D.H. Dhaenens' "Lockhart Mansion" review

The Spooky Month is almost over and this may be the most that I’ve engaged with spookiness in all my life. Not least thanks to Lockhart Mansion, a comedy horror novel written by D.H. Dhaenens which throws the readers in the middle of the world that is lolita fashion. But let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

Photo by Kat.

The Beginnings

Lockhart Mansion is a book that was launched as a Kickstarter campaign. You can find the Kickstarter page here where you can not only read about the project and its author, but also watch amazing promotional video materials.

Considering the niche nature of lolita fashion, even in cases where agents and publishers are interested, launching the book via Kickstarter felt like a great choice. This meant that the book could be delivered without watering down any content that appeals to lolitas and without worrying any publishers over whether this would hit the sales target. The campaign either gets funded or it doesn’t - and thankfully, this one did and even exceeded its original goal. One of the amazing perks available with certain tiers was the tea party organised for the book’s launch, which yours truly has attended. However, instead of writing up a report, I vlogged the event, which you will find below:

And in case any of you were worried - D.H. Dhaenens, the author, is a lolita herself and has been an active wearer of the fashion for years. So rest assured that all of the fashion representation is absolutely accurate and no outsider misinformation is being spread in Lockhart Mansion.

The Book

In short, the book is about three lolita friends: Ramona, George, and Valiant, who move into a small-town mansion that is rumoured to be haunted. Considering that they are university students and lolitas, every bit of money that they can save is good, so dealing with hauntings seems a small price to pay for someplace with low rent, right? As this is comedy horror rather than full-on horror, don’t worry, you won’t find any gruesome descriptions of lolitas having to ruin their brand to clean a ruin of a property or get their lace torn off by clawed hands creeping out from under their beds - nonetheless moving in to a place that may or may not have a ghost living with you makes one want to hug their Usakumya just a little bit tighter.

Usakumyas are also confirmed to be hooked on this book, so don't lag behind!
Photo by Alex DeDuck.

The Review

To cut to the chase, as a self-confessed avoider of all things horror, I would’ve gobbled this book up in a day if only adulting didn’t get in the way. The writing is wonderfully light and flows effortlessly, meaning that before you know it, you’re a hundred pages deep and really don’t want to put the book down. There are plenty of twists and turns, some of which had me literally gasping with shock, and whilst the book is about paranormal stuff as much as it is about lolita fashion, the events unfold in a surprisingly realistic way (paranormal stuff excluded, of course). That normality of the setting is in itself a fantastic contrast to the resolution of each arc, altogether resulting in what I would describe as quite a heartwarming book that, if your typical horror entities were actually real, feels very grounded in real life. Or, to put it more straightforwardly, if horror creatures were real, the entire setting of lolitas based in Southern England further normalises how natural it is to have ghosts and what not live amongst us.

And we cannot talk about the book without mentioning the wonderful cast of characters. The reader gets to view the world and the unfolding events from the perspective of each of them and even if they were completely new to the world of lolita fashion, they would certainly not mix Ramona, George, and Valiant up. Their personalities shine through the narration, split into their respective points of view, so that you get to know these girls intimately and recognise them in dialogues very quickly. They are as complex as any person you or I may know, more than the mere stereotype of their preferred lolita substyle without being forced to go completely against it. Valiant is still the sweet lolita regardless of whether she’s all bubbly at a meetup or listening to heavy metal in her bedroom. George is ever the moody goth, but with a practical approach to life that is far from becoming the brooding witch of their new haunted residence. And as our first narrator of these three, the reader quickly gets a sense that Ramona balances being rational and grounded with the typical indecision characteristic of chameleon lolitas.

All the other supporting characters, whether they appear for a mere moment or return later, are as vivid and recognisable as the main cast. Unfortunately, I can’t mention my favourite here without giving away some key parts of the plot, so if/when you’ve read Lockhart Mansion and want to exchange notes, let me know, I would love to chat with people about this book! An important thing to add here is that one of the reward tiers included the option of being written into the book as a background character. Those supporters are listed at the back of the book, though you can spot them just as easily without that reference as they are introduced not only by name, but also with a brief introduction of what they are wearing. These inserts further cement the setting as a very real place with real people occupying it beyond our protagonists, so they won’t jerk you out of the world like a rude YouTube ad would, nonetheless for those people who were written in to Lockhart Mansion this will be a wonderful moment of “hey, it’s me, I’m in this”.

