Wardrobe Post 2012

I wanted to put this together much much earlier, for the January EGL theme. However, Ohayocon happened, and I didn't get it done on time. But now it's all finished and I thought I'd post it up here! This is my current wardrobe for fairy kei and lolita fashions, I hope you enjoy!

Petticoats and Skirts

I never really realized just how many skirts I have. And with the addition of all these fairy petticoats, it's become maybe too many to keep. I don't wear skirts that often, so I'll be looking at selling some of these.

Top row: Bodyline, American Apparel, Malco Modes, Bodyline, Bodyline

Second row: Hand made, the rest are Bodyline

Third Row: Bodyline, Handmade, In the Starlight, Handmade, Handmade

Last Row: Candy Violet, Metamorphose, Handmade, Metamorphose, All my head bows

Jumper Skirts

Dear Celine Autumn Poodle JSK. I love the houndstooth print and the little poodles! I want the matching head bow for this, but I don't think it's available anymore.

Baby, The Stars Shine Bright Pocket Embroidery JSK. This was my dream dress (as I've mentioned before) and perhaps is my favorite dress that I own. I love it so much, I've thought about buying a second one in black for a keepsake.

Baby, The Stars Shine Bright Clockwork Tea Party JSK. I was so excited to be able to get this dress (my first time doing a reservation) after it had been sold out! And it got here... and the zipper immediately broke. So it has to be replaced now, what a bummer.

Metamorphose Temps de Fille Strawberry Shirring JSK. I love the Meta shirring JSK style! I have two dresses like this, and I have a third on my wish list. This one works really nicely for a bittersweet country coordinate, but it can go a lot of different ways.

Metamorphose Temps de Fille Candy House Shirring JSK. As I have mentioned a few times, I have been searching for this version of this dress for about a year and a half before I finally found it last fall. My only light-colored dress, I just adore this print. It's sweet, but very different than the AP or BABY prints~

Unknown Taobao Dress (I think it's a replica?). I got this on the sales community on a whim and it's been a really great dress for me. It fits my style perfectly, cutesy elements but with a more muted (black based) color palette.

Alice and the Pirates Vanilla Corset JSK. My newest arrival, it came last Friday! I've been eyeing this dress for awhile on the website (sold out!), and when I saw it in stock in the San Francisco store, I knew it was meant to be. I think I'll be wearing this to Otakon, but I haven't 100% decided yet.

Cutsews/Blouses

Unicorn Shirt by Tasty Peach Studios! I got this at Ohayocon a few weeks ago! So cute!

Bodyline cutsew. Kind of a weird one, but it looks nice with some things in my wardrobe.

Baby, The Stars Shine Bright Angel's Whisper in the Holy Night Melody Blouse. It's chiffon and so soft and pretty~

Baby, The Stars Shine Bright Clockwork Tea Party Blouse. I adore princess sleeves, they were in style when I first became a lolita. And now they're coming back! So when I saw this blouse, I knew I had to get it somehow.

Bodyline long sleeved black blouse. My go-to black blouse for this winter. I love the collar and the little bows~!

Lady Heather's Fashions short sleeved black blouse. Ohh it's very old, about 4 years now. It's been my staple blouse in my wardrobe for pretty much my entire time as a lolita. It's becoming quite ragged, but I don't really want to give it up.

Bodyline. My one and only white blouse. I should probably get a few more. But this is a good plain blouse that I wear with a lot of different outfits.

Shoes

Top row: Bodyline, Bodyline (same pair, I love them so much!), Bodyline Red heels, Osiris

Bottom row: TJ Maxx flats (they broke a little at Otakon last year), F21, Offbrand, Littlechililolita Shop

Other

Lots and lots of stuff here! Top row: Bodyline white flats (I forgot about these for the shoe picture above), a whole box of hair things (but I'll save that for next time), Some choice items that are my favorites (three star clips I made, unicorn necklace, and my compact mirror), Chocomint tea pot clip, and Little Twin Stars tote with a star pin I made to match! Second row: BTSSB overnight bag, BTSSB Alice tote, Candy Violet mini hat, Sanrio pink bag, BTSSB bow socks. Bottom row: Innocent World heart cutout parasol, H&M bow bag, Alice and the Pirates Darien parasol, and my San-X Penguin camera bag~!

