Nisei Week Meetup

 Back in May when I first started wearing lolita, I was terrified to go to a meetup alone, and wouldn't even think of taking public transit anywhere dressed up. However, I've come a long way in those two months. It took two years of researching the fashion, and two months of wearing it, and now I finally feel confident enough to say that I'm officially legitimate. Even in a discounted brand like bodyline....

So on Sunday I went to Little Tokyo to meet several local lolitas for Nisei week. I went by myself, and took the train in full blown OTT sweet lolita. I already knew who a lot of the girls were because of facebook, but never really met them in person. I was somewhat nervous about meeting everyone in person for the first time, but I was amazed at how easy it was to talk to them. I think lolita has helped me grow up in a sense, as I'm no longer shy like I was for most of my life. Anyway, thats a story for another time. Here are some of the photos that I've been tagged in. I didn't have a camera with me that day < I really need one!> So I'm taking these photos from my facebook friends.

I wore my Bodyline Soft Cream coord. I really like how my new makeup is so photogenic. 

Me and Holley, notice how we're wearing the same wig?

Holley, Judy and I. 

All of my new friends! 

Now for some candids!

The girl in the bear hat is Claudia of Kawaii Goods. She's so awesome in person! This photo is one of my favorites:

 

Lolita makeup closeup: 

Group shots:

In front of the beautiful Little Tokyo garden. 

Notice the Melty Chocolate bag on the girl next to me, I want it even more now that I've seen it in person:

This is my favorite group shot, because of how the light shines through the trees and makes us look like princesses. 

All in all, this was such a lovely experience. I made so many new friends, and am so happy by how nice and personable all the girls are. I'm sure one day I'll encounter some loli twats, but because I know how awesome most of these girls are, it won't even matter. 

Angelic Pretty Lace

I attempted to blog about Angelic Pretty's lace in my last post, but decided that it is far too interesting a subject to only mention briefly. While lace may seem like something minuscule to outsiders, it is in fact what makes our lolita brand dresses special. It is the reason why I wear sweet lolita, and why I can justify spending the money on my dresses. 

Lace is also one of the reasons I decided to not wear replicas. While some of the replica brands do an OK job at replicating Angelic Pretty's lace, its just not the same. Additionally, replicas can be relatively expensive too, and I'd rather just save my money for the real thing. 

In this post, I am going to show five of Angelic Pretty's prints and their lace. Two of these prints are so loved and popular that they are somewhat difficult to find and incredibly more expensive than the others. This post is meant for outsiders to perhaps understand an aspect of this fashion that makes it so unique. 

 I found some of these photos from other fashion blogs, so if one of these is one your photos, I thank you for taking these pictures! Also, some of these pictures might be big, but it's so you can see the beautiful detail in the lace. 

Milky Berry

 As I mentioned in my earlier post, I don't particularly like this lace. I realize it's because it isn't the typical colorful mesh material. Since I posted my Milky Berry JSK in the last post, I'm going to put the lace in here only. You need to look closely to see the detail: 

Milky Berry's print is covered in strawberries. Note how the lace matches that theme. 

Sugary Carnival 

Sugary Carnival is one of Angelic Pretty's most popular prints. Used, Sugary Carnival costs one to two hundred dollars more than the original release price. It is detailed with carousel horses attached to marshmallow "poles". Pictured is a Sugary Carnival skirt: 

And now for Sugary Carnival's lace: 

Notice the carousel horses in the lace! How adorable is that? 

Milky Planet:

Milky Planet is also a relatively popular Angelic Pretty print. There is ice cream everywhere on this print, even little ice cream rocket ships.  I couldn't find a picture of a dress or skirt that had a good view of the print itself, so here is a swatch of it:

Now for Milky Planet's lace: 

Can you see the ice cream cones in the lace? Kind of makes you hungry doesn't it? 

Jewelry Jelly 

I like Jewelry Jelly because unlike the last two prints, it isn't as crazy in demand. It usually sells quickly when it's in the EGL sales, but it isn't as expensive as Milky Planet and Sugary Carnival. Since I have a Jewelry Jelly JSK in an earlier post, I'm going to use the swatch as an example of the print. Its somewhat hard to see, but there are jello molds on platters. 

                                  Look closely and see how the lace matches the print: 

Candy Treat

I thought I'd post Candy Treat's lace, as I blogged so much about this print. If you haven't noticed from earlier posts, Candy Treat is adorned with lolly pops and other candies.  Heres the print swatch: 

Now for the lace, which I can't get enough of: 

More lace to make your mouth water!

So now you see one of the reasons why I am obsessed with this fashion. Theres no way in hell you can find this kinda stuff at the mall! 

Milky Berry Coord

Today I purchased my second Angelic Pretty set. It isn't Jewelry Jelly like I had initially wanted, but it was my second choice. I've been saving up and living frugally to be able to afford more Angelic Pretty, and I'm happy that I found this dress in the colourway that I wanted! For anyone who doesn't know how Lolita sales work, we either have to buy directly from the stores, or buy used on EGL sales. EGL is a livejournal community devoted to gothic and lolita fashion. They have a sales portion where girls can put up their used clothes and accessories and sell them to others. This is a great tool for us, as brands usually only release a certain amount of items in a particular series. Anyway, I think Milky Berry was released a few years ago, so there is no way I'd be able to buy it direct from their site. I happened upon it this morning  in the EGL sales! I thought I'd share with you my plans for my Milky Berry Coord.

