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

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

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

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

When I got into lolita, I got REALLY into lolita. I'm not really one for doing things halfway, so within a few months of getting into the communities I was already a lifestyle lolita* and had made myself a fairly decent wardrode of handmade simple skirts and matching blouses. I know a lot of people who did the same, and while I certainly don't think it's a bad way to get into the community, it does have its own unique disadvantages. Therefore, for this week's Lolita Blog Carnival prompt, "3 secrets for someone just getting into lolita fashion," I decided to address my post specifically to lolitas like myself, whose decision to get into the scene was a wholehearted leap into the unknown, from which they still haven't truly been able to recover.


*lifestyle lolita: a slightly outdated term at this point, but which at the time basically meant that lolita fashion corresponded with your outside interests, from what you ate to how you exercised. It's largely fallen out of use in favor of a more toned-down general interest in tea and penchant for cupcakes.

♥You don't need to be active in the community. I was totally one of those girls. I didn't feel like I was truly a lolita unless I read every single post on egl, commented and shared my opinion on everything, and got lots of comments on my daily_lolita posts (as you can see, I joined back when the community was still very mired in the LiveJournal universe). Any of my friends who weren't really into it just didn't make sense to me. Lolita, even though I wore it in the real world, was a label still intrinsically tied to the internet and online communities. Don't do that. There's a disconnect there that's unhealthy for your idea of fashion and your own appearance for two reasons. One, your internal concept of a real-life experience that a huge amount of your life revolves around only actually exists for you in the form of internet interactions. Two, validation only comes at the hands of an anonymous mass you'll never actually meet instead of from within yourself.

♥The rules matter, but they also kind of don't. Honestly, they really only matter if you're active in the community. Any photos you post to daily_lolita or Lacebook or whatever when you first start should follow the rules to a T (as well as outfits for meetups), but really, the only people who'll actually care if you're following the rules will probably only interact with you online. As far as your daily wardrobe goes, who cares? Your classmates or work buddies won't care that you aren't wearing a petticoat, or that you're wearing your favorite band tee with a BABY skirt. Experiment. Color outside the lines. Once you've tried a few things and know how to bring your own personal style into the fashion, THEN you should try posting some of your more experimental coordinates to the communities, or wearing them to local meetups. Otherwise, trust me, you're signing yourself up for more annoyance than it's worth.

♥There really are better things to spend your money on than brand. One of the things that always kills me is something I did myself when I first got into the fashion: all of my excess spending money went to building my wardrobe. I never really went out with my friends or took weekends off to go places with my family, because I was focused single-mindedly on affording lolita. I've always felt that experiences are more important than things, and the material excesses that lolita tends to breed can be really caustic to the soul. Yeah, you COULD buy Angelic Pretty's newest print release - or maybe you could go on vacation for a weekend. Get a hotel in the city (whichever city that is for you), maybe catch a show, and have a really fulfilling time with someone you care about (or alone!). It may not be quite as sartorially satisfying as owning and wearing a beautiful garment, but really, that time that you have either with someone you love or alone is worth way more than a dress you'll own for a couple years at most.

That's my opinion, anyway! Don't agree?

Check out these other tips from fellow Lolibloggers!

The Cute Lifestyle

Suns in Our Hands

ImaPrincess

Lace a la Mode
Smithsonian
R Gorey
Lolita Glamour
Oh Velveteena
Hello Batty

Lolita is iconic for our trends, which in turn are famous for being totally ridiculous. They tend to stick around for 4-8 months at a time and revolve cyclically every few years (huge hairpieces, animal print, over-the-top wigs). Everyone always has their favorites, but we also all have fads that we keep seeing over and over again and wondering when they will finally be allowed to die. I might make some enemies with this, but for this week's Lolita Blog Carnival, I present to you: three lolita trends I'd like to personally put out to pasture.

Babydoll Sweet

C'mon, you all saw this one coming.

I'm sorry, but no, I'm not six years old. In fact, I have six year old nieces who wouldn't be caught dead in the clothing that some sweet lolitas wear. It's really difficult to convince someone that what you're wearing isn't a costume when it's covered in pastel pink teddy bears. Luckily, it seems like this trend is currently on the DL, with brands putting out more refined pieces that lean closer to period fashion than preschool. Honestly, it's been a long time coming, in my opinion.

(note: for some reason, bonnets totally don't count for the most part in this argument. I know, I know, it's totally hypocritical - I just really love bonnets.)

Photo care of Caro's Instagram

Creepy Cute

Now, this is probably just me. I'm totally prepared for that, because I really want to like the creepy cute look. I want to be all over it, but for some reason it repels me almost as strongly as it attracts me, like when you try to push to opposite poles of a magnet together. Now whenever I see pastel bat jewelry I feel an inexplicable urge to both buy it and burn it. Halloween is gonna be interesting this year.

