Comfort shopping

I tried comfort shopping. It helped a little. It's especially useful to drive away boredom and endless empty afternoons, when you could have been doing homework. Well, I can't concentrate anyways.

It's very typical that I should end up with 5 books and no clothes, although I did search for clothes. I couldn't find any to my liking, and book stores always keep me entertained. If you don't care for reading, just skip the next part ;)

The top one is a Dutch book which is some sort of adaption of a very famous work of Dutch literature: The Discovery of Heaven. I don't suppose any of my followers have read it, but it's quite brilliant. This is the diary of one of the characters, whose true feelings you don't really get to know in the original book. It's written by another author, and she's really good. She really grasps the style of the original, while still giving the character her own voice. The author of the original book passed away recently, his name was Harry Mulisch. Everyone in Holland always hoped he would get the Nobel prize for literature, but he never did (I'm not surprised, actually.)
The title translates as: "Make yourself ready" and is a quotation from the original. In this case, it could have a double meaning (something which Harry Mulisch would have loved). It can mean either: "prepare yourself", or have a sexual meaning as in: make yourself have an orgasm. In that case it has a really negative sense, because it's said to the main character by her lover. It's like: I don't want to be bothered, just do it yourself. Even in the original book, it was not clear to me what exactly he meant by that, so I hope this book will give me more explanation.

Then there's The Hobbit by Tolkien, which I'm pretty sure everyone knows already. I can't wait to see the film!

And two novels by Jane Austen, naturally. I had not read these ones yet, though I watched the movies last weekend. It's Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. I'm reading Northanger Abbey at the moment, and I really like the main character Catherine. She's much more innocent and cheerful than Austen's usual heroines. I think she reminds me most of Emma in cheerfulness, and most of Jane Bennet in good nature.

Lastly, The Marriage Plot. There are advertisements for this book everywhere at the moment, so I supposed it was good. I think I can identify very much with the main character. Even our names are kind of similair. Feeling out of place in modern times, reading Austen, being very romantic and believing in true love... That could be me. I'm eager to read it!

~book talk over, back to clothes~

I also bought a lovely hat: round, black felt with a bow on the side, and a Hermes-lookalike silk shawl that I've wanted for ages, but found too expensive. It was half price now~! Long live mid-season sale. I will take pictures of those soon, or you will see them appear in my outfits ;)

And... *drumroll*

Sorry, my hair is in dire need of shampoo, I'm going to shower after I've written this.

Of course I also had to buy the adorable fawn fur collar from H&M's children's section. I've seen three other bloggers already who also have it, and I think soon everyone will have one and we will all grow tired of it very quickly. But until then, I will enjoy it. It's very warm  and was only 8 euro!
I removed the pink bow and pompoms because I thought they were a little childish and didn't suit my style. Instead I pinned on a vintage brooch.

And a quick coordination, in which I think I can survive a very cold winter:

A hint of gothic

Something a bit darker than usual, though still not really gothic. I love this blouse/ cutsew/ top, but it's so short! It's from TaoBao, so it's made for short(er than me, at least) Chinese girls. I can only wear it with high-waisted skirts, of which I own the splendid amount of 1- this one. Ah well, they do look good together. I might find a way to combine it with other skirts as well, or underneath JSKs. But one thing I am very happy about, is that the sleeves are long enough :)

Skirt: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright (Alice's Portrait)
Blouse: somewhere on TaoBao (though I'm afraid it might be an IW replica...)
Headbow (that you can hardly see): Alice and the Pirates (Dance of the Black Cat)

everything else, as usual: offbrand

And look, I made a header! I'm so proud of myself ^^ I'm an absolute noob when it comes to designing websites, HTML codes etc, so I was happy just to use the standard design. But I hope this header gives a more personal touch to my blog :)

Dress up to cheer up

Last week has been less than pleasant, so I felt really down. I hoped to cheer myself up with a solo dress-up party, because my dresses never fail to make me happy.
I do feel a bit better now, but I'm afraid there are some problems that even pretty dresses can't solve. I haven't tried comfort shopping yet, though, perhaps that might work ;)

My dear Mary Magdalene always makes me feel like a doll. I combined it with a turtleneck instead of a blouse, because it's gotten a lot colder recently.

I finished this dress last weekend. It's inspired by Mary Magdalene, but also by Christian Dior and the New Look, so I called it Christiane in honor of my idol. (I think Dior is really inspiring. I love his designs and the way he brought feminity and luxury back in fashion after the war.)

I said I would try to coordinate Sugary Carnival in a classic way, right? Well, this is the first try. I wanted to keep the sweet aesthetic, because I think it would be weird to just make a classic coordinate and slap a different skirt on it. That would be out of place and unbalanced. This blouse is actually from my non-lolita wardrobe, but I thought the soft pink matched the lavender of the skirt perfectly. I wish I had pink heels, as well.



My eyes get a completely different color when the sun shines in them.

With the same blouse, I tried a coordinate with Metamorphose's Perfume Bottle. It's a gorgeous skirt, the back especially is lovely, but it's surprisingly hard to coordinate. I don't have any gold or pink shoes, so I'm wearing those same white heels again... I always think I have too many shoes, but never the right ones! Sigh.