First, and most importantly, this is the set that I bought:

I lucked out and got the JSK and hairbow in one set. No socks though :-(

The one thing I do not like about Milky Berry is the lace. It has strawberries in the lace, but it's white and doesn't stand out as much as prints like Milky Planet and Sugary Carnival. I will post another entry about Angelic Pretty lace today. 

I will be able to wear this with the mocha latte wig that I already bought from GLW. Or perhaps my plan old boring brunette wig that is similar to the one in the photo of the bow. 

Now on to the things that I still have to buy! I'm hoping to get away with spending only about $100 more. 

To make my life a little easier, I am planning on buying Angelic Pretty's Berry Berry socks instead of their Milky Berry ones. The socks in the Milky Berry series might be a little difficult to find, as Angelic Pretty doesn't produce them anymore. However, Berry Berry socks are currently available on their website. I am going to buy them in white because it's one of the coordinating colors in the outfit. 

Next, I need to buy a bag. Angelic Pretty released a strawberry bag that would go perfectly with this coord. However, as I mentioned earlier, I don't want to spend more than another $100 on Milky Berry. Bodyline, Angelic Pretty's poor second cousin, released this bag.  I'm hoping and praying I'll be able to find it in EGL. 

                                                            

Next, I will need a red blouse to go under the JSK. I can probably find that for cheap either at a thrift store or Ross. 

Finally, I need rmint shoes to complete this look. I'd like to try another type of shoe other than RHS, so I'd settle for tea party shoes or anything else lolita-esque: 

                                                      

These shoes are Antaina, which is the same ebay seller I bought my blue rocking horse shoes from. Their shoes average about $55 shipped, and I trust them because of the good experience I had with them last time. 

As for accessories, I've been planning them out for a while now. Perhaps I convinced myself to buy Milky Berry before Jewelry Jelly because of all the creative freedom I'll have. I am going to make giant strawberries for hair clips. And at dinner on Friday, I saw strawberry tarts and got inspired. I'm going to make a huge strawberry tart necklace. I also happened to pick up this Angelic Pretty gingham ring for a really good price on EGL: 

I hate gingham, but this will go so well with my coord!

As I mentioned earlier, after I shine my boots for work tomorrow, I'll post an entry about Angelic Pretty lace. It's much more exciting than you may think :0) 

My first blog

Hello, though I don't know who I'm saying hello to as I have no readers.


My name is Sarah. Im in my mid twenties, and I got this blog because I stopped journal writing three years ago. I need some sort of outlet, and I think this could be it. I currently work as an administrator. I have two boxer dogs, one reverse brindle boy and one fawn girl. I love them both to death. I enjoy polymer clay art, and deco den. I am very interested in Lolita fashion, and my interest is border line obsession. I imagine that my blog will be mostly related to that. 


Over the last couple of weeks I've looked through many fashion blogs, and I find them quite interesting. My decision to start a blog like this was influenced by my fascination of looking at other girls blogging about their lives and their beautiful clothes. I have found a lot of lolita blogs very inspiring. I also find that a lot of Lolita's are deco artists, and their blogs give me new ideas for future projects. 


Before I even knew what Lolita was, I stumbled across The Gothic and Lolita bible at Vromans. I opened it up, by chance mind you, and liked what I saw. There were instructions for DIY chocolate covered strawberries, which I decided to try at home. They came out awful. That was two years ago. Ever since then, my creativity has expanded, and I now know how to bind jewelry and make hair pieces. I plan on opening an etsy shop this summer. 


My first actual attempt at Lolita was at Bats Day 2009, which is an annual event held at Disneyland. Looking back, I cringe at the thought of the outfit I wore. The dress I had on was a modified square dance dress. I wore only one petticoat, and knee socks over tights. I made clay donuts and ice cream cones to attach to my outfit. They were hand painted and awful. My wig was a terrible white Lady Gaga-ish thing. Thinking back, I have come to learn so much about the fashion just by reading other blogs.

This was my first ever attempt at Lolita, and I look terrible. Notice how I look ghostly with the wig.




My second attempt at Lolita wasn't all that great either. I bought a dress off of ebay, thinking I had found a great deal. It was $70 with shipping, and had a cute print on it. Later on, as I was researching Angelic Pretty's prints, I found out that I had a Milky Chan replica. I'm not a fan of replica's. Also, the dress didn't fit quite right on me, so my silhouette was off. I think I had too much poof.

 Here I am at a Japan LA event, where there were a few legit Lotias in attendance. I felt so out of place and uncomfortable, with my crappy Milky Chan replica. Once I learn how to use EGL comm sales I'm going to try and get rid of it.

This is the first meetup I ever went to, before I knew I was wearing a fake! This is why I think I'm too poofy. I was wearing one square dance petticoat and two cupcake petticoats. From now on I'm going to stick to one or two cupcakes.


I'm going to try and get rid of that wig also. It is too plain. I recently bought a wonderful wig from Gothic and Lolita wigs, which is so much better than the boring brunette one.


I am currently in the process of coordinating a mint Bodyline ensemble for Anime Expo. Bodyline is really wonderful for a girl like me. I don't particularly want to pay the high prices for Angelic Pretty and the other brands, and Bodyline has a few cute prints that can be worked with. However I am on the lookout for my dream AP print, Candy Treat. There was in the egl comm last week but by the time I saw it, it was too late.


Anyway, more to follow. Schools out next week, and I'm going to start preparing to open my Etsy shop. I'll post pictures of my jewelry then.