a long shot. I just want to take a bit to go over some print options that can be worked into a pirate's wardrobe.

Florals: Florals are a staple in any classic lolita's wardrobe. And while you might think

that a flower print doesn't have any place in pirate, that's not entirely true. It can be tricky to make a pirate coordinate based with a flowery dress without it becoming a strictly classic coordinate. But it is possible. If you're a die hard floral fangirl then check out the options from Innocent World and Mary Magdalene. I'm in love with the cut of the Ekaterina OP and the asymmetrically of the skirt fits with the pirate aesthetic well. Paired with a chiffon blouse with fitted cuffs and a cross-body style bag and it can become a pirate outfit with no problem. For florals seemingly made for the style, of course you should look at those done by Alice and the Pirates. Queens Coach and Operetta Bouquet are my two favorites for this.

Themed Prints: With the interest in pirate and other sub styles on the rise, prints created specifically for the style are on the rise too. Alice and the Pirate's recent release of Night Fairy Fantasia (based off the story of Peter Pan) as well as prints by Moi Meme Moitié and BABY seem to be created for the sole purpose of appealing to Pirate style enthusiasts. My favorites are: of course Night Fairy Fantasia, Masquerade Theater, and Vampire Requiem. All AATP I know, but I just don't really follow other brands quite as well.

Stripes: Probably my second choice after the themed prints for

Pirate style. Having pinstripes on a piece is classy and it's a bit edgy if you're wearing a female style. Fortunately, many pieces designed for men are also available in women's sizing. It's a neat look to combine menswear into female lolita looks, and it creates an edginess that's difficult to achieve with puffed sleeves. If you're not really into that, then your choices are a bit more limited. My favorite item of all time with pinstripes is this Frilled Stripe Blouse (right) from AATP. My sister owns this and so I've seen it in person often. I love the jabot on it(detachable) and the frill detail around the buttons. She NEVER wears it either, which is such a shame. It looks great on her.

Finally, I want to end this article with two coordinates. They're both pirate style. One is a Ouji look and the other is the female Pirate sub-style.

Pirate Couple by cat91151 featuring striped tights

I'm pretty proud of how the left outfit turned out especially. I've never made a boy-style coordinate on Polyvore before and it turned out well in my opinion. I made this outfit with a friend of mine in mind. I think she'd really love this look, and I'd love to see her wear it someday! The blouse, shorts, and shoes are from Alice and the Pirates, as well as the bag. I went with a stripe motif for the whole thing; the bows on the bag, the blouse, and the tights all use the stripe pattern. The ship necklace is something that I personally liked but I'm not sure if it fits with a boy style.

The coordinate on the right is actually not something I created. All the credit for this has to go to my sister. She actually owns this outfit, minus the bag and hair piece. It's a classic coordinate with the boots, bag, and hairpiece pushing it into the pirate realm. The skirt and bag are from Alice and the Pirates. The blouse is from an Innocent World lucky pack, and the shoes are from Modcloth. Everyone loved the outfit when she wore it and so I hope you do too.

This article has been a month in the making, but I think it's turned out nicely. I'm going to try and do some more of these style spotlights, maybe even throw in some of the crossover styles. School's back in session for me now, and for some reason this is helping me write to the quality that I expect of myself. I hope to bring this blog back from the dead in the next few weeks. Please, if you have any questions about lolita fashion, something you'd like to see here, or general comments for me, let me know on my formspring. Thanks for reading~

BABY/AATP Fashion Show Pt. 3 - Baby The Stars Shine Bright

Since the Alice and the Pirates article took me so long, I decided to split the two halves of the show into two posts. All the pieces in this second half were designed by Kano herself, as the pieces in the Alice show were designed by Mitsuba. None of my personal pictures came out for these either, so these are again all from the Anime News Network. I did take this video as well as the AATP one, this one didn't come out as well as the previous one did for some reason. Perhaps they adjusted the lights on the runway. Perhaps it's because many of the outfits feature lighter colors. I'm not too sure, but please enjoy it!

I'll get right to it with the outfit rundowns. I was able to track down almost every piece!

