Lolita 52 week challenge part 1

So I had planned on making a shiny new blog but I don't like wordpress so much so I'm back here and I wanted to join in an do the lolita 52 week challenge, it has a deadline which I missed but hey lets go anyway. 

1.  5 pieces that every Lolita wardrobe should have, regardless of style
2.  5 movies for Lolitas
3.  What my own Lolita lifestyle is like 
4.  Favorite thing to put on my head
5.  My wardrobe turnover
6.  My favorite Lolita brand
7.  Why I wear Lolita?
8.  Why don't I wear Lolita more often?
9.  5 keywords that describe my personal Lolita style
10.  How I first found out about Lolita
11.  3 trends I wish would come back
12.  Combining other fashions with Lolita
13.  Lolitas I have met in real life
14.  Lolitas I would love to meet
15.  3 things I wish I was told when I was a new Lolita
16.  10 facts about my Lolita wardrobe
17.  My first meetup
18.  Trends I thought I would never get into, but I now love
19.  Trends I thought I loved, but now I'm not too keen on
20.  How satisfied I am with my current wardrobe
21.  Plan for a trip! A week's worth of Lolita outfits I can fit in a small suitcase
22.  How I accessorize
23.  What influences my Lolita style
24.  What's in my makeup bag
25.  Best places to wear Lolita
26.  How I get out of a wardrobe slump
27.  Purses that I love
28.  Bloomers or no bloomers?
29.  Lolitafying things in my everyday life
30.  How long it took me to build a complete wardrobe
31.  Impulse buys that were totally worth it
32.  My best deal
33.  Something that I made
34.  Wardrobe blunders! Things I bought that I ended up regretting!
35.  What I thought when I got my first real piece of Lolita
36.  Nails to match my favorite looks
37.  Something that's not my style, but I love anyways
38.  Favorite hair style
39.  Most versatile Lolita item I own
40.  5 inspirational fictional characters
41.  Fondest meetup memory
42.  The ways in which I fit the cliche
43.  The ways in which I do not fit the cliche
44.  How strangers react to my clothes, and how I react to their reactions
45.  Something that was a gift
46.  Parasols: Vital or frivolous?
47.  The item in my wardrobe that was the hardest to get
48.  My "signature" outfit
49.  My favorite Lolita print
50.  What's in my closet, but I haven't worn yet!
51.  Predict the next Lolita trend!
52.  How Lolita has changed me

I plan to do the list in order for ease so I don't forget any. 

1) 5 pieces that every Lolita wardrobe should have, regardless of style

The first and most important item in any lolita wardrobe should be a good petticoat, an A line one for classic and a cupcake one for sweet. Which petticoat you need will depend on your main style, I have mostly A line petticoats as well as a longer one for my dresses that are below the knee.

Good petticoats can be found on Taobao, Dear Celine and Classical Puppets

The second thing a lolita wardrobe should have is a really good fancy blouse, one that will dress up the plainest of JSKs.

I love Baby the Stars shine Brights blouses, they are so fancy!

I prefer chiffon to cotton and I don't like petter pan collars but the choice of blouses is so much better than it used to be and you can get so many different colours too. 

Your choice should depend on your style, so if you like sweet go for an Angelic Pretty one that will coord with most of your dresses.

My personal favourites are these two

Btssb dear juliette and AP melty royal chocolate blouses

The third thing every wardrobe should have is a go to plain non print OP

They are so easy to wear! no need to worry about blouses matching or boleros!

The first brand dress I ever bought was Btssb Trianon OP 

Plain OPs are something you can wear again and again and you can change the look with different accessories and tights. 

Shoes! every lolita should have a great pair of shoes, again what you pick will depend on your personal style.

I like small ankle boots, they can look cute or elegant depending on the style of them.

I have some Victorian Maiden ones and they go well with my wardrobe

Similar open ankle boots in a more cute style from Btssb

Finally I think every lolita should own a bonnet, I think they suit most people and make an outfit into an OTT one in an instant.

My personal favourite has to be Triple Fortune, sadly its hard to get their bonnets outdide Japan but KeraShop sometimes has them for special reservations

They come in lots of colours so there is one for everyone.

This is mine

So there you have it week 1 of the 52 week challenge complete

Indie brand review: Mooncake Corner

Review: Mooncake Corner

A while ago I ordered some items from Mooncake Corner on facebook

You can find her shop on facebook here

I bought a red cross and earing set and two of her tulle eyebows

Red lace cross earings, I also got a matching necklace.

These were a surprise because they weren't the ones I originally wanted but its probably my fault for not specifying which red crosses I did want. They are nice and will work well with my wardrobe so I'm happy.

The eyebows

I quite like these, I haven't worn them yet but they will be part of my outfit for seeing Kyary Pamyu Pamyu next week. 

They are made from soft black tulle with jewels and bows as well as star charms, I am really happy with the quality and they look much nicer irl.

Review:

price: 5/5 the prices are good for handmade items

Quality: 5/5 The quality of the items I received was good and they were well made and I'd be happy to wear them.

communication: 5/5 The owner of Mooncake Corner kept great communication throughout.

Postage/packaging 5/5 no problems, they were delivered by 1st class mail.

I hope you liked my little review

Andie

xx

Indie brand review: La Petite Fille

Indie brand review: La Petite Fille 

I recently ordered a tulle dress from La Petite Fille to wear with my Cult Party Kei coord for Hyper Japan.

This is the dress I ordered

Here is the link

The stock photo is shown in sax blue which is really nice but not what I wanted, it is available in cream, sax, lilac and black. I was a little worried about ordering a colour without seeing the finished item but I love how its turned out.

