Randomness January 2022

Just felt like making a random blog post.

I removed Instagram from my phone. I'll just be accessing it on my computer. 

Some pretty things I received for Christmas:

Rhinestone encrusted eyelash curler!

Sparkly makeup brushes. Rarity approves!

I also received some of Johanna Basford's colouring books. I've always wanted one!

The holidays were fine. We decided not to see any of our friends while vising our hometown, to be safe. This made the trip a lot more relaxing. Otherwise these visits are filled to the brim with social engagements and it's tiring. But we also didn't get to see any of our extended families and that was disappointing. 

I finished reading the novel the Clan of the Cave Bear, lent to me by my mother-in-law. The beginning of the book was good and caught my interest right away. But my overall impression now that I've finished it is negative. I don't want to read stories about violence against women. Maybe there is some catharsis there for some people, but it is not for me. The author also spent too much time dwelling on insignificant details. The writing became sloppy towards the middle. 

It's given me some things to think about with my own writing. 

I remember reading Ann Leckie's philosophy that every sentence of the story should be significant and useful. At the time I disagreed because I preferred to view writing as a form of art. The more polished and manufactured something becomes moves it farther and farther from art. To me, art is some raw expression of the human condition. But 100% this is not always the case. The definition of art is tenuous. 

I haven't begun working on a lolita fashion wardrobe post yet. I've been struggling with my health. I hope I can manage to do it. 

I haven't even felt like making a year in review post for 2021, but maybe I will find a way.

I wore Toy Parade the other day. Happy prints make me feel better. :)

Reflections after Ten Years in Lolita Fashion

As I mentioned in a previous post, I received an enormous package of secondhand lolita items last month. It may have been the most I've ever spent on lolita in a single order. 

A lot of things needed to be laundered and due to health issues it took a while to finally get them all washed. Now the pieces are all scattered everywhere (read: put away in their places) so it's a bit inconvenient to take a haul photo at this point, especially because health issues are yet to be resolved.

There's also this matter of not wanting to encourage consumerism, as I also wrote about previously.

Anyway, I can't stand to not make some kind of record about it!

So... Now that I have been wearing the things from that haul, I am struck by a thought that it feels like this collection of items really represents my core values in lolita fashion. I've struggled a lot in the past with trying to define my lolita style, wanting that cohesive wardrobe but loving too many different things. My 10 year anniversary of wearing lolita fashion is fast approaching. I'm feeling nostalgic. Here's what I've learned:

I love old Innocent World. It is the quintessential lolita style. Without a doubt, that is because it was the first brand I ever saw, circa 2009.

Innocent World's Dot Stripe JSK, the first lolita dress I ever saw.

When it comes to Angelic Pretty, I prefer their lavender line and Kira Imai prints the most. I'm surprised to realize that I prefer muted pastels. Does this mean I will get rid of my 2010 era AP? No, definitely not. There's another type of nostalgia there (but I am not writing about that right now).

My current predominant style is best described as sweet-classic or classic-sweet. I'm not sure which one is more commonly used or if they are considered to have different meanings. 

I would also describe my style as casual. I prefer things that are simple or more plain, easy to wear and comfortable.

At this time, I'm confident in saying that Innocent World is my favourite brand. Their older pieces revives the flame that my first encounter with lolita sparked. 

Here's a collection of stock images of my haul. Some items, I couldn't locate on Lolibary.

I still have the original photos that started it all for me, but they were saved off of someone's personal LiveJournal so I wont be sharing them here. I can describe one of them though. It's a low quality photograph of a girl wearing the Dot Strike JSK in lavender, with no blouse, no socks or shoes. She's taking the photo in a mirror with a digital camera. Behind the mirror you can catch a glimpse of her closet, there's a white petticoat, a couple of blouses and a pink BTSSB skirt, it looks like the 2006 release of Scallop Hem Skirt. She's standing on a forest green Persian rug, the floor is wooden parquet. There's a bunch of beaded necklaces hanging off of one side of the mirror. In the background on the wall is what looks like oil pastel drawings of samurai. The lighting is warm. 

The aesthetic reminds me of Neco z Alenky, another huge inspiration of mine.

I am thinking about wearing a coordinate soon of my very first lolita dress, the one that I received for Christmas in 2011. 

Here's a photo of what I am wearing today. It's the Bustle Flare JSK from the haul. It's the shortest dress I own, it cannot fit a regular petticoat and I love it. I wanted to buy this dress for months and months and I'm so happy I finally did it!!

I ALSO have to point out that I bought a black colourway of Doll's Tea Party. Black is making a comeback in my wardrobe, it's going to happen. I really am considering buying a few more black pieces. My closet is pretty full, but I love everything in it and also bought new hangers sooooo~

Updating the wishlist

Just for record keeping's sake, the following are being removed from the wish list because they have been obtained. 

Edward Muffler

Toys Museum JSK or OP in pink or sax

Doll's Tea Party Special Set OP in black

I basically had a massive haul. Much $$$, but I got some really great things. After washing, I might make a post showing what I'd bought. Unboxing/haul videos seem to encourage spending for me, so I decided not to film myself unboxing it all in case it might have the same negative effect on someone else.

Thinking about adding a few new items onto the wish list. But not 100% decided yet.

Currently, thinking about:

• Candy Carol OP in ivory
• Stardust Fantasia in navy (although I wouldn't mind any of the other colorways, really)
• BTSSB bunny ear hoodie in sax

Nothing else comes to mind at the moment! 

