Most Iconic Lolita Dresses

Like every fashion, Lolita fashion has changed a lot and will keep changing. From Elegant Gothic Lolita and what we now call oldschool style, through the introduction of border prints, which later boomed in a craze for all things OTT, all the way to current trend for toning things down a little and lean them towards Classic – and who knows what else we’ll see coming! Yet at the same time there are some things which remain as instantly recognisable and iconic.

Your Favourite Indie Brand

If I’m totally honest: I don’t shop enough with indie brands. Primarily because I’m a cheapskate and always end up going for something from Taobao or totally offbrand, although since indie brands usually make smaller items like jewellery or hair accessories, the cost of shipping for small items can be a little off-putting as well (I sort of made up for it at Wicked and Whimsy, but still). That doesn’t, however, mean that I can’t have favourite indie brands, so here are my top 3.

Frilly Fortune-Telling Meet

November can be a bit of a dead time: Halloween’s over, but it’s too early to start doing too many Christmassy things (other than shopping – get that done early, save yourself some money and stress), the weather’s too cold and wet for most outdoors activities, so you just end up at home with some comfort food and comfy clothes. Other than a brief fling that is Bonfire Night here in the UK, there doesn’t seem to be much to look forward to in November. I hoped to change that a little bit by introducing my comm to Polish Andrzejki (St. Andrew’s celebrations) and I organised a fortune-telling meet.

For this reason I decided to put together a fortune teller inspired coord, since as the meet organiser I considered myself the chief fortune-teller for that day. And I must say I love how this look came out. Sheherazade was the only main piece I own which could’ve carried this theme and except for the scarf I already owned all the pieces which I needed, which was brilliant. This may be the closest I ever came to a Gothic Lolita look – it’s still not Gothic, but certainly the darkest and most mysterious coord I’ve done.

| AatP Sheherazade JSK | eBay blouse | Resailan
tights | Risu Rose necklace | offbrand jewellery,
scarf and boots |

For those of you who aren’t Polish/Eastern European, there is a belief in Poland that the eve of St Andrew’s (the night from 29^th to 30^th of November) is a good time for magic that would either predict or bind a maiden’s future husband (men do similar things on the eve of St Katherine’s – Katarzynki – which is the night from 24^th to 25^th of November). This is when all kinds of fortune-telling and games take place, ranging from very traditional and folklore-based to plain silly and intended as a laugh. As a kid in Poland we’d often spend one day’s form time to do this, causing all kinds of giggles and disgusted noises when you were predicted to marry someone with the same name as one of the boys in your class. But this isn’t just something for the kids, although nowadays it’s definitely taken less seriously than it would’ve been for example a century ago – you’ll find night clubs using Andrzejki as an excuse for throwing on a night out, as well as groups of friends casually organising meet ups and doing some fortune-telling at someone’s home.

I organised the meet with the intention of being focused around Lolita, rather than any future spouses. Luckily, most of the games were easy to swap around to incorporate e.g. print names instead of people’s names. Let me tell you though, when I first volunteered to organise the meet and then posted up the details, I did not expect as many positive reactions as I did. They ranged from “cool idea” all the way to expressions of regret that people won’t be able to make it. It was both exhilarating and a little daunting: this was the first time I organised a Lolita meet, so I wanted it to be good, but I tried my best not to give in to any imagined pressure.

Some of the games I prepared included: stab a heart to find
out what print you'll buy next, 5 things in a petagram to
summon X and the wax reading.

In the end it all went great: despite a few last minute drop outs (it’s November, of course people will be poorly) the meet was well attended and fun. Everyone got on board with the games I had prepared, although the wax reading was a clear winner, and I think I hit a good balance between planned activities and down time for casual chat, eating or taking photos. I must say here, the venue Stew and Oyster exceeded my expectations: when I checked it out, I got a feel of it being quite laid back and cosy, but the staff there made us feel very welcome and even separated our corner of the place with a curtain (later, as it got busier and they needed that space for other guests, they opened it up, but we still got a good hour/hour and a half of privacy). The food was lovely too – even though the meet wasn’t centred around eating, pretty much everyone ordered something and then complimented on how lovely and reasonably priced it was. If you’re in Leeds and need a relaxed and quiet place to hang out I’d recommend Stew and Oyster.

