Lolita52 - Part N

Haven't done one of these in a while, and it's been over a year since I started the challenge haha

44. How strangers react to my clothes, and how I react to their reactions
I try not to make eye contact with people as I'm walking around by myself, or I just put on a passive poker face. Not that I'm afraid of what people think or would say, but because I'd rather avoid conflict altogether. 

Most people in my city who say anything are very nice about it, though some people do snigger or try to take pictures without permission. The people who do come up and say anything usually say my dresses look nice and whether I'm going to a special event. If I'm in a group, people ask what we're dressed up as and if we're a club. Some people have asked what costume I'm wearing, or what anime I'm cosplaying from too.

I usually just say it's a Japanese street fashion, and most people are happy with that. If people insist that it's a costume, I usually just give them the 'wtf' look and walk away or ignore them. I haven't had anyone bug me after doing that. 

45. Something that was a gift
I've gotten a pair of really nice plain off-white socks from a lacemarket seller, they were new and unworn. They go very nicely with old school coords, though I don't have anything that they work with at the moment.

46. Parasols: Vital or frivolous?

I wouldn't say they're vital, but they're definitely not frivolous! Sun protection is very important, whether you have a plain old brolly or a frilly parasol

I especially like the foldable umbrellas that came with a few mooks last year, I'm sad that I missed out on auctions for them a few months ago (really wish I put in higher bids now). I think they're better than actual parasols since they're cute, practical and functional.

Given the opportunity though, I would still buy a reasonably priced parasol since they look so good with classic coords.

Quality of Lolita Brands

Just going to talk a little bit about the quality of the brand dresses that I personally own, and rate each out of 5 on construction, quality of materials and print (because >95% of the dresses I own are prints).


Angelic Pretty ♔ own(ed) 8 pieces
construction: 4.8 - Usually very sturdy with straight neat lines. None of the dresses have prints aligned along the seams and buttons need to be sewn tighter
quality: 4.9 - Custom lace, thick material and sometimes inbuilt petticoats. The braiding they use could be better, it seems to fray easily
printing: 5 - Very clear and always custom printed

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright ♔ own 2 pieces
construction: 4.9 - Good construction, everything held nicely in place. Prints do not align on seams
quality: 4.8 - Both pieces are older, but the material is very heavy and stiff, though detailing is still high quality
printing: 5 - Very clearly printed and vibrant

Alice and the Pirates ♔ own 4 pieces

construction: 4.9 - Solid, no print matching at the seams either
quality: 4.9 - Generally good quality, but some of their older pieces are made of the same stiff fabric as Baby (above)
printing: 4.9 - A little grainy on chiffon, but still very good printing

Innocent World ♔ own(ed) 12 pieces

construction: 4.9 - Great construction, dresses hold up very well. Just dislike the actual fit of their dresses and they also do not match the print at seams
quality: 5 - All dresses made of the same high quality soft material
printing: 5 - Clear and crisp

Krad Lanrete ♔ owned 1 piece

construction: 4.8 - Nice neat lines, no print to match but the bodice and back shirring didn't sit properly even though my measurements were correct 
quality: 5 - Everything down to the charms used were high quality 
printing: 5 - Very crisp and gave an illusion that the print was glowing

ecailes de Lune ♔ own 1 piece

construction: 5 - No loose threads, solid construction and fit
quality: 5 - Didn't skimp on anything
printing: 5 - Very detailed and crisp even on chiffon, gradient of the fabric is also good

Infanta ♔ own(ed) 3 pieces

construction: 4.9 - Print aligned at the seams! Good effort from
quality: 4.6 - The trims and buttons seem to be of low quality, fabric is average
printing: 4.9 - Screen print is a bit blotchy, but their cotton prints are nice and crisp

LBC: Make One Expensive and One Inexpensive Outfit from Your Wardrobe

It's so great that it's easy to get second hand brand pieces for much less than retail if you spend enough time going through sales posts, auctions and such. Sometimes if you ask politely, sellers will even allow you to make offers or discount items for you. I really love picking up a great bargain, so I'll start with the inexpensive outfit first!

Everyone knows that the key to keeping the price of an outfit down is to go with offbrand pieces. This is actually one of my first outfits, but I love how many offbrand things I've incorporated, Granted, a few things were gifted to me so they're free, but the price is still kept low by not having everything brand 'v'

The total cost of this outfit including postage is: $153

IW Royal Parade JSK - $120

Bodyline shoes - $20

OTKs - $3

Blouse - $10

Bag and hair accessory - gifted to me

**All prices shown are just prices that I personally paid for the items, so these are just ideas you can take on when you're looking through listings and such**

I can never resist the urge to splurge when one of my dream pieces comes up, and there are some pieces that brands put out which I *need* in my wardrobe, so here's one expensive outfit that I recently made from my wardrobe.

