My local community is utterly, completely lovely. We don't meet up often, and when we do, it isn't usually more than 3-6 of us (except for that one 2010 meetup which will live in infamy), but the size of the group doesn't matter because all of the local girls are wonderfully kind, fun people. Most of us have known each other for years at this point, and I honestly can't think of a single person who isn't a total sweetheart! We're so lucky to have such a low-drama community - it's always a topic of discussion .

For this meetup, we went back to an old favorite of ours, a small-town tearoom called Tea with Tracey. Coincidentally, I returned to an old favorite as well, because holy crap I cannot stop coordinating my Little Prince JSK, someone please send help. Friends are berating me, insisting that I can't wear the same dress to every meet; in this they are wrong, so long as that dress is a galaxy print that depicts roses, princes, and foxes. What is the limit for Little Prince coordinates on Her Lumpiness? Say it with me now: the limit does not exist.

In conclusion: as long as you don't run out of ways to coordinate it, I don't think there's such a thing as over-wearing your favorite piece. Sure, I wouldn't ACTUALLY wear it to every meetup, but any time I want to be sure I look and feel my finest? You'd better believe the Little Prince is coming out!

Rundown, more photos, and all sorts of antics below the jump!

Introductory image from BABY official website

BREAKING NEWS: Today on their blog, Tokyo Rebel announced that they would be reopening their New York City storefront, which is super exciting, and wonderful news. However, it was slightly overshadowed by another announcement in the same blog post: that Baby, the Stars Shine Bright will be opening their first official storefront in NYC on the same weekend, side by side!

This is a historic event: the first-ever dedicated brand store on the East Coast of the US, something us Eastern lolitas have been begging anyone who'll listen for ever since the San Francisco BABY store opened (and before!) The stores will open on July 19th, 2014 - almost exactly a month from today - though no other information is available. I'd love if this was treated like the San Francisco opening, where the first 50 or so people to spend over $200 received a ticket to a tea party with Misako and the designers, but I don't know if there will be that much fanfare. Either way, you can bet your boots that I'll be trekking into NYC on opening day!

Are you all as excited as I am? This is quite the momentous occasion for American lolitas, and I must admit I'm all in a flutter myself over it. I hope to see many of your beautiful faces at the opening with me, and if not, here's hoping that all of you get the chance to visit someday! Even those who are not my American compatriots should see this as a great sign - every official shop that opens outside of Japan increases the likelihood that one will open near you as well. The more brand shops that open around the world, the more likely it is that lolita will have more of an international presence. That may not seem like a good thing to all the hipster lolis who knew about it before it was cool, but personally I'm excited for the prospect of more brand sightings at international events, or even BABY-hosted tea parties or release events around the city!

If you could pick, where would you open the next international brand store, and which brand would it be?

TOKYO REBEL: website   twitter   blog

BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT NEW YORK CITY: facebook   twitter   website

One of my first blog posts, way back in the day, was lolified versions of mainstream trends. At the time, I was getting much more interested in mainstream fashion due to my customer-facing job, and since I enjoyed writing it so much and have found myself in a similar place sartorially, I've decided to bring it back for Spring 2014! As I don't exist in a lolita-specific bubble, nor do the rest of us, it's become one of my pastimes to keep up with this season's trends for my work and general non-lolita wardrobe. I've never been a trend-chaser, but looking at mainstream fashion recently has actually proved to be quite inspirational for my lolita coordinates as well. While we obviously do have our own trends that crop up, I feel like they aren't as diverse or rapidly-changing as the mainstream world is, so even they can get boring at times.

For example, some huge trends right now is layered chiffon, longer hemlines, and more mature color schemes, but many of the American lolitas I know have been doing that for years already. I remember planning my spring/summer wardrobe for 2010 and waxing poetic about those exact same looks, and I have friends of five years whom I've never seen in a regular cotton blouse or with exposed knees. Trends in lolita take years to build up, whereas in main stream fashion they're gone and forgotten within months. While that's slightly intimidating, and certainly would be costly to keep up with religiously, I think that turning to mainstream fashion for lolita inspiration can not only keep the subculture interesting, but since we can expect our malls and department stores to carry these items, it can be a great way to expand a lolita wardrobe as well. 

Three Mainstream Fashion Trends for Lolitas, Spring 2014

Spring 2014 Trends, Lolita Versions - orchid, bold lips, fancy shades, flower crowns

The top 3 mainstream trends for lolita, in my mind, are bold lips (particularly in orchid), embellished sunglasses, and flower crowns. A bold lip can be a great way to tie a secondary color more profoundly into your coordinate, as with the shades of purple in the outfit above. Particularly fab for the spring and summer sun, embellished sunglasses are an unexpected accessory for lolitas - bonus points if they're star- or heart-shaped; here, the little 3-D roses mimic the flowers in the Lady Sloth skirt's print, while bringing some pastel life to the otherwise muted piece. And finally, flower crowns/headbands feel to me like something that mainstream fashion actually borrowed from lolita, instead of the other way around; they've been growing in popularity for the past few springs, but this is certain the heyday for lolita flower accessories.

Those are my top three mainstream trends for lolitas this spring/summer, but there are so many good ones, I couldn't only pick one coordinate's worth!

Bonus Extra Set!