Here's the first model, isn't she lovely? They actually cut her hair to better frame her face! She's wearing a sweet/country coordinate, made up of a skirt and blouse combination. The skirt is pretty new on the site, the name of the print is Early Summer Chocolate Strawberry Parfait, what a mouthful! She's also wearing the matching socks. The hat is from the Chained Berry Memoir series. This blouse was difficult to track down, but I think it's the shirred Babydoll blouse. The bag is a popular design from BABY, but it is this specific version with the white trim. The shoes are the Crema Ribbon Shoes. Overall, this coordinate is quite sweet with a touch of country, perfect for the springtime!

Here's model number two, my friend Starberry! Her outfit was so frilly, not at all her usual style. The dress is the Creamy Alice Decoration OP, and I'd never seen it before this show. The apron is to match this dress, but I was unable to find a picture of it. It's the Creamy Alice Apron, and she says the little cookie buttons are an addition that the designer decided to add on. She's also wearing one of my favorite hair pieces of all time, the Amy Miel bonnet. I think it's adorable and it's one of few bonnets I'd actually purchase for myself! I was unable to track down her socks, but her shoes are the Antique Ribbon shoes. The puppet is not currently available, but isn't he cute? The idea behind her coordinate was Alice in a garden party, and I think they did a nice job with it, don't you?

The Versailles Rose twin look. I'm personally glad they chose this look to be the twinning look. This dress is so versatile in coordination and they did a good job showing that. I'll talk about the pink outfit first. The pages for this print on the BABY moved over to their sale page, the pink outfit is the Rosary version of the jumper. She's also wearing the Chiffon Princess Dress blouse, which is so pretty for the summer time. That headpiece is the Antoine Bouquet head bow, but it's really not a bow at all. For her shoes, she has the Jenny Ribbon shoes paired with the matching Versailles Rose socks. Her parasol is the classic Lace and Frill umbrella, and is in fact waterproof.

Now on the right, the red version of the dress. This is the Carlotte version of the jumper, in red. She's also got the matching bonnet and socks. The rest of the items (blouse, shoes, parasol) used in this outfit are the same as above, but in different colors. She's wearing a pink blouse and a pink parasol, whereas the other uses the same items in white.

To be honest, Unico in Bloomland was not impressive to me when it was first released. The print was cute, but BABY has a tendency to only release items in colorways that they've used before. I'm getting tired of seeing prints on black, white, pink, blue, brown, and navy. But when I saw this dress in person, I was pleasantly surprised. I really like how it looked in the navy. They have it paired with a short sleeve blouse in pink, the printed headbow, and matching socks. Her shoes are again, the Jenny Ribbon shoes, this time in pink. She also has a large Usakyuma as an accessory. Overall, I think the navy highlights the color of the print but isn't a harsh contrast. I would have been thrilled to see a release with a lavender option, but alas no luck. Maybe next time.

Claudia, The Fairytale Princess. I saw this dress online and thought it was spectacular, and seeing it in person only made me love it more. There's a subtle print on the dress that's hard to see online. The material is luxurious and has a slight shimmer to it. It's a dress truly fit for a princess. Here, they have it coordinated with the matching hairpiece and wrist cuffs. Her socks are the Anise Rose socks, currently on sale, and the shoes are the Antique Ribbon shoes in brown. Finally, that bag is the Rose Ribbon Basket bag, isn't it perfectly suited to Snow White? It's a real purse lined with fabric and everything, but the outside is made to look like a straw basket. Overall, a lovely outfit that would cost you a pretty penny to obtain.

Second to last outfit and it's all pink~ This is the Rose Boudoir one piece with the matching bonnet. She has the Anise Rose socks on also, this time in pink. And again the Jenny Ribbon Shoes, the same ones from the Unico in Bloomland coordinate. She's holding a scepter, not currently available from BABY. This coordinate was not a favorite of mine. I think if they had done this dress in more of a hime style coordinate it would have been more successful. While on the runway, the model here bent over in a pose and her bonnet slipped. If you watch the video, you'll see it happen. She was able to fix it, but in the process she exposed the wig cap. I felt so bad for her! When the models came back out at the end it was fixed, thank goodness.