Still quite a few offbrand items in this outfit, but the main piece and boots are a little more expensive than the usual items in my wardrobe. What's awesome about the boots though, is that they work amazingly well with heaps of pieces so you can get a lot of use out of them!

Total price of this outfit including postage: $542

BtssB Angel's Whisper JSK - $320

AatP Clara boots - $120

The Floral Notebook blouse - $65

Hair accessory - $10

Lace tights (not in picture) - $7
BtssB Rose Boudoir earrings (not in pic either) - $20

When I usually think of the prices of items individually, I don't realise how much of a difference there can be in prices of dresses. Both the above pieces are brand, but Angel's Whisper cost 2.6 times more than Royal Parade, which is a little daunting when I think about it o.o
I think I just buy with the philosophy that if I like it enough, the price is justified lol

A few other blog entries on the same topic:

Frilly Roses | Divine Cross | Oh Velveteena | Vanilla Bear | Courtly Dreams 

Art du Noir

April Haul

Finally got my taobao order, I was just going to get a cosplay costume with my friend, but when that fell through.... went on a lolita rampage :v

Also obtained two of my long time (cough) dream dresses, so I've been super blessed this month.

The first thing I received was my ultimate dream dress, Alice and the Pirates' Gloria ~ Beautiful Glassy Saint Mary ~ dress. I honestly had given up on finding the dress in Navy and the Maria cut, which is why I put a bid on Astronomical Clock (coming up later), but this came up the very next day *u*

 

 sldfuhgufdhgufgh I freaked out when I opened the package, the fabric is lovely and the black lace is more delicate and high quality than I thought. So much regret for not being into the fashion when this was released so I could own all the colourways and cuts hnnnng.
This also completes my 'holy trinity' of Gloria, Angel's Whisper and Stained Glass Angels, so I'm ecstatic! I want to trade my ivory Angel's Whisper for navy though--

I received my SpreeNow package next, and I don't know if it's just me, but I almost always forget what I have coming in my taobao packages as soon as they're sent, so opening them is like ordering everything again?!

Two pairs of OTKs from mu-fish. Top is an IW replica, and bottom is one of their originals. 

Peaked cap, I want to use it for ouji outfits  

Bowler-top hat, I've put gold ribbon around it, but it's not very obvious when worn. Looks really nice with my new wig (further down) 

I was really excited for these because I wasn't too sure if quarantine would let them pass. They're XinJiang red jujubes and sultanas, all of which taste delicious and are amazing snacks mmm 

 Some floral clips and findings, the two on the right are my favourites because they're organza mixed with felt

Some little note pads and a pack of FREE! cards. The TeniPuri stickers and Natsume no Yuujinchou sticker set on the right are all freebies from the seller 

What's funny is my TeniPuri notepad has 'sample' written across the art  

 

 The wigs that I got this time, from left to right: short brown wig and short blonde wig (for my friend), long silver wig, short purple wig, long orange wig

The brown, blonde and orange wigs were all meant to be for Final Fantasy Type 0 cosplays, but it ended up falling through BUT I WILL DO THEM FOR SURE *shakes fist at shoddy taobao sellers*

 Got a lovely cape and the matching brooch, I think I could use it for both lolita and ouji

 Some earrings, the seller was nice enough to give me and extra piercing and a box to hold everything in. I just have to mention the gauge for these were a bit bigger than what I'm used to wearing, so getting them in was a bit uncomfortable

Weeb japanese school bag, it's actually pretty roomy and can fit A4 + lots of other things inside 

 SurfaceSpell Dusk Library JSK. The quality is amazing for the price, really soft velvet, fully lined and the custom gobelin fabric is gorgeous! Even my sister who usually thinks my brand pieces feel cheap reckons this is high quality haha

Little Dipper coat, I love the colours and the quality is very nice for the price I paid. Everything is lined, even the pockets, and the braiding is quite neat

My new cici-works rose crown, the roses and ribbons are interchangeable which is fantastic

Last is my want-not-need-but-still-got dream dress, Astronomical Clock from Innocent World.

I ended up winning the bid with my opening bid, and didn't want to back out of a sale. I remembered that one of my friends in the comm had been trying to sell her navy OTKs last year (her SS got her the navy socks but the black JSK lol) and turns out she still had them, so I purchased them off her.

