Baby the Stars Shine Bright Winter Releases!

BABY and Alice and the Pirates are my favorite Japanese brands. I'm always watching for their newest releases! And this past week has been a flurry of releases from them. Three new sets have been released for reservation, and they're all quite different from each other.

Angel's Gentle Whisper of the Heavenly Holy Night Melody

That sure is a mouthful. What a ridiculous name. But this print is quite lovely in my opinion. It features delicate angels flying around with crosses and candelabras. The series has two jumpers, a skirt, a bonnet, an Alice bow, some socks, a blouse, and plenty of jewelry to match. The designer used delicate chiffon fabric to give the jumpers a light and airy feeling, like they could float away. Both jumpers also feature bustle backs, which I'm a big fan of. The skirt is simple, a great piece to fit into almost any wardrobe. The blouse has princess sleeves, which seem to be back in style. None of the pieces are over-designed in my opinion and would work well in many different styles. It went on sale on the 11th, but most everything is still available for reservation!

Drosselmeyer's Wonder Box

This is my favorite of the three. If I had the funds for it, I'd be tempted to buy it. It's perfect for Christmas! This is an Alice and the Pirates design based off of a Christmas classic, The Nutcracker. I don't know why, but I associate this type of plaid print with Christmas. The border has toy chests, nutcracker soldiers, rocking horses, stuffed bears, and all sorts of other classic toys one might find in the ballet. It comes in four vibrant colors: yellow, blue, green, and red. This series also has two jumpers, a skirt, a one-piece, two tops (one blouse and one vest-bustier sort of hybrid), an Alice bow, a hat, and some socks. I wish they had made this into some stuff for boy-style too, since the hat would be perfect for a military-inspired coordinate. I'm not a big fan of the blouse at all, but the Mary jumper and one piece remind me of the sorts of Christmas dresses my mom would make my sister and I wear for church. The reservation period starts on the 16th, so if you want to get this, be ready. I think it will be popular.

Hoshi no Namida Princess

This set is a collaboration with the popular vinyl doll, Blythe. The series has one dress, a headbow, a pair of tights, and some jewelry. The print is of the night sky, full of constellations and different types of stars. The back of the dress has an enormous bow complete with smaller bows as decorations. It has a bustle front, princess sleeves, and a scalloped hem, making it a very opulent one piece. The cost reflects this, at over $600 US (that's around 450€ or 387£ for European readers)! Also available for purchase is the matching Blythe doll, complete with her own, tiny version of the dress and headbow. This reservation starts on the 18th, and does not include the doll with any purchase.

The first (crazy long name) and the last of these three series can be seen here in the videos from the Hoshi no Namida Princess Tea Party held in October in Tokyo. Make sure you get the right videos though, as they also have ones of their tea party held back in February. I'm not sure why the Nutcracker print isn't in the show, since they use it on the video at the beginning. I love that BABY made their own YouTube channel and is taking film of their shows in Japan for all of us that can't go to their shows over there. I hope they continue to do that in the future~ Will you be buying any of these? Which is your favorite?

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

Recent Releases

I'm late! I'm late! I've been meaning to do a review of some of the newest Japanese brand pieces and with school and work I've just completely forgotten to do it! Here we go, a whirlwind tour of the newest fall pieces!

First, we'll start with Angelic Pretty. They have Petit Patisserie and Royal Palace out so far this season. Petit Patisserie features vertical lines of various cakes and ribbons. It's quite different from Angelic Pretty's famous border prints, and I rather like it. It comes in two jumpers, what appears to be a coat, a mini skirt, a hair bow, and socks. One of the jumper skirts is pictured on the left, in Ivory. It's quite a delicate look, and this version is still in stock in a few colors. Next, is Royal Palace. It's a floral printed dress with a bustle in the back and plenty of subtle details. It seems to come in ivory, brown, and pink. It only comes in a jumper so far, and only the brown is listed. This dress also very subtle, and I personally like this. It's on the right in the ivory, but is in stock in the brown.

Next on the tour, we have Innocent World. Another two dresses from this brand, Delft Jumper Lotta and Stained Glass Rose. I'm really not sure what "Delft Jumper Lotta" is supposed to mean, but it's quite lovely. The print has little deer and other woodland animals in little scenes together. It comes in three colorways, blue/green x cream, pink x brown, and bordeaux x pink. And like many of the other IW releases, it comes in a regular length and a long length. The print also comes on a skirt, socks, and a matching bag. The short version of the blue jumper is pictured on the left. I love how the designers used the print to make the detail, there's very little lace or other decoration. Second, the Stained Glass Rose. It was the feature of a F Yeah Lolita article a few weeks back, and it's something you just don't see everywhere else. It also comes in three colors: blue, bordeaux, and apricot, and in both short and long styles. In this series, there's a skirt, a hair bow, socks, and a rather plain looking blouse and bag. The picture on the right is of the short version in the Apricot color, and my sister actually ordered this dress. I can't wait to see it in person!

Finally, the designers over at BABY and AATP sure have been busy. In the last month, they have

released seven different series, not to mention their fall coats and shoes. I can't possibly talk about them all in enough detail without this article being entirely too long. Starting with Milky Rail Train, this is a special series in conjunction with KERA magazine I believe. Make sure to check out the clock-themed accessories, striped details, and the matching pullip dolls! Black Cat, Witch, and Apple Tree is AATP halloween-themed print. I love the border print, reminiscent of Vampire Requiem.

