Lolita fashion
Apr. 26th, 2010 12:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_fumbles_mcstupidI have the best friends in the world. For my 21st birthday my freinds all gave me awesome hats! And just yesterday I got my last birthday gift and it was a frikin Gothic Lolita dress!! With a sort of hoop petticoat!! First of all the dress is just awesome and second of all a Hoop Petticoat! The thing that is most difficult about my Lolita outfits is finding enough petticoats to keep the skirt the right pooffiness so this hoop petticoat = love! I have to do a few alterations so the dress will fit me better and change the way it laces up in front, but overlall it is awesome! For those of you not familiar with lolita fashon here is a useful guide.
I love Lolita fashion, I really, really do. I first came across Lolita fashion through the anime community (I don't even remember how I stumbled across it exactly even now) but when I saw it I fell in love. I had a deep seated love for Victorian fashion already and to see a style that had such strong influences just tickled me.
There a couple of problems I have with the style though. First off it is frikin’ expensive. A used Baby the stars shine bright dress can go for $300. I am not made of money so buying a Lolita wardrobe is out of the question. I could make my own stuff but modifying patterns is not really my forte and the patterns from the Gothic Lolita Bible are poorly laid out and hard to follow.
The second problem is that I am not a small Asian girl so many of the imported clothing items are either too short in the torso or the skirts are short enough on me to make it look like an ero-loli dress. The torso problem is difficult if not impossible to fix. The short skirt problem is a little easier, I can just add extra material to the bottom of the skirt. But Tucson AZ does not have a huge selection of fabric stores and what we do have does not have a wide selection of fabric to choose from so this can get tricky.
Thirdly it is not a practical style to wear frequently. Puffy skirts are hard to manage and if I go the EGA (Elegant Gothic Aristocrat) route it is usually long skirts and long sleeved shirts in velvets and other heavy materials. This does not work for me because I live in Arizona, it is hot here.. Also I do a lot of dirty activities like screenprinting and helping out backstage for plays and I would not want to wear nice clothing there and get it ruined. Add on to this that within the community there are those who do wear the style every day, and if you only wear it for special occasions you are a “cosplay-lolita” and you get looked down upon, which almost makes me not want to wear the style at all.
My Elegant Gothic aristocrat outfit. as you can see it is not exactly the most practical outfit to wear. there is more info on Aristocrat Style here
Forth and probably the most important reason is that I am just lazy. I would rather put on some jeans and a t-shirt and possibly some sort of accessory then get all dolled up in a pretty outfit that is not as comfortable as something else.
But despite all this I really do love the fashion! I just have to find a way to make it work for me. So if you have any suggestions or experience with Lolita fashion please share
In the future I hope to build up a bigger lolita wardrobe so that I can wear the style more often! I also hope to start sewing more frequently for myself, then I could make comfortable lolita clothing that I would be willing to wear! I would also like to start getting some Kodona style clothes because it is awesome and looks more like my style. But first I must brush up on my sewing skills and possibly bribe my friend into patterning some things for me.
Kodona style lolita is often called "boystyle" as it involves more masculine clothing.
Also I am looking forward to expanding my skill set! At the J-fashion show I participated in at con-nichiwa I met a lot of really nice people who have various skills, I met a girl who knows how ot make hats and another who knows how to make patterns. I shall be teaching them how to screenprint while they teach me their specialties! So hopefully we shall be awesome and learn new things!
I love Lolita fashion, I really, really do. I first came across Lolita fashion through the anime community (I don't even remember how I stumbled across it exactly even now) but when I saw it I fell in love. I had a deep seated love for Victorian fashion already and to see a style that had such strong influences just tickled me.
There a couple of problems I have with the style though. First off it is frikin’ expensive. A used Baby the stars shine bright dress can go for $300. I am not made of money so buying a Lolita wardrobe is out of the question. I could make my own stuff but modifying patterns is not really my forte and the patterns from the Gothic Lolita Bible are poorly laid out and hard to follow.
The second problem is that I am not a small Asian girl so many of the imported clothing items are either too short in the torso or the skirts are short enough on me to make it look like an ero-loli dress. The torso problem is difficult if not impossible to fix. The short skirt problem is a little easier, I can just add extra material to the bottom of the skirt. But Tucson AZ does not have a huge selection of fabric stores and what we do have does not have a wide selection of fabric to choose from so this can get tricky.
Thirdly it is not a practical style to wear frequently. Puffy skirts are hard to manage and if I go the EGA (Elegant Gothic Aristocrat) route it is usually long skirts and long sleeved shirts in velvets and other heavy materials. This does not work for me because I live in Arizona, it is hot here.. Also I do a lot of dirty activities like screenprinting and helping out backstage for plays and I would not want to wear nice clothing there and get it ruined. Add on to this that within the community there are those who do wear the style every day, and if you only wear it for special occasions you are a “cosplay-lolita” and you get looked down upon, which almost makes me not want to wear the style at all.
My Elegant Gothic aristocrat outfit. as you can see it is not exactly the most practical outfit to wear. there is more info on Aristocrat Style here
Forth and probably the most important reason is that I am just lazy. I would rather put on some jeans and a t-shirt and possibly some sort of accessory then get all dolled up in a pretty outfit that is not as comfortable as something else.
But despite all this I really do love the fashion! I just have to find a way to make it work for me. So if you have any suggestions or experience with Lolita fashion please share
In the future I hope to build up a bigger lolita wardrobe so that I can wear the style more often! I also hope to start sewing more frequently for myself, then I could make comfortable lolita clothing that I would be willing to wear! I would also like to start getting some Kodona style clothes because it is awesome and looks more like my style. But first I must brush up on my sewing skills and possibly bribe my friend into patterning some things for me.
Kodona style lolita is often called "boystyle" as it involves more masculine clothing.
Also I am looking forward to expanding my skill set! At the J-fashion show I participated in at con-nichiwa I met a lot of really nice people who have various skills, I met a girl who knows how ot make hats and another who knows how to make patterns. I shall be teaching them how to screenprint while they teach me their specialties! So hopefully we shall be awesome and learn new things!