And finally, a few omake shots~

My so very poorly designed closet. The next apartment I have will have a proper closet, I swear. I mean, who makes closets without bars, just hooks on the wall?? Jumper skirts and parasols.

And this is the blouse side. Everything is stacked four or five thick, my skirts are underneath the blouses. Ugh.

And finally, this is my kitty, Mako, checking out the inside of my Innocent World parasol. He was so very concerned about it being open on the bed, but it was a cute picture so I thought I'd include it here. I hope you enjoyed my wardrobe post!! If you want to see larger pictures of all the items pictured, as well as some detail shots, please check out my Facebook album!

My Week in the World of Lifestyle Lolita

This past week, I decided to do a little experiment. I wanted to see what being a lifestyle lolita was like. And I have to say, it was a lot different than I expected. I wore lolita six days during the past week, I had to skip Sunday because I can't wear it to the job I have on Sundays. I'll talk about some of the really fun parts of the week, as well as some of the problems I had.

Getting Up and Getting Dressed

I am not a morning person. At all. I get up and catch the bus less than 20 minutes later. Which made dressing in lolita particularly miserable. I decided on my outfit the night before, but even with that, I was still missing the earlier bus and nearly late to class a few times. If I could manage to get up even 15 minutes earlier, I wouldn't have felt so rushed getting ready to go. If I could have gotten up an hour earlier, I would have actually felt awake when I was getting dressed.

Wearing lolita, while fun, is terribly inconvenient. I'm not used to wearing clothing without pockets. And only one of my dresses actually has them. It was difficult to carry my ID and phone with me. I have a bright green and black backpack that I use regularly. When I was wearing my frilly clothing, it felt out of place and, well, just plain ugly. So I couldn't use it. I have a few laptop bags that I used, and while they worked, they didn't really match either. What I really needed is a school bag, but more on that later.

Reactions: Good and Bad

I prepared for the worst. I prepared for the usual stares and the negative comments. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Fellow students ignored me, professors didn't make comments or make me explain myself. The people working at the two coffee shops I frequent were so positive and I received lots of complements. One girl told me to check out the PGH_Lolita group, where I'm a moderator. I politely thanked her for letting me know about this.

Working my week-day job in lolita was pleasant. I work in retail, so it was quite easy to wear lolita to work. However, it was also somewhat difficult to work in lolita. It was cramped and hard to move around a lot to help the customers. I've worn lolita to work before though, so this is not something new to me. My bosses really liked it though, and were very positive.

There were a few random reactions that I got in other places. A lady in the grocery store said she liked my dress and asked me where I got it. My little cat, Nia, was actually afraid of the dresses. There were a few people asking about it on the bus and on the street walking between classes and work. But overall, most everyone just ignored it.

Wardrobe Difficulties

I have a pretty decent sized wardrobe. I have seven skirts, seven jumpers, four blouses, and three cutsews. I've been able to make a myriad of coordinates thus far, but six days in a row took a toll on my wardrobe. I simply do not have enough dresses to make coordinates that interest and excite me every single day. Skirts were pretty-much unusable, because I only had a few tops I could use with them. This was a real eye-opener for me. I had always thought of each piece in my wardrobe being important. But truthfully, many pieces stay on their hangers in the closet. It may be time to do a bit of evaluating in my wardrobe, especially if I plan to become a lifestyle lolita.

I was quite surprised by myself. For the past two years, my life has become more and more lolita-centric. I've wanted to become a lifestyle lolita for past year almost, and that has been what I've been moving towards. After this experiment, I'm not so sure anymore. It's very difficult to wear lolita all day. Perhaps it's just me, but wearing lolita becomes exhausting after awhile. I learned that I would need to own enough cutsews to match my skirts, and while I have four blouse options, not one of them has long sleeves. How did that happen?