The big miss for me is the full-size witch hat. It's just too costume-y for my tastes. BABY's print, released around the same time as the AATP one,

is Marchin' Cookie Flavour. It's something I would have bought if I hadn't already seen BABY's most recent dress in KERA magazine, and something I would like to own in the future. It has a diamond pattern with a border print of cookies and tea cups. The pieces are pretty safe, and I like that about them. The VANTAN collaboration sets are not something I really get. I believe Vantan is a fashion design school in Tokyo, and they had students work with both BABY and AATP designers to create these two dresses. The Tales of Xillia sets are based off a video game for the PS3, released in Japan on the 8th of this month. I don't really understand why BABY made these outfits. They're cute, but I don't see them working in a lolita wardrobe. Putamayo also worked with this game to create their own looks.

And now we're to the set I wanted to talk in detail about. Clockwork Tea Party is the dress that kept me from ordering Marchin' Cookie Flavour. I saw it in the KERA scans a few weeks ago, and instantly fell in love. It becomes available for reservation on the 30th. The series has two jumpers, a skirt, a head bow, a bonnet, a blouse, socks, and some jewelry. Whew! Unfortunately, the reservation page doesn't have actual pictures of

the items, just sketches. The print has teddy bears and tea cups with butterflies, cookies, and other tea party stuff. It comes in five colors too, ivory, pink, red, navy, and black. On the left, there's the only picture I can

find of the actual pieces. That's the first jumper skirt, head bow, blouse (princess sleeves!), and socks. According to the KERA magazine that the scan on the left came from, Alice and the Pirates will be releasing a series called Lock the Pandora's Memories, but I can't tell much from the ad (on the right).

If I've missed or forgotten something, please let me know and I'll add it! Did you purchase one of these dresses or are you planning to? Which is your favorite? I'm so excited to order this Friday! Thanks for reading!

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!

New Print from Alice and the Pirates!

I'm not the best at keeping up with what's new on the market. I'm getting better though! I saw this posted on the EGL livejournal, and felt that I needed to post it here. A brand new print from Alice in the Pirates, which if you remember, is a brand run by the same people as Baby the Stars Shine Bright.

Alice and the Pirates seems to make prints that everyone loves, no matter what style you tend to wear. This new one is no exception. It's called "Scent of Rapunzel" and it's just beautiful. It also fits in with my theme here! The print has scenes from the story in little frames, surrounded by roses and birds. It comes in four colorways (color combinations), off-white with lavender, red, navy, and black with pink. I personally adore the off-white and lavender! Usually I'd go for the black, but I'm not a fan of the pink. It comes in two different versions of jumper skirts, a one piece that sort of looks like a dress with a matching bolero over it (I don't think it's removable), socks, a bonnet, a bow, and some jewelry. I was hoping for a bag, but no such luck. The second jumper skirt version is pretty unique with the lacing up the sides. I don't think I've seen that on a dress before.

I may be ordering this in either the off-white or the navy. While I like the red, I don't think it'll look great on me. I'd also like to order some other things from Alice and the Pirates, but I certainly don't have the funds. In other news, I may be actually visiting the Baby the Stars Shine Bright/Alice and the Pirates shop in San Francisco! If I do get to go, then I'll also be going to Angelic Pretty, Harajuku Hearts, and Black Peace Now. If you know any other shops in the area that are worth visiting, please let me know in the comments section! If you have any suggestions for articles you'd like to see here, please let me know either via my formspring or in the comments here! I'm trying to get a regular posting schedule for Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday going, but sometimes I can't think of what to write about. All of your suggestions will be taken under consideration!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! Did you have a good time last night? I like to make a few sets of resolutions every year, doll resolutions, regular resolutions, and of course, Lolita resolutions. So these are my Lolita resolutions for 2011!

1. Buy more shoes!

As I talked about last time, I've got a bit of an obsession with shoes right now. For awhile I had a pair of white shoes and a pair of black ones and I could wear those with everything. But now, that just isn't cutting it. So I want to get all different types and colors of shoes to vary up my coordinates a little.

2. Learn to make pieces

I make doll clothes, but I've never made any human size clothes. So this year, I'd like to learn to make clothes for myself. I'm starting with skirts and reconstructions of t-shirts to make cut-sews.

3. Get more casual items

I've been slowly transferring my wardrobe into more of a casual style that I can wear every day, but this year, I'd really like to get on that and become a true lifestyle lolita.

4. Expand wardrobe in general

My wardrobe, in its current state, is pitiful. I sold off a lot of my pieces to afford my dolls, but now I want to build it back up. So I'll be stalking the sales community for second-hand items to build it back up. Hopefully the sewing skills I plan to acquire will help out too.

There you have it! My Lolita resolutions for 2011. Of course, these will probably change as the year progresses. For instance, I might be going to Japan this fall for a study abroad. If I do, then I plan to go back to Harajuku for some serious shopping. Last time, I was able to buy a Baby the Stars Shine Bright bag and two Metamorphose Temps de Fille skirts. Next time, I will surely brave the busy Bodyline store (it was PACKED!) and get some good bargains without shipping fees. What are your Lolita resolutions?