Gothic & Lolita Bible Volume 40

The 40th volume of Gothic & Lolita Bible hit jmagazinescans just the other day, it's really hard to believe that there have been 40 volumes of this out so far! In general this issue, like always, was filled with tons of gorgeous eye candy. The summer theme was evident in the vast amounts of flowers and pale, muted tones. My prediction about the Bibles (and thus Lolita in general) leaning more towards the Classic end of the spectrum, and leaving OTT behind, was apparently correct, because this volume is filled to the brim with Classic Lolita coordinates and toned down Sweet Lolitas. Maybe it's the summer heat, but even the Angelic Pretty ads passed up the opportunity to deck them selves out in accessories and extra petticoats.

The one thing that this volume seemed to be lacking was, believe it or not, patterns! I looked through it three times but I couldn't find any patterns in the whole thing! I think the patterns were replaced with a little mini-booklet of different ways to style wigs, which is hardly a compensation. I prefer patterns I can't read and craft tutorials I probably won't try out a million times over "How to make a braid" or "How to clip ponytail falls onto your wig" tutorials.

Check out some of my favorite pages from the 40th Gothic & Lolita Bible! Click to get a larger version.



While this issue was filled with gorgeous outfits, and I am happy to see a return to the art-based covers, this volume felt a little empty. Maybe it was the lack of the patterns and tutorials, which has always been a staple of the Bibles, but maybe it was missing something I just didn't pick up on? Looking back, I can't recall seeing any multi-page editorials about something cute like flowers, art, tea or something like that. Not that I can read them, but they still feel like they give the volumes some sort of substance. This volume was pretty much 100% clothes and coordinates. I'm certainly not complaining! I was very pleased and inspired by a lot of the coordinates in here, but I still felt like "That's it?" when I got to the end. If you want to pick up your own scans of the magazine (because you don't have a single local place that sells the Bibles, right!? You know you should be buying them if you can find them!) you can check out the Jmagazinescans community!

I'm doing a bit of blog housekeeping at the moment! Just straightening stuff up and doing some layout rearranging. I'm still trying to find a way of tackling the tags, a tag cloud is just so ugly, and the list just takes up too much room. I am thinking about streamlining the ones that are listed onto the side into a few very basic groups, all the tags will still be there, and accessible in individual posts (and maybe in a drop down box too), but a visitor to the blog wont need to sort through a sea of tags to find all the how-to posts, or all the lifestyle ones, or the ones labeled "inspirational" or one of the other big tags. What do you think? Is the tag cloud just fine the way it is? Or do you think things need to be a little bit more at-a-glance?

I also added a "Weekly Lolita Prompt" box on the sidebar! I plan on changing it every week with something cute and Lolita related to do, whether it's tutorials, a cute new trend, a Lolita related quote, or some sort of frivolous activity for you to do to add a bit more Lolita in your life. Once I get the second one up, I plan on having a separate page to list all the previous weeks prompts, just in case you miss one. It's just a little something extra I've been thinking about doing for a while!

Completely Ridiculous Lolita Trend Predictions!

Lolita is known for having some ridiculous trends, everything from wearing hats hat look like cakes or melted ice cream headdresses, to pastel afro wigs, to mismatched shoes, to even the more mundane trend of encrusting everything you have in rhinestones and fake whipped cream. So, I got to thinking, is there anything that might be just a bit too weird to become a Lolita trend? I hope you don't mind this no-I-am-not-serious (so no hate mail, please!) prediction at a few trends that I really hope don't plan on hitting Lolita anytime soon. Well, maybe I wouldn't mind some of these!

Wig overload!
With the wig trend at it's peak, wig enthusiasts will start to look for ways to wear all their wigs and hair falls all at once. It will start with wearing more than 2 curly hair falls on your wigs at one time, Lolita's will start clipping at least half a dozen wig falls onto their base wig. Soon a famous Lolita model is spotted in a Gothic & Lolita street snap with one of her falls clipped to her purse, and another clipped to her waist-tie bow, and yet another wrapped up around her wrist. The rising popularity in the new My Little Pony cartoon will cause Lolita's to exclaim "OMG! It looks like she has a pony tail growing out of her butt! THAT'S SO CUTE!" and Lolita's everywhere will at least start clipping their extra wig falls to their purses and to their waist ties. Brands will soon release big detachable butt-bows complete with an attached pony tail, and smaller pony tail purse charms. Some will complain that the trend makes us look like furries, but no one cares because we all are too excited about My Little Ponies to give a fuck.



