Ten Reasons to Love Solid Dresses

These days, Lolita seems to be all about the prints. People now have their "dream prints" instead of "dream dresses" and when a new print comes out, there's a mad rush to reserve it. But there's something to say about the dresses without prints. They aren't boring, they're perhaps more fun to own than prints!

1. Versatile

A plain colored dress is going to fit into more styles than a printed dress is. You can buy

one plain colored black dress and make it sweet, classic, or even gothic, depending on the details

in the dress itself, as well as the other items you put with it. Whereas, if you get a printed dress, you might be able to make it fit into two styles at the most. So if you're interested in a lot of different types of lolita, you can just grab yourself a simple, plain color dress, and go to town trying to coordinate it differently each time. I love this black OP on the left, I found it on Poupee Girl and have no idea where the person got it! But, as you can imagine, it would work in a lot of different coordinates!

2. Detail Love

Really, in today's lolita, it's all about the prints. No matter what style you like best, there are prints geared towards you. I'm just as big a fan of prints as the next gal, but for dresses with good old fashioned sewn-in details, prints just can't beat non-printed dresses. There are more fabric options in non-printed dresses, and while the printed ones do have lace and perhaps a few sewn elements, they are relatively plain compared to some plain dresses. Take this one on the right. It has a scalloped hem, two layers of ruffles (creating an underskirt effect), cap sleeves with ruffled edges, a detailed bodice with bows, and a faint border detail with bows around the top of the scalloping. If you tried to put all that with a printed dress, you wouldn't see the print!

3. Timeless

This dress on the left was made in 2002. However, if I hadn't told you that, would you have known? Maybe not. Whereas print motifs come in and out of style, solids definitely don't. This dress on the left has been made and re-made and re-released by BABY almost every year since the company first released this dress. It's their signature Karami dress.

4. Work for (almost) every style

You can change up the style of a solid colored dress simply by changing up the accessories and other items you wear in your coordinate. Again, using the Karami dress on the left, you can make this a very classic coordinate by using a simple blouse with soft and simple accessories. Or you could go sweeter, using a puffed sleeves blouse with a big peter pan collar and plenty of bows! It's lots of fun to try and make up completely new coordinates just by changing the other pieces used in the outfit!

5. Can be cheaper

This is a very short and, I find quite obvious, point to make. Printed fabric costs more to have made, due to the complexity of the manufacturing process, and the cost of the materials to make it (pigments and stuff). Whereas, solid fabric is simply dyed one color and it's ready to go. So dresses made with solid fabric don't cost as much to make. For example: this is a solid color Alice and the Pirates jumper that costs a little less than 23,000¥ ($287 US). And this is the dress right next to it, Melty Mermaid Princess. The printed dress costs 26,040¥ ($325 US), about 3,000¥ more!

6. Often come in more size options

This one goes a bit with the one above. You can make dresses for larger sizes with solid fabric more cheaply than it would cost to make them with printed fabric. An indie brand can make solid dresses in any size, but may not have access to the Japanese printed fabrics that the Japanese brands use. Dresses with a larger size option often have shirring, which does not always look okay with printed fabric. This absolutely does not mean that because you require a larger sized

dress that you can't wear a print. Angelic Pretty makes JSKs and OPs that fit over 100cm busts, as does BABY.

7. Come in every cut available

So you know how people look different and have different body shapes? Well, that means that there are different cuts to dresses too! And it seems that solid dresses come in all of different cuts of dresses. So if you're looking for a drop waist dress, chances are, you can find a solid color one a lot easier than a printed one. Some cuts are more flattering than others on certain body types,

8. Easy to coordinate

With solid dresses, it's quite easy make a balanced coordinate. You don't have to worry about pulling out colors from a print or anything. So you can take any color that looks nice with the dress color and make that your secondary color in the coordinate. You aren't limited by the color pallet of the print! For example, you can take a solid pink dress, and pair it with any color blouse for vastly different results. You can make very interesting coordinates this way~

9. Don't usually have to be bought on reserve

What is "reserve"? Many Japanese companies put their newest printed dresses up on a "reservation" page before they are completed so that they can take pre-orders for the dress. Often, popular dresses sell out on reservation before ever reaching the store. However, more

solid dresses don't go up on the reserve page, and they make it to the store without selling out. And since solid dresses are not up for reserve, they usually end up staying in-store longer. So you have a better chance of getting a dress released a few months ago if it's not a print.

10. Higher availability!

All of the awesome reasons above make solid dresses more available than printed ones! So don't limit your wardrobe to prints only, try out some solid pieces too~ It's so fun to try and make new coordinates out of things you already have in your wardrobe, and it helps you to think a little more creatively about the lolita fashion in your life!

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

Easy Details

Recently, I've started making a few pieces of clothing for myself! And I've started to wonder what kinds of little details I could add to make them a little more exciting. So I've made up a little list of things I've seen in pieces from Japanese brands. I hope you'll try out some of these on your next sewing project!

Heart Shaped Pockets

Scalloped Edges

Pin-tucks

Easy Gathering Methods (Make Ruffles!)

Fabric Covered Buttons

Easy Appliqué

Fabric Flowers

Style spotlight: Elegant Sweet Lolita

The concept of an Elegant Sweet Lolita style is something I've been kicking around in my head for awhile now. I don't know where this concept came from, but whether I read the term somewhere or I made it up over the years, it's something worth sharing. Everyone has heard of Elegant Gothic Lolita (EGL for short), and classic is known for being demure and vintage-inspired elegance, but I think sweet can get in on it too. So how do you pull off an elegant sweet look?

