Axes Femme Kawaii

So someone needs to tell me when Axes Femme Kawaii got so super cute because excuse me, their stuff is so darn cute right now!

I've always liked Axes Femme. Their clothing has always been pretty and affordable and decent quality - in lolita terms, put their stuff around special set level. Their Kawaii sub-brand isn't new, but I haven't paid much attention to it since it first launched. And oh boy, I regret that decision.

There's absolutely no point to this post other than to share some of the cool stuff from Axes Femme Kawaii that's currently available.

How adorable is this whole coord? Lemons are so on trend, and I love the pastel yellow of the blouse and how it coordinates with the red. It's retro, but still so lolita. If I were into fruity prints I'd be all over this!

Speaking of things that I would totally wear, check out this ensemble. A classic harlequin with an Alice in Wonderland vibe, what's not to love? It's actually a vest and a skirt, which I think is great. It does come in blue as well, which is super Alice-like, but I preferred the black colourway.

Moving on from main pieces I had to share this cardigan because unless I'm being a bit dim I think it is a 100% match for Honey Cake. I'm not a Honey Cake diehard, but still, this cardigan is adorable and I always get a kick out of "offband" items that match burando perfectly.

And lastly...oooof, this blouse! Floral blouses are love, and this one is just gorgeous!

I've always found that Axes Femme is very "what you see is what you get". There are no sneaky shortcuts or missing details, they just provide very straightforward, well made, but simple garments.

So if you aren't aware of their Kawaii subbrand, well, now you are, and don't make my mistake of not checking their site for years!

PS if you have five minutes, click here for a cute video of Misako modelling some of their new stuff!

Japan 2020 Highlights: Lolita

I am back from Japan! It was a wonderful but thoroughly exhausting trip. And, to be honest, I've realised that I don't actually want to do a blow-by-blow blog series about this trip. Instead I'm going to be sharing a few highlight posts focused on some of the most noteworthy aspects and experiences of the trip. Starting with, of course, the lolita side of things!

My lolita shopping this time around was actually rather modest, especially compared to last year's Tokyo trip!  This was not entirely through lack of trying, but ultimately I just didn’t find much that suited me and my budget. Still, as you can see below I did still come home richer in lolita than I left!

In the end I bought two cutsews, a haori, a bolero, a bracelet, some hairclips and a headband. Because I’m me, here’s some ramblings about every single thing, starting with the small bits.

Smallest thing first, I bought this bracelet at Ikebukuro Closet Child. I have the same one in pink x white and red x white, so knew that I get good wear out of this colourway. Unfortunately the little ribbon bow came untied and fell off and I decided not to put it back on. Still cute though!

These Hello Kitty clips came from Don Quijote, and they had a whole bunch of other Sanrio ones as well. But I exercised restraint and only got one set. I did spend a while debating between these ones with pink bows or a set with the traditional red bows but James suggested I get these ones so I did.

When in Akihabara James and I went to the maid cafe Mai Dreaming, which was ridiculously cute and fun. They loved James’s Sailor Moon knuckle tattoos, and even put on Sailor Moon music because of us! As part of the package we picked, we got to take home a souvenir each. James picked a keychain, which started his camera bag collection, and I chose this little bear headband! When I thought we may be going to Disney Sea I was thinking of getting some Duffy ears there but hey, this is a great alternative! Not super high quality but they’re cute and I love getting wearable mementos.

Moving onto the actual clothing items, I got this cute Nile Perch bolero from Shinjuku Closet Child. A bit frivolous for sure, but it was very cheap and cute and definitely gives me a good sweet outerwear option which I was very much lacking. It’s a bit snug at the moment but oh well.

I must admit, however, that the trend of buying things that don’t really fit has continued to be a trend for me. What can I say? I see cheap things, get excited, and just buy them! Case in point, this Angelic Pretty cutsew from Osaka Closet Child. It’s super adorable but I’m 90% sure it’s going to go straight to my sales folder. Not only am I too big for it right now, I think it’s just too short in the torso and the sleeves for me no matter what.

This Axes Femme cutsew, bought at the same time, is also too small but I know that Axes Femme fits me okay when I’m a smaller dress size. It’s not an exciting piece but it is pretty so I’m glad that I snagged it from the sale rack. It’s new with tags too!

Lastly, at secondhand kimono chain Tansu-ya in Hiroshima I found this pretty haori. I love the use of haori jackets in wa lolita, and thought this one was perfect for the classic (and maybe even chocolate-y sweet) side of my wardrobe. I especially love the vibrant lining! Tansu-ya in general will be its own highlight post, because thanks to their affordable pricing I now have a massive love for kimonos and am so excited to learn more about how to wear these beautiful garments.

