Lolita 52: My first meet-up

I guess we have to start with a confession: I have never been to a proper lolita meet-up. I did once get together for lunch with two nice girls from the Sydney community, but I don’t think that counts as a proper meet-up, even though it was pretty cool to meet some other lolitas.

And, leading on from that confession, here is another: I don’t have much desire to attend most meet-ups. I am a person of limited sociability, and due to my job at the moment, time, and I prefer to spend what energy I have on social activities that matter more to me that hanging out with people who are strangers (I know they wouldn’t be if I went to more meet-ups, but they are at the start, okay?) who happen to like the same fashion. It’s not that I don’t want to do meet-ups, it’s just that they are lower on my list of priorities and at the moment most things on the lower end just don’t get done.

However, I really would love to attend lolita events. If Australia ever starts a lolita convention I will be there with bells on. Same if there are ever brand events or the like. I know that might sound kind of two-faced but the thing is that I really am kind of shy and nervous around people I don’t know. At a more casual meet-up, that would be uncomfortable for me. At a larger, more structured event, it wouldn’t be… or at least not to the same extent. Also, larger events often seem to involve shopping, and one of my day dreams is to be able to do lolita shopping in person rather than online.

Angelic Pretty's 2014 Tea Party in Paris.

So that’s my not-really-a-post about my first meet-up. But rest assured, once I actually do go to my first meet-up, I will post about it on this blog!

Lucky pack time again...

Just a quick and excited post to say... I managed to get Angelic Pretty's Twinkle Doll set in lavender! They all sold out in five minutes but since I was sitting at my computer constantly refreshing I was able to check-out with the site being slow but not crashing.

Anyone who's been here a while is probably giving me the side-eye and going "Lavender? That's not like you" which is a completely fair statement. But I thought the style of JSK wasn't so sweet that a typically sweet colour made it too much for me and besides I'm gonna be working more purples in my wardrobe next year anyway so one more addition doesn't hurt.

I was really happy to get this and am looking forward to doing a bit of a review when it arrives!

Florina Photoshoot

I just realised I never shared a little photoshoot James and I did earlier on this year. We were scouting out a new location and lolita seemed to suit rather nicely! All photos by James aka The Enthusiast; make-up etc. by me.

I was really happy with how I arranged the flowers in my hair; I think it was my favourite part of my styling!

I paired BTSSB's Florina Rose with a blouse from The Floral Notebook and offbrand accessories. I honestly find his dress a bit hard to match because the pink is quite dark and magenta-ish. But in sepia, everything matches! I love the old-timey feel these pictures have.

Anyhoo, this is a really brief post and a bit rambly but yes, please enjoy!

Lolita auction haul

Who bought lots of stuff? I bought lots of stuff!

Last Tuesday, after two days of the package supposedly being "out for delivery today", I got to open my glorious, wonderful box of clothes from Buyee. All up, the package contained two JSKs, a bolero, a blouse, a cutsew, four pairs of OTKs, a bag and two novelties. Though, to be fair, the blouse and the cutsew were both intended for the model wardrobe so it wasn't all for me ^__^

This is a shot of everything laid out in its glory. Look at all the clothes!

As with last time I bought from Yahoo Japan, I was quite pleased with Buyee. For most of these items, I actually had promotional coupons which nixed their service fee so there was only the 200 yen PayPal fee on to of the item price and shipping. To be completely honest, without that discount I probably would have bought less as I'm trying to be fairly frugal. I definitely wouldn't have bought the bag!

I wanted to chat a bit about each item as I'm still really excited about it all! As usual though, my phone didn't like getting colours right so just so you know the below pictures have all been fiddled with in photoshop to try an get them mostly accurate, and the photo above is actually probably the closest to the real colours anyway.

First up, a Baby, the Stars Shine Bright mini-heart bag, which I believe came with a mook at some stage. It's cute and was cheap and that's really why I bought it - I wanted to have a brand bag just for the sake of having a brand bag. It really is cute though, and just the right size for my wallet and phone so it's not a bad buy at all.

Next up is the blouse we bought for the model wardrobe, which is also Baby. It's quite cute and sweet but as you can see in the picture below, also quite well worn.

We will either be bleaching it back to white or tea-dying it all, so the stains don't matter too much but they did annoy me a bit. The listing did mention the neck marks and that there was some marks overall, but I feel like this is worse than what the listing made me think it was.

Next is a recent Innocent World bolero that even came NWT! I'll admit, part of the reason why I bought this was because I wanted to see how well I fit an IW L (answer, not very well for now) as I continue to lust over their Millefeuille boleros and want to know if one will ever conceivably fit me.