I guess that was it. Maybe I'm going to make a daily_lolita post with some of these...

Also! I'm going to a symposium about 'cute' Japanese fashion tomorrow, so of course I'm going to dress to the nines~ I think I'm going to wear the Mary Magdalene dress, but I'm not sure yet. Of course 'cute' calls for an overdose of pink, but I don't want to exaggerate... Any suggestions?

It's getting colder...

I know I don't write very often, but I do want to. It's just that nothing really exciting happens in my life. I don't go to meet-ups, I don't buy a lot of new things nor do I keep track of new releases, and I don't feel like I'm experienced enough to give style tips. The only thing I really have to offer is sewing results and outfit posts, and I'm afraid those are boring... But I love looking at outfit posts on other blogs, and I don't want my blog to be silent and empty, so I'll just post daily outfits. Oh, and I can share experiences and give advice about wearing lolita in certain occasions! Such as rain, or riding a bike. I live in Holland, rain and bicycles are the definition of our country. Plenty experience ^^

Also, I would like to keep this blog to be strictly lolita related. I could talk about personal things or about studying, but I don't think those topics belong on a lolita blog. I will, however, post more drawings! I draw a lot, especially new designs for dresses, and I would like to share them with you. Since I don't have Photoshop at the moment, it will only be scanned pencil sketches, but I hope you will like them anyways.

Now, the weather is terrible at the moment. Strong wind, rain and cold. It's not really wintery cold yet, but cold enough to be very limited in clothing choices. It's supposed to get better in a few days, but I'm sure it won't stay sunny very long. :(

Well, here are some recent outfits that are, if anything, warm:

The first one I wore to have dinner with a friend. I was having some trouble with studying and also emotions, and she gave me advice and really cheered me up. I'm lucky to have such good friends :)

dress: handmade by me, "Antique French Roses"

bolero: offbrand

wristcuffs: handmade by me

bag: offbrand

shoes: Graceland

jewelry: vintage & offbrand

The next dress is relatively new. Although it's been finished for a while, I haven't worn it often yet. I think it's just a little too much to wear to lectures. But I do really like the design. The middle part has doves and clouds on it, and the buttons are very pretty as well. 


modeled by my loyal dress form

I usually give my dresses names, but I haven't been able to come up with a good name for this one yet. I'm calling it "Sixtine" for now, because the birds and clouds remind me of the Sixtine chapel, but I don't think it suits very well. Do you have any suggestions?



Isn't that bag lovely? I've been searching for ages for a bag like this, and now I use it almost every day ^^

  

this pose is exactly the same as the previous one, minus the bag ^^;



dress: handmade by me, "Sixtine"

turtleneck: somewhere on taobao

wrist cuffs: handmade by me

shoes: Graceland

bag: offbrand

Well, I hope that entertained you. Now I'll have to go back to studying~

A sweeter side of me

Classic lolita  is my big love, and most of my wardrobe consists of classic clothes. I do like sweet and gothic as well, but I feel they don't suit me very much. Sweet is often too childish for my taste, and I'm not really fond of pastel rainbow colors all over. And I don't think I have the right attitude and face for gothic, I don't have that 'vampire-widow dark elegance' that I associate with gothic.
However, that doesn't mean I will not wear sweet or gothic at all. I can tweak it in such a way that it becomes a little more classic, and suits me more.
This skirt is obviously sweet, but coordinated with a classic blouse and heels it becomes more my style. I really like the result.

Skirt: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright- Paris' Window

Blouse, shoes, thights & hair ribbon: offbrand

I really like how one skirt can be coordinated in different ways, to create a completely different look. If you'd pair this with knee socks, pink tea party shoes, a big Alice bow, and a blouse with a peter pan collar and short puffy sleeves, you'd get a very different image. Put a huge colored wig on top of that and an overload of plastic jewelry, and I would only wear it as a joke.
But I really like the classic-sweet look, and I my next target is trying to coordinate Sugary Carnival in a somewhat classic way. That'll be a challenge!

Shopping in Tokyo~

When I was in Tokyo, I spend two days shopping (note: only two out of the six days I was there!). This meant: searching for every Closet Child shop in town. On the first day I went to Harajuku, of course.

I was told you'd see Takeshita Doori in front of you when you'd walk out of the station, but I took the wrong exit so I ended up on Meiji Doori. Which wasn't a disaster because I had studied the map in advance and knew LaForet was situated at Meiji Doori. It was raining a little, and I admired all the cute umbrellas. After a short bit of walking, I saw a lot of girls in very interesting clothes seeking shelter from the rain under the canopy of a big department store. This, of course, had to be LaForet. I immediately went to the basement and spent some time exploring the shops there. Putumayo surprised me, the quality and designs are great, especially their jewelry, and the staff was super friendly. I bought a necklace for a friend there, and chatted a bit with the shopgirl. Metamorphose had some beautiful dresses, I never noticed before how pretty their clothing really is. The stock photo's don't do them justice. Baby and Alice and the Pirates were somewhat disappointing. There was very little in stock, and I didn't really like the dresses they had. I only looked at Angelic Pretty very shortly. Atelier Boz (or was it Atelier Pierrot? I always mix those two up...) had absolutely stunning dresses, skirts, and headwear, and also sold some Mary Magdalene, Julliete and Justine and Victorian Maiden, as well as Triple Fortune hats! I spend a lot of time there, but it was all too expensive for me. In the end, I bought hair ribbons from Alice and the Pirates, because I wanted to buy at least something from them.