The final coordinate, BABY's wedding dress. I had a hard time tracking this dress down, but I believe it's the Princess Dreamy one piece. It's quite stunning, isn't it? She's wearing the Sheltine socks and I believe the Emily Lace up shoes. Her gloves are the Princess Ribbon long gloves, but again, the scepter isn't available currently from BABY. Her hair piece is a mystery to me. I know it was made to match the dress, but I can't find a record of it existing anywhere! I thought they would bring the wedding dress as a finale piece, and I wasn't wrong. It's a traditional way to end a fashion show and I was glad to see BABY uphold that for this one.

At the end of the show all the models walked out again and there was

much clapping. Then the designers came out for their Q&A session. It was cut short because the show started late, but a few good questions were asked. I would have liked to ask them about what they like to wear and if they're allowed/interested in wearing other brands of lolita fashion. I didn't think of it at the time though. You can read a transcript of their Q&A on the Anime News Network, as well as see larger versions of all these pictures and more! I hope you have enjoyed my coverage of this show, even though it's taken so long to complete. I hope I have an opportunity to see another fashion show like this one again soon!

BABY/AATP Fashion Show Pt. 2 - Alice and the Pirates

I left off with finally being able to go into the panels room where the show was being held. I say panels room because that's what it was technically called. But the room was massive! I talked a staff member into letting me sit where I wanted to and got a fantastic seat because of it! I had my boyfriend with me to take pictures while I filmed. Unfortunately, none of my actual pictures came out. But my video did! And here it is!

First up was Alice and the Pirates. This was, in my opinion, the better half of the show. Maybe it's because I'm a fan of properly put together boy-style. But I have pictures from Anime News Network and I spent an ungodly amount of time tracking down pieces of the outfits. So I have pictures taken by a pro and outfit rundowns for every outfit in the show!

Here's the first model! Isn't she adorable? This is the A/P Cafe set with the matching head bow in the black color way. On their page, it's shown in blue, but I like it much more like this. They paired it with striped socks embroidered with a wheel emblem. Even though you can't see it in the picture, she's wearing white platform shoes. There's an amazing amount of poof in all the petticoats used for the show! Each model is wearing bloomers and two or three tulle petticoats for maximum poofy-ness. And the designers were tugging and pinning and straightening them up until the moment each model walked out on the stage. The result? Gorgeous, full dresses and completely modest pictures.

The second model was for boy style! I have to say, I'm a big fan of Alice and the Pirates' boy style looks. Which is why I was confused when their model call said they weren't looking for male models. They did up a few girls in boy style looks, but I still think it would have been better to ask for actual males and only choose a few. The blue parts of this outfit are the Stripe Clan Ribbon set, pants and vest. I wasn't able to locate this exact blouse, but the Otranto Blouse is fairly similar and would look just as fantastic. The socks paired with this are simple lace topped black ones. The shoes I believe are Claris Tassel shoes, but I could be mistaken. Finally, she's wearing the famous "Mad Hatter" hat, long sold out on A/P's site.

The third model was wearing one of my favorite prints of all time, Scent of Rapunzel. They put her in the one piece version and I have to say, I was not a fan of it until I saw it on a person. But it's actually quite nice and the faux bolero isn't pronounced at all. The sleeves are slightly sheer, which breaks up the color of the dress. She's also wearing the matching bonnet and socks. Many of the outfits featuring prints were coordinated like this, with all the matching pieces in the set. She's wearing the Sylphide shoes, which I think made the outfit look a little more mature. Bonnets have the tendency to make a coordinate look sweeter and more child-like, and with these shoes it gave the outfit a bit of an edge.

Another boy style outfit. Actually, I think this one is more of a male-aristocrat style which is refreshing to see from AATP. This outfit uses my favorite vest on their site, the Chain Bouquet vest. Why it's called that, I'm really not sure. The pants I believe are the basic Wide Pants. As for the shoes, these pants come so far down on the model that you can hardly see them! They have wooden soles, and from what I can tell, they are the Tassle Shoes or the Wood Sole Shoes. There's also a blouse in this coordinate, but I've been unable to identify it. It could be any one of the long sleeved blouses that come in black. The headpiece has also eluded me. There isn't anything similar on their site currently but the most similar piece I've found in my research is the Necrophilia hat from 2009.

