A Full Lolita Coord for $133~!

My favorite thing to do on quiet nights is to go to the archives of my favorite blogs and re-read old posts. Last night I ran into Victoria from Parfait Doll's Lolita Blog Carnival post on making a full coordinate for a low price. As soon as I saw it, I yelled "I'm in!!" (in my head of course haha!) Their limit for that old post was $100 but I gave myself a bit extra (and I'll tell you why in a bit!).

We all know it takes quite a bit of cash to put together a nice lolita outfit but who says you can't do it for much less than the usual hundreds? It's hard, I know, with the luxurious dresses and detailed accessories it's easy to wear a coordinate worth well over $400! Not today! This outfit can be yours for $133 (minus shipping) and is a great coord for a beginner sweet lolita!

Everything is from Bodyline!
JSK ($33) | Blouse ($47) | Shoes ($40) | Socks ($13)

The JSK (The Dress): Instinctively, I wanted to choose an OP to cut down on costs (because you don't need a blouse with an OP) but you can get so many more looks out of a JSK! Not to mention that this adorable JSK is only $33 and one of my favorite pieces on Bodyline's website right now. I'm actually considering buying it soon!

The Blouse: This is a big reason the coord came over the budget (it's the priciest piece in the coord) but I have a very good reason for refusing to replace it: It is unbelievable versatile. For starters, this blouse has detachable sleeves. You can wear it as is or you can remove the long sleeves and just have the puffy short sleeves. This'll make wearing lolita in different seasons so easy! Another great detail? The jabot (aka the ruffly neck piece) is also removable! You can wear it for elegant looks or to add more interest to a skirt/blouse coord or leave it out and replace with a bow! This one blouse gives you 4 DIFFERENT LOOKS! I'd say that is well worth going over budget.

The Shoes: These are one of my favorite pairs of shoes on Bodyline, they are so cute and they have really good reviews. Another bonus? They come in 11 colors! For this coord I chose pink because I really couldn't resist how nice they look with the JSK but if you want more bang for your buck, I'd get a white pair. With white shoes, you can expand your wardrobe to many more color possibilities.

The Socks: Same reason as the shoes, I couldn't resist getting the pinkxwhite socks! They look so cute in this coord. Again, if you want them to be more versatile, you can easily replace them with plain white socks to wear with more outfits.

"But Aleks, what about accessories?" Well dear, I left them out because they are extras! But let's say you got a bit of extra birthday money (or Christmas money on the way ;D) then here's a few extras you can get:

Headbow: Sweet Mildred ($20) | Bag: Loris ($28)

Lolita is a pricey fashion, but it's possible to make a cute coordinate for significantly less than usual! Also remember that you probably already own accessories and bags that would work great in lolita. To be a lolita on a budget you don't have to sacrifice style, you just gotta get a little creative!

Forever 21: Cute Cardigans for Lolita!

It's late fall and we're nearing winter (well, at least on my side of the world) and I've been late on the layering game. I've been looking around for some cute sweaters or cardigans for layering and ran into a few finds that would be great not only for casual wear but for lolita as well (and they're inexpensive to boot)!

Also available in Yellow
$22.80

Their Floral Lace Cardigan is super cute and has the added bonus of being cropped! You and I both know it's tricky to find a cropped cardigan amongst the sea of boyfriend cardis. The pink is perfect for sweet and classic and the yellow would be really cute in sweet, classic and maybe even sailor!

Also available in Navy
$24.80

Their Lace Front Cardigan looks pretty similar to the first but comes in different colors. The sleeves on this one are short but could be saved for the late spring! The white one would look so sweet in a WhitexPink coord and the navy one would look beautiful in classic paired with wine red.

$19.80

Crochet Collar Cardigan- A mint/sax cardigan with a crochet Peter Pan collar... Um, can you say "Perfect"?? Lolitas that love mint know it's a hard color to come by in mainstream fashion. This would look so cute with Bodyline's Bunny Cinderella JSK or skirt in mint or lavender.

$24.80

Enchanted Sheer Kimono... Despite the cringe-worthy name, this would be a very cute sheer layer for a cult party kei inspired coord! Over a white dress or a classic dress and paired with maybe a flower crown, it would look so gorgeous.

Forever 21 always has cute cardigans and accessories perfect for lolita. It's where one of my favorite blouses is from!