In terms of where I went for lolita, I actually stuck wholly to secondhand loltia stores this time around; four branches of Closet Child as well as Maiden Clothing. Though I’d have liked to have acquired some brand socks as well, I didn’t have much desire to visit any of the brand stores. Too much out of my price range at the moment and there was so much to see and do that I didn’t want to spend time window shopping.

I also wore lolita twice while in Japan, once for Harajuku and then for the Kyoto Railway Museum. I’ll write more about these outfits when I do my quarterly outfit roundup in a bit but I thought they deserved to be featured here regardless. I very nearly didn’t take any lolita with me and I’m glad I did.

So that’s the lolita side of things from this trip! Not too extensive, but certainly still a highlight of the holiday ^__^

AYWI30C #14: Inspired by a mainstream fashion trend

Here's a confession - I am so out of touch with mainstream fashion that I had to google what's currently in. And that was confusing! So many different (and often contradictory) styles are floating around right now, but in the end I settled on a few key features I seemed to see repeated. There's something of a 90s does 60s vibe happening right now, lots of beige with a pop of colour or alternatively bold monochromes, simple lines with structured blazers.

The problem with that is that nothing there immediately lends itself to a lolita coordinate! So I sat in front of my wardrobe and pondered what I could do. In the end, the main aspect I ran with was that 90s does 60s vibe, though I did try and go a bit beige as well!

It took a fair bit of thought to get to my basic idea, and from there it was a lot of tweaking to get to something I actually liked! Neither decade has silhouettes or general aesthetics read very lolita, but in the end I developed something I really do like.

Given that beige neutrals are in, especially with a pop of colour, I wanted to pull out one of my new Axes Femme skirts, with the vague idea of match it with a coloured blouse and legwear. I discovered the these Baby OTKS matched my pink Meta blouse perfectly in colour, and they added a bit more dark brown to match my chosen shoes.

Then, of course, I had to pull all those colours into my headwear. I continued to use chocolate brown in really light touches, but the tan beret perfectly matches the skirt and I was able to bring in both a soft pink and vibrant mauve kind of pink in the bows.

And I added a bow to my bag! Seriously, I don't know how I'd coordinate things without my mass of bow clips - they really help me so much. The heart bag also reads kind of 90s (and a bit 60s) to me as well so it was a good choice for more than just its colour.

I kept accessories pretty simple, but I liked carrying the bear theme of the socks into a general woodland animal theme with this Madillustration badge. I mean, I like to actually match themes properly when I can but I think it's okay in this coord. The only thing I would have liked better is is I had something in a chocolate brown, as I feel the chest is possibly too pink. But regardless, I really like this look. 

Ultimately, whether or not this outfit actually looks like the trends I drew inspiration from, I do like that this challenge has once again encouraged me to put together an outfit that is definitely not something I would have naturally pulled together. It’s a good thing!

Lolita haul from Tokyo!

You have to have known this was coming - how could I not go to Tokyo and not visit the lolita shops?

In the end, as well as visiting the stores in Shinjuku's Marui Annex and the Laforet building in Harajuku, we went to the Shinjuku Closet Child once and the Harajuku branch twice. I'd have loved to have visited the Ikebukuro branch as well, and dropped by the Shinjuku Closet Child a second time, but in the end we had exactly zero baggage space left on the way home so I'm glad we didn't!

That intro may make it sound like I bought hardly anything, but that is very much not true! For the purposes of this post I've photographed things together on an aesthetic level, but when I blog about the whole trip that'll have the details of what I bought where an when, just in case any of my readers care about knowing that much. This is also just the lolita items I bought - I got as much general fashion stuff as well, which I'm also insanely happy with.

So, with no further ado, allow me to introduce my newest wardrobe additions!

First up, the edible themed items! I was surprised to find this Innocent World JSK in both pink and blue at the Harajuku Closet Child, both new with tags. It took me a while to pick which colour I wanted, but I figured the pink was the safer bet. I'm not 100% sure how much I love the cut on me, but we'll see how I go wearing it. The Angelic Pretty cutsew was super cheap, so I had to have it, and the Peace Now bolero is a bit frivolous, but also cute and cheap so again, I just grabbed it ^__^

The Icing Cookie print is never one I really paid attention to, but like so many lolita prints, after seeing it in person I'm in love. It's really adorable, but a little more subdued than say an Angelic Pretty print on the same theme. Very excited to start putting together some coordinates with it!