Lolita coordinate with sheer accents

For this outfit, the only spring trend I went with was the previously-mentioned chiffon. While in lolita it's common for us to wear full pieces of chiffon, such as a blouse or ruffled underskirt, I've noticed that mainstream fashion is being drawn more to pieces with bits of chiffon mixed in with other fabrics, such as cottons, synthetics, and satin. When I saw this Angelic Pretty dress, I knew it was perfect for this trend, and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to design a coordinate around it!

So, readers, I'm curious: do you follow mainstream fashion trends?

And if so, which are your current favorites to mix with lolita?

 It's officially spring! This is a coordinate for an impromptu afternoon tea I held for my friend Carol and I. My boyfriend, who is the sweetest in the land, made us some lovely tea sandwiches, as well as water flavored with raspberries, lemon, and cucumber slices, and Carol baked cookies. I thought I'd have more time to make something than I actually did, so I just bought some macarons and lemon bars.

In honor of spring, I wanted to go for a pastoral, almost flower-child like vibe. This skirt, which was handmade by one of the NYC lolitas, is really perfect for that theme, as it depicts Victorian men and women playing croquet and promenading outside. I left my hair in its natural curls, though I contained them slightly in twin tails (which I haven't worn in forever! Since I stopped wearing sweet lolita, I believe?)

Rundown:

Cutsew: Angelic Pretty

Skirt: Dix Macabre

Flower crown: Wet Seal

Tights: Target

Boots: Funtasma

How do you like my boots? They were my anniversary present from boyfriend, and I'm fairly obsessed, to tell the truth! I've been meaning to buy a pair of Victorian-style boots for years and years, but when I found these I unfortunately didn't have much spending money. I was going to just wait until payday, but then Ryan offered to buy them for me as an anniversary present! It's a good thing, too, because I always do that end then either lose the link to whatever it is I wanted to buy, or talk myself out of it by the time I actually get the money. It's a terrible habit of mine!

Detail shots:

Are you as excited as I am for the change of seasons? I feel like spring is the perfect time of year for lolita fashion, but autumn can be so beautiful as well. I'm always drawn to lighter palettes when it starts getting warm, like this outfit, but I don't think I'll be able to leave my dark colors behind completely...

I have this terrible habit of losing everything I own, and makeup is no exception. While I've been seeing tutorials for fixing broken pressed powder makeup around the internet for ages, I didn't have much reason to use it, as it's rare that I drop or break my own makeup. Then this week I was browsing Target's clearance makeup section, and had a revelation: much of the makeup in these sections are still perfectly good and fashionable, but have been dropped and broken by other patrons and therefore no longer deserve their initial price tags, despite otherwise being perfectly good and unused. I found a Pixi palette that I love, but which had two shattered shadows in it. I rolled up my sleeves, and decided to expand my arsenal of budget makeup skills by fixing the palette and scoring a $12 product on clearance for $3 and a little elbow grease!

The premise of this craft is that a powder eyeshadow mixed with liquid will turn into a malleable goop that can be molded back into its original shape. Water would take too long to dry or compromise the integrity of the powder, but rubbing alcohol evaporates after a short period, leaving the newly-formed solid makeup in whatever shape you mold it into. The makeup is now solid and good as new!

Fixing a broken makeup palette

You will need:

• Small, blunt tool: I cut one head off a cotton bud/Q-tip, but you could use a toothpick or the end of a makeup brush, depending on the size of your palette. The smaller it is, the smaller your tool should be
• 70% isopropyl alcohol: This is the type that all of the tutorials I saw online used, so I'm not sure if other concentrations will work as well as this one, or better
• Broken pressed powder makeup, obviously!
• Thin plastic wrap
• Optional, but recommended: angled makeup brush
• Completely optional: small spatula/butter knife for smoothing the top (I just used the flat side of my headless Q-tip)
• Completely optional: small eye dropper

First step: break up the broken powder even more to remove or lessen the size of the lumps that are present. This will ensure that the alcohol penetrates all of the powder evenly when you're stirring.

Next, mix in the isopropyl alcohol a few drops at a time. I just poured a small amount into the cap and used that to drip the alcohol into the powder, but if yo
u have an eyedropper handy it's probably much easier and more efficient to use that.

Stir the powder and alcohol together so that the powder is completely saturated. Make sure you get into the corners, and be careful - for me, making sure that the powder stayed in its little container within the palette was one of the hardest parts of the entire process!

Once the two substances are completely mixed comes the other hardest part: smoothing the goop over. I used the side of the Q-tip, like I said above, and gently ran it over the top, making sure to apply slight but even pressure over the whole thing. When I was done, I used my angled eyeshadow brush to squish any particles back into place which may have been moved by the Q-tip.

Now that it's mostly smooth, I used the plastic wrap (I used super thin stuff that I cut from a produce plastic bag - it seemed like it was probably twice as thin as regular plastic wrap you'd use for wrapping up leftovers, and that was really helpful, so I'd say the thinnest plastic you can find would probably be good, as long as it's food-safe!) to smooth it out even further. I gently covered the goop so the plastic was just barely touching all of it, and then slowly and gently dragged it all the way across toward the edge of the plastic. Once it was at the edge, I continued dragging it all the way off - if you just pull it off regularly, it could mark up the beautiful smooth goop with craters, which are definitely not what you're going for! This was the most frustrating part for me, because I don't have very steady hands (SO MUCH CAFFEINE), so I had trouble applying even amounts of pressure and moving slowly and gently enough over the surface.

Using the still-in-tact head of your cotton swab and/or your angled brush, clean the loose powder off of the rest of your palette so it looks shiny and new!