Speaking of which, lolita fashion is as important to this book as the three girls who wear it and as the haunted mansion they choose to live in. I wouldn’t go quite so far as to say that it’s integral to the plot, however, it is definitely what makes the heart of Lockhart Mansion beat loud and clear. To those of us already engaging with lolita fashion, this book feels like the sort of representation that we wanted to see: it’s a story that is about us, with the name dropping, the references, and the in-jokes that make up what it is to be in lolita fashion. Ramona, George, and Valiant don’t just dress frilly and that’s it. They wear Metamorphose and accessorise with Usakumyas. They attend meetups and talk about being outbid on Lacemarket. They go through the rites of passage of explaining their fashion and the inner bracing of oneself when they sense that conversation or judgement coming their way. All of the things that real life lolitas do and deal with are included in this book as seamlessly as if the entire thing was pulled straight out of real life.

At the same time, in order to make navigating this world easier for non-lolita readers, there are footnotes to help with the unfamiliar terms and concepts. Whilst glossaries at the end are a more common technique, which has been used e.g. in Erin Grammar’s Magic Mutant Nightmare Girl, unless you have a physical copy in your hands they’re not always the most convenient, even if they can be more expansive. Lockhart Mansion prioritised providing an explanation immediately over explaining everything, so whilst there are plenty of things that a non-lolita reader would have to deduce (mostly brand names), they won’t get overwhelmed with an entire list of terms, some of which may not even appear in the book more than once, if at all. And the footnotes in themselves are as humorous and fun as the book itself, so lolita readers can still enjoy them.

I could sing praises for Lockhart Mansion for quite some time, though not without edging dangerously close to spoiler territory, so I will wrap the review up here. Needless to say I have enjoyed it from start to finish and I can genuinely envision myself returning to it when in need of light entertainment. Whilst it’s hard for me to determine how accessible non-lolita readers would find it, I encourage everyone interested in it to give it a chance. And certainly all lolitas should add it to their bookshelf and reading list! This is a whole lot of fun that will put a smile on your face.

Lockhart Mansion will be available to purchase here in paperback and e-book formats, so that wherever you live, you should be able to obtain a copy. And if for whatever reason you can’t, then drop Flammable Penguins Publishing a message via their Instagram. As a small publisher, I have no doubts that they will do everything to make sure that you can purchase the book. It should be out by the end of this month, so if it isn’t up yet, check on Halloween itself and follow Flammable Penguins for updates!

1 Dress 4 Looks Take 62

You’ve already seen it, if you follow my blog regularly, but allow me to present The Dumb Burger Dress, officially known as Summer Fairy’s Limited Meal JSK. It’s such a silly dress that it instantly becomes universally loved, including by people with zero interest in sweet lolita or even lolita in general. To tell you the truth, I didn’t have the usual resources to think of a tonne of majorly original ideas for coords to feature in this post. Despite that, I think that there is a good range of ready-to-use ideas and almost-there works in progress, so I won’t complain either.

Look 1: Mains and Dessert

| The Seamstress of Bloomsbury Jive blouse | Axes Femme cardigan | Angelic Pretty Odekake Ribbon OTKs | Bodyline shoes | Angelic Pretty Twinkle Star headbow | offbrand hair clip | Mojiangxiaopu hair clip | Milkribbon Butterkeks brooch | Fluffy Tori Tea Party Hard pin | Risu Rose ring | Cutie Craze Cafe ring | Angelic Pretty Melty Ribbon Chocolate ring |

Whilst not that clear on these pictures, the print on this dress isn’t just burgers and fries - there are also ice-cream sundaes on there. So in an attempt to play off those brown/chocolate vibes, I wanted to try something with this cardigan specifically. And I’ll be the first one to put my hand up and say that this came out better than I anticipated.

Look 2: Diner Worker

| The Seamstress of Bloomsbury Jive blouse | BtSSB Border OTKs | offbrand shoes and hair clip | handmade hair tie and bracelets |

The one time in my life where a maid-style headdress would’ve actually been perfect… But even without one, the idea of this being more of a waitress uniform still comes across. Sneakers are a necessity for a job that has you on your feet all day, so even though those aren’t the best match, they are still white. Bracelets are the lolita compromise since otherwise the arms would’ve been a bit bare. With the right hair and makeup styling this could be a really cute casual look.

Look 3: Pattern Overload

| Laura Ashley blouse | BtSSB Border OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | offbrand beret | Chrysanthemum’s Concerto Lost in the Garden of Eden headbow |

This coord is a bit on crack, I know. It exists mostly to see what would happen if I threw all these patterns together. It’s wild, that’s for sure, but not quite as offensive to the eyes as it could’ve been? Maybe it’s because it’s all single colour that it manages to sort of work. And because since it’s patterns everywhere, I did not add any accessories to not actually overload it. Whatever it is, it hasn’t exploded the moment it all was together and that’s a success.