My conclusions

I think that it takes a lot of confidence and energy to wear lolita by yourself. A friend complimented me on my outfit one day, saying that she "doesn't have the balls to wear her lolita to school." I didn't feel that way before this experiment. I also feel that my wardrobe is not in a state to be used daily. I can barely make enough outfits to wear something different every day for a week. Finally, there are just some impracticalities that come with wearing lolita. It would be important for me to keep some "regular" clothes around to deal with these situations in. For more on these, check out my post from a week ago on this subject. Still, I don't think you have to wear lolita every day to be considered a "real lolita." Even if you just wear the style to meet-ups, conventions, and occasionally other times, like I do usually, you're still a lolita in my book!

It's almost been a year since I started writing the Elegant Wardrobe. I know I don't have a ton of readers or internet fame or anything. But I'm still happy with how this is going. So I'll be doing a one-year bloggiversary give away, starting later this month. Also, I am proud to announce that The Elegant Wardrobe now has a Facebook page! Please feel free to subscribe to it to get the latest updates right on your Facebook. Until next time~

30 Day Lolita Challenge - Day 6

Today's topic is 10 things I can't live without in Lolita. I'm going to try my best to have 10, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get to that many.

1. Concealer and foundation

I consider them essential to daily life, let alone Lolita. Nothing is worse than having your picture taken and your face looks shiny and weird. If you don't want to wear make-up, I get it. But at least the foundation! It has sunscreen in it and a little bit goes a long way. You can't even begin to achieve the doll look without foundation. It comes in powder and in liquid forms, I use liquid. It blends very nicely into the skin making for a very natural look. I also have an under-eye concealer. It has caffeine in it to attempt to correct the dark circles under my eyes. But mostly it covers them up and makes them less noticeable.

2. Bloomers

Many Lolitas these days choose not to wear bloomers. Blasphemy! What would you do if a breeze swept your skirt up and you were exposed? Or if you're at a high up place where people can see you from below? I feel naked without them, I hate to go out without them. I have two pairs, both from In the Starlight.

3. A little pad of cute paper

Huh? What? Why? Having a pad of paper is extremely helpful when someone asks for your email. Or when you meet a particularly interested stranger that wants to know more about the style. Or when someone recommends a great book/movie/blog and you have to write it down. I never take mine out of my purse.

4. Cutsews
I love to wear casual styles to work and school. But I hate wearing blouses! So cutsews are a great alternative.They're comfy and available from lots of stores! I think that as long as it's an appropriate top for lolita (puff sleeves, ruffles, some sort of detailing or print) then it's great for a casual coordinate. I get them from Forever 21 and sometimes even Target. I'm not too picky about people's cutsews having to look a certain way. If it goes with the outfit, it's fine by me.

5. Lolita shoes
I've often expressed my love for lolita specific shoes here. But let me express it again. They are my favorite part of being a lolita. I'll be online for hours putting shoes into virtual shopping carts and dreaming of one day owning them all. The next pair I want to buy is a pair of lavender tea party replicas to match a new skirt that I commissioned from a friend.

6. My Innocent World Parasol
This is by far the best accessory I own. It's my top favorite item in my closet, and I take it to almost every meet-up I go to. It's the Heart Scallop Umbrella in black. The Innocent World name is on there in silver writing. It's beautiful in person and it matches almost everything I own. I was fortunate enough to be able to go to New York City about a year ago and I got to go to the Tokyo Rebel store! But I didn't have enough money for anything super amazing like a dress, this parasol was the top of my budget. I don't regret it even a little, I love this parasol with all my heart.

That's all I can think of. I'm pretty bad at this actually. Prints are great, but I like plain dresses too. I prefer tights, but I'm open to socks. I don't do the whole wig, fake nail, fake eyelash, circle lens thing. I'm pretty easy going about the whole thing I guess. Hopefully the next day post will be better.

30 Days Lolita Challenge! Day 1

Since I've been stuck in a blogging rut recently, I decided to try this 30 days meme that's been circulating around the community recently. I believe it was Kris at Sweet Lolita On-the-Go that started this meme, at least that's where I saw it. So I'm going to try it out and see how far I get. I probably won't post one every day, but it'll be great inspiration for new posts.

Day 1 - 10 things about your lolita bubble

I'm not all too sure what this actually means. Does it mean my local group, my personal lolita experiences, or what?

1. For me, lolita has been a on again off again thing. I first got into the fashion when I was in 7th grade, got my first proper pieces in 9th, and then I sort of dropped out of the style. After I graduated high school, I went to study abroad in Japan and fell in love with the style again. Ever since I've been a proper lolita going to meet-ups and stuff.