For me, the final step was using my angled brush again to slightly angle the edges so it looked a bit more like the other shadows in the palette, but at this point it took me so long to smooth it out that I didn't want to mess it up and have to start over again because I was angling them too much. It's a tad more obvious in the topmost white powder in the palette, which was also broken when I bought it and which was my test run of this whole process.

Tada! Your once-broken palette is almost as good as new. As you can see, a great budget makeup shopping tip that applies to makeup fanatics of all denominations (lolitas included!) is to buy broken palettes from the clearance section and fix them yourself! You could also try mixing multiple shades of broken powders together to make your own custom colors: imagine an iridescent blush made of your favorite pink with a white or peach highlighting color, or one with your favorite subtle bronzer mixed with a blush - there are so many possibilities!

Anyway, I hope this helps you get more mileage out of your beauty budget, so you can put all that money you're saving into new brand (or offbrand!) Let me know if you try this out, okay? ♥

 Seeing as it's Women's History Month, I figured it would be appropriate to discuss one of my historical lolita fashion inspirations: Empress Elisabeth of Austria.I've come across paintings of Empress Elisabeth a few times during my studies and have always found her elegant garments striking, but it was only after coming across an image of the gown from her Hungarian coronation (seen at left, and further below) that I really realized her potential as inspiration for classic lolita style. Characters such as Alice and Anne of Green Gables are sometimes cited as inspirational for toned down sweet-classic styles, but in my opinion, for the increasingly-popular OTT classic style, Empress Sisi is the figure to emulate. While she may have had her own problems and plenty of habits which you wouldn't want to mimic, her fashions are definitely worthy of praise.

Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of Hungary, also called "Sisi," was a Bavarian-born monarch of the mid-late 19th Century. Though she ruled Austria for 44 years, she found the atmosphere of the court stifling and often traveled around the continent alone, developing a deep kinship with the rulers of the more relaxed Hungary. She helped to bring about the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, and she was also a huge fashion icon, both during her life and afterwards. Unfortunately, she suffered with severe anxiety, anorexia, and depression for most of her life, particularly after the death of her children.

If you find Empress Elisabeth's style inspiring like I do, you should know that we're in good company! Not only has she personally been portrayed in many films and plays over the past century, but her sense of style has cropped up in other productions as well. If you've seen the 2005 movie rendition of Phantom of the Opera, the dress at the left probably looks very familiar to you; Sisi's get-up in the portrait "Empress Elisabeth of Austria with Diamond Stars on Her Hair" by Franz Xaver Winterhalter served as inspiration for one of Emmy Rosum's stage costumes in the film.

Empress Sisi's Hungarian coronation gown, as mentioned above

Empress Sisi's Style

If you want to emulate the empress yourself in a classic lolita coordinate, here are a items you should consider including:

• Thick, complex braids
• Luxurious materials befitting a queen and empress, such as velvet, rhinestones, and pearls
• Natural elements like ivy wreaths, flowers, sea shells, or jewels which mimic the stars
• Purple, her favorite color, or other jewel tones, which suited her pale complexion and dark hair, though she also wore quite a bit of ivory
• Necklines that show a generous amount of decollete or corsets with waspish waistlines, as these were fashionable during her reign
• Accessories: gloves, fans, and double-stranded pearl necklaces were all favored by the empress
• Hair pieces: tiaras, flower wreaths, and veils, because how could you not?!

For this Sisi-style coordinate, I took inspiration from the luxurious styles of the European royal courts of the nineteenth century. Lavish fabrics like velvet and chiffon combine with naturally-opulent materials like gold and pearls, and an elegant corset emphasizes the waist and decollete. Elisabeth often spent hours at a time getting her hair done, so this outfit is paired with artistically-wrought braids and a golden flower-motif crown. I included as many items as I could which created a juxtaposition between the natural and the luxurious, as these motifs played out in the empress's fashion statements quite often.

Who is your fashion inspiration? 

If there are any other historical fashionistas you'd like to see featured,

let me know in the comment section below!

You may also like:

Inspiration: Aliena, As You Like It

Literary Lolita: Drawing Inspiration

More inspirational posts

What I wore:

Gothic Lolita for the Misako Aoki tea party in New York City!

Accessory closeup for my gothic lolita coordinate!

It's been ages since I went to a large lolita fashion meetup! This meet was sponsored by RuffleCon, for which I'm on the Board of Directors, who hosted a raffle for attendees (which I donated to!). Conveniently, it was located at Dove Parlour, a bar I love in the West Village.

I was honestly a bit overwhelmed during the meet itself! Like I said, I don't attend large meets very often, so being in close quarters with over a hundred fluffy ladies was a bit much for me. I expected to do more socializing and meeting new people, but when my friends and I snagged seats at a table in the back, I was worried to leave and lose my spot! But luckily there were some friends of friends I had never met who joined us, so I did get to meet SOME new people.

It was also difficult to get good photos while we were there- the lighting wasn't very good (obviously, as it's an underground bar!) and it was a bit too cold to get photos outside, but I managed to get a few decent enough to post here.

