A New Blog Showcasing my Bonnets

I'm pretty much back in the swing of things when it comes to blogging, so much so that I have opened up a little side project blog to go along with my Etsy shop. So if you're interested in checking out my progress when it comes to bonnet making, and other various crafts, check it out.

I've recently updated the Ophanim shop blog with pictures of one of my newest bonnets. This one was commissioned to match AatP's Sleeping Beauty print in ivory, there are a ton more pictures of it on the blog.

Photo by Miss Lumpy

In addition to the ivory bonnet, I completed a blue and cream bonnet for the blogger Miss Lumpy to match a dress. Check out her review of my bonnet and a few more pictures!

I have a few more bonnets in the works, one of which is a very Spank/Barbie OTT Sweet pink monstrosity, as well as a ton of sketches for future bonnets, so keep an eye out for that on my other blog, Ophanim.

Baby's Sugar Rose Cake Print

Baby the Stars Shine Bright has come out with a new, dessert themed, print called Sugar Rose Cake. As usual for Baby, the print is elegant and delicate, instead of uber-kawaii. While I'm loving the print, I sort of wish that there was a little more contrast in it, so I can actually see what's going on in the print, as some of the lighter colors kind of blend together and some of the really cute details, like the stripes of ribbons, are lost. As usual, there are several things to be offered in Baby's newest print.

The design of the JSK is rather simple, just a ruffle at the bottom and a few big bows to add some interest. There is not even a whole lot of lace on it, besides around the top and hemming the bows. The one thing I am not a fan of on this JSK is the bodice.

While I usually really like gathered tops like this, the extra wide strap around the top looks really awkward, especially on anyone who would be filling out the bust a bit. While gathers on a bodice are usually a godsend for busty girls, giving a few extra inches where they need it, a wide non-gathered strap running across tends to make it poof out really weird. While I'm by no means busty I have a blouse designed like this and it's pretty designated to the to-be-worn-under-JSKs-only pile.

 The OP in this print is absolutely perfect for such a sweet print! I love the lace details on the bodice, it's really a perfect Sweet Lolita design. While it doesn't look like it in the above picture, the dress is actually an empire waisted dress. With the addition of a detachable bow belt it really changes the whole look of the dress!

Without the bow belt the dress looks instantly a little more elegant and classically Baby. I wish all empire waisted dresses came with a matching belt to instantly change their looks!

The skirt design is also cute, the detachable bow and the bottom ruffle make it more interesting than just relying on the print while keeping it simple. The color they used on the skirt picture is an example of what I was talking about with some of the colorways. You can barely tell there are cute cakes on that skirt at all! I'm hoping that in real life, up close, the print is more noticeable, because it's such a cute and elegant print so it's such a shame to not be able to see it at all.

Of course you are going to need a matching head piece! So baby has put out a cute head eating bow to match their newest pieces. While it's very large and over-the-top because of it's own hugeness, it's still rather simple, just some cute, high quality lace. No bows upon bows or mini cakes to wear on your head.

In addition to the new Sugar Rose Cake print I saw this on their reserve page, and just had to mention it because, while pricey (about $50) it is really cute. It is a little bear plushie Kanzashi, which is hair ornament used in traditional Japanese hair styles. You certainly don't need a traditional hair style to wear it with though, it would look cute in any OTT hairstyle.

The Lone Lolita

The topic of the lone Lolita is a rather nostalgic topic for me, because for a long time mine were the only frills in town. Well, technically they still are, my frilly friends are scattered pretty far, but my own reflection in the mirror and a few well loved Bibles is certainly no longer the only glimpse of frills I have ever seen. It was a year and a half between when I started wearing real Lolita and when I actually got to meet another Lolita! For me, this lack of other Lolitas in my life was the perfect time to indulge in the Lifestyle Lolita attitude. After all, if there aren't any other Lolitas in my life, I could certainly make my life a little more Lolita.

I have found that this is often the way it is with new Lolitas, they are very gung-ho about the lifestyle often associated with the style simply because there is no one else to share their passion for the style with. Most of them mellow out about having to lolify everything once they meet more Lolitas, or just become more comfortable with their place in the fashion, and there is certainly nothing wrong with this! I've always found that kind of dedication to the fashion rather charming, probably, because like I said, I was the same way so long ago.