The Night Fairy Fantasia coordinate. If you read my previous post, then you know how I feel about this print. I was hoping that they would bring a version with them and I was not disappointed. They brought the first version of the jumper skirt in the tan/brown color, which I liked much better when I saw it in person than on the site. It's paired with the Curiewel blouse for a classic pirate look. She's also wearing the matching hair bow. For the bottom portion of the coordinate, they pulled out my favorite pair of shoes, the cross belt boots and a plain pair of socks. I really liked how they styled her hair too, in the half pulled back look.

This is one of my favorite outfits in the whole show. An almost perfect shiro boy-style coordinate. She was styled so perfectly too. The coat from this outfit is from the Mercurius set, as are the pants. This coat is so fancy looking, with the buttons and the tails in the back. But I prefer the set in black. This blouse I believe is the Griottines blouse, with the cravat attached. I was unable to identify the shoes and tights used in this outfit, but the hat is the Caladrius silk hat. Overall, the ensemble has a very dapper look to it, I'd love to see what it would look like in all black. I have a good friend that would look fantastic in the black version, it's too bad most of these pieces are sold out on the website.

The final coordinates for Alice and the Pirates came out as a pair. On the left we have a sweeter classic coordinate and on the right a sort of pirate aristocrat type look. I'll talk about the one on the left first. This dress is the jumper skirt version of one of Alice and the Pirate's most recent prints up for reservation, Melty Mermaid Princess. In fact, it just went on sale a few days ago on their site. She's wearing it in white and I have to say, I actually do like it after all. The blouse is not something I've seen before on their site, perhaps it's new? She's wearing the matching headpiece and socks, both in white. Her shoes are these ones in black, I'm not sure why they brought black instead of white for this outfit.

Now on the right, the male coordinate uses the most fantastic coat, the Jerenile vest. I think it could work well in a punk or even a visual-kei type outfit. These pants are from the same set and were on the website up until a few days ago. They seem to be gone now though. The blouse is another mystery; I can't find any record of it existing. It's quite similar in style to the Otranto blouse and the Julius blouse. The hat is the Abelia hat with the chain removed. The shoes are these Tassle shoes again, and the socks are not visible underneath the long pants. The look is well put together, and again all I can think of is how fantastic it would look on my aforementioned friend.

This is the end of the Alice and the Pirates portion of the show. Since this post ended up so much longer than I expected, I decided to break the two into two posts. Next time, I'll detail the outfits from the Baby the Stars Shine Bright half of the show. To see larger images of all of these outfits, please check out the Anime News Network page! Until then~

Night Fairy Fantasia

Ever since I saw this dress for reservation, I've been in love with it. But at the time, I couldn't afford it. Then when it went up for sale on the Alice and the Pirates store, I wanted to get it but had no reason to (other than it being a pretty dress). Now that I'm going to Otakon, I have a reason to get it. And it's sold out! Everywhere! I've tried shopping services, second hand, third party dealers, everything! I'm not entirely surprised, it's really pretty. So I made a coordinate featuring this print today.

Flying Ship by Cat91151 featuring purple tights

This is pirate style! It's pretty easy I guess if you use all AATP items like I did. Usually I try to use off-brand or Bodyline items in my coordinates to keep their cost down. But this time I went all out, the shoes, hairpiece, bag, and dress are all from Alice and The Pirates (and all sold out online). I really wanted to use a chiffon blouse in navy for this coordinate. The sleeves puff out in just the right way and the pin-striping makes it super pirate-y. The ship in a bottle necklace is so neat, I've never seen this type of item ever. The coordinate is fairly monochrome, but so is the print. It's got navy, a lighter blue, and gold in it. But I think if I used the lighter blue as a secondary color, it would really stand out and detract from the dress itself. You could also go with white or cream, but I think it'd be the same problem. Perhaps a true cream would work, but the navy is the best.

I've been really interested in these fascinator hairpieces. They don't work too well on Polyvore, but I would like to see one in person. They seem really elegant and a step up from my usual hairbows. And these shoes are so perfectly pirate, I couldn't resist. I'm usually not a fan of brand shoes, but these are something I would purchase.