Super hero styled capes.
Not necessarily capes in general, or those fancy historically correct Rococo cape-ish things that are on the back of Baby's $800 super special dresses, but capes that look a bit like a super hero cape. For some reason, it starts becoming popular for Lolitas to don frilly, lace edged capes that tie in the front in a big ruffly bow. Soon enough, brands start putting out capes that feature their logo or a cute screen printing from their most recent print on the back. Many arguments break out because a lot of Lolitas find it "too costumey". The trend eventually subsides and super hero Lolita capes are generally only worn around Halloween, or at meetups that involve going to the newest comic book based movie.


Wearing a fancy bra outside of your clothes.
A trend like this- completely ridiculous, mildly offensive, and just so out of left field- I can only imagine Metamorphose starting. Perhaps one day, on their site, they offer a Lolita-esque bra, it's really cute and ruffly, and everyone loves it, but for some reason it's being modeled on the outside of a blouse. Are they asking us to wear it this way? Did they just not feel like undressing their mannequin? Are they trying to troll us? Whatever the answers might be, the trend catches on and a few daring Lolitas start wearing fancy bras over their clothes and then next thing you know, you can't go to a meetup without at least half the Lolitas there wearing bras on the outside. Arguments will break out on EGL, with anti-outside-bra complaints of "It looks like you're trying to be the other kind of Lolita" while pro-outside-bra supporters will remind everyone that they are wearing a bra under their outside bra, so it's not really their underwear that everyone is seeing.


Kawaii meat prints.
Sometime this Summer, Angelic Pretty will discover the traditional picnic or cook-out and will fall in love with plaid tablecloths, cute country styled plates and cutlery, and even potato salad and hot dogs and hamburgers. They'll release a border print featuring cute cut crystal bowls piled high with potato salad, links of sausages piled up on china plates, juicy hamburgers stacked 3 patties high, and hot dogs with a squiggle of glittery golden mustard going down the middle. Of course, everything will be printed in pale pastels, creating a nauseating raw-hamburger and un-cooked hot dog effect. But Lolita's will eat it up (har har) anyways and the next thing you know Baby will be putting out a sort of retro styled print with hot dogs and hamburgers and Innocent World will be releasing a print featuring a fine line drawing of marbled T-bone steaks.



Over-the-top Classic book hats
I imagine a brand like Alice & the Pirates or Juliette et Justine would start this trend. They would release a really fancy, really expensive, book hat and everyone would have to have it, but it would be too expensive and too daring for all but the most courageous Lolitas to try. Crafty Lolitas would figure out a way to make their own versions of book hats using either old books (and a lot of neck strength!) or those cardboard fake book boxes you can pick up at home stores, a tutorial would hit EGL and then everyone would rush to make their own. 

Bubble Bath Lolita
Baby will release another version of those weird terry cloth material dresses and a famous Lolita model will appear in a G&LB street snap wearing it with a pair of fuzzy slipper shoes, a cute little shower cap tilted at an angle, and carrying a cell phone with a bath pouf clipped to it. Soon everyone will start buying up Baby's terry cloth dresses and wearing them with cute shower caps, the less daring will simply clip pastel bath poufs to their purses and cellphones. Shortly after, Metamorphose and Angelic Pretty will each release a bubble bath themed print and a matching colorful towel, both of which will sell out almost instantly. A more "toned down" version of Bubble Bath Lolita will appear, which just involves wearing a bubble bath themed print and wrapping a cute towel around your hair. Arguments will break out over who is the real Bubble Bath Lolita. Baby terry cloth dress purists will exclaim to the print lovers "There's nothing bubble bath about your outfit at all! You're just wearing a print and have your hair wrapped up in a towel! you look stupid!", and the print lovers will exclaim "You look so boring! Your shower cap looks more like grandma's night cap! You look like grandma shuffling around in a bathrobe!" The trend eventually dies, but Lolitas continue to clip bath poufs on purses and cellphones. Two years later, Bodyline releases a bubble bath print dress for $15, EGL is flooded with noobs asking how to coordinate it in a proper Bubble Bath Lolita coordinate.

Chimney Sweep Loli
A photoshoot posted to EGL of a Lolita in an all white outfit, adorably smudged with soot, this becomes a huge hit. Lolita's soon start snapping up cheap white Lolita dresses with the intent to cover in artistically placed smudges of soot. Cute little soot hearts are drawn on cheeks. This trend soon dies out as Lolitas find that the soot has managed to get all over their white blouses, white socks, shoes, purse, and just about everything else the dress touches, ruining much more than the cheap white dress they intended. EGL is flooded with "How do I get soot off Angelic Pretty prints if I can't wash them!?"