If you get into the wide and frilly world of Lolita fashion and find yourself the only one around who even knows what it is, don't despair, because there are lots of ways to add a little more Lolita to your life. These are a few of the ways that I did it, back when I was The Lone Lolita.

• Add a little more Lolita to your life than just the clothes. Redecorate with your favorite style of Lolita in mind. Check out this super old post on my blog on the subject if you need some ideas!
• Take up a hobby fit for a Lolita. It can be pretty much anything, from embroidery, to knitting, to sewing, to even just drawing. It's going to be good for your wardrobe, as well as you, if it can add a few extra pieces like knitting or sewing can, or make a few current pieces really unique, like embroidery can.
• Consume more media! Of the Lolita kind at least. I used to be so thrilled to take home a new Kera or Gothic & Lolita Bible and flip through it looking for new clothes to dream about. Sure, you can find scans of every bible for free online, but it's so much more satisfying to hold a great big tome filled with inspiring coordinates in your hands, and even more satisfying to see them all lined up on a shelf. As well as magazines hunt down some Lolita-centric movies, manga, and even music.
• Participate in the online community. Sure, the online communities are a little... wanky at the moment, but I still stand by my opinion that EGL, and other online Lolita communities, is not as bad as people make it out to be. It's always great to participate in online discussions about the fashion, it really lets you get it all out sometimes! I know that I occasionally have the urge to hop on AIM, and IM all my Lolita friends to lament about Meta's newest print, or ramble away about how I feel about some new trend. Hehe, that's pretty much why I started this blog. It's really great to be able to talk about the fashion to people who understand it well.
  
• Convert a friend. Don't force your frills on the unwilling, but if a friend is genuinely interested in Lolita, this is the perfect opportunity! There's hardly anything more fun in the world of Lolita than having someone to share frilly clothes with.
• Add a little bit of Lolita to every outfit. On days you can't wear your frills, add something from your Lolita wardrobe. It can be a cute necklace, your favorite color of tea party shoes, or even a small Alice bow.
  
• Spend a Loliday out on the town. Dress up in your finest frills and go somewhere loliappropriate! A cute diner, an antique shop, a quiet cafe, or even spend an afternoon in a library. Try to get out there in your frills, you may even meet someone local who knows about the fashion.
• Get a pen pal. If you really want to find a fellow Lolita to talk to, consider, instead of lurking forums and LJ communities, a real snail-mail pen pal. It's so much more rewarding to talk to one person through letters than it is to exchange internet meme's with thousands on an internet community.
  
• Finally, plan to go to a meetup! There is likely a LJ community for Lolitas in your area, scroll down to "area specific" on this great big list of Lolita communities and look for one near you. If your local community is a bit dead, try to revive it and plan your own meetup.

So, dear readers, how many of you are lone Lolitas? Are you a lone Lolita because you haven't had the chance yet to make Lolita friends, or have you been the only Lolita in the area for all the long years you've been a Lolita? What do you do to add a little more Lolita to your life if you're the only one? Or are you perfectly content with just wearing and enjoying the clothes by yourself?

A Few Of My Newest Pieces

As I rambled about briefly in the post before this, I have been doing a little bit of closet cleaning, okay, so it's a bit more like closet turnover. I've been selling off stuff I never wore, or wore only a few times, mainly super sweet stuff, and replacing it with new pieces that fit with the style I've been leaning towards lately. I have recently begun to get into a more Classic Lolita style, but most of my wardrobe is Gothic or Sweet Lolita in black and pink, not exactly a Classic friendly wardrobe. Not all of the pieces I have bought in the past couple months are strictly Classic Lolita, but I think they have a Classic feel to them.

My haul, 2 JSKs, and 4 skirts. These include a 2004 Sleeping Princess JSK, Baby's Alice Portrait JSK, 2 Bodyline skirts, an In The Starlight skirt, and an epically old Metamorphose gobelin print skirt. Now, let's take a closer look at a few of these!

The print and details on Baby's Alice Portrait JSK is just amazing! Click it for a larger view to see the card suit lace and just how cute the portraits are. I am not that much of an Alice fan, so I am really happy to see that they kept the Aliceness to a minimum on this print.