But this is also a beautiful piece in it's own right, and a brown bolero fits perfectly into my wardrobe. I love that the lace collar is detachable, as it's a bit too fancy to be something I'd really wear much but I can imagine it would be great for easily dressing up outfits.

Then we have something that surprised me, an Alice and the Pirates cutsew intended for our model wardrobe. The surprise is how stretchy it is aka it actually fits me! It doesn't fit well, mind you, so it will go into the model wardrobe rotation for a while at least but wow... it really will be something I can steal back soon!

Not only is the sizing news awesome because this is a lovely cutsew, it also means that cutsews are not beyond my reach in general. I love the old skirt and cutsew look, but even when I had a 93cm bust I'd look at cutsews with a 88cm bus and not be sure if they'd fit. After this fitting with my currently 102cm bust well... when I get back to 93cm I'm not going to worry any more and will get all the cutsews I want!

This dress, Baby's Tartan Check Ribbon Tiny Sleeves JSK in red (obviously), was the first thing I bought in this haul. And it it hands down my absolute favourite item out of all of them! The fabric is luscious and it is so comfortable to wear... I even wore it to my work Christmas party yesterday!

The elastic on the inside of the sleeves needs replacing, but that was mentioned in the listing and it shouldn't be a bit deal to replace. I may do a quick post about it when I change it because altering brand is a kinda scary thing so it may be worth sharing.

The second JSK I got is IW's Princess Rose in bordeaux. It's a lovely older piece and in really good condition for it's age, though you'll have to excuse the wrinkles because I haven't ironed it yet. There's only one problem with this... the straps are way to short! Even moving the buttons to the max leaves it about 10cm short of whre it needs to be to fits my torso well and not be a mini skirt. So I'm debating whether it's best to sell it or modify the straps into a halter. I'm really not sure right now.

As you can see, there are some lovely details to this, but it is a bit of an unusual colour and doesn't match any of the pinks or reds already in my wardrobe. However, unusual colours are also good for variety. You can see my conundrum here. Any advise on the sell or modify question would be welcome!

And then, I got socks. Of course I got socks. I love socks. The black and white AatP ones came with the cutsew, and turned out to be brand new. They're really cute and though I wouldn't have bought them on their own I'm glad to have them. The pink and blue IW pair were in luck packs last year, I think, but they go with so much of my wardrobe and were still new in their packet. The other pairs, both IW, can together but I really only got them for the beige and brown pair - I've been wanting neutral brown floral OTKs for ages! The other pair I'll probably sell, because neither the colour or style matches my wardrobe too well.

Lastly, these two novelties also came with the AatP cutsew - I believe that whole lot was stuff the seller got in a lucky pack or the like. Anyway, these are a washcloth and a notebook and they are both really adorable. Not quite sure if I'm going to use them yet - I have been thinking about holding a giveaway of some sort at some time and these may make good prizes so we'll see. Anyway, I love having brand novelties and they're currently living in my brand drawer where I keep bags, tags and flyers.

So there's my latest haul! Overall I'm really happy with my newest wardrobe additions ^__^

Classic black floral outfits

Bodyline is hit and miss, we all know that. Something that is equally as well known is that a lot of Bodyline pieces need just a tiny bit of modification to become quite nice. And in the case of this dress, L323, that modification is the simple removal of the long sleeves (which are detachable anyway) and the shiny bustle ribbons on the skirt (which are kinda stupid anyway, because if you use them to tie up the skirt you expose the plain underside of the skirt fabric), as well as not wearing the choker and detachable bow. So with a minimum of effort you have a really cute classic dress from something that at first appears to be one of Bodyline's less nice pieces.

I really love floral prints like this and tee peachy pinks with black is a really nice, and slightly less common, colour scheme. I will point out before launching into the outfits that this dress does have less than wonderful lace but since it's primarily black on black I don't think it's a bit deal.

First up I did a bit of an old-school gothic look. It's meant to have black lace-topped OTK socks too but mine are in the wash at the moment. A rectangle headdress would be perfect, but I don't own one (unless the chocker that came with this dress counts, which I suppose it does since I've worn it before... oops... shoulda included it...). The chunky shoes and overall simplicity make it quite a nice outfit, I think, even though it's not much in a flat-lay.

Then I went the full classic route and I love it! Seriously, I can't wait to figure out the perfect photoshoot for this outfit. I would wear this with black lace tights, but they never photograph well unworn. I'd also do something so un-me and pile of pearl jewellery for this ad do a fancy up-do because this is about as OTT as I go.

Lastly, I came up with a super simple sweet leaning outfit. I love that this dress can (kinda) span all three substyles, though it's definitely mostly a classic dress.

I have to say, even though I don't have very many accessories that match this dress I really love what I can do with it, and can't wait for an opportunity to dress up in it!