Animal ears

This actually only bothers me because it exemplifies something that's always annoyed me about lolita as a subculture, and that is how we define what is and isn't acceptable in the fashion. When I first got into the scene, I remember hearing people say that you couldn't do X or Y unless a brand did it; then and only then was it okay. I'd thought this had died out recently, but another trend in the past year or two has proven me wrong. That trend? Animal ears. It's amusing to me that so many lolitas who told others for years that cat ears aren't lolita, that they're part of a costume and not a fashion, that "they make you look sub-human," just actually needed a brand to slap a label on them and now they're suddenly ~meccha kawaii~.

Personally, they aren't my jam. If they're your style, that's fine. I don't have a problem with you - I have a problem with the abrupt about-face that so much of the lolita community did as a whole as soon as the almighty brand-gods deemed animal ears fashionable. The exception? Antlers. I want a deer antler headband like nobody's business.

Other blogging beauties!

Lace a la Mode

LemonTree11

Under the parasol
Lolita Glamour
Dollhouse Diaries

I'm so excited to be revisiting what was one of my favorite LBC topics - design a full coordinate for $100 or under! My last post on this topic still ranks aws one of my most-trafficked, and I think that's because I'm a crazy person and designed three whole outfits for under $100 each. There were just too many great options! It was a lofty goal, but one which I'm happy to say I've achieved, and I'm very happy with my results.

However, before we begin, what on Earth is a Lolita Blog Carnival? Well, it's a group of Lolibloggers like myself who all blog together about the same topic on the same day. The topics are voted on at 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.

In keeping with the last time this challenge came around, I've coordinated three different outfits all based on the same skirt. However, since my computer's on the fritz and I don't currently have photoshop, I had to rely on Polyvore to compile the images, and for some reason I was getting error messages whenever I tried to clip from Etsy. So, while last time it was my policy to compile these outfits with items from independent artisans, unfortunately it wasn't as doable this time. Instead, I decided to source everything from easily-accessible stores like Forever 21 and Payless, as well as big online retailers like Sock Dreams and Modcloth. For my main piece, however, I still went with a skirt by independent Polish designer Lady Sloth (from whom I'm eagerly awaiting my first package!), so I don't feel TOO bad about buying the rest from the Internet mall!

Blouse ♥ Socks ♥ Skirt ♥ Shoes ♥ Bracelet

This outfit, made up of a frilly F21 blouse and thick white thigh-highs, is what I'd consider a very successful beginner's outfit. The lolita aspects of the blouse and skirt work off of the simple socks and cute bow-adorned flats, while the bracelet adds a little more opulence to tie it into the lolita aesthetic. She has, however, neglected to budget in any headware - tsk tsk!

Blouse ♥ Hair bows ♥ Shoes ♥ Skirt  ♥ Necklace ♥ Bracelet ♥ Socks

In this outfit, our lolita is getting a bit more seasoned. She's sticking to one color scheme for her accessories, black and gold, and experimenting more while still following the rules - like her lacy ankle socks paired with peep-toe heels (which she got on sale, because she is quite a frugal lady). She's also discovered Forever 21's accessory table, which is indispensable for budget-friendly lolita coords.

Top ♥ Earrings ♥ Skirt ♥ Hair bows ♥ Shoes ♥ Socks ♥ Tote

In this final outfit, our lolita has decided to experiment a bit within the rules. She's gone with a bit of a sexier top than most lolis favor (tight-fitting with an exposed back) that still has a bit of a lolita aesthetic with lacy ruched sleeves and a big ol' bow in the back. She's also experimenting with color scheme- whereas before she stuck almost entirely to white or black, now she's mixing and matching the two. She seems to also have invested a bit more coin into a nice pair of shoes that can go with anything, instead of the cheaper, more casual styles she's been favoring previously. The ankle socks are a bit daring for lolita as well; they've only really come into fashion in our subculture in the past few years, and were previously considered too "ageplay" to work in lolita. In total, this outfit is a more advanced coordinate which toes the lines of the lolita rules and is not necessarily appropriate for a formal setting, but is certainly cute for casual meetups or going out around town.

Blogging beauties beating budgets below!

Jess Cosmic Delight

The Silent Revival

Sweet and Simple

Lace a la Mode

The Bloody Tea Party
Snow Rose
Dollhouse Diaries
Pretty Little Habits
Hello Batty

This week's LBC topic: Three Prints I Would Like to See! For these three, I decided to go with one of my favorite themes, "Literary Lolita;" therefore, all of the prints are based off of literature, and are ridiculously detailed in description, because I'm a crazy person. Hey, we all have our passions, right?

So, once again, what on Earth is a Lolita Blog Carnival? Well, it's a group of Lolibloggers like myself who all blog together about the same topic on the same day. The topics are voted on at 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.

First and foremost: Antique Library. I imagine this as a richly-colored classical border print, in hunter green, burgundy, plum, cream, etc. It would have regimental stripes going down to about 3/4 of the way down the skirt, where tall, ornate wooden bookcases would begin. Then, closer to the bottom, there would be spindly antique tables and plush leather armchairs. Sporadically throughout the print there may be the silhouettes of lolitas, sitting at tables, reaching for books, reclining in chairs, but I'm not sold on that yet. At the top of the print, the regimental stripes would be decorated with small falling books, as if they're being dropped from the ceiling to the bookshelves below. After trying to find images to represent this print, I've found that JM did a library print themselves, but it's very different from what I'm envisioning!