Gothic lolita outfit shot:

Full outfit shot

Rundown:

JSK: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright's Pocket Embroidery

Blouse and fur: vintage

Leggings: Victoria's Secret PINK, with UniQlo tights underneath

Shoes: Payless

Headpiece: handmade

Accessories: handmade or offbrand

Ankle bows, not really shown: Tutu Anna

Close-up showing my gothic makeup, thrifted necklace, and
handmade headpiece

The BABY, the Stars Shine Bright jumperskit was a last minute wardrobe addition as well. I wanted a new party dress for this, and specifically one by BABY (Misako's favorite brand), so I scoured the secondhand communities and managed to find this beauty exactly in my price range, and in my size! It's one of the many rereleases of the iconic Pocket Embroidery jumperskirt, and I love all of the little details - the buttons, the pintucks, and of course the embroidery. It's also SO comfortable! I'll definitely be wearing it in more casual applications come summertime.

I had so much fun making that headpiece! My friend Remi and I got snowed into my apartment for a weekend to make them. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get a good shot of it yet, but it consists of a headband covered in black velvet, with black roses (small ones with gold rhinestones, one big one with glitter-tipped petals), black birdcage netting (!), a small black crow (!!) and a bunch of purple grapes (!!!). I haven't gotten over it yet! It's isn't the first large headpiece I've made myself, but it's certainly my favorite, and a style I've never done before. Definitely the first of many, though!

Verdict: I'm definitely getting more and more into gothic lolita. Classic lolita style will always be my favorite, but gothic is coming in a close second, especially while the weather is so drab! Maybe once spring comes I'll be drawn back to my creams and browns, but even in my daily wear I'm so drawn to the darker spectrum these days...

How about you all? Has the weather where you are (whether you're currently trudging through snow like me, or sunny beaches if you're in the southern hemisphere) affected your color palette and preferred styles like it has for me, or are you one of those folks who always keeps to the same staples year-round?

Hello all, time for another Lolita Blog Carnival! This week's theme, aptly, was romantic outfits for Valentine's Day. Originally I wasn't going to submit for it, but I remembered this afternoon that I have a photoshoot which would be perfect for the theme! And since I've been meaning to post it for weeks now, I figured this was as good a time as any.

This is from a photoshoot my boyfriend and I did during the first snowfall of the season! It was really exciting then, but now that I'm wallowing under almost 4 feet of the stuff I'm kind of over it...

There are plenty of reasons why this is a great outfit for Valentine's Day. First, the luxurious fabrics like velvet, satin, lace, and vintage fur are perfect for the holiday. Secondly, the color palette reminds me of something a Moulin Rouge dancer would wear, and third, the french braided hairstyle adorned with a vintage rose hairpiece makes is lovely and wonderfully festive!

Aforementioned french braided hairstyle

Outfit Rundown:

❤Top: Offbrand velvet riding jacket

❤Skirt: The Black Ribbon

❤Hair flower and fur: Vintage

❤Harness: COVEN

❤Tights: Offbrand from Japan

❤Heels: Payless

❤Bracelet: Purchased at ConnectiCon

And one more detail shot, for good measure! You can just barely see the rhinestone and flocked velvet detail on the back of the tights.

I'll probably do a post with more photos from the shoot, since I'm fairly happy with how they came out, but for now, here are some more romantic outfits from other members of the LBC!

Vanillas Traumfrabrik

Daily Fuckery

Lolita Glamour

Breiðholt

Pink Lace and Glitter

Under the Parasol

New Vogue Children

Pretty Little Habits

Northern Star

Sweet and Simple

Beyond Kawaii

Whimsical Adventures of Me

There, I said it.

I've been thinking it for years, waxing poetic to friends, dropping hints on my blog, but now I have to just come out and own up to the fact that I think offbrand lolita outfits are way better than brand-based lolita fashion coordinates. They require more creativity, are more often personal, and can be a much more accessible investment for individuals who can't or don't want to throw down an entire paycheck for one dress.

My favorite offbrand/indie brand lolita outfit - click here for full post!

Now, don't get me wrong - I love me some brand. I went through a period, like most lolitas do, of feeling like the only worthwhile coordinates were 90% made up of designer pieces, and in all honesty I found most lolitas' reasoning for not buying brand to be a cop out. Oh, you can't afford it? Save up and stop buying the cheap crap that comes up on the sales comm. You're too big for it? Whatever, people sell fully shirred stuff all the time - it's not like I'm typical brand-size and I manage. Needless to say, I'm really happy to have changed my mind - and also grown the heck up - about other lolitas' wardrobes as well as my own.

Here's why:

Fashion blogger Lessie in a handmade
classic lolita dress

Brand-name lolita is designed specifically to suit the lolita fashion aesthetic. It's easy to look like a doll when you're buying from a company which probably invests hundreds of thousands of dollars per year into clothes which do exactly that. As a community, we sort of agreed years ago that it takes very little finesse to be a lolita if all you do is buy the entire pre-coordinated series when it's released, and then throw it on with a pre-styled wig and tea party shoes. I'm happy to see that we've moved past that; heck, I remember a brief period when it was a taboo to mix more than one brand in a single coordinate. Talk about hindering creativity! This isn't to say that I hate brand or the people who wear it; for formal gatherings that are about dressing to the nines, I still favor brand because it sends a message to other lolitas that one is pulling out all the stops. However, for smaller gatherings and even just for my aesthetics in general, I think that outfits which center around non-brand items are just generally more appealing and creative from a third-party standpoint.