So, these are my ideas for trends that might be too wacky even for Lolita! True, some of these might work, the book hats and bath pouf cell charms and maybe, if we're really lucky, the pony-tails-on-your-butt. Who knows though, someone might prove me wrong soon enough! Lolita always manages to surprise me with it's sometimes completely strange trends. Trend that, I must admit, I sometimes find myself falling into as well. It's just really hard to resist something that's completely out-there but everyone else is doing too!

Do you think super hero capes and soot covered dresses could be a possibility in Lolita? Or do you plan on rushing  to clip your extra wig falls onto your butt? But, what I'd really like to know, is what kind of weird trends could you imagine being the next big thing in Lolita? I'd love to hear your ideas! I'll be making a list of all the best ones to add onto this entry!

Reader suggested trends!
  • Laurette  "Big chunky metal armour size jewellery. Even metal bows with black and white poke a dot skirts."
  • Cherie "HIKING LOLITA! With fanny packs, duck boots and nordic print cardigans!"
  • OfstaALaSheep "I think it would be funny if you had a giant fake lolipop that was attached to a headband, and you wore that. Then, you rat the hair around it, and it looks like you a giant lolipop stuck to your head! 8D"
  • Queran "Viking Lolita. Of course it would be started by AatP with a trendy viking ship print and soon every Pirate Lolita, who lost her respect for pirates due to "pirates of the carribean", will wear cute little horn helmets and wild red wigs to match her newest "plunder and rape"-print."
  • ConstanceHOUANG "Decoden dress, obviously! A dress covered with rhinestones, whipped cream and teddy bears"
  • Watercat8 "How About a SUPER crazy trend, like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory themed coards! but not just prints of the factory landscape oh no, they would be girls with orange-y spray on tans wearing green wigs, brown blouses and white skirts with overalls (Oompa-Loompa, doompadee Doo!) Other girls would paint their faces and hands violet and wear blue wigs, blouses, and JSKs. Kodona lederhosen coards covered in chocolate, you can see where I'm going, right?

Keep them coming! I'd love to hear more trend suggestions!

Unicorns? In My Lolita? Baby's Newest Print!

I was getting my much needed dose of Lolita news when I stumbled across a picture of Baby's newest print and was completed delighted to find that it featured my favorite animal in the magical animal kingdom, the Unicorn! I really don't understand why unicorns aren't a more common theme in Lolita prints, they are pretty much the perfect Lolita animal- they're magical, they're elegant, they're a princesses best friend, and they can come in rainbow pastel colors, what more can you ask for? But, for whatever reason, very few Lolita brands, indie or otherwise, have even ventured into the magical realm of unicorns. Metamorphose's Twinkle Journey is pretty much your only big brand unicorn release, and the indie brand Pink Macaroon has released a unicorn themed print, but that's really your only options when it comes to unicorn-centric Lolita prints. But now we can finally add another unicorn print to our closets since Baby has decided to finally bust out some unicorns with Unico in Bloomland.
 

Unico in Bloomland comes in a few choices, two different styles of JSK, a skirt, a pair of print socks, a headbow, and even a printless blouse meant to complete the set. Printwise, I think this is completely adorable, it includes Baby's typical flower swag garlands, bows, crowns, and other more elegantly styled motifs, as well as a liberal splashing of pastel pink baby unicorns. While this is sort of their trademark style (of the moment) it does get a bit boring sometimes, as the general print layout is very similar to a number of prints they have done in recent years, but really, the unicorns make up for that. So much so that the pink version is really tempting me as being one of my very few "fancy pink prints" for the rare occasion when I feel the need to go out in all pink. But, perhaps I'm letting myself get carried away with uniconlust.

What do you think of this print? Does the mere fact that it's covered in little pink unicorns make you want to bust out your wallets and throw money at your computer screen? Or maybe it's just not your style? It is awfully pink and adowabuwle, and I do think that unicorns can be so much more than just cute fuzzy animals.


More of the 30 day Lolita meme! I obviously haven't been doing of these every day, so I'll just be grouping a few of them together for missed days whenever I post. This way this meme wont drag on for half the year, and I wont have to bore you with daily posts about silly meme things!