The other main piece I bought was Enchantlic Enchantilly's Queen Cat skirt in black! It's missing the sash ribbon, but I do not care at all. I also grabbed this super cute BTSSB capelet because how utterly Little Red Riding Hood is it? I mean, except for the fact it doesn't actually have a hood...

But in all seriousness I'm so over the moon with Queen Cat! I tend not to talk too much about things I like but don't see myself buying, and Queen Cat one of those things. I thought it was an amazing print when it came out, and have admired it every time I've seen it since in all cuts and colours. So when James turned around from browsing the skirts at Closet Child while I was looking at dresses and held this up I just had to get it! It was a bit pricey for a secondhand skirt missing a piece, but hey, I had the husband's seal of approval so I didn't think twice!

Speaking of James finding me great things he also discovered these two Axes Femme coats on different days in Closet Child Harajuku. They're both a bit small for me now, but they were both around ten dollars. How could I not at that price? The green one in particular I really adore, even though it doesn't match anything I own.

I did also buy a few items new! I really wanted to get some direct from the brand socks, so I visited AP and Baby. Silly me didn't check the length on the lavender socks though, but oh well. Forced versatility in my sock collection! The floral canotier is from Dangerous Nude and to be honest, it was more expensive than I like, and I kind of bought it because the owner was so utterly lovely that I wanted to buy something! All that aside, it's really gorgeous and I like having an opulent classic piece so I'm still happy.

Following the trend of headwear, on our first visit to Shinjuku Closet Child I went a little bit nuts on accessories. All but the top headbow are from that night! And though the top one has tags, it was also from Closet Child, just later on ^__^ I'm particularly happy with the dusty pink and the lavender x gold bows, as they were on my wishlist.

I also bought all of these accessories at the same time, except for the Angelic Pretty necklace. I even already wore the pink necklace in one of my Tokyo coords, and I'm just really happy to have bulked up my jewellery collection with some more loltia specific pieces.

Throughout our trip we went into a couple of Claire's and also Paris Kids and I picked up so cute little things that will be good for lolita as well as being generally cute ^__^

James also found me three Axes Femme skirts for about five dollars each in Closet Child but my photos of them really don't do them justice. They are all varying levels of brown and floral and all a tiny bit small for me at the moment, but I couldn't pass them up. Two will be great for casual classic lolita - one is a damask-y type fabric in a beige/tan and the other is a brown and mustard floral - while the other will be lovely for mori kei or fairy kind of looks.

So there you have it! All my new lolita items direct from Japan! I'm really happy with everything I bough and am so excited to start incorporating everything into my coords ^__^

Review #31: Axes Femme

In the light of my non-lolita wardrobe overhaul I've started looking into some new brands online who have a similar aesthetic but simpler silhouette, and one of them is Axes Femme. Unfortunately, most of their lovely dresses come in only one size but we were still able pick out quite a few nice items. All the clothing [other than the fur vest] we bought with the intention that if it fits me, I take it, and if not it goes into the model wardrobe.

James got me this for my birthday! It's been hidden away from me...

Axes Femme does not take international orders, but since I had made a Tenso account to order from Angelic Pretty I was all set and ready to go. We placed our order on the 11th of September, and they posted it on the 12th. It arrived at Tenso on the 13th and I paid for shipping, which was really expensive, on the same day. I guess two bags and a pair of shoes makes for heavy shipping. Anyway, we got the package [a branded box, which was nice] on the 17th or 18th, I honestly can't remember which.  Either way EMS was quick, as usual.

Since there were several items I'm just going to make some general comments, rather than go into specifics on each item, but if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Overall... I'm impressed! Everything is well made, and accurate to the stock photos and listed measurements. The red blouse fit me perfectly, including shoulder width and the sleeves, which is amazing. The skirt and culottes do not, but that was expected, and the vest is a little small but I can wear it open. Mostly I was impressed by the little details - the shirt features a playing card motif in the stripes and the lace trim on the vest has clusters of pearls and diamantes in it.

How awesome is this fabric?

The boots are gorgeous and seem very well made, but are absolutely skin tight, which is fair enough since they're a 24.5 and I need a 25. Since shoe sizing can be all over the place I thought I'd give them a try and I need to wear them for a day to see if the tightness is okay or if it gets bad after wearing. As for my gobelin bag... I adore it. Adore it. It's just... perfect. And it's made me even more excited ot get the other bag on my birthday!

You may recognise this photo from instagram...

All in all I'm really impressed with Axes Femme. And I'm really a mixture of bummed and grateful that most of their stuff is one size... bummed because I am not that size yet grateful because if I was, I'd probably be broke, but with pretty clothes.