Writers block is killing this blog. Please, if you have any articles that you'd like to see, let me know!

Cirque de la Fille

Ah, it's been too long since I posted a coordinate. So I whipped one up for today! Happy July by the way, do you have any fun summer plans for this month? I hope I can go to the pool sometime!

Cirque de la Fille by Cat91151 featuring a cap sleeve blouse

I titled this one "Cirque de la Fille" which loosely translates to "The Girl's Circus." I've never taken any French, so this is going off of the Google Translator page. Circus prints are not common, so when I saw this Alice and the Pirates dress one day on Hellolace, I just had to use it in a coordinate. The print is gorgeous, it's made up of little circus acts in the diamond-shapes. The corsage clips off and can be moved to another part of the dress or into your hair. It looks like the dress is an overdress with an underskirt, but it's all one piece according to the other views. Usually I don't like the look of a corset top attached to a skirt, you know, how the top of the dress is separated from the bottom with the little ruffle, but on this I do like it. I really wanted to play up the circus theme of the dress, so I chose all circus-related jewelry to match! Elephants are so cute! The rest of the accessories are pretty simple and could be swapped out with whatever you have on hand. The blouse sort of disappears into the dress, so that the dress really stands out.

There are a few maitnence things I'd like to bring up also. First, there is a new poll on the side bar. Voting in them is really helpful to me, so please if you could vote that would be great. Second, no one entered my contest. I was hoping for lots of entries, but no such luck. We'll have to try something else another time. Thanks for reading!

Carrot Cake and Happy Easter!

I've become addicted to baking on the weekends for Saturday posts. I'm going to have to make themes around baking for each month if I'm going to keep it up. Anyhow, I made a carrot cake yesterday for today's Easter festivities, then my mom turned it into a bunny! It's really cute! Last weekend I took too many pictures and didn't end up using half of them. So this time, I took fewer of them. This recipe is again a Paula Deen one, and it couldn't be easier!

Butter for pans (this works better than a butter spray, like Pam)

2 cups flour, plus more for pans (flouring your pans makes the cakes come out easily)

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

3 cups grated carrots (about 1lb of big carrots, peeled)

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (if you don't like nuts, feel free to take them out)

First start by pre-heating your oven to 350 F (175 C). Now, take some parchment paper and line the bottoms of three 9in round pans. To do this, just trace the bottom of the pan onto the parchment paper and cut it out. I don't have three pans that size, I only have two. So I made cupcakes with the extra batter. Use the butter to grease the sides of the pan (anything not covered by parchment paper) and then flour them. The flour will stick to the places with butter and it won't stick anywhere else. To flour a pan, put some flour in the pan and sort of shake it around and tap the bottom to coat the sides in flour. Now, if you have a big standing mixer, use that to make the batter. If you don't, a hand mixer (one that plugs in with the egg beater things on the ends) will work. You could do it by hand, but if you have an electric mixer, save yourself the trouble of stirring by hand. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add the eggs and oil and mix it all up. Now, add in the carrots. I used a food processor with a grater attachment to grate my carrots. If you don't have one, use a cheese grater. Matchstick carrots from a bag won't really work for this, sorry! Mix in the carrots, and if you're adding the nuts in, mix those in too. Now, your batter is all done!

Pour the batter into your buttered, floured, and parchment paper lined pans. Again, I didn't have three, so I made two big rounds and six cupcakes. Put them in the oven for 40 minutes. If you're making cupcakes like I did, check them after 20 minutes! In general, you want to

check your cakes about half way and 3/4 of the way through the recommended baking time. Every oven is different. Mine baked the cupcakes in 20 minutes and the big ones were done in 30. Your's might be different. So check them! When they're done, take them out of the oven and let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Then you want to pop the cakes out of the pans and let them cool completely on a wire cooling rack. While they cool, make the icing! Cream cheese icing is classic with carrot cake. I can't imagine having it any other way.

2 (two) 8-oz packages cream cheese (don't get the ones in a plastic tub!) at room temp.

1 stick salted butter, at room temp.