Why I Love One Piece Dresses

Jumperskirts are great. The requirement of a blouse presents an easy avenue for highlighting certain colours in a print. Blouses in different styles also present the opportunity to change the look of the coordinate. 

I've always preferred one piece dresses, but in the past years, I've gained this appreciation for jumperskirts. Experimenting with which blouse to go underneath the dress is a lot of fun. 

As an example of this, I originally wanted the one piece dress of Angelic Pretty's Toy Fantasy. I changed my wishlist to be for the jumperskirt cut instead.

But I am having a personal renaissance with one piece dresses.

They are just so easy to wear. Sometimes, it's already kind of daunting to me to get dressed. So anything that makes it easier is a bonus. With a one piece dress, I can just put it on and instantly look cute.

I don't want to worry about wearing the same coordinate more than once (even though I do, even with non lolita items). It's nice to wear a coordinate I love over and over. 

All of this is really to say, I bought the one piece dress of Toy Fantasy in Sax.

Here are some coordinate collages:

A sax themed coordinate.

A mostly pink (with some blue) themed coordinate.

I found it a bit hard to make coordinate collages because the print seems pretty detailed but I can't see it too well in the stock photo. Looking forward to seeing it in person :D

Some Lolita Coordinates and... Yogurt and... Free Mug!

I felt like doing some spontaneous blogging today. Missing the days of LiveJournal where my friends and I used to write about whatever came to our minds. 

I decided to make a coordinate using my Chelsea skirt from Innocent World the other day. I really have been getting a lot of use out of this old school Angelic Pretty headbow. It's the one that I bought really stained, it was marked as a "garbage" item. I took it apart and did a heavy duty cleaning on. Not only did I get to learn some things about how Angelic Pretty constructs headbows but now I have this hair accessory that I'm really enjoying! I put a lot of time into rehabilitating it but it turns out it was worth it :D

~btw, is headbow a single word? Spellchecker tells me it's not, but I think it should be.

Coordinate rundown:

Skirt, socks, shoes, bag: Innocent World

Blouse: Emily Temple Cute

Bolero: Bodyline

Headbow: Angelic Pretty

And of course, here's the first coordinate I wore with my new Angelic Pretty Toy Parade OP. I love this print! Ahhhh!!

Coordinate rundown:

Everything is Angelic Pretty! :o

Here's another coordinate I've planned for Toy Parade using a mint x pint combo:

Coordinate rundown:

Headbow: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Everything else: Angelic Pretty 

As much as I like shopping for lolita, I really don't need to buy anything, so coordinate planning like this feels like a way to shop my own wardrobe. Reduces the risk of temptation. Actually, I just bought the socks in the above Toy Parade coordinate collage :x They're mint! I did need a mint pair of socks!

Okay, and here's another coordinate idea using my Bambi underbust jumperskirt from Innocent World:

Heh, it looks kind of funny with the socks and shoes like that.

Coordinate rundown:

Dress, socks, bag, headbow, necklace: Innocent World

Blouse: Milk

Shoes: Offbrand

IN OTHER NEWS:

I made my own yogurt using soymilk and cashews and some leftover store bought yogurt. It was surprisingly easy! There's some rhubarb apple sauce on top. I ate it and didn't die! Hooray!

Observe this cool mug someone left downstairs a while ago. People leave things they don't want in our lobby all the time and there are some cool finds. Including clothes. Nothing lolita of course, aha. Sometimes, I get really bad munchies so I try to drink herbal tea to help. Doesn't always work though T_T

I also started getting really into Avril Lavigne's old clothing line, Abbey Dawn. I found a shop on eBay selling a bunch of old leftover stuff that never sold from years and years ago. It's helped me to get out of the funk I was in with my non-lolita clothing. I was feeling... really uninspired and unhappy with my clothes. I guess I'm having a bit of a scene revival.  
 

Toy Parade!

I bought the Toy Parade one piece in white :x

I saw it for a decent price on Yahoo Auctions. I actually thought that maybe my shopping service didn't actually bid on it at first because the price never changed! But they did bid on it. We were the only bidder. 

I also bought these two hair accessories to go with it:

I thought I'd never buy this dress because the print is so ... childish, I guess. 

I never realized there's no blue in this print!

I also bought a new pair of gold Tea Party shoes as well from Angelic Pretty. 

Here is a potential coordinate I came up with:

Today, I saw a lady with a big bubble wand standing on a big rock in a park releasing all these perfect bubbles. They were really beautiful in the sunlight. Rainbow colours. Makes me want to get Toy Fantasy!

***I haven't posted in a while because I was pretty sick the past few months but I am feeling better now. I tried to make a post about it but deleted it shortly after, sorry to anyone that read it. 

Wishlist Update

 Today I am removing somethings from my wish list because I have gotten them!

Fantastic Carnival by Angelic Pretty! I wanted to get the pink colourway either JSK or OP, but it seems this is unlikely to ever happen because this colourway is really expensive. I saw the mint colourway come up for sale at a much more reasonable price a few times. Finally, I decided to get it because it came with the matching head bow too!

Milky-chan the Fawn Bag!! I saw it come up for sale on Mercari. I caved in and spent the crazy amount of money for it. I have no regrets! I'm so happy with it. It even came with the tags :o

I also ordered a pair of white rocking horse shoes from Taobao from the Bodyline manufacturer. 

I am going to also add some things too:

• Mary's Sweet Sheep JSK by Baby, the Stars Shine Bright
• Edward Muffler by Innocent World
• Toy's Museum by Angelic Pretty