Still trying to work outfits and such out for everything I received, but I'm very grateful that I was able to buy so many things this month ♥

March Haul

My taobao order is taking ages to complete, because the one thing I need shipped hasn't arrived with the SS yet and the seller isn't responding either ugh

Just a Y!J haul this month, accumulated from Jan + Feb. A lot of ouji / boystyle pieces this time, because I think it's a gorgeous look that I want to try!

 Novle vest from Alice and the Pirates. It has pockets (!) and is made from a thick fabric

BPN jacket

 d.i.a. napoleon jacket, saw a picture of buttcape wearing it once, and needed to have one too *_*

 "Tight Stretchy Pants" from AatP which I find hilarious, because are the pants tight or stretchy?? (The answer is tight on me hahah)

 d.i.a. shirt, much tighter fit than I expected (same with the napoleon jacket) but thankfully I can still squeeze in. The collar of this shirt is a bit different because it's wired o.o

 Decorative collar pin that came with the d.i.a. shirt

 Fairy tales pouchette from AatP. I have one in ivory x gold and thought this was navy x gold, but alas it is silver D:

 Q-pot chocolate wrist band

 

Disney Winnie the Pooh rings. Came in seriously cute wrapping tissue, and with some sort of brochure. The rings themselves are a cheap alternative to q-pot's more expensive collab, and are quite nice

January / February Hauls

I received 4 packages during January and February, which I'll share here. Am really excited for some big orders coming in soon from taobao and Y!J :3


First was this Crowning Glory II JSK in Midnight. It was a preorder available to people who had bought the first release, because honestly the quality of that first one was disappointing (slubbing on the fabric). This release however, is fantastic and I'm really glad they found a great fabric supplier. Also happy that it was a preorder, since ours were made by hand and aligned perfectly, because PepFox also tried to manufacture some with another business which turned out wonky.

They also included a King of Foxes badge because the preorders were meant to be completed by November, and were delayed until January. It's super nice of them, and they also gave out a $10 discount code *w*

Next is a blouse I commissioned from The Floral Notebook. The colour is spot on, and matches the odd peach of my Angel's Whisper JSK in ivory BUT the blouse is huge! I gave her my exact measurements, and I'm not sure what happened, but in comparison to normal clothing sizes, if I'm normally a size M, what I received was size XL :x

I ended up caving and buying a 'potato sack / paper bag' dress because well... because chocolate! It was reasonably priced, and I *thought* I had enough AP chocolate pieces in my wardrobe already to be able to match this easily. Turns out, this 'bitter' is making me bitter, because even AP chocolate themed items don't match its colour xD Another annoying thing about it is it changes between warm and cool tones in different lighting :v

What I do like is that the front is very plain, whilst the back is quite fancy. I have a few ideas for things to spice up the front, but it's a piece that looks better worn rather than laid flat.

Last but not least is the Pink Up / Long Ears & Sharp Ears lucky pack! It was very cheap and the dress possibilities were really tempting, so I tried my luck. I really like what I got, and it was indeed lucky heh

They quadruple wrapped things, with three plastic bags, stuck the items inside the Alice & Macaron bag AND the dresses were in plastic sleeves lolol

 A mini desk calendar, with art from both PinkUp and L&SEars. This was my favourite picture, but the calendar itself is not so practical, as you can see, the dates are tiny haha

I received two bow accessories, both listed at $8 each on the storenvy. Quality of the fabric is good, but construction wise the head bow was a little lacking (you can see the hot gluing has failed it)

 The Alice & Macaron bag has a cute PinkUp logo inside, and is fully lined with a sturdy polyester I think, so it's actually very good quality and roomy enough for A4 notebooks :D

One of the dresses I got is the Azure Porcelain pleated dress. The alignment of the fabric is perfect, and a little unexpected (lots of my brand pieces don't even bother aligning the prints x.x) There is a little shirring around the waist, and I think it would be great for otome outfits.

 

 The last item in the lucky pack is this Map to Buried Treasure JSK in grey. I actually bought the lucky pack in the hopes of getting my hands on one of these pieces, and I did so yay! The grey and ivory parts are made from a soft suede which feels velvety, and would be a great A/W dress.

Both dresses are listed at $140 each on the website, so the total of the fully priced items would be $296, and the lucky pack only cost $115, which is a great 60% discount. What I like though, is that the accessories AND dresses sent to me are all in the same colour scheme, so I can actually wear them together. How thoughtful! I definitely recommend grabbing a lucky pack from these studios in the future, they're a steal :D