Coordinate by Pinkly Ever After, featuring their
Darling Sugar Cake OP Dress

Any article of clothing in a coordinate which didn't come from a big brand is one of three things. First, it might be something they've bought from a non-lolita store, which requires ingenuity either in altering it to be perfect or in every single time it's coordinated. Or, the second option is that they bought it from an indie brand, which means they're supporting smaller, independent artisans. Third and finally, they could wear something they've handmade themselves, which requires immense skill and time devotion; even something which is poorly made requires far more dedication that buying brand because the creator had to design it, buy the materials, and put their own time into creating it.

A gothic coordinate by Ms. Thea Elizabeth featuring a handmade skirt

Lolita fashion is also a huge investment. If you're a lolita who dresses up often but also has a day job, it's ridiculous to expect that you'll shell out a thousand bucks on a completely brand-name coordinate when you also need to furnish yourself with, for example, an office-friendly wardrobe. That's to say nothing of feeding yourself/your family, paying the bills, and all the other things which demand our time and money that aren't lolita fashion. And even which are! Meetups and conventions can suck the money right out of that Angelic Pretty wallet. Unless you live a block from all of your lolita friends and your local community's favorite meetup idea is to sit in your house talking (not eating or drinking or watching anything), participating in your local lolita community costs money. If you're budgeting yourself very carefully for one reason or another, you can't always afford the big brand AND the events you'd be wearing it to.

Offbrand-based classic lolita, featuring a skirt by Dix Macabre

But Lumpy, I hear you say, there are plenty of options out there for acquiring brand - they don't have to buy directly from the store! Sure, they can check Mbok or Yahoo!Japan Auctions or any of our many sales comms, but you forget - even if that saves money, that can still cost a huge investment of time and effort, which many people just don't have. Personally, when I get home from my ten-hour days, the act of devising and making myself dinner is sometimes all the effort I can really bring myself to put forth (hello, blogging twice a month max!) Weekends I spend doing things for myself, and sometimes that's shopping online, but more often it's going out with my boyfriend, crafting with friends, writing, or playing video games. That's to say nothing of people who work more than me, or have more obligations or less cash than I do. Everyone has their reasons. Like I've said before: privilege, 'n stuff.

Dancing in celebration of offbrand lolita!

I can see why a lot of lolitas are attached to brand, though. In the end, lolita is really all about luxury, and if you only wear it for big events, it's not too unreasonable to expect that you'll be able to save up and create some really lovely coordinates out of only designer items. And not only will they look great, they'll probably make you feel amazing - there isn't much as exhilarating as slipping into a dress you've earned, that you saved up for and that you know you deserve.

But these outfits... will they be innovative? Will they inspire? Will they be an honest test of your coordinating abilities, your sartorial prowess, your ability to weave lowly, lackluster pieces into truly jaw-dropping elegance? Maybe this is just my opinion - but I'll bet they won't.

More resources for going brand-free:

Ramble Rori: Indie Brands You Should Be Buying From

Ramble Rori: Indie Brands You Should Be Buying From - UPDATED!

F Yeah Offbrand!

Indie Lolita Brand Shop List

What do you think? Do you prefer offbrand lolita outfits, or brand?

International Lolita Day was wonderful this year - exactly what I've been needing these past few months. Spending the evening with beautiful, fierce ladies at first a scrumptious tea and then drinks at the beautiful Dove Parlor really reminded me of what I love so much about this fashion: expressing myself through my appearance, and being surrounded by people who value doing the same.

Rundown:

♥ Headbow: BABY, the Stars Shine Bright ♥
♥ JSK: Alice and the Pirates ♥
♥ Cutsew: Angelic Pretty ♥
♥ Choker: Offbrand, purchased at ConnectiCon ♥
♥ Wig: GLW, I think? Scored it in a trade! ♥

I busted out the brand this time in honor of international lolita day! For the most part, I've been strictly avoiding brand in my coordinates lately - it's never fit me right, and honestly it just feels like putting together a nice coordinate out of offbrand items is so much more rewarding for me. It's much more of a challenge, in my opinion, and therefore it's far more satisfying.

I'm so thankful to Martha for organizing this beautiful event and for taking these photos as well! It was really a lovely evening, and I'm so grateful to have been a part of it.

 And in closing, I leave you with this ubiquitous train selfie, the crux of all good lolita outfit posts:

I've never really seen the appeal of New Years resolutions, to be honest. I was raised at a point when it was already common knowledge that they never truly work, anyway, so I never saw resolutions as worth the time of coming up with them, and certainly not worth the stress of fretting over breaking them for an entire year. However, because of the Lolita Blog Carnival's topic this week and the fact that I really need to get back into my stride with posting here again, I've decided that 2014 will be different, and that I shall resolve for one of the first times in my life!

So remind me, what's a Lolita Blog Carnival? It's when a group of Lolibloggers like myself all blog together about the same topic on the same day. The topics are voted on in the Facebook group and a deadline is set, and everyone works on their articles until the posting deadline. At the end, we all link to each others' entries at the bottom of our own, so all of our lovely readers can see what other participating Lolibloggers had to say.

I have three resolutions:

• I will share at least one outfit photo per month
• I will attend at least two meetups in 2014
• I will get dolled up and have casual meets with my friends at least once every two months

Here's why:

For the first, well, I got rid of a lot of stuff when I decided I was "quitting" lolita. Because I'm still in the process of rebuilding my wardrobe, I keep giving myself benchmarks until I start really wearing lolita again: after I buy some more brand, after I get my health under control, after I really get my accessory collection back up to par, THEN I'll get back to dressing up on a regular basis. The problem is, I've been putting off a lot of things in this manner- because I've been increasingly sick over the last few months, I keep avoiding doing things that would stress me out and make me ill until I'm well again. But really, that's a topic for a whole 'nother post- what I mean to say is, I'm going to get back into doing the things, even if there are things keeping me from feeling 100% "ready" to do them right now.