1. Details details details

Much like Hime lolita, this elegant sweet style is detail oriented. Sweet dresses without prints work better for this. Instead, choose a plainer dress with sweet details like lots of ruffles, scalloped hems, or bows!

The details in the dress will make the look sweet without being overly so, but too many details will make it busy and not very cute at all. Pastels are traditionally sweet, but you can also use white or off-white. Also, don't be afraid to use jewel tones! Especially in winter time, jewel toned dresses with sweet details (lots of bows and frills) can be elegant and sweet too. If you have to have a print though, I think one that's more simple works best for this style. Border prints, like Aqua Princess above, ones that are just at the bottom and the rest of the item doesn't have bits of print all over, are best for this look. I especially like prints that look like they are cameo pins with little scenes inside, like Aqua Princess by AP above!

2. Color Coordination is Key

In the regular sweet style, it's common to see three or even four colors in a coordinate. Most of the time, this is because these colors all appear in the print on the dress. So without a print, your color choices become more limited. Stick to two, maaaybe three colors tops. If you have just two core colors evenly dispersed throughout the outfit, it will create a much more polished and easy to read outfit. To keep it simple, I suggest using white or ivory as one of the colors.

3. Accessories!

No lolita coordinate is complete without matching accessories, and this goes double for sweet styles. But for elegant sweet lolita, skip the sparkles and plastic rings. Instead, opt for things that you might see in a classic outfit, but in sweet colors. Pearls are a must! Fake pearls come in all sorts of colors and sizes, and can be purchased inexpensively from many stores. I personally like the pink and antique colors best, but whatever you like/matches is fine~ Cameo pins are always in style, and also come in a variety of colors and motifs. If you just can't shake the acrylic addiction, choose one or two smaller pieces, like a brooch or a ring, and work them in with other pieces. The juxtaposition between the super sweet acrylic piece and a simpler, more classic item is what elegant sweet style is all about!

4. Texture

What I mean by "texture" here is the actual complexity of the fabric. Mixing and matching different types of fabric will give you a luxe look that is perfect for this style. Look for items with embroidery, flocking, or a subtle background print. By layering these items with one and other, you can create very complex and elegant outfits!

Do you wear ESL ever? It's a pretty neat little style! I hope you try it out some time, let me know if you do~ I'd love to see pictures!

Style Spotlight: Fairy Lolita

I hate to be late to the party, but I'm becoming a huge fan of fairy kei and its inspiration on Lolita fashion. Maybe this is going out of style now with OTT sweet lolita on the decline, but I love it more and more. I've always been more of a bittersweet fan, and so this really goes against my personal past trends. But the soft pastels and lack of rules attracted me to fairy kei. Which is funny, because I'm a big fan of the rules in Lolita fashion. I'm still learning the intricacies of fairy fashion, and it's actually pretty easy once you get the general idea down.

This is how I think about it. Its easy to be a good lolita if you have three things: 1) Information, 2) money, and 3) confidence. If you have the money for it, you can simply wait for a brand to release something you like and then buy all the items in the series. Then all you need to add to the outfit are matching shoes. The items in the set are all made to go together and will look good together. Once you've gotten a few items and you get the hang of it, you can start mixing and matching. Fairy kei (and pretty much every other J-fashion style) doesn't have the same concrete rules about items, silhouette, accessories, and color coordination. This gives these styles a lot of flexibility, but at the same time, it makes it somewhat hard to "get it right" when you're just starting out.

Fairy lolita is, well, a combination of the lolita aesthetic with fairy kei ideas. It incorporates

sweet lolita with the vintage-fabulous fairy kei. It can go from the VERY casual end of the lolita spectrum to a more formal style, but it's overall not as formal as strict lolita style. I think the biggest difference between the two styles though is the emphasis in fairy kei on hand made items. Which I personally, love. And you can say that there isn't a stigma on handmade in lolita fashion, but in reality, there is. Mostly because lolita is a tricky thing and if it isn't made absolutely perfectly then it just looks off. But in fairy kei, it's more about getting plain things and making them your own. There are a few major brands, Spank!, Nile Perch, and 6% Doki Doki are the most popular ones. Items from Angelic Pretty, Chocomint, and other shops associated with lolita fashion are also incorporated into the style often.

In this style, there's a big focus on the 80's and children's toys/tv/clothing of the 80's. Now, I had a very traumatic experience with Care Bears when I was young and I really can't get on the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic boat (actually I can't stand MLP at all). These are two of the mecca's of this style. Furthermore, I wasn't even born in the 80's! I have all these things going against me, but it's okay. My fairy kei taste is just a little more my own and a little less conventional. I'll probably write more about it some other time though. If you want more info on fairy kei and incorporating it in your lolita wardrobe, check out these links below~ I'm by no means an expert on fairy kei style, but I hope this short intro to the style inspires you to find out more information!

An Article on Nile Perch (a fairy kei shop) - I got most of the pictures in this article at this site

Spank Love Livejournal Community

Spank & Fairy Kei Tumblr

This Wardrobe Post by Kyandichan - She has a fairy lolita style wardrobe!

Parfait Doll's Guide to Pop Kei