Day 6- 10 things in your Lolita wardrobe you can't live without.
♥ A black chiffon petticoat, setting this day's unintentional theme of black Lolita clothes! ♥ Simple black underskirt because without it so many things would be too short! ♥ A comfy h.NAOTO cutsew to throw on over JSKs on lazy days ♥ A big black head eating bow ♥ My black and pink crown emblem Emily Temple Cute purse ♥ A pair of simple black Tea Party knockoffs that I can throw on and pretty much match everything, they're comfy and I don't have to worry too much about wearing them down to the soles ♥ Lacy tights, for extra fancification and when I can't find matching socks ♥ Bloomers! ♥ My Stained Glass print skirt, I just really really love that print! ♥ My very first brand dress, a black BtSSB shirred JSK, it's comfy, fancy, and can work it's way into just about every Lolita style out there! ♥

Day 7- 10  5 people who inspire your Lolita style
I think a lot of people are finding this day very difficult! It's so hard to pick out 10 people who you know inspire you, inspiration sort of comes from all over! So instead of 10 Lolitas, here are 5 Lolitas who's style I find very intriguing, I might not draw direct inspiration from them (that is, wear clothes because they do), but I certainly admire them and their styles!
♥  Sachi from Kokusyoku Sumire ♥ Maria of Paperlace ♥ Hitome of Grimoire fame ♥ Martha of Mossgarden ♥ Mana, by no means am I a Manatard, but the dude's got style ♥  

Etsy Treasuries Inspired By Fellow Lolita Bloggers

A few weeks ago I discovered the joy of making Etsy Treasuries. If you don't know what they are, an Etsy Treasury is simply a collection of cute things to be found on Etsy, arranged with some sort of theme in mind.

I decided to smash two of my favorite things together, blogging and Lolita, to create a few Etsy Treasuries inspired by a few fellow Lolita bloggers! Can you guess who these Treasuries are inspired by? Give them a glance over and then try to guess!










Do you give up? The first two should be pretty easy. Blue, White, & Bronze is inspired by Miss Lumpy, which should be evident by the copious amounts of blue, as well as all the vintage hats and flowers. Pink Kei is inspired by Victoria Suzanne of Lolita Charm, if all the pink, fairy kei, and cute dog accessories didn't make it obvious enough. Finally, Red Fox might be a bit of a head-scratcher to some, but it's inspired by my friend Erica's blog, Darkly Darling. These were all really fun to make, and maybe sometime in the future I'll try making a few more Lolita blog inspired Etsy Treasuries!

Day 5- 10 items from your wishlist.
My wishlist is hardly a static thing, it changes pretty much all the time, and I've really never been one for dream dresses that I pine away for years over. At the moment I'm actually not really looking for anything that I feel like my closet is missing, but instead I'm buying much older pieces that feel nostalgic, or represent, to me, the ideal old school aesthetic. That being said, a lot of the follow items would fall into that category!

Angelic Pretty Cross OP, I would loooove to own this in black! I think this is the archetypal Gothic Lolita dress, even though it's Angelic Pretty.

Metamorphose Antique Bouquet. Any color, and any of the various releases of this dress, although I would love the bonnet, capelet, skirt set,

I forget the name of this Baby dress! I love it in the red colorway, but black and pink is nice too. It's like the ultimate brand whore dress XD

OK, so I don't know the names of most prints I like! I usually have to look them up. I've always wanted this Baby dress, and I regret, years ago, not buying it when I had the chance.

Angelic Pretty Heart Cut-out. Oh God, it's so tacky! I can't help but love it.

Any of Angelic Pretty's older classic floral releases!

I love Metamorphose's swan logo, and, while it's a little plain, I've been dying to get my hands on one of their pieces featuring the embroidery of it around the hem.

I sort of love Lolita aprons, and I really like this Meta one because it says "METAMORPHOSE" in giant letters across the chest. I loved the fact that older brand releases often printed their name hugely across their pieces.

Baby's Marie Antoinette, in red. It seems like whenever I have the cash to spare for this I can never find it, and then as soon as I go broke, someone finds my super old WTB posts and offers it to me T_T

Baby's Afternoon Tea, or really, just like with Angelic Pretty, any of Baby's older classic floral prints.

What Goth Has Taught Me About Lolita. Plus: More Meme!