1 (one) 16-oz package powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped pecans (again, you can leave them out if you don't like them. I chose to omit them and use them as a garnish)

Put everything into a big bowl and mix it up. It's a super easy icing! Powdered sugar flies

everywhere, so a tall bowl is best. If you're adding nuts into the icing, add those in and use a rubber scraper to stir them in. If you want to dye some icing to make some carrots on the top of your cake, you can separate out portions of the icing and use food coloring or colored sugar to dye it. I didn't do this because my cake turned into a bunny. If you are going to dye some, don't add the nuts in, it's not going to work well with them in. Ice the cakes once they'recompletely cool. You start on one cake and put some icing on the top. Spread it around and then start stacking. Each layer should have some icing in between. Once all three cakes are stacked, go ahead and ice the sides and top. Take your time and have fun! I made those little cupcakes, then I cut the curved top off and stacked them to make an extra tall mini-cake! I topped mine with the chopped pecans, it looks fancy this way.

I didn't get a chance to make the tea for this one, but I grabbed some Dragonwell green tea to go with this. Dragonwell comes from the Zhejiang province of China and is processed by hand! It has a lightly sweet flavor with a little nuttiness. It complements the light nut flavor of the carrot and pecans in the cake, while breaking up the sweetness of the cream cheese icing. And since it's a green tea, it's super good for you, with all those antioxidants and detoxifying properties. Green teas have been shown to actually mop up the free radicals floating around in your body, which helps prevent cancer.

The coordinate for this one is kind of quirky and cool looking. I went with a more classic theme overall, but with some vintage elements.

Carrot Cake by Cat91151 featuring platform boots

This gorgeous dress is a Mary Magdalene one. It has a ton of fine details, yet from far away it reads as a simple piece. I went with cream as the base color, as it's much easier and common in Lolita fashion than orange is. I used orange as a secondary color with the tights, the laces of the shoes, the cardigan, and bits of the jewelry. The vintage bag echoes the vintage feeling of the granny boots. I used bunny jewelry for an Easter theme, but you could use whatever you'd like. A simple crocheted flower in your hair is a perfect spring accessory.

I'm really loving this post, and I can't wait to go eat my bunny cake later. I'm also looking forward to next saturday, the last one of the month has to be super duper special. Submit your tea and/or cake themed coordinates for this week's coordinate tuesday and see them featured here!! Email them to me at cat91151@gmail.com! If you've got a question for me, ask me on my Formspring and I'll answer it! Happy Easter!

Chocolate Paradise

I had such a positive response to last week's strawberry shortcake article that I decided to try it again. I wanted to make molten chocolate cakes with peppermint ice cream, but that seemed hard and school is taking up a lot of my time right now with finals and all. My dad requested that I make these little cakes after seeing them on TV. If you watch the Food Network a lot like I do, you might see the commercial with this recipe on it. This is an Ina Garten one, one of my favorite chefs on there.

1/4 lb unsalted butter at room temp. (one stick, I left mine out overnight)

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs at room temp. (I left these out too)

16 fluid oz Hershey's Chocolate Syrup (it comes in cans, one can works)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup AP flour

1 teaspoon instant coffee

For the Ganache:

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 teaspoon instant coffee

This is a cupcake recipe. I don't like to make cupcakes because they're messy and it's hard to aim the batter at the little cups. I didn't do too terribly this time, but I certainly prefer full-size cakes. Preheat your oven to 325 F (160 C) and line your muffin pan with the little paper cups for making cupcakes and muffins. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until it gets light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each one. It sort of turns this yellow-ey color when you add the eggs in. Like a custard. Anyhow, now it's time for the chocolate! If you bought the 16 oz can like I did, you pour all of it in. If you didn't, then you'll have to measure it out with a liquid measuring cup. Using syrup instead of powder makes the cakes more moist. Adding Hershey's syrup to box brownies has the same effect. Mix in the chocolate and add the instant coffee. Now, you add the flour. Just like last week, don't mix the flour too much, or the cakes will be tough. Just mix it until it combines and turns a light brown color. Yum! Your batter is finished. But don't lick the spoon! There are raw eggs in there, so unless you used pasteurized ones, you could get sick. Now, you pour the batter

into the cups. Don't over-fill them, but about 3/4 of the way works well. Then put them in the oven for half an hour. Mine only took 25 minutes, so makesure you check them after a little while. To check if they're done, stick a clean toothpick or butter knife (or even a chopstick) into the center of the cakes. If it comes out clean, they are baked through. If not, put them back in for a few minutes until the stick does come out clean. Don't they look tasty?