I found this while digging around the sales community, it's an Angelic Pretty print from 2004, Sleeping Princess, well before their days of all over, over the top pastel prints. I am honestly not quite sure what I am going to do with this dress! As red and white is pretty damned sweet and I've been trying to stay away from that slippery slope, but the red is a rather dark red, so I am hoping to make a more Classic Lolita coordinate out of it. I'm planning on hunting down one of those red Meta boleros that came in lucky packs a few years ago to pair with this along with some red heels. it's probably going to be a pain to match up all those reds though!

Here is a couple detail shots. I'm just loving the print, as well as the eyelet lace along the hem! I'm also big on the faux bows on the front. Sometimes, especially on older Lolita pieces, instead of bows on the bodice they had these strips of fabric going across that are tied in the middle. It looks just like a bow, but without the hassle of it sticking up in awkward positions I guess.

Quite possibly my favorite piece from the haul is this Metamorphose gobelin print skirt. Aah, the grandma couch dress, it's a classic! After I got it I realized that it looked sort of familiar, and that's because I recognized it from this picture from 2000 of Sachi. Which just makes me love this skirt all the more. I don't know if my skirt is over 10 years old, as Meta has been releasing gobelin pieces since the dawn of time, and the lace on my skirt's hem looks a bit longer than the one on Sachi, but still, I love the fact that this skirt design is one from Lolita's early days.

Yes, the Meta skirt is covered in Raschel lace, but it's soft and delicate looking, so it gets away with it. Plus, check out the lace along the hem, it's covered in fleur-de-lis and winged crosses!

Have you noticed my growing obsession with older Lolita pieces? While I've always likes a fair share of older Lolita designs, probably because I've been interested in the fashion for so long that some of these were new when I first found out about Lolita, so some are kind of my original dream dresses XD But after doing some research for this post, about Lolita's history, I became really enamored with older pieces, the older the better! And to get my hands on a couple of these pieces has really been a dream. I think even the most up-to-date Lolita, even one who has only been in the fashion for a very short amount of time, should have at least one older piece of brand, even if it's just an old fashioned rectangle headdress. I don't know what it is about older pieces, but to me they feel sort of magical, as silly as it sounds, especially the thought that it has exchanged hands and been well loved by several different Lolitas, even if it was sold because it just isn't their style any more.

Gothic & Sweet Photos

Well, May has clearly been the month of unannounced hiatus for F Yeah Lolita! I have a handful of posts halfway, or even nearly finished, waiting to go up, but May has just been a bit busy. I did have time to get together with my friend Janet and take some pictures in a park though!

I recently did a bit of a closet clearing, selling off some things that I rarely wore or never ended up suiting me and buying something new and shiny with the profit. And that new and shiny thing is Baby's Alice Portrait JSK in black. I love this print! Not just because of the vertical stripes, which is something I think Lolita needs a whole lot more of, but also because of the Alice themed portraits in big gilt frames along the bottom. Despite the vague Alice theme, the print is very Classical, and almost Gothic looking. But that could very well be because I chose the black version, of course.

Janet and I, making a not-so-lopsided looking heart. I had to do some... post production dye touch-ups because neither of us had bothered to dye our hair anytime recently.

I've been having fun playing around with Photoshop Actions, so I made a couple pictures from that day look antiquey.

A standard "doll pose", arms straight out, toes in, staring blankly ahead! Yes, it's a silly pose, but I like it. It's old school style XD

Janet, admiring the trees, and also protecting herself and her parasol from the sprinkling of rain we were getting. We were afraid to get it wet, since it was brand new and not all brand parasols are meant to double as umbrellas.

I was carrying a parasol as well. Actually, mine was an umbrella. It's a black umbrella with a badass curved wooden handle and a whole lot of red roses along the edge, so when it's closed it looks like bouquet!

Outfit rundowns, for the curious.

