Lolita Week in Review #11

Sorry for my absence of late, but I have been busy with life!

This week, however, I was stuck at home all week with a cold;_; On the upside, it gave me time to finish up my creations for the Alternative Craft Market that I participated in this week!

I made all manner of gothic and lolita accessories, and ended up selling a lot of them too.


This is me and my friends at the stall:D

I've always been sewing and selling my own lolita items, since I was in high school! This was the first time I'd sold them at a market in real life, and got to see my buyers face-to-face. It's quite different to selling over eBay! In the future I hope I can go to more gothic markets, like the ones they have in Melbourne. Failing that, some anime conventions will let you sell gothic lolita items, so I might try that too.

Now I need to get back to designing and making things... oh, and fixing my overlockerX___x;;

Xelyna's Week in Lolita #10

Well folks, I finally reached double-digits in my little weekly blog:D

This week in lolita was exciting in that a lolita was featured on national TV in the USA- but sadly on the TV show "What Not To Wear". The episode hasn't been screened in my country yet, but from what I hear, the hosts of the show didn't understand lolita fashion at all, and called it both fetish and frumpy:/ Contradiction much? Sadly because of the name of the fashion, people jump to all sorts of conclusions... the very truth of the matter is that even in Japan, the home of lolita fashion, it is not considered fetish wear or to have any connotations of faux-pedophilia. It's an alternative fashion, the same as goth or punk. If only someone could change the name by deed-pole, we'd probably be a lot better off trying to explain it to people.

In personal news, I tried out a new sewing pattern this week! From the Handmade GosuRori book I tried a fully-shirred pattern with some cute fabric.



Because the top is all elastic, it can be adjusted for a lot of sizes!



I think I might make more with the same pattern, because it's simple and cute!

Lolita Week in Review #4

This week it was rainy and miserable outside, so I didn't go out in lolita much. However, I used my time inside to finish a new dress!

Presenting: The Mermaid-kei Lolita Dress!


Much ado has been made recently about "Fairy-kei" ("kei" is Japanese for "style"), which had been made popular by the brand Spank. Inspired by 1980s and 1990s cartoons and bright neon colours, Fairy-kei is a fashion made of layers or seemingly random clothes with a fairy-tale twist. For pictures of the style worn, check out this video on YouTube: Spank Fairy-kei Fashion Brand

Some people are saying that this style is beginning to cross over into lolita with pastel and neon colours becoming popular. But even if the influence is the same, the outcome is still different. Fairy-kei is closer to Decora style in it's mixing of layers and random accessories, whereas Lolita will always have the same kind of dresses or skirts and blouses to keep the basic silhouette.



So in reaction to the Fairy-kei movement, I made my own Mermaid-kei dress!



It combines the basic lolita silhouette with sparkly fabrics which are never really seen in lolita to create a new concept. Of course I don't expect this to take off and be the next big thing, but I thought it was an interesting experiment!

In other lolita fashion news, this week saw the start of Summer Sales and Fukuburos in Japan. A fukubukuro is a kind of lucky-dip bag that lolita brands sell with a random selection of clothes inside for around $100. The clothes inside are usually worth $500, but you don't get to choose what's inside. This can lead to either great savings or great disappointment if you get something you don't like or doesn't fit you. Most brands fill the fukubukuros, or "Lucky Packs" with clothes that didn't sell, but some also make special clothes just for the packs.

Lucky Packs are sold at least twice a year- once in Summer and once at New Years. These are also the times that brands have their sales. Webshops also sell these packs and have sales online, so even if you can't get to Japan, you can still get a bargain!