Look 4: Fried Until Golden

| Pinky Girls cardigan | Roji Roji socks | offbrand shoes | Angelic Pretty Twinkle Star headbow | Beholder Fashions headpiece | Candy Kitsch earrings | Jule et Lily brooch | Risu Rose ring | Sweet Dolly House Candy Bon Bon ring |

It doesn’t matter that it started off as inspired by all those fried foods on the print leading me towards yellows, it just ended up as a McDonald’s inspired coord. And you know what, that’s ok, I’m fine with that. It isn’t what I intended, but it’s a decent outcome nonetheless. A very apt one too considering the theme of the print and the fast food chain that dominates the global market. The touches of pink may be random and a bit too few to read as fully intentional, but the brooch is the only one I own that has something actually yellow and once it was there, it felt too lonely, so I threw in the pink earrings as well.


Considering how little thought went into these four coords, they have all turned out ok. Definitely on the safer side, by which I mean using formulas and pieces that are tried and tested, but if there aren’t enough brain cells to experiment with, there’s no point in forcing yourself to be original. This dress is poised to stay with me for a long time to come, so there will be enough opportunities to try something more outside of the box with it in that time.

No Buy Support Wardrobe Challenge: A Print Headbow with a Non-Matching Piece

As I mentioned in my September coords roundup post, the picnic outfit would’ve been perfect for this prompt since the headbow works so well with that dress. However, that was worn in September and not in October, and whilst I know that the challenge rules are what I make of them, since I agreed to do one prompt per month, it only seemed fair to not cheat at the last minute.

Click to enlarge.

| Innocent World Revival Sweets Teddybear JSK | Axes Femme blouse | Innocent World Tulle Lace Millefeuille bolero | Innocent World OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Angelic Pretty Royal Unicorn headbow | offbrand earrings | Latte Galaxy brooch | Slightly Ghosts Forget-Me-Not pin |

All those laces together make me very happy.

A better look at the headbow as working with the dress.

This is the actual coord for this prompt that I ended up wearing. Taking the “printed headbow” to mean strictly “from a print release series” (as opposed to just having a print on it), out of 43 headbows and headpieces like that I only had 6 printed ones to choose from. So I really had to make sure to get the coord started with one that offered me the biggest variety of options. But then I was also comparing that against my list of last worn main pieces, which narrowed me down further. In the end the Royal Unicorn one felt the most versatile and immediately usable - and this is how this coord was born.

Well, there was the extra step of looking back at everything else I’ve done with this dress so far and trying to get some inspiration. The September 2020 look was still one that I really liked, so my goal was to achieve something with a similar feel without entirely replicating the coord. Of course, the Millefeuille bolero will give off a very different vibe than the less frilly Axes Femme cardigan I had on then, but other than this I feel like the look came together how I wanted it to. The headbow worked in my opinion as the beige base colour was carried on throughout the coord with the tones of beige and ivory, whereas the sax that the cameos are woven in on the headbow is the main colour of the whole look.

The whole coord was worn for a relaxed meetup in Manchester. On my scale this sits firmly in the very much meetup appropriate middle, not too fussy, but not too casual either. We spent most of our time at Mala Secret Garden, a place I had been past countless times and kept meaning to check out, yet never actually did. This was a wonderful opportunity to finally do that and I am absolutely sold. It’s a sort of food hub with a couple of various stalls selling a variety of foods and drinks with an outdoor-indoor sort of atmosphere and vibe. We went during the day on a Sunday, which was very chill, though started to get busy the further into the day it got. I imagine it turns into quite a bustling night out venue later on. Definitely a positive experience and definitely a place that I would happily go back to.

A little 180-degree view of inside the venue where we sat.

Incorporating nature into your interior decor is on point here!

Such a cosy nook there, definitely will be back to Mala Secret Garden.

Finishing the challenge with a coord that was worn to a chill meetup feels like a cherry on top. Whilst I think that doing the challenge as intended and outlined in the prompts, on a weekly basis, is certainly doable and would encourage people to wear frills more often, as someone who doesn’t need the additional encouragement I’ve found it much easier to refer back to it on a monthly basis. There are enough reasons and opportunities in my life to wear lolita, so for me having some sort of a prompt to inspire an outfit is more useful, especially on days when I have the desire to dress up and no specific ideas jumping out at me.