Me
JSK: Baby, The Stars Shine Bright
Bolero: Vintage with lace I sewed on it
Bonnet: Handmade, by me :D
Parasol: Offbrand
Shoes: Offbrand

Janet
JSK & Bow: Baby, The Stars Shine Bright
Bolero: Offbrand
Parasol: Angelic Pretty
Shoes: Bodyline

Lolita Bathing Suits

It's pretty much officially summer here, and for many people that means a trip to the beach, but what's a Lolita to do? She wants to frolic on the seaside with everyone else, but a shiny neon bikini and tan lines are just so not rori. Most Lolitas who enjoy a swim every now and then have wondered how to make the experience just a little more Lolita, and while you certainly don't have to Lolify every part of your life, it's fun to try!

Brand released swimwear

Occasionally Lolita brands will release what they consider a Lolita appropriate swim set. These are usually pretty cute, but are often very expensive and only come in very petite sizes.

Here are a few brand swimsuits from past collections, these all feature special prints, some of the prints are even exactly the same as are on their dresses.

The indie brand Ergi also released a very cute swimsuit suitable for Lolitas.

Finding loliable mainstream swimwear

If you don't want to drop $150 on a burando swimsuit, you can easily find a swimsuit in mainstream stores that is sure to satisfy your cravings for ruffles. It just might take a bit of hunting! Try all the standard places, Forever 21, Delias, Hot Topic, Aeropostale, wherever swim suits are sold you're bound to find a good one. Just like with Lolita, sometimes accessorizing is the key. You are, of course, not going to be swimming in hats or bracelets, but if you are going to be spending as much time out of the water as you are in, you might as well dress up a bit. Here are some beachy coordinates that I think still have the spirit of Lolita in them.

First up, a Gothic Lolita coordinate. A simple black tankini paired up with some Mana approved sunglasses, a gauzy cover up, and some blue accessories make this beach coordinate a little bit Moitie inspired. Leave the blue lipstick and pale foundation at home and instead slather on the sunblock, hide under your big black hat, and maybe even a black parasol too to keep out of the sun.

This next coordinate is for the Sweet Lolita. A ruffly bikini in your preferred coordinate color paired with a white frilly cover up, some classic heart shaped glasses, and a few pink accessories. Top off the look with a cute straw hat with a flower tucked in the brim!

How the Victorian's did it

Many Lolitas often think fondly to the days of old when they think of bathing suits. After all, a proper lady would never be caught at the sea side in today's modern bathing suits. As awesome as it would be to go to the beach in a real Victorian swim suit, it's not very practical. They were pretty much just dresses you wore while you just so happened to be standing in the ocean. But, if you do insist, and don't mind the expense, funny looks, and general hassle you'll probably have to go through if you wear one, the online shop Recollections sells reproductions of Victorian era swimsuits.

If you are interested in learning a bit about Victorian era swim wear, check out this awesome article on it from Victoriana.

Some Creative Coordinates from Alice Deco

Many times, what makes a successful Lolita coordinate is simply wearing all the matching pieces in a set. While there's nothing wrong with this, it does get a little boring, which is probably why the Bibles have lost their sparkle in the eyes of many Lolitas. The magazine Alice Deco a la Mode has replaced the Bibles as a source of inspiration for many. And it's obvious why! The coordinates featured in the magazine are a fresh take on our old favorites. While they are not always strictly Lolita, or even strictly in good taste, it's a great inspiration for when you want to try something a little new and a little different.

Here's a few of my favorite Lolita coordinates from the most recent issue of Alice Deco!

These magazine scans are from The Visual Beast and are from the most recent Alice Deco, vol. 4

You'll notice a few things things with these coordinates, the first being layers! The Alice Decos are really big on layering, adding extra long skirts under shorter skirts, wearing skirts over dresses, or even wearing two dresses at once. This may not translate too well in everyday wear, all those layers are probably bulky and a bit uncomfortable, but it's hard to deny how cool it looks. Another, slightly more realistic, way to make a coordinate interesting that Alice Deco relies on is unique tights and shoes. Check out this old post about doing just that in your coordinates. These coordinates are also less worried about matching perfectly than they are about being creative. While this is sometimes hit or miss, when done successfully it's quite stunning, take the second picture in this post for example, the girl on the right with the little bit of pink bloomers peeking out.

If you're interested in trying out this style on your own, check out the community Daily a la Mode, which is all about wearing Lolita pieces in unique ways.