My other problem lately is, I've become a total hermit! I really WANT to see people, and I love hanging out with my friends, but between having moved two hours away from New York City and all of my other friends being either A. still in school or B. also having moved to far away lands, social interaction has become increasingly difficult. Therefore, my other two resolutions focus on pulling myself out of my comfort zone and making an effort to connect with my friends who are in the area again (both of which also enable my first resolution as well - it's a perfect circle!)

Readers: What are your New Years Resolutions for 2014?

Do you have any that are lolita fashion-specific?

If you want some inspiration, check out what these lovely lolibloggers had to say!

• Papillon de Nuit
• Asian Wannabe Girl
• The Cute Lifestyle
• Lolita Glamour
• Whimsical Adventures
• New Vogue Children
• Beyond Kawaii
• Mary Hazelbelle
• Breiðholt
• Lace Teapot
• Wearable Magic

That's right, Operation: LoliBlog now has its own Pinterest board devoted to cataloging blogging tips and resources specifically for lolita bloggers. The loveliest fonts, the sweetest social media icon packs, and also practical advice applicable for bloggers of all types and experience levels- all of this and more will be yours care of my lolita fashion blogging pin board!

     Follow Aly Buttonss's board Operation: LoliBlog on Pinterest.

And that isn't my only Pinterest-related piece of news over here on Her Lumpiness! Try hovering over this teaser for my next outfit post:

You can now pin images from any post by hovering over the image, and clicking the circular "P" button in the top left corner. It's already been very convenient for me, so I hope all of you can make good use of it, too! Here's a great place to start trying it out.

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!

I haven't been blogging the past few weeks, because work has been fairly crazy! However, I have been working on some internal workings of the blog, such as figuring out what happened to my comments when I switched to a custom domain name.

But I've also decided that it would be worthwhile to offer new visitors an explanation of the three styles I discuss most often here: lolita fashion, steampunk fashion, and mori-girl fashion, so I decided to put some of my typical blogging time into creating a short guide on these three topics.

For more information on a beginner's guide to alternative fashion, click the picture above or right here!

For this week's lolita blog carnival, we're discussing how we began to wear lolita fashion, which I'm really excited about, because I'm always so curious! Most average people coast by every day completely unaware of how many alternative subcultures exist around them - how is it that so many people (particularly girls) in the Western world found out about this random Japanese street fashion?

The story of how I got into lolita fashion:

The first time I witnessed lolita, I was fifteen years old and on my second trip to Tokyo. I spent a week and a half living with a host family in... Meguro or Minato, one of the neighborhoods outside the main bustle of the metropolis, and attending an elite Japanese all-girls private school. For my first weekend there, my host family took me shopping in a few of the bigger fashion centers - Shinjuku, Shibuya, and... Harajuku, of course. This is when Gwen Stefani was at the height of her reign of terror, in 2005 or so, and despite her obsession with "Harajuku Girls" (or maybe because of it), I found myself totally unprepared for what I found there. Walking down Takeshita-Doori, the main drag for alternative fashion, was like tumbling down a rabbit hole; the girl working the counter at Seven-Eleven had green hair and five facial piercings (I counted), teenagers in visual-kei sat at tables in the McDonald's window, and outlandish clothing styles stared down at me from store windows stacked three or four or five on top of each other.

One of these buildings, two or three floors above me, featured a mannequin wearing set I don't know if I'll every forget: it was a blazer with sharp, pointed ends, a skirt that was basically tiers of ruffles, and a janutily-cocked mini hat, all in bubblegum pink. Next to it was something deconstructed visual-kei coordinate in black and purple plaid, but I barely noticed it: that pink monster was like nothing I'd ever seen before, and it was like a magnet.

"Haitte mo ii desu ka?" I asked, my eyes glazed.

My host, Asuka, rushed to agree, but her mother gave a shudder and shook her head.

"Demo... kawaii desu...!" I defended plaintively, in my second-grade-level Japanese.

Ms. Aihashi shuddered again. "Kawaii? Kowai deshou."

So we were whisked away down the street, and I was placated with my first taste of bubble tea in an outdoor foodcourt that has been long since converted to more shopping complexes. I was captivated by lolita, but every time I saw anyone wearing it for the remainder of the trip, all I could hear was my host mother's voice in the back of my head: "Cute? I think it's scary."

It wasn't until lolita got a foothold in the American convention scene that I found my way to actually wearing the stuff. After casually experimenting for a few years, I started amassing a wardrobe of altered blouses and handmade skirts the summer before my senior year, and the first day of school saw me in knee socks and mary janes. There were all of ten days my senior year that I didn't wear lolita or some derivative (I know; I counted). For the most part, my school was fairly accepting; sure, I got bullied a little for my clothing choices, but really - what high schooler didn't? More often, because the magnet program in my school was renowned for misfits, I was just considered one of the other weird "artsy" kids who could occasionally be poked fun at but was mostly accepted, tolerated, or ignored.

On one of the days sanctioned by the school for practical jokes, a friend and I switched clothes for the day, to the outrage of my classmates. One girl gasped when she saw me. "Child, what are you wearing??" she demanded. I looked down: an Abercrombie polo shirt and a denim mini skirt. So what?

