It's no secret that most lolitas' favorite way to find inspiration is to look at photos of other lolitas, and my favorite way to do that via Instagram. There are so many awesome lolita Instagram accounts that are super popular - and usually really deserve to be! - but, like every form of social media, there are always hidden gems that don't get nearly enough love. These Instagrammers can add a little more fluff to your daily social media routine, and really, who can say no to that?!

These fancy rufflebutts were picked on the following criteria:

• Fewer than 300 or so followers
• A good percentage of their photos are either of lolitas or appeal to the lolita aesthetic
• There are at least a handful of photos on their account of them in lolita, or a similar style
• In general, their photos show high quality and talent in regards to photography, editing, coordination, and/or makeup skills (preferably some combination of the above, definitely with an emphasis on the latter two)

So, without further ado, here is my list of the top ten most underrated lolita Instagram users!

Professional creative-types:

Clockwise from left: Kate, designer for Australian brand Rouge Aerie; NYC lolita seamstress and designer Aria of Dix Macabre; the lovely Dawn of The Snow Field; American accessory artisan, Sweet Mildred.

Fierce fashion inspirations:

nynfia ; thisiscurlyb ; scarrymii ; remilade ; artemiz_xv ; bandersnatchley


Instagram is an amazing tool for inspiration - makeup, food, and particularly fashion! I don't like the Instagram web app, so I've linked to the Statigr.am pages for each of these cuties.

Followers! Who are your favorite lolita Instagrammers?

Let me know in the comments below - you can never have too much inspiration!

Yep, I'm back stateside (for some reason. No one has been able to convince me yet why.)! After about thirty hours of transit each way, I'm safely back in the USA and am about to sift through two weeks of missed life. I know I said I'd probably be able to update while I was there, but... I lied. I'm sorry! Please don't hold it against me!
New Zealand was amazing. It was beyond amazing. This picture was one of hundreds I took just of the mind-numbingly beautiful scenery hidden behind every other curve in the road- crystalline beaches sparkling under summer sunshine; cliffsides made spiky by a covering of flax and manuka trees; swamps overpopulated with mangrove trees under the grey skies of a summer storm; pastoral hills that look eerily similar to those of my own state, except elongated into craggy peaks that reminded me what sheep's hooves evolved to grip, so unlike their American cousins existences.
Not to mention the people. The individuals I encountered on this trip were some of the kindest and most sincere of any I've ever met, and I've done my unfair share of traveling and meeting people from all over the place. Everyone from the baristas in the cafes to my flight attendants to the amazing individuals who introduced us to their indigenous Maori culture just went above and beyond all of my expectations of how people treat each other. But I guess when you live in perennial summer, there's no real reason to treat strangers as hostilely as we do here in the Frozen North.
Speaking of summer, I came back to my computer to realize that my amazingly talented friend Kayla had found time to edit some of the pictures she and I took at a pastoral-themed photoshoot in... July, I think? So, while I fight jetlag and get back into my normal blogging schedule, her's a little bit of an appetizer for you!

The idea behind the photoshoot was to echo the heavily natural aesthetic of the pastoral convention of literature (think Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" and anything about shepherds and shepherdesses and their comparatively innocent lives in the countryside of England and Europe). Hence the natural makeup, mishmash of layers, and hippie-dippie hairstyle. I'm planning on writing more about the pastoral convention and how you can incorporate its aspects into lolita, mori girl, and a slew of other fashions, so keep an eye out!

For more, check out Kayla's post on the photoshoot, or her Flickr!

So despite my best efforts, I didn't end up getting photos of what I wore every day. I did warn Stefan that he'd be the official photographer in exchange for my Japanese prowess, but even still, I felt bad stopping him every few hours and being like "WAIT TAKE ANOTHER OVER HERE!" I did manage to document most of the days, though!

Here they are in order. I have a few towards the end where I'm not certain which day they're from, but for the most part I did pretty well!







Day 1: NOT scaring the rural folk in Hakone with lolita clothing:
Dress: H&M
Shrug: F21

Explored scenic Hakone-Yumoto. It was really important to me that Stefan see both urban Tokyo and a more suburban area, since so few people get to do so. Because our trip was extended by two days, we were able to spend one taking in the breathtaking natural beauty of central Tohoku.

Day Two: In Transit from Hakone to Tokyo All offbrand- Target and JC Penney, I think.

purely practical outfit for navigating shinkansen, subway, and the trek through Ikebukuro. Luckily it was waaaaay easier to get from Hakone to Ikebukuro than from Narita airport to Hakone. I think the trip took us a total of three or four hours. Not too bad, but still exhausting, so we just took a look around Ikebukuro after settling in.