What mainstream store(s) do you go to fluff up your lolita wardrobe?

The Lolita Rules

A debate that occasionally rises up in the community is whether or not lolita fashion has rules. These debates are usually started by newbies that become self-declared Lolita Police and go on a rampage providing criticism on other newbies' outfits. In response to this, many lolitas will come to the rescue and say that lolita  fashion doesn't really have strict rules while others beg to differ. What is my take on it?

I do think Lolita has rules BUT they're not that many and, as with everything, has exceptions. For me to consider a coord lolita, it has to have 2 things.

1. You've got to have the silhouette, be it Bell-Shaped or A-Line

both pettis can be purchased at Qutieland

To me this is the main point/feature of the fashion. This is what separates our coords from just regular dresses and skirts. You're going to have a hard time convincing most lolitas that your coord is in fact lolita without the proper silhouette. Some lolitas say that there are exceptions, but to me this is the one set in stone for me...

2. It has to be fairly modest

And no, I don't mean no skin whatsoever! What I mean is no butt cheeks, no deep plunging blouses, you know: that jazz. There are some exceptions to this rule when it comes to ero-lolita, but that sub-style is so hard to pull off that a lot of lolitas are not even considering it a sub-style anymore! This rule also is what makes it hard for me to accept coords featuring really short salopettes as lolita... Sorry! To me the coord can be gorgeous and have a nice fluffy dress but if the salopette is too short it looks very fairy-kei to me!

Those are my personal lolita rules, there are experienced lolitas out there that have the know-how to break them beautifully but I'm not one of them hahah!

What do you think a coord has to have to be considered lolita?

How I Got Interested in Lolita Fashion

I have an ultra old folder on my computer simply titled "JAPAN". It's at least 7 years old and has been transferred from computer to computer. This folder is what started my journey into J-Fashion and eventually to lolita (this story is what this week's Lolita Blog Carnival is for!) I created the folder in 7th grade when I saw my first image of japanese fashion: a photo of a beautiful model by the name of Tsubasa Masuwaka .

It's weird, I didn't see her clothes or anything, but I instantly fell in love with her hair and makeup. It took me a bit of research, but I managed to find out that the style was called gyaru. It was all about trendy fashion, dramatic/enlarging eye makeup and beautiful hair. I loved the look of it! I spend so much time looking up video tutorials for the hair/makeup and following blogs of these beautiful girls like ChaiGyaru and Xiaxue.

Left: Xiaxue
Right: ChaiGyaru

I never actually pursued gyaru fashion because I grew up in private school. Uniforms were worn 5/7 days a week and I didn't really go out with friends on the weekends. Yet I still browsed through the pictures and blogs every day and started researching other Japanese street styles; this is when I discovered the websites Japanese Streets and Tokyo Fashion. They introduced me to Decora (a little but too much for me) and Fairy Kei (super cute and pastel but not quite for me either). One day while checking the day's street snaps, I encountered the following picture:

Source: Friday June 18, 2010

The photo was simply captioned:

STUDENT, 17

Style: Lolita

Wig – N/A

Dress – BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT

Shoes – Angelic Pretty

Lolita fashion instantly had my heart. I spent weeks crazily scouring the internet looking for photos of other girls dressed in Lolita fashion (more specifically, Sweet Lolita) and could not help smiling at every picture. The one blog I remember spending hours on was Aesthetic Lolita's blog (no longer up unfortunately!). I seriously loved the fashion. By this time, I had just turned 17 years old: still in private school, still no social life. I didn't see the point in, once again, pursuing a style I really liked and eventually it faded from my mind again.

The blog that permanently pulled me back, in my last year of high school, was Lolita Charm (now known as Parfait Doll). She wrote such fantastic articles and fashion guides! Again, I'd just spend HOURS browsing the blog and especially loved her monthly style tips. This time I was permanently hooked.

Victoria Suzanne from Parfait Doll (formerly known as Lolita Charm)

How did you discover Lolita?

Was it through another Japanese street style?

Other cuties talking about this:

Alice in Lolitaland
All Sweet Indeed
A Sweet Lolita's Disney Life
Gothic Strawberry
Hello Batty
Her Lumpiness
Northern Star
Oh Velveteena
Pretty Little Habits
Sidhe Banshee
The Bloody Teaparty
Wild Jackalopes