La Petite Fille is based in the UK so it didn't take long after ordering for it to arrive and making time was less than a week which I think is excellent for a made to order item. 

The dress itself is very light and sheer with bows all over in the colours I requested. The quality is very good and I am very happy with my purchase. In fact I would like to buy another one in black with lavender bows.

The store has lots of little items too and some of her jewellery is adorable.

The prices are affordable and the quality is really nice, I will definitely be ordering again!

store link

Brand focus: Syrup

I've been occasionally looking at Manapyon's blog (which I posted about a while back) and noticed some dresses made from chiffon or organza. They were from a brand called Syrup, however, I couldn't find an online shop until very recently. 

They make some nice items that would work with both Cult Party and Fairy Kei aesthetics. 

Some of their items look handmade which is always nice and they look easy to wear too, which I think adds to the versatility of outfits you could make with them. 

One of their collars <3

This organza dress is probably their signature piece.

Its very sheer and can be worn over just about anything.

Top photo shows Manapyon wearing the dress. 

I've also seen a few street snaps with Syrup accessories like this bag.

And lastly a couple of my favourite cat themed items from their collection, I need those cat tights in my life :D

LINKS:
Syrup Blog

Syrup online shop

Brand focus: Ahcahcum Muchacha

I have neglected my blog again it seems ^^

I have a few posts in mind about searching for second hand lolita fashion but I recently came across a brand and I wanted to share.

I had never heard of the Japanese brand Muchacha until recently when I was reading a Livejournal post in the Dolly Kei community . The OP had mentioned that their bunny bag was from Muchacha. I was curious so I did a bit of searching.

I was really impressed by this brand and their items are really unique.

It seems their items are fairly popular with fans of Cult Party and Mori girl. 

Their bags are particularly adorable. 

 Some of their items are a bit pricey but the first photo are bags that were given away with the brands own Mook and so they are much cheaper than the regular stock.

Their tights and socks are equally as cute too.

Their items of clothing and accessories are lovely too and they do both adults and children's wear.

Links

http://ahcahcum-muchacha.jimdo.com/

http://www.unvictoire.com/?mode=cate&cbid=496959&csid=0

I know so many of the items I've posted have cats on them but then I do love cats so I'm biased, haha. They also make a lot of bunny pieces too as well as a recent colab with Disney so there is lots of choice if cats aren't your thing. 

Inspired by Cult party kei

Although lolita is my favourite fashion I do like other styles like Mori girl and more recently I have come across Cult Party kei which I have fallen in love with.

So what is Cult Party kei?

Like Dolly kei the style is associated with a particular shop, in this case its the The Virgin Mary store in Tokyo. You can find their blog here

I believe Cult Party was a shop that existed before the Virgin Mary and is what gives Cult Party kei its name.

I'll try and describe key features of the style so you can look for suitable items that will create the look associated with the style.

For me I think the floaty and light colours appeal because there is a certain aesthetic shared with Mori Girl but with elements of both Fairy kei and Dolly Kei too. 

Fabrics are sheer and textures feature too such as fur and knits, as well as another key feature  which is the shoes.

In most outfits that I've seen Rocking Horse shoes or platform shoes seem to feature in almost all of them. 

The clothes have sheer fabrics layered together with lots of accessories. I've mentioned already that I always think of it as Mori Girl with a hint of Fairy kei because pastel colours are popular with this style. 

Another feature is toys, often they are bags or sometimes dolls heads used to make quirky accessories and jewelry. Crosses are also a popular Cult Party symbol.

Interesting tights and socks creat a unique part of the look such as these cupid tights

Cult Party Style Icons

Like most street fashions there is usually someone who is most associated with the style when it comes to street snaps or blogs. 

Manapyon is the style icon for Cult Party, she is often seen in street snaps and has her own blog which is a great source of inspiration.

What to buy to create the look.

A lot of the style is based around vintage clothes and layering with accessories. Neutral shades  and pastels are the most common colours  associated with Cult Party although brighter colours can sometimes be mixed in too. 

I would say that a chiffon dressing gown or Peignoir as they are sometimes called is a staple item in any Cult Party Kei wardrobe, this will create the light and floaty look when worn over a chiffon skirt or dress. They are fairly easy to find on ebay but be warned as some of them can be very expensive.

Platform shoes such as RHS are reasonably easy to find too and you can get nice and inexpensive ones from bodyline.

I have also found this store called Gura on Taobao which has lots of suitable items, you will need a shopping service though.

Don't forget to look in local second hand shops where you never know what you will find. 

useful links:

http://ohyeahcultparty.tumblr.com/

http://dollykei.tumblr.com/

Bambi fur accessories

Faux fur accessories make a lovely addition to lolita and mori girl outfits adding texture as well as being practical and warm.

Innocent World and Swimmer have both released fur collars in the popular 'Bambi' print.

 I really love bambi faux fur but these collars are quite rare and hard to find so I set about making my own. It was hard to find bambi print fur and in the end I decided to buy some fur boot/leg covers from Rakuten and remake them into a collar and other accessories.

 I undid the seams of one of the boot covers so that I had one piece of fur fabric. This piece I made into a fur collar. I left the seams of the second one intact and turned it into a fur hand muff, there were enough spare bits of fabric left over to make a pair of fur wrist cuffs too.

This is how they turned out. 

I used a simple C type of shape to make the collar which I based on a plain fur one that I already own. All you need to make one of your own is some fabric, ribbon or lace to make the ties, faux fur fabric and some backing fabric. I used a cotton fabric with a print but polyester lining fabric would work just as well.

I hope I get chance to wear them now before the weather warms up too much, the collar will look nice with cardigans and boleros but the hand muffler is definitely a winter only accessory.