Hanging out with my fellow art kids in my first brand dress; senior year of high school.

"No, no!" the girl insisted, appalled. "Man, what'd you put THAT on for? You always look like you be going to a ball or something. You gonna go back to the dresses tomorrow, right? Because I don't think I can HANDLE more than one day of this!" And then the entire class went on to discuss how elegant my clothes usually were, how different it was, and how.

And that was probably the best day of my high school career, and I can only thank lolita fashion for it - or at least the hackneyed "lolita-inspired" wardrobe I cobbled together over the course of my senior year.

So that's probably longer than what most people will have to say about it, but I have lots more I could share. And I probably will, eventually - this was an off-the-cuff pieces written in a few minutes and one sitting between projects at my job, but it's a topic I really enjoy sharing my experiences about. Until I get the chance to do that, though, take a look at these other lolibloggers as they share how THEY got into lolita fashion!

The Cute Lifestyle

Gothic Strawberry

Sidhe Banshee
Northern Star
Oh Velveteena!
All Sweet Indeed
Alice in Lolitaland
Wild Jackalopes
A Sweet Lolita's Disney Life

Winter and Fall Lolita Meetup Ideas

For us in the Northern hemisphere, fall has settled comfortably down around us like little hillocks of leaves, and it won't be long before snow drifts replace them (well, at least here in the Frozen North, that is). But unless your local community plans on going into hibernation, there's no reason to let the cold winds scare you out of your petticoats and bloomers! Here are some ideas for lolita meetups for the chillier parts of the year.

Cold Weather Lolita Meetup Ideas

• Ice skating! Always a classic for colder weather, and who doesn't love the look of those ravishing plastic rental skates?
• A crafternoon, preferably in front of a fire with cups of hot mulled cider, and afghans for laps if it gets chilly.
• Photoshoots- it may be too cold to spend a lot of time outdoors, but imagine a photoshoot with a bunch of lolitas walking through a red and orange park in the afternoon sun, or through crystalline snow drifts... Sigh! Utterly picturesque.
• Similarly, organize a lolita fashion Stitch 'n Bitch for all you knitters out there! Get started on a scarf or a new pair of mittens while catching up on all the best gossip from your local community.
• Shopping day, because obviously. Hit the mall or an indoor shopping arcade and load up on chintzy accessories.
• Cookie swap - this holiday classic entails everyone baking cookies beforehand, typically their favorite season recipes, and everyone sugar-binging while swapping recipes. It's an adorable bonding activity that could be great for a newly-founded community - plus, getting a ton of lolitas high on sugar has statistically never gone wrong, ever.
• A tea-sampling party. I know it's pretty unrealistic, but I love the idea of having a whole bunch of teapots being kept warm by Sterno candles (like the kind caterers use), and everyone gets espresso cups to sample the array of teas and tisanes, with little treats to nibble that coordinate in flavor with each of the teas. Alternatively, a tea swap would be lovely as well- everyone brings a box of their favorite tea to share. You could provide cute cellophane bags and attendees could make their own goodie bags of their favorites!
• Video game day - One thing I know about lots of lolitas is that they're often pretty big on console games, so load up your favorite multiplayer game and have an afternoon in with local ladies!
• An evening at the theater, be it opera, ballet, or even just the movies. Again, movie outings are another great activity for a budding community, especially if it's followed by dinner or coffee- talking about what you just saw means awkward silences will be far fewer and easier to dispel.
• A candlelit dinner party - maybe I'm just a weirdo on this, but the idea of getting together my most fashionable friends and serving them a beautiful, multi-course meal makes me absolutely giddy. Just me?
• Tour a museum or local historical building, especially if it's decked out in its winter finery. My local group is going to road trip to see The Breakers in Newport this year, but even most small towns at least have a historical society. These establishments often don't get a lot of traffic except for school groups, so you're also supporting your local community with this one!

I'm a huge baby when it gets cold out, so in the winter I'm always tempted to sit home drinking tea or cocoa all day. It's hard to get all dolled up only to have bitter winds biting at your knees! Hopefully if the same is true for you, these meet ideas will inspire you to layer up, pull on those mittens, and plan a lovely day with your local community.

{PS- the image above wasn't made by me! I found it on Pinterest and then edited it further myself.}

This weekend I went to a meetup with the Western Massachusetts community! We had tea and crepes and fondue, and despite a few bumps in the road, much fun was had by all. I took my outfit inspiration from Snow White from the show Once Upon a Time, particularly her bandit outfit. Mostly, though, that just means I styled my hair a little like hers and wore a (faux) fur with her color palette. I may someday make an actual costume of it, because I really love that outfit!

Outfit rundown:

♥ Skirt and bow: Autumn Flowers by Lady Sloth

♥ Blouse: Forever 21

♥ Fur: H&M

♥ Harness: Redfield Design

♥ Brown belt (mostly hidden): thrifted

♥ Shoes: Payless

♥ Tights: great question! Offbrand somewhere.

Detail shot:

☆ What did you all do this weekend? ☆

This week's Lolita Blog Carnival is very seasonally-appropriate: your perfect lolita-themed Halloween party! I came up with two different options, and of course created coordinates for each.