While your cakes are baking, you can go ahead and make the ganache. It sounds fancy and hard to make, but it couldn't be easier. Grab yourself a double boiler and put some water in the bottom. In the top part, put the chocolate (8 oz, by weight!), the heavy cream, and the instant coffee. As the water below heats up, the pot on top will too, melting the chocolate. Stir this occasionally. It sort of looks like a chocolate hurricane here. The light part on the outside is the cream that has already mixed with some chocolate, while the dark part in the middle is pure melted chocolate. Stir it a little and it will all come together. This recipe made so much ganache! Enough for two batches of cupcakes at least. Don't put it in the fridge though, it will not end well. As long as it stays at room temperature, it's fine. This stuff is great on ice cream, in crepes, or on fruit. I don't think you could use it to make chocolate covered strawberries, since those set up in the fridge. But you could make chocolate fondue with it, as long as everything is going straight into your tummy~

Once your cakes are out of the oven, let them cool for about half an hour before dipping them. Since this is ganache and not icing, to coat the tops of the cakes, you should take the cake by the bottom (wrapper covered part) and just dip the tops straight into the ganache. Don't be stingy, make sure the tops get completely coated. Now, you can eat them! I paired them with Moroccan Mint tea. The mint tea is refreshing, and it's crisp taste balances the chewy chocolate cake. Of course, milk is also a viable option. I garnished these with a mint sprig, but there's no reason to other than to make them look a little prettier. The recipe made 16 full-size cupcakes.

The coordinate I made to go with this uses one of my favorite prints, Melty Chocolate.

Minty Melty Cupcakes by Cat91151 featuring cream jewelry

I used the mint colorway to match with the mint tea. I went with the cardigan instead of a blouse. I wanted a sweet look, and all of the brown blouses I found were classic. I chose mint stockings instead of brown ones so I could use brown shoes. Brown shoes are easier to come by than mint ones. A brown bag to match the shoes, and then you can add your choice of jewelry. I found a myriad of chocolate and sweet-themed jewelry, you could go a completely different direction with this if you wanted. I want this dress in this colorway. It's sweet, but you could coordinate this with some classic pieces for a more classical look.

I'm planning to do this type of post again next week if I can. This week and next week are my finals weeks, and so I have a lot of school work due. If you have any questions for me, please let me know on my formspring.

Strawberry Season!

I wanted to do something really good to make up for missing a week and a half of posting here. I was also informed that strawberries were on sale down at the local grocery story. Then, something clicked in my head. I present to you, the Strawberry Shortcake baking and coordinate matching special post! Strawberries are a very popular motif in Lolita fashion. They pop up in prints, accessories, purses, and even in headpieces. They're super tasty all by themselves, but put them with cake and you get something even more special. Strawberry shortcake is easy and quick to make, it's very popular in the summertime. Around 4th of July (American Independence Day), I make it and add blueberries to make them a little more festive. I made some individual serving size ones this afternoon andI'd like to share the process with you all!

1 Quart Strawberries, hulled and quartered

1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons sugar

2 cups AP flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

2/3 cup + a little extra half and half

Sweetened whipped cream (I like Redi Whip, or I make my own)

The recipe I used is from Paula Deen. I'm not a huge Paula fan, but with desserts, I trust her. The recipe is really simple, I only had to buy the half and half and the strawberries. I bought two pounds of strawberries, and I used them all up. Some of them were small and normal sized, but some were these ginormous strawberries the likes of which I've never seen! Both sizes were tasty though.