With that being said, many thanks to this challenge for being that opportunity for almost a full year. As we venture towards the end of 2022, my calendar is brimming with plans that will involve dressing up one way or another, so I should be good until 2023. But I am always up for a good prompt challenge, so if you know of any, especially ones that aren’t necessarily tied to a specific holiday or season, send them my way, please. I would love to continue doing something themed once a month and if I know about something now, then it will give me the time to find a way to fit it into my life come the new year.

Lolidrobe Reassessment Post 2022.03

FINALLY, it’s autumn! And not just that, it’s finally autumn that I can enjoy. If you love autumn and want to be that person who gets immersed in all the seasonal goodies, do yourself a favour and do not start working in the education sector. Nothing kills the joy of September quite like that and I honestly cannot emphasise how much Green Day’s Wake Me Up When September Ends resonates with my soul. But we’re not here to talk about my seasonal plights - we’re here to have a look at how my wardrobe has changed/evolved/whatever over the course of the summer.

New additions

This was definitely a quarter of ups and downs. At the beginning of summer I slowed down with purchases quite noticeably. Then I worked out what I was missing and got a bit more stuck in with sales, which led to trying to make a few newly realised replacements. Lastly, having felt the crunch, I tightened down on my spending once again, promising myself no more after those and imposing some strict rules upon myself.

• 3 blouses (sweet in ivory, classic in green, sweet in mint*)
• 3 cardigans (sweet in white, classic in navy, classic in wine)
• 1 apron (sweet in white)
• 2 pairs of shoes (1 gothic in black and 1 sweet in navy*)
• and 3 sets of accessories (1 gothic headdress in red*, 1 gothic hat in white, 1 pair of classic faux fur boot toppers in brown)

Of course I forgot to include the apron. But it's ok, you've seen it already.

There were more than enough opportunities for this quarter to go more pear shaped. Whilst it is a fair bunch of items, except for three they are either replacements or filling in some gaps, which makes this one of my most sensible hauls, probably ever. Going into the last quarter of the year on the back of this, the bar is set pretty high to stay good to those rules. And with a lolita event at the end of this month, with a bloody stellar lineup of Japanese indie brands vending there, I feel like trying to emerge unscathed will be equivalent to fighting a dragon. Pray for me, it may be the only thing that will help.

Possible new looks

Once again, the additions made here aren’t introducing novelty so much as rounding up the looks that I already had on the cards. Once those blue shoes arrive, they will fill in the biggest gap of them all, but for now (who’d have thought) the blouses and cardigans are working hard to keep my wardrobe interesting to me.

August 2022.

August 2022.

September 2022.

Replacement and need list progress

Thanks to finally working out what I want out of my classic wardrobe, this list has grown with a few things. As I haven’t talked about the individual pieces in that post, let me add a few notes here as to why these items and what do I want to replace them with:

• AatP’s Rosier Fleur JSK - it’s a gorgeous piece that I still love, as well as one of the most versatile in my entire wardrobe. However, the fit is far from ideal and it’s time to stop putting up with that. What I want is an ivory JSK that’s a bit longer and can fit me at my current waist and bust measurements. It needs to have enough frill/detail to allow me to dress it up for fancier occasions, but not too much so that it couldn’t be toned down or where that would prevent it from applying other themes to it. Ideally this would be in the same or a very similar shade of ivory, so a tiny bit warm, but not so much so that it falls into yellow, just perfectly neutral. Right now my bets are that this would be provided by either Atelier Pierrot or Physical Drop, they have definitely had styles that fit what I have in mind, but I’m not restricting myself to specific brands. I’ll know it’s right when I see it and until then I am keeping Rosier Fleur because a solid ivory JSK is as versatile as one can get.
• BtSSB’s Forever Enchanted Midnight Spell bolero - this actually falls into the ‘replace pink bolero’ category. It’s just that now is really the time to get a move on with this. I am not wearing this one because I don’t like this cut on myself and having a pink bolero that I am using would open up my possibilities so much.
• Irregular Choice Total Freedom shoes - this was my first pair of Irregular Choice shoes, so they’ll always be a bit special to me. But fit aside (which could be a bit more comfortable, though I could also have done more to work on that), these shoes are just a bit too cutesy whereas I need more classic gold shoes. Right now I’m gravitating towards a pair of Elf Armorie shoes, because they really are that good, but once again, I’m open to other options.
• Magic Tea Party mint blouse - the good part of this one is that I have already sold it. It went to a good new home, to a brand new lolita who bought it from me at Doki Doki. The tricky part now will be sourcing a mint blouse that will fit my current size, will be sweet-appropriate whilst fitting with my preferences (not too high a neckline, a smaller collar, some detail around the sleeve, breathable fabric). My best chances are probably offbrand or vintage reproduction places, or maybe an indie brand like Lady Sloth, so I will have to keep my eyes open and be ready to jump at one if I see one.