Day 2: Ochanomizu and Akihabara, Take One. First day in lolita! Cutsew: I Do DeclareCardigan: H&MSkirt: Lolita NouveauSocks: MetaHeadband: Cocoa MousseNecklace: Amaranth Opulent

Casual lolita for Ochanomizu (the music/instrument district where we purchased Stefan's guitar) and Akihabara (ended up being our most-frequented district, strangely!) I was kind of upset when this photo was taken because I realized I'd left almost all of my makeup except lipgloss and mascara at the hotel in Hakone D:



Day 3: Harajuku! ...in a typhoon.Dress: BABY, the Stars Shine BrightPurse: Mother GardenSocks: Betsey JohnsonShoes: BodylineHair nest: Amaranth Opulent

Met up with a wonderful expat for soggy, typhoon-laden shopping. The ridiculous weather didn't stop me from going about my business, though (Stefan was shocked at how many people were still out and about- bad weather in America means pretty much everything stops) - I still dropped a couple hundred in Closet Child and Wonder Rocket almost entirely. I have no regretssss ♥
   Day 4: Mori-inspired-gyaru or gyaru-inspire-mori or some shit like that,Dress: MoMo by Wonder RocketCardigan: Emily Temple CuteSocks: Tutu*annaShoes: Target?Headband: Cocoa MousseNecklace: Amaranth Opulent

Went to the Tokyo Tower in this one, as well as Zojo-ji, which is one of my favorite temples. It's famous for allowing people to take pictures like this:

which is just cool. (ohai, Stefan!) We also had a nice chat with some businessmen who were helping us find the nearest train station, in which they asked why we had decided to come to Japan now and why we weren't scared of radiation poisoning. Ohhh, Japan.


Aaaaaaand from there it gets a bit hazy. That's the last of the regimented "this definitely happened on this day" photos.I thiiiink the next day we met up with some more expats to shop around Ikebukuro's Sunshine City shopping center (which was awesooome!). Excuse the silly shoes! We were a little early, so we went to relax in the sun on the hotel's terrace, and as shoes are not permitted inside the hotel, we were required to wear outdoor shoes.

  Dress: BABY, the Stars Shine Bright

Bolero: BodylinePurse: Angelic Pretty (Late birthday present from Stefan!)Socks: Secret Shop June 1st was spent revisiting the places we wanted to explore more fully- Sunshine City Mall (holy beans, I could've probably spent two full days there), Harajuku, and Akihabara. Unfortunately I didn't get a full outfit shot, but here are a few bits to piece together, haha:

 Not gonna lie, with was mostly to show off my crepe. Chicken curry crepe ftw!

Dress: Alice and the PiratesBlazer: BABY, the Stars Shine BrightPurse: Angelic Pretty
And then, shopping in Shinjuku! We met up with another American who was also on vacation for an hour or two and went to Marui. Then Stefan and I had lunch at Italian Tomato (which was surprisingly good!) and donuts at Mister Donut for dessert.

And Stefan, the ever-charming and ever-manly:

So there you have it! There's only one Japan post left, and that'll be a Q&A answering questions anyone has. Please leave questions in the comments below this entry or e-mail me by clicking the button in the sidebar to ask your questions about traveling in Japan!

I'm sure you guys remember my post from last week, Picnic at World's End, which is a short photo-story inspired by a photo shoot I had with my friend Savannah that weekend. Well, there were quite a few pictures that we liked that didn't fit with the theme, so here are a handful of them!

Look, I'm smiling again! Weird! I think I'm getting into the habit of it.

My favorite thing about this shot is that my camera focused not on Savannah's face, but on the flowers in her hair and the edge of her bonnet.

Savvy also just started a blog, so if you're interested in art, crafts, and lolita you should totally check it out here! She's so talented~ She's actually the artist I'm working with to turn the short story from the last post into a comic, which has been giving me great joy in the past week or two. I love having creative projects to work on , it's so cathartic.

Speaking of creative projects, heads up! I'm going to be at Anime Boston this year on Saturday, April 23rd only. I'll be in the Artist's Alley sharing a table with Ophanim and I'll have lots of limited edition not-sold-online goods. Please come check us out! ♥

It couldn't truly be said that the girls were sisters; memories of their entangled lives reached back no further than The Final War, as is true with all the straggling handful of survivors. The biological warfare that ravaged the planet was the result of growing tension between governments who had sought to annihilate each other, and perhaps in some aspects they succeeded. Those who lived through the horrors they had witnessed were not survivors, not really; that word invokes the image of grizzled youths fighting for their lives against forces they were prepared to combat, and no one had been prepared for this. The devastation was not meant to be survived. Even the officials in their bunkers had been found dead within 48 hours. It was a genetic mutation that saved the remaining humans, and those who were left seemed to sort of wander around in a daze, waiting to starve to death or remembering, as if hallucinating, the lives they'd lost.