Anyhow, you have to pull the leaves off the strawberries and wash them. Then, you cut the top off a little and hull them. This means you take the tip of the knife and you cut around the white part in

the middle of the strawberry. Then it sort of pops out, leaving just a little white and all the red. Then you quarter them (or cut them more if they're huge ones, I cut my huge ones into six or even nine). Once you have a quart of them (that's four cups), then you pour the 1/4 cup of sugar over them and mix 'em up! Set these aside and let them get all tasty while you make the cakes.

Now, take your food processor and combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Use the pulse setting to combine these. I spent half an hour trying to make my food processor work. Hopefully, you know how to use this machine and you don't cut yourself on the blade! After you combine the flour mixture, then you want to add the cubes of butter, one or

two at a time, then pulse to combine. Once they're all in, pour the mixture out into a large mixing bowl. Add 2/3 cup of half and half and mix it all up. You can mix it with a rubber spatula, or you can go the hand route. I mixed it up by hand. You have to be careful to only mix it just enough to make it combine. If you mix the dough too much, then the biscuits will betough. Once it's just combined and sticky, then get yourself a floured surface (hint:wooden cutting boards are really nice for this) and turn the dough out onto it.

Now you have your dough. Fold it over on itself a few times so that all the crumbly bits combine into it. Be careful to not squish it too much, it will still get tough if you kneed it too much. Sort of push it together into a 3/4 inch thick slab o' dough. Now, you take a round cookie cutter and cut out 3 inch round biscuits. They

don't have to be 3 inches, but they should probably be round and not too small. I got six biscuits out of my dough.

Place the rounds on a cookie sheet with parchment paper covering it. Using a pastry brush, brush each biscuit with some of the remaining half and half, and sprinkle each with sugar. This will make them golden brown on top, and add a little sweetness too! Put them in a 400 degree fahrenheit oven (that's 205 Celsius) for between 10 and 13 minutes. Mine took 11 minutes exactly. Watch them towards the end, especially if your oven is finicky or new. They'll be done when they have risen and are golden brown on the top. Take them out and let them cool a little bit before digging in.

I waited a good five minutes before making my shortcake. You cut the biscuit in half and fill it with the strawberries, juice in the strawberry bowl, and plenty of whipped cream. Put the other half back on top and ta da! Strawberry shortcake! I paired this dessert with Darjeeling tea. From the name, to the taste, Darjeeling tea is pure elegance. It comes from the Darjeeling region of India, grown in the mountains and harvested, processed, and packaged close to the growing site. It is known as the "Champagne of teas," and is prized in England for its light and

floral flavor. Darjeeling is a good choice to pair with sweets, and is often served at fancy English tea parties. It pairs especially well with strawberries, making it the ideal choice to go with this strawberry shortcake. I add a little sugar and sometimes a little milk to mine. Many people don't like milk in their tea, but I do! Point of interest: do not add both milk and lemon to your tea. I have a friend who did this, and the citric acid from the lemon curdled the milk, making the whole cup undrinkable.

The coordinate I made to go with the dessert is called "Strawberry Time." The phrase "strawberry time" actually refers to the time in which two lovers confess their feelings to each other and become a couple. Here, I used it to refer to it being strawberry season, literally time for strawberries.

Strawberry Time! by Cat91151 featuring a wolford hosiery

I went a little country on this, with this really cute straw hat-hairband hybrid thing. The dress has a strawberry and cherry print and is a 2010 release from BABY the Stars Shine Bright. Simple strawberry jewelry and a strawberry bag from Bodyline completes the shortcake theme. This would be a great coordinate to have right now. The long sleeve blouse is good for this 50 or 60 degree weather that we've been having recently. It's not too thick, but the long sleeves will keep you warm. In the warmer months, the long blouse could be switched out for a short sleeve one. You could also wear a cardigan or bolero over a short sleeve blouse now, since during the day is a little warmer and then the evening comes, the sun sets, and it gets cold.

Did you enjoy this super special dessert coordinate double post as much as I did? I have five more strawberry shortcakes here, I think I'll go eat one now. I'm looking forward to coordinate tuesday this week, as I have a reader submission! I'm so so excited to have my very first reader submission to put up this week! If you want to make a coordinate for this Tuesday, it's not too late! Email it to me: cat91151@gmail.com and I'll put it up here!