Pouring the wax.
Photo by Holly.

Photo by Holly.

Interpreting the shadow cast by the wax.
Polish people didn't predict that you could
have dinosaurs and there was no reading for
them.
Photo by Holly.

There was already a big waxy mess on the window sill, we only added our
creations.
Photo by Holly.

Afterwards, when the meet was over, one of the frillies joined me on the way to Boots. A member on Amino has said earlier how she found a new makeup brand called Makeup Obsession who let you build your own makeup palette for very reasonable prices: one pot of eyeshadow at £2 and one pot of blush, highlighter or contouring stuff at £3 is a bargain! They’re available online, but I wanted to check out the colours in real life first and since my local Boots didn’t stock their products, I went to Boots in Leeds Trinity Centre. Without some help from a very lovely member of staff I don’t think we would’ve found it, I would’ve looked where brands like Maybelline and L’Oreal are, but this was where the designer fancy stuff was kept. From testing out the samples, the eyeshadows and the blushes are very pigmented and they’re quite generous pots too, maybe the size of a 50p coin or thereabouts! It’s a shame that their eyeshadow colour range didn’t include many pinks though – there were lots of nudes and some statement colours like blue, black, green or purple, all available in shimmery or matte versions. But I’m hoping that as they become more popular they will increase their range of colours on offer. It’s a great idea as not only you get to pick the colours you know you’re going to use, but when you run out of one you don’t have to buy a whole palette just to replace that one shade. If you’re based in the UK, I’d recommend checking them out. At £2 per eyeshadow and £3 per everything else you could even pick up just one that you like before committing to building an entire palette.

My custom palette. The blue stands out and bothers me as
far as the aesthetic of this one goes, but I needed all these
colours.

Overall I’ve had so much fun organising this meet and everyone who attended made it even more enjoyable. Having done this I think I caught a bit of a meet organising bug – doing something for others to enjoy is quite contagious, like giving someone a present that is just perfect for them. Hopefully I’ll get to organise something again soon. For now I’m happy to have had this success, as well as plenty of rest afterwards, and all eyes are on Winter ILD now. I can’t wait!

1 Dress 4 Looks Take 7

We’ve finally reached main pieces I bought this year (in the nick of time too, since it’s November already), as well as the last Bodyline dress I own. I bought it because I was quite enamoured by the print, which I felt was different to what Bodyline usually brings out. Now I feel like it’s a little too similar in theme and colours to Crystal Dream Carnival – and if you could wear CDC instead, why wouldn’t you? – so I was quite wary of doing looks that were too similar. However, doing this post revived my appreciation for this print a little and gave a couple of ways that I could wear it, so hopefully one of these coords will get worn sometime.

Missing Out on Lolita

Buying Lolita can often feel like a race against time, be it during a new release that may sell out in minutes or when buying second hand and trying to be faster than others with placing that bid or sending that message. Sometimes it works, but unfortunately a lot of the times we end up unsuccessful.

Your Autumn/Winter Aesthetic

Recently I seem to have been the only one doing the Lolita Blog Carnival topics. Shame, as I do enjoy reading what other people write on that same subject, but at the same time I enjoy having these writing prompts there: they motivate me to write something and help to diversify my content a little. So I’ll keep doing them for as long as I can and here’s another one for you to enjoy: my autumn/winter aesthetic.

Why, Brands?

Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve been looking forward to a release (brand or otherwise), admired the print, either saved up for it or were mentally preparing yourself to spend that kind of money… and then that release is not quite right? I feel like this is me right now.

Create a Coord Based on a Dessert

Some people know whether they have a sweet tooth or not – I envy them a little. I tend to follow my cravings and fancies. One day I scour the cupboards for anything even remotely sweet and on another I can ignore sweet things in favour of carbs. Having said that, I love sweets of all shapes and sizes, so it was only fair to take part in this week’s challenge and create a dessert inspired coord.

National Dress in Lolita

First there was Lolita. Then somewhere along the line Wa Lolita became a thing. Now it appears like Lolitas everywhere are trying their hand at merging Lolita fashion with the traditional dress and costumes from their own countries, some with more success than others.