Secondly: The Secret Garden. This would be a sweet/classic print with the main colorways as muted pastels, such as peach, sage, powder blue, etc. The main print, though, would be bright, spring-y colors depicting, front and center, a large wrought iron gate, Moitie-syle, entwined with large roses of various shades. Flanking it would be a stone wall with a fantastical garden twining up the dress behind it- huge sunflowers, big, ancient oaks, and all manner of vines and flowers twisting up to cover most of the skirt itself. I know Angelic Pretty did a Secret Garden series many moons ago, but this would be a more ETC-style kitschy, vintage look to it.

Third and finally: Love Letters of Great Men. There's this fabulous book I found at a friend's house, and it's seriously just a transcription on various love letter from various great men - everyone from Mark Twain to Napoleon Bonaparte. This sweet-classic print, inspired by BABY's Strawberry Love Letters series, would simply be a collection on there love letters in dress form. It would look like the letters were spread out on a gingham table cloth - or, even better, a wood-grain pattern like a well-oiled antique table - and all would be in different handwriting styles and signed by those who wrote them. They would probably be too small to actually read, but they would be strewn over this table cloth as well as daisies, roses, and various other flowers associated with love. This would come in a variety of colors of gingham (or woodgrain), but the main image itself - the letters and flowers - would hardly have to change per color.

See what everyone else had to say!

Ramble Rori

F Yeah Lolita

Lemontree
A Lace Jail
Good Morning Lovely
Darkly Darling

Secret Window
La Petite Princess
Carnivale Salt
Puppenschloss

Commercially Alternative
Parfait Doll
Toothless Tigers
Candy-Coated Life

Fashion Fairytales and Sewing Secrets

This week, the Lolibloggers of LBC are blogging with the budget-conscious in mind! Our challenge this week was to create a fab coordinate for less than $100. Well, as everyone here knows, I have a problem with designing coordinates - or, more accurately, with stopping. I was designing these with a beginner lolita in mind, so I thought, why stop at one? Someone new to the fashion is going to want ideas on building their wardrobe; they're not going to want to buy a single-use outfit that doesn't have any other practical application. So I took one skirt - $40 by the Etsy shop Eat Me, Ink Me - and built three outfits that are definitely different and aimed towards different temperatures/times of the year, but that still have the cohesive style which we recommend that newbies develop so that coordinating within their wardrobe is that much easier.

An easy way to do this challenge would've been to hop on any of the awesome, wallet-friendly lolita shops on TaoBao. However, because my first priority is always to support small artisans when possible, I decided that this would be a great opportunity to represent some of the amazing crafters and vintage shops on Etsy, so I took as many items as I could find that suited the aesthetic and price point, and then filled them in with easily-accessible Western stores, some of which sell online, others which populate every mall worth its fluorescent lighting and fatty food court. The key to these coordinates is accessibility, because for so many girls who are just starting out, the idea of buying a full outfit online and then paying all those shipping fees/customs can be really intimidating. So instead of just designing a cheap coord, I took it a step further by making three $100 outfits using only items from easily-accessible stores, because god forbid I let anything be easy on me! But I love making coordinates, so the challenge just made it even more enjoyable for me!

Before I get to the outfits, you may be wondering- what on earth is a Lolita Blog Carnival? Well, it's a group of Lolibloggers like myself who all blog together about the same topic on the same day. The topics are voted on at 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.

skirt  ♥ hair clip ♥ blouse ♥ shoes ♥ socks

This first example uses a vintage blouse, glittery flats from Forever 21, thick ankle socks from Sock Dreams, and an adorable hand-crafted leaf hair clip to echo the floral pattern in the skirt. I see this as being a perfect outfit for early summer, when it's just warm enough to feel the breeze on your calves, but not quite warm enough for short sleeves.


blouse ♥ headband ♥ tights ♥ earrings ♥ shoes ♥  skirt
This time, I went for a more toned-down approach, opting for a cheaper blouse from Forever 21 so I could give my newbie loli a little wiggle room with her accessories. For a casual summer outfit like this, I wanted something that would be easy and breezy (and certainly beautiful!) for long, hot days spent at ice cream parlors or boardwalks.

skirt ♥ ring ♥ headband ♥ socks ♥ blouse ♥ necklace ♥ clutch ♥ belt

With this last one, I cheated a little bit. I figured, at this point, our lolita had invested in a proper pair of shoes for herself, or that she could reuse one of the two other pairs of flats I've already given her, so I gave her some more budget-room to build up a collection of accessories which would work with almost any of the other coordinates. This outfit reminds me of early fall, the type of weather I'm in right now - sheer fabrics because it's warm in the sun, but you can still definitely feel a nip in the air that warns of changing winds. I hope my budget-loli is saving up for a winter coat!

Other blogging beauties beating budgets:
F Yeah Lolita
Darkly Darling
Ramble Rori
Parfait Doll
Starry Dreams
Magic A la Mode
A Lace Jail
Her Curious Elegance
Puppenschloss
Sweet and Simple