The Masquerade Ball:

You push through the decrepit manor house's oaken doors, and from the top step of the stairway you find there the music is already floating toward you like perfume. The long hall at its foot is lit by torches, and ends in a heavy, dusty velvet curtain. Pushing it aside, you gasp aloud- you couldn't have imagined that such a forlorn place would conceal such beauty, such grandeur. It's like opening a treasure chest: the entire room is gilded in gold leaf, and masked couples whirl over the bright marble floors, firelight glinting off their ornately bejeweled costumes. The air is thick with some sort of incense, like something that belongs in a gothic church, and you can feel the centuries of hands which have passed over the smooth marble railing as you descend into the ballroom below. Someone presses a goblet into your hands, and you drink deeply of a rich, thick, dark red wine before a gloved hand comes to rest at your waist and whisks you off to the dance floor.

You didn't even think you knew how to do the minuet.

The Haunted Tea:

The door to the crypt looks like it's never been opened, like it never could be opened, but the instructions on your invitation are precise. You raise a hand to push against the thick slab of limestone, and gasp as it moves like a curtain under your touch. The cold wind that rises from the catacombs is somehow inviting, which may have something to do with the rich aromas it carries. As you descend the thick stone steps, the door slips back into place and the darkness in the corridor is complete; you carefully follow your nose toward the scents of food and warmth. Eventually you find yourself in a huge catacomb; you've no idea how far down these stairs have taken you, because the ceiling now rises so high that you can barely even see it. That may have something to do with the room's lighting, which consists only of torches around the perimeter and a massive candelabra in the center, sitting upon a huge, empty table. There's only one chair, and the sound of your footsteps on the stone floor echo and seem deafening until you reach it.

As soon as you're seated, you can hardly believe your eyes: the atmosphere of the room has changed almost completely. It's now lit brightly and warmly, as if a fire is crackling nearby, but the table is what has changed the most. Not only is it now set opulently with the finest china you've ever seen, it's ringed by a huge party of laughing, jubilant guests. You don't know that you've ever seen so jolly a group, and the fact that you can see right through them to the walls behind seems unimportant. A parade of skeletons appear from a doorway you hadn't noticed before, each carrying a tiered tray that makes your stomach rumble. Some contain pastries with bowls of cream and preserves, while others bear dainty tea sandwiches or heaped piles of fruit riper than any you've ever seen. The final skeleton seems like it doesn't belong with the rest: it carries only a simple wooden bowl, and you are shocked when it places the bowl directly in front of you.

The pomegranate seeds stain the tips of your fingers a deep, blood red, and it isn't until you've devoured the whole bowl that you stop to think about the consequences of eating the food of the dead.

Crash some more parties below!

The Cute Lifestyle

F Yeah Lolita

Northern Star

Suns in our Hands
Lace a la Mode
Elegant Poupee
Dollhouse Diaries

Lolita may be a fashion, but it necessitates a certain skillset too. Being doll-like requires you to learn a lot of new skills- maybe you had to learn a new beauty skill, like teasing your hair or applying circle lenses, or maybe donning over-the-top wigs and pastels taught you self-confidence and how to stand up for your style. I think that's one of the best things about lolita- it forces you out of your comfort zone and teaches you about yourself and the outside world.

Here are the top 5 skills I learned from wearing lolita fashion!

♥ "I know the word in Japanese, I just don't know how to say it!" Reading so many brand websites has given me a really unique understanding of the Japanese language. I've learned to recognize a good number of characters by sight alone, with no idea how they're actually pronounced (the one that comes to mind is 綿, which is the symbol for cotton, and which Google translate has just reminded me is pronounced "wata." Let's see how long I remember it this time!)

♠ "Hand wash only? Piece of cake! Where's my Oxi-Clean?" I used to live in fear of hand-washing my garments, but these days? Bring it on! Relatedly, if not for lolita I don't think I'd ever know what bluing is.

♣ "I better get all of my international orders in before the dollar tanks even MORE!" Before lolita, I knew nothing about conversion rates, let alone the strength of the dollar in comparison to other countries' currencies. In my heyday of buying lolita both from Japanese sites and second-hand off the communities, I could instantly convert complicated prices to within a few dollars' worth of accuracy - euro, pounds, yen. I also knew which countries and currencies to avoid because the US dollar was currently weak against them. I've never been much of an economist, but for the first time in my life, lolita made it necessary for me to pay attention to these things.

♦"Uh oh, creeper alert! Time to duck into this Starbucks until he's walked by." The way I assess danger is much different these days. I'm used to be heckled on the street and know when to hold my own, but I've also developed a pretty good instinct on who and what to just avoid altogether. Maybe this comes with age, and I just happened to get into lolita at a time when people naturally begin assessing danger differently, but I certainly feel like my experience walking around cities in lolita at night has helped boatloads now that I live in a city whose active nightlife I participate in.

★ "Man, this blouse is totally loliable! I just need to take it in, replace the buttons, change the sleeve shape entirely, and completely remake the collar!" Now, I've always sewn, and I'd like to think I'm fairly adept at it, putting aside my typical clumsiness and hastiness, but when I got into lolita my entire experience behind a sewing machine changed. Previously I'd so slight alterations - a hem here, a patch there - but when I started building my wardrobe, I embraced clothing reconstruction wholeheartedly. For a while there, it was like no sewing project was too big- it was worth adding a new color or item to my closet, no matter how much work it needed. Weirdly, I stayed away from making anything terribly complex on my own, but clothing surgery? That was my jam.

♥ What ridiculous skills have YOU learned from your experience in lolita? Tell me in the comments below! ♥

Inspiration: The Subconscious Side Effects of Being a Lolita