The girls had abandoned names when they found each other. They referred to each other as "sister," a barely-remembered word that was almost lost with the rest of their memories. They wandered, day in and day out, living in a realm between reality and fantasy. They knew no age, no status, yet they clung to bits of propriety that were remembered more as habits than necessities; the elder still laced her corset every morning, and the younger tied her bonnet's ribbons under her chin as if anyone were still there to care.

On the first sunny morning after the attack, a half-remembered word flitted through their minds. They couldn't quite grasp it, but it was there, whispering seductively around every stream of sunlight on their skin, demanding attention. The sisters followed it through the trees, half-catching it and losing it again with every step, until they came upon the field. Something sparked when they saw the picnic basket, but it was the hoop for which a name produced itself. The elder touched it with the reverence of an ancient artifact and breathed the word "Toy," the only name she could grasp onto of all those vague remembrances flashing behind her eyes. She could remember nothing: only the dance.

The scene was like one of their plaguing hallucinations: everything was laid out - the table, the basket, the food - as if the diners had just gotten up and left on a whim. There was something so haunting to the whole scene that the younger found herself entranced by it- it made her feel like that ghostly word was within her reach, and that there was somehow something to be gained if she could only catch it. It was like grabbing at smoke until she put her fingers around the handle of the basket.

As the sisters passed the abandoned basket between their fingers, they couldn't help feeling like something had fallen into place. There was something here, they could tell, some link to a past that was feeling more and more distant every day. Perhaps they somehow knew the truth, that this picnic had been set out for them in the days when they had someone who cared enough to give them pleasant things. As they passed the basket between them, the younger smiled up at her older sister and whispered that elusive word that had so often escaped them.

 

"Home."

This weekend I was given the immense honor of playing official photographer for Dalin's thesis film, Le Fille De L'avenir (The Daughter of the Future). I'm in no way a professional photographer - just a girl with a good eye and a nice camera - but life has thrown my way a good number of opportunities to hone my skills, and I'm surprised to say that I'm getting to be more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it! I don't want to release any spoilers, so here are a few headshots I took of Crystal Arnette as Jolie, the swashbuckling gender-bending (at least for 1750's standards!) conscious of the leading lady, Victoria.

We really liked that sword. Can you tell?

I don't want to give anything away before the film's big release, so I'll leave you with these for now- but this isn't the last you'll hear of it! Dalin's promised me a press spot at the premiere, and afterwards I'll post some of the nicest shots from this Sunday's shoot. For Dalin's own blog post about the film, click here!

A quick break from the hiatus to tell you all that I'm not dead! On the contrary, I've been quite alive and keeping myself very busy. This hiatus couldn't have come at a better time- between classes, school/family/social life, and designing my fall/winter line, I can't even imagine what these past few weeks would have been like with blogging thrown in there too! I also didn't forget that I promised you guys pictures of my new hair, so without further adieu...

Are you ready?


'Cause I'm pretty excited about this....

Here's a doozey - a picture of me with no photoshop and only a touch of make-up:

What do you think? Also, like my hair clip? This one was a prototype that I'm keeping for myself, but it was to test out a new style of product I've been playing around with:

I only have two I'm going to be releasing in this style for winter, though, because I think they'll be much more suitable for spring/summer. These are mostly going out to my ladies in the Southern Hemisphere, who are probably sick-sick-sick of earth tones and bare branches!

I've also been devoting myself rather admirably to my studies. I know, weird, right?! Currently I'm studying Renaissance & Enlightenment Europe, World Literature since the 17th Century, World Civilizations in the same time period, War & Peace through Film, and... an introduction to internet applications (read: The Web for Dummies). Everything has proven to be incredibly interesting, and I'm happy to say that I've continued to use fashion as a bit of peaceable excitement in a world of dusty tomes and droning history lectures. Well, no, not really, all of the subjects I've studied so far have been absolutely fascinating (the European witch hunts, how sheep conquered Mexico, and the expeditions of Zheng He, the world' s first explorer). Er... except maybe that computer class (though, the Browser War of the 1990's - that was certainly a humdinger of a lecture! Naaah, I kid, it's fun).

One of my closest friends, Kayla, is in a photography class, and she just finished a portraiture assignment, which I was pleased to be asked to participate in! Here are some gems from our experiments together (in fact, the photos of me above were taken by her, too!):

I suppose that's all that's new for me! I've still been religiously reading all of your amazing blogs that I follow, but even still, how have you all been? I've missed you so!! Hopefully I'll be back to posting again soon, once classes calm down a bit and I have more time to breathe.