While it might not be apparent from this blog, it being a Lolita blog, but regular old Goth has always been my first love. It started growing up around movies such as Beetlejuice, The Addams Family, and Edward Scissorhands, and then finally manifested sometime around 8th grade when I got my first pair of black stompy boots and started wearing my younger sisters old witch Halloween costume as a blouse (to be fair, it was a black 1970's era silk dress with billowing sleeves, not an off-the-Walmart-rack kids costume). While I have been something of a poor Goth for the past 4 or so years, having pretty much given up a mostly Goth wardrobe for a strictly Lolita wardrobe, it still holds a special place in my heart. Nowadays, the closest I really get to actually looking like a Goth is Gothic Lolita but I still love to, I guess you could say, "Live the Gothic lifestyle", which is pretty apparent by my questionable tastes in decorating, a predilection towards gloomy music, and a general all-around enjoyment of the spooky and macabre.

The point of all of this is that I came into Lolita no stranger to standing out in a crowd but being part of an alternative subculture. By the time I got my first "Hey little Bo Peep!" shout from a stranger I was already an expert at dealing with "Hey Elvira!" calls. I feel that coming from a Gothic background, if you will, had really made me prepared for anything Lolita could throw at me, from cat calls, to internet drama. Some of these things should be common sense, or are things most Lolitas eventually figure out on their own, but these are all things that Goth taught me before I even donned my first petticoat.
  • Trends aren't to be taken seriously and are best for adding to the ever-growing pot of cool stuff to wear. We Lolitas love our trends, I am not going to lie and say I don't usually love whatever silly new trend comes along, but I feel that all too often, once trends are over with many Lolitas are pretty much done and completely over them. I like to think that we should be able to just keep dipping into the great big well-o'-Lolita-trends without people feeling like they need to suggest ways in which they can update their outfit. While Goth has it's fair share of trends, I feel like they stick around for a much longer time than Lolita trends, and don't start getting labeled as "old school" 3 years down the road.
  • Respect your elders. What gothling doesn't one day long to be an Eldergoth, or look back with admiration to the long ago days of Old School Goth? I feel that within Lolita the opposite often seems like it is the case, younger Lolita's always debate about how old "too old" is for Lolita, and giggle at how ugly things used to look. My feelings on the subject can pretty much be summed up in this Lolita Secret that popped up a few months ago. While you don't have to love what the Lolita fashion looked like in the 90's, and it's up to you to decide when you personally want to stop wearing Lolita, there's no reason to scoff at your own most-favorite-fashion-in-the-whole-wide-world's roots. 
  • Some strangers are going to hate you and think you're ugly, stupid, and worthless just because of the way you dress. It's a sad fact, but it's really just something you're going to have to learn to live with. The best thing about this is that it is a pretty quick and dirty way of separating your real friends from people who are hardly worth your time, and especially not your friendship. 
  • You don't like it when people judge you, so stop judging other people. This goes hand-in-hand with the above lesson. You don't like it when other people make assumptions about the way you dress, so why start making assumptions about other people based on how they dress?
  • To "normal" people, we all look equally silly, so stop squabbling about who looks better than whom. A Vampire Goth and an Ethereal Goth are going to look like pretty much the exact same thing to the average person, so what's the point in pretending like one is better than the other if they're both going to face the same prejudices from outsiders? The same can be said of Sweet Lolitas and Classic Lolitas, or any of the other common Lolita verses. 
  • Clichés are fun, but not something to base your life around. With Goth, sometimes it is fun to get excited about vampires, or to gloom around a cemetery, but it's certainly not mandatory, and if it's just not your thing, there's no reason to pretend it is. The same can be said of Lolita, a fair number of Lolitas feel like if one does not love tea, have manners that would put Emily Post to shame, and are fluent in Japanese, then, why, they are simply not a proper Lolita. Luckily though, these notions that the cliché is not only the norm but the only way are often newbie misconceptions that are frequently shattered by spending a few months in said subculture.
Despite some overlap in the aesthetics and interests, the Gothic subculture is pretty far removed from Lolita(Arguments of "Lolita is just frilly clothes!" vs. "There's more to Goth than just wearing black!" for starters) but I still think they can learn a lot from each other!

I had mistakenly credited one blog for coming up with the 30 day Lolita challenge, but it turns out it was actually posted on The Random Lolita, which is actually a blog I'm quite fond of (and this has nothing to do with the fact she's wearing one of my bonnets in her banner : 3), but I've been out of the blogging loop for the past month so the original post completely slipped past me!

I'm really loving this challenge, not just because it gives me an excuse to use some silly .gifs and super-kawaii lolita blog graphics, because it's a nice mix of personal and typical Lolita questions and it gives a little sneak peak of what the person is like without all their frills.

Day 4 – 10 different kinds of food you like.
Honey Moxie Cola Curry Rose flavored anything Guacamole/avocados Falafel  Sushi Salads French fries Cotton candy
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