2. I love the rules. A lot of lolitas these days are all like "screw the rules and be creative." I think that that can be one approach to lolita and some of my polyvore coordinates take that a bit more to heart. But for what I actually wear, I go traditional all the way. It can be boiling outside and I'll show up in a blouse and bloomers.

3. Mana. Eh. I'm not a Mana fan girl. So many people are, I don't really get his whole draw. I like his brand, I like his music, I'm just not a big Mana fan.

4. My local community is pretty darn awesome. We've had our share of problems. But I think we've been heading in a positive direction now. I've been a moderator there for about six months, and so far it's been crazy fun.

5. I love running lolita fashion shows! I've done two now, each one has been an extremely stressful experience. Somehow I manage to be extremely stressed and having the time of my life. It's a good 50 hours of pre-con work, and this past con I was so stressed I threw up. But that's probably my favorite part of being a lolita and I wouldn't give it up for the world. I'll probably be writing a whole article about my experiences with this at some point.

6. I think I'm a kuro lolita with a color problem. It's so strange because I really love colors and my apartment is just covered in scraps of colorful fabric. But I wear kuro lolita. It's quite odd to me.

7. I LOVE SHOES. I never really was a shoe girl until I got into lolita. Now, I've picked out like 15 new pairs of shoes that I'll be slowly obtaining pair by pair. My favorites are rocking horse shoes and anything with laces.

8. I never wear OTK socks. If my knees are showing, I feel cold and naked. So I always wear tights.

9. My room doesn't have a trace of lolita in it at all. Except for the pile of dresses for sale in a chair and the G&LBs on the book shelf. So I won't be taking pictures of my room for day 22.

10. I desperately want an elegant wardrobe of my own. My closet is just a normal one, but it doesn't even have a bar in it to hang stuff on, only hooks. It's a pain! Someday I'll have a vintage armoire or something glorious for my clothes. But not anytime soon.

Day one done! Let's see if I keep it up! I already can pick out days that I won't be doing, namely the ones that require pictures of myself. I try not to post too many of those to the internet, so I'll be changing those ones a bit. If you've got any ideas, feel free to email me at my new email, theelegantwardrobe@gmail.com! Bye bye for now!

Confessions of a Kuro Lolita

I'm a kuro lolita. While I appreciate, collect, and wear other styles, I keep coming back to my first love, kuro style. What is kuro style exactly? It's all black style. The word "kuro" in Japanese means "black," hence, all black coordinate. Kuro style seems boring to many people, but for me, I love the simplicity. I have three black dresses (but I'm planning to sell one) and a black skirt I got while I was in Japan. I'm always looking for more black pieces to add to my wardrobe. When I tell people that I'm a kuro lolita, I get a similar response almost every time, "but isn't that boring?" I don't think so though. In fact, I think it can be harder to create an interesting Kuro coordinate than a more straightforward style.

Kuro (and it's sister style, shiro) can be coordinated in so many ways! You can have classic, sweet (bittersweet in the case of kuro), or gothic based coordinates, but they all can be made as a kuro coordinate, if that made any sense. What I'm trying to say is that if you tend towards a certain major style (gothic, sweet, classic), then you can still stay true to your style choice while still making a kuro coordinate. My kuro stuff is more on the bittersweet side of things. It can be tricky to create a nice kuro coordinate, the more pieces you use, the trickier it becomes. I have a few tips for making your own kuro coordinates (and as far as I know, these tips can apply to shiro style also).

1. Choosing pieces

I'm a big fan of jumper skirts for kuro especially. However, you can use whatever pieces you like to make a kuro coordinate. When choosing pieces for really any coordinate, you want to look at the details of the pieces. This goes double for kuro and shiro. For example, if you have a detailed skirt (lots of lace/trimmings/a bustle or something else) then you want to go for a simpler blouse. You do NOT want a detailed blouse with a very simple skirt. That makes the coordinate look top heavy. If you have a simple skirt, then choose a simple top to go with it. A casual style works very nicely for this.

