30-day Lolita Challenge: Day 2
Day 2: Ten things you love in lolita
1. PRINTS. I can't get enough of them! I love the artwork and detail that goes into each one, and prints often have so much color in them that you can coordinate it in many different ways by playing off the secondary colors. I can safely say that all but one of my dresses are prints.
2. QUALITY LACE. If there is one thing that lolita fashion has made me more aware of, it's the love of good, intricate quality lace. The lace on a lolita dress comes in so many varieties, and I feel like the kind of lace chosen on the dress can subtley affect the overall impact of the dress. For example, I like the AATP Vampire Requiem series not for the print but for the decadent rose lace used on the hem that gives it an extravagant, yet gothic finish.
3. HEADGEAR. I'm not talking about the braces kind. I'm talking about the flowery canotiers, the headbows, and the decadent bonnets. A lolita coordinate can easily look bottom heavy with frilly sleeves and printed hems, and headgear is the perfect complement for bringing the whole outfit together from top to bottom. Whether it is a simple hairbow or a extravagent bonnet, I always wear something on my head when I wear lolita.
4. SOCKS. Lolita socks are simply some of the craziest, loveliest, and most awesome socks on the planet. Seriously. You can wear anything from candelabras, to ponies, to lace prints on your socks and I just can't get enough of it. If lolita socks were $15 a pair instead of $30-$40, I would have a whole suitcase full of them by now. And you would bet I'd pair a pair of Milky Berry socks in white with beige shorts, billowy peasant blouse, sunglasses, and a straw hat for the summer!
5. THE HUNT. Lolita is very exclusive fashion, and while that unfortunately makes it cost a lot more than I'm used to for clothes, it also means I get to enjoy the thrill of hunting and saving up for that dream piece. It took me two years of periodically stalking mbok and EGLcommsales to find my dream dress, but it was totally fun and worth the wait all that time.
6. THE MEETUPS. The only thing more fun than dressing in lolita for yourself is dressing up together to meet friends for a good, frilly time. I love being able to go "all out" in frills, and I love meeting new people from different backgrounds all connected by a common interest in fashion. Meetups are a rare indulgance, but they always make me smile by the end of the day.
7. THE FRIENDS. Lolita fashion would not be anywhere as fun for me if I didn't have friends to share it with.
8. THE BTSSB/AATP KANAZAWA SHOP LADIES. I am so grateful to these girls for helping me out when I first started collecting lolita and running a shopping service. As a foreigner in Japan, with an okay grasp of Japanese, I really appreciated how they always came to talk to me about their newest releases or suggested dresses I might be interested in. At my first tea party, back when my Japanese was still so-so, one of them went out of their way to make sure I was feeling welcome. That same shop girl also introduced me at another tea party to another foreigner in Japan, which she said was the first time ever that two non-Japanese came to their tea parties at the same time. I owe all the fun times I had in Japan in lolita to these girls. I plan on sending them a thank you postcard soon with a photograph from my first meetup in the US.
9. THE AESTHETIC. The emphasis on modesty and romantic elegance in this fashion is what makes me fall in love with the fashion tiem and time again.
10. THE CREATIVE COORDINATES. I admit I coordinate rather boringly, but my heart always jumps when I see a coordinate that goes to daring new heights of extravagence or laughs at the "rules" and succeeds.
As always, thank you for reading!