So the search for the replacements continues, hopefully with this new clarity of direction will come extra bit of motivation to look for these things.

The mint blouse might actually get ticked off, but I need the one I ordered to arrive before confirming.

Similarly, that post resulted in a few changes to my need list too.

For one, the lavender socks are off it. I decided to be sensible and stop adding colour after colour to my wardrobe.

Secondly, in goes a frilly bolero in sax. I have sax cardigans, but they are quite plain and better suited to my sweet looks than those romantic classic looks that I want to focus on. If Innocent World did their Millefeuille model in sax, this would be it, but since they don’t and I don’t think that dyeing will be the way here, I will have to find another way around that. The one on the picture is AP’s Romantic Ribbon, but as cute as it is, it’s pretty much the same shape as the BtSSB one I’m trying to replace, so this is just the closest picture I could find.

Given how I like my sweet to be on the retro side and many of my pieces are tricolour in scheme, a pair of sweet shoes in navy or royal blue would also go a long way. The flats I currently use are comfortable, but they certainly aren’t cute enough.

The other things identified in that post aren’t so much needs as just wants, so they will go into the next section. Other than this, as I’m still waiting on my Puvithel order to arrive and therefore can’t confirm how the jewellery situation is going, everything else remains unchanged.

These are the exact shoes I ordered, hence the certainty in ticking them off.

Current wishlist

No new wishlist items found their way into my wardrobe. With how things are going, I think I would like to give more thought and focus to that last row, which currently hosts pieces that I can see myself wearing daily or more regularly/casually. In particular having a few more skirts, especially classic ones, would really up my wardrobe’s wearability. Inspired by the success I’ve had with hand sewing my apron, I have ordered a few issues of Otome no Sewing, which I hope will have exactly the sort of skirt patterns that I would like. Whether I will end up making them is a whole other matter, but capitalising on the momentum is important.

State of the wishlist as of October 1st 2022.

On the non-dress wishlist goes a pink frilly/romantic headpiece. The reason why it’s not included in the needs list is because between the pink headbow I made in 2020 and the various flower clips I have, I should be able to piece together an appropriately romantic-feeling headpiece already. Having something else besides that would add some much needed variety to my options, but it isn’t pressing.

At one point I almost had this bolero, but it escaped me.

New Year’s goals: progress summary

1. Did I create a themed lookbook: yes. After a change of plans my theme ended up being a different kind than originally intended and the lookbook paired with a blog post. You can find them both here.
2. Did I take more mirror selfies: yes. Very much still something that I have to actively talk myself into, remind myself that I don’t owe anyone the effort of a ‘proper’ outfit shot, but there’s been at least one in every monthly coords roundup post so far, which is a great accomplishment in this category.
3. Wardrobe Overhaul
1. Have I done a wardrobe purge: At this stage this may be the closest that I’ve come to saying yes to this. Whilst there are still items in my possession that I am trying to sell, they have at least been identified and listed where appropriate. Having worked out what I want from my sweet items and what I want from my classic ones has been invaluable in this process. Even if selling these bits takes some time, I have the peace of mind of knowing that what is within my possession will get worn and cherished.
2. Have I divided my wardrobe into seasonal parts: I am about to. I know this sounds like a copout answer, but October has only just started, so this is really the best time to be doing that. At this point I think I can safely pack up my warm-weather-only items and get on with that seasonal wardrobe split. I mean, I’ll have to if I am to meet this goal for 2022 whilst still in 2022!

Even though I have a decent number of coords that hit this summer quarter, I feel like for the most part I spent it wearing other clothes and styles. Mostly due to the weather, my wardrobe overall is not made for hot summers, but lolita potentially the least of it all. Yet with the advent of autumn and winter on the horizon, my calendar is once again filling up at the speed of light with various events, activities, meetups, and all sorts that will provide more than ample opportunity for frills. There are still areas of my wardrobe overall that I am working on: gaps to fill, new styling directions that I am exploring, comfort adjustments to make, and more, which altogether are making my wardrobe a lot more exciting for me to enjoy. But despite the odd moment of feeling like I don’t have anything to wear, I do feel like I am out of the worst slump where I genuinely didn’t feel like wearing lolita and couldn’t figure out what that meant for me. So here is to the final quarter of this year (which in itself sounds super scary, how are we here already?) being the realisation of that work that I put into my style and my wardrobe, so that it once again is something that I am wholly excited to keep dipping into and creating new things with it.