2. Keep true to your style

If you're an OTT sweet lolita and you're looking at Kuro style, that's totally fine! Just because you prefer pastels or prints doesn't mean that you can't experiment in kuro or you can't wear it at all. It would be pretty awesome to see an OTT kuro coordinate. By combining the poof, sweet elements, and decora-inspired elements from sweet styles with the all black requirement of kuro, you can get a look that isn't seen at all.

3. Don't feel like you have to have black hair/makeup

Yes it is Kuro lolita. Yes you wear all black clothing and accessories. No, you do not have to have black hair and make up. I don't own any wigs, and I do my makeup pretty much the same everyday. Of course you can wear black makeup and have black hair with kuro lolita, I'm just saying it's not a requirement.

4. Prints...

This is something kind of weird, and I hope you get what I'm saying. Prints are okay, as long as they remain true to the black on black color scheme. You can have a black print on black fabric. Of course, it's probably not going to be a complicated print with lots of little details. But I just bought a dress with a polka dot print, and it is black on black. So it can work, but the print is going to most likely be simple.

Here are some examples of Kuro lolita dresses. I'm going to talk just a bit about each one.

This is an example of a sweet-kuro dress. This is actually the dress I just got! It has a light dot print and lots of gathers and bows. This makes for an interesting piece that is definitively sweet. This dress actually comes in a bunch of other colors too, including white (for a cute shiro lolita coordinate!). The OP style makes this an easy dress to coordinate. Sweeter shoes would work nicely with this, as well as either socks or tights. Since it is an OP, you don't have to worry about a blouse or any other pieces really clashing with the dress, making it a good choice for newcomers to the fashion. You also wouldn't have to purchase a blouse, which means less money spent on a fabulous Kuro coordinate.

Ack! I just said that you don't really see complicated prints that are black on black. This Innocent World dress is a great piece for a classic-kuro coordinate. The chandelier print makes it super classic. It is a JSK, meaning you would need a blouse or a cardigan or bolero over it. However, if you choose a simple blouse without puff sleeves or a wide collar to go underneath this, the dress will speak for itself, making a streamlined, classical coordinate. This dress is beautiful, and the print looks like it has a bit of a different texture than the rest of the dress has. The simple bodice should be flattering on a number of different body shapes. It was made in 2007, so good luck finding this dress for sale if you're as in love with it as I am.

Moi Meme Moitie is often called the definitive gothic brand. I have to say, I'm not extremely familiar with the brand itself. But this dress is a great example of a kuro dress that can work in a more gothic coordinate, or even in a sweeter one. It seems to have that same type of print texture as the IW one does, but it's not clear to me what this print actually is. This is also a jumper skirt, meaning you do need a blouse. One with a high collar would really drive the gothic-ness home. Lots of gothic jewelry would complete the look also. If you wanted to go sweeter with this dress, a blouse with more frills, possibly bell sleeves would do the trick. So this dress is quite versatile it would seem. I could see this going well in any of the three major styles, but it really fits in well with gothic the best.

So you see, Kuro lolita is most definitely not boring. It can be interesting and fun if you make it like that. Are you going to try out some kuro styles now? If you do, post a picture here and I'd be thrilled! Especially if you try out the OTT Sweet-Kuro that I was talking about up there. Of course, don't feel like you have to post a picture or anything at all! Trying new styles out is fun, I hope you try this one out sometime!

My Not-so-Lucky Lucky Pack

This was my very first experience with buying a lucky pack. I got this one as a part of Baby the Stars Shine Bright's Valentine's Day event. As I’ve mentioned before, BABY is my absolute favorite Lolita brand, and so I really didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to get a good deal on some clothes. This event was unlike previous lucky pack sales in that they had to be bought in person at the Baby the Stars Shine Bright shop in San Francisco. Having lucky pack sales that have to be bought in the store isn’t uncommon; it was simply unexpected for me. I never thought I'd have to hire a shopping service for a store in my own country. Nevertheless, I hired my first shopping service and began the wait.

Now what exactly is a Lucky Pack? Basically it's a pack of items coordinated to go together. Many brands sell them around New Years to clear out old stock, but sometimes they're sold in the summer. Many brands offer different types of lucky packs for different prices. There’s usually a “deluxe” pack that can have one-pieces, blouses, jumper skirts, accessories, headpieces, bags, and even jewelry inside.These are the most expensive packs and sometimes contain an original print. Also, the shop may let you choose a color or style. For example, you can indicate that you wear black or pink or blue most often, and they’ll give you that color of pack. Of course, you don’t know what's inside, so there’s still a surprise there.

Then they’ll have a “medium” pack or a casual pack. That’s what I got. It’s usually priced pretty well (for generally expensive Lolita clothing.

For example, in my pack, I got a jumper skirt, a blouse, a head bow, a pair of socks, a cell-phone strap/keychain, and a gym bag (why I would need a gym bag for Lolita, I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll use it for travel).It contains a complete outfit, but it’s not going to be as complete as the deluxe pack/it will lack something that the more expensive pack has.

The third pack that is usually sold is an accessory pack. This is the cheapest pack offered. It’ll have a headpiece, some socks, maybe some wrist cuffs, jewelry, a wallet; it just depends on what the brand offers. These are great deals if you’re in need of accessories, want to get a lot of little things for not a high price, or even to get the pack, split it up and give them as gifts. This pack also will usually come in different colors or styles. Sometimes they’ll let you choose, sometimes they won’t. It varies from sale to sale.

Different sales will have different packs available. I’ve also seen packs with skirts and blouses, shoe packs, jewelry packs, and all sorts of other ones. If the brand offers it for normal sale, chances are, they will eventually offer it in a lucky pack. The only exception I can think of for this is for parasols. I’ve never seen a pack offering parasols. But if they did, I’d be all over getting one of those.

Anyhow, now you know more about lucky packs. Now for my lucky pack. I got that medium size pack, the one with the jumper skirt and blouse and accessories. It’s a complete outfit and it’s very well made.There are all sorts of little details on the different pieces, like the crown embroidery on the detachable bow, the BABY logo embroidery on the blouse, and the different types of lace used on the blouse. The jumper has shirring on it, but no corset lacing, which I found odd. The other problematic thing about the dress is that the straps are uncommonly short. This makes the dress sort of not make sense to me. In the photos provided by BABY on their San Francisco blog it looked like it would fit one way. However in real life, the dress does not fit this way at all, which is very disappointing. The pack came in three different color options: pink, brown, and black.

I was hoping for black, and I got brown. A friend of mine ordered two packs, and so she was hoping for a black so that we could trade, but she got two browns! So between the two of us, we ended up with three of the exact same pack. I ended up buying a black one on the sales community and selling my brown pack to my sister.

I wish I could have included pictures of my black lucky pack for you. However, I haven't been able to get all the wrinkles out of it. It has a bustle in the back, which makes ironing it tricky. I don't have a steam iron either. So when I am able to get all those pesky wrinkles out, I'll take some pictures and update this post. Is that alright? I'll be updating again on Saturday, so look forward to it!

Dream Dresses: Past and Present

Most lolitas have dream dresses. These are usually rare or expensive dresses, older, popular prints, or simply difficult to obtain. Pretty much all of the lolitas I know have a dream dress or two in their hearts. I was fortunate enough to be able to buy my dream dress this year. Mine wasn't anything too special. It was the Baby the Stars Shine Bright drop-pocket embroidery jumper skirt.

This might look like a plain, black dress to everyone, but to me it's special. The fabric is soft and the lace is fine. There's tulle on the straps and the embroidery has a little rhinestone in the heart. It actually has pockets! Pockets! If I could, I'd also get this dress in the navy color. I got my dress second hand, but I could not love it more.

My current dream dress, gosh, that's such a tough choice. I'd have to say that it's BABY's Alice Portrait JSK in the black color. It's classic, and it would fit really nicely into my wardrobe.

I tend to be drawn towards black dresses, but being a kuro lolita is... well, sort of boring. So I can put this dress over a black blouse or under a cute bolero and I'd be set! The different colors in the portraits allow for all sorts of colors to be added to the coordinates, like the pale blues and pinks, and even gold from the frames. The pearl loop is just that final touch of elegance. To put it simply, I am absolutely in love with this dress. But it's not available from BABY anymore! So I'll be scouring the second hand community for awhile, I think.

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