Then I went outside again and walked down Takeshita Doori. It was quite an experience. I hadn't seen that many tourists in any other part of Tokyo! Strangely I didn't see any lolita's, but there were a few mori-girls and quite a lot of gyaru's. I was able to find Closet Child quickly, but their stock disappointed me. I couldn't find any dress I really, really liked. I did buy a Sex Pot Revenge shirt for a friend of mine.

Then I decided to try my luck in Shinjuku, but that did not turn out well. I spend an hour searching for Closet Child, and then another searching for Marui 0101. In the end it turned out I had already passed Marui 0101, but just hadn't recognized it. I was so disappointed and tired from walking in the heat, that I went home.

ignore the Starbucks; it's the third floor that matters! CC Ikebukuro

But the second day brought more luck! I went to Closet Child Ikebukuro first. It was super easy to find, on my way to the shop I spotted the first Tokyo lolita, and their stock was a-ma-zing. They had so many beautiful items, I had a really hard time choosing. I knew I was going to other shops as well, so I didn't want to spend too much in the first one, but it was all so pretty... In the end, I didn't buy the black IW blouse I wanted, but I did buy my beloved Mary Magdalene dress and two skirts, Baby's Paris Window and Metamorphose's Perfume Bottle.

<3 <3 <3

Then I went back to Shinjuku. This time, I went straight to Marui 0101, and spend a lot of time just exploring the 6 floors filled with alternative fashion. There were not only lolita, but also otome, punk, goth and gyaru shops. I bought a skirt from Emily Temple Cute (I don't have a picture yet...), but nothing else. It was great to explore all the different shops. They were quite small so they didn't have much in stock, which was why I was again disappointed by Alice and the Pirates. The only print they had was Melty Mermaid, which I'm not super enthusiastic about.
Moi Meme Motie was very interesting. The shop was completely empty exept for the shopgirl, and there were racks upon racks filled with the holiest of lolita-ness. There were a whole lot of Silent Moon dresses, and they were super pretty and I was very tempted to buy one. But they were more than 380 euro, and I won't pay that for a dress, no matter how jealous it would make all the other lolita's!

Jesus Diamante just scared me.

After having explored Marui 0101 from top to bottom, I tried searching for Closet Child Shinjuku again, but again to no avail. I did see another lolita, and I even wanted to ask her whether she knew the shop, but she looked at me as if I was really scary and quickly said that she didn't know. Foreigners are sooo scary, right? But she's probably got some negative reactions from tourists before.
Anyway, I couldn't find the Shinjuku one so I headed back to Harajuku. I had fun walking around on Takeshita Doori and just looking at all the people. I also went back to Closet Child, just to see if they had any new items. It seems like they did, but I probably had just missed it the previous day. I bought "Alice's Portrait" skirt and a headbow. I already knew I liked Alice's Portait, I had tried on the JSK in Singapore but it didn't fit me then. But the skirt fits fine :) The headbow is the 'Dance of the Black Cat' one, a print I also really like.

I think that's about it... It must have been one of my biggest shopping sprees yet, and I don't want to know how much money I spent, but I'm very happy with everything. I finally have some more brand in my closet ^^

The only thing that still bothers me is: where the f$#@! is Closet Child Shinjuku?!

Outfits for the start of college

College has started again, and since I am now a second-year student I felt the need to show the freshmen what it's like in our department. My major is Japanstudies, so obviously there are a lot of weird people. Sadly, I don't know any other lolita's. But in case one of the new students is a lolita, I thought it would be good to show they're not alone.

I bought some very nice things in Japan, so I could not wait to wear them to college and show them to my friends.
One of the things I was happiest with is this pair of shoes:



Japanese shoes are obviously meant for small Japanese feet, and although my feet are not large at all, I did have trouble finding shoes in Japan. It's weird to be unable to find shoes in my size. Normally I have a very easy size, and I can find lots of shoes (which is not always a good thing...) These are size LL and fit perfectly~ They're so pretty, they remind me a lot of Innocent World and they're perfect for autumn-style classic. Of course I wore them to my first lecture:

Blouse: Earth, music & ecology

JSK: handmade

shoes: Pinky Oring

I went to a hairdresser in Japan, I'd gotten so fed up with my haircut! It was the best hairdresser I've ever been to. So this is what it looks like now:

One of the most brilliant things that happened in Japan was that I found a Mary Magdalene dress, that I actually fit. Mary Magdalene is known for being super small, and I'm not flat-chested like their models... But this dress has shirring, and it fits great! In the fitting room of Closet Child I felt glorious. The lenght is also perfect, and it is such a beautiful dress... I'm in love <3

I will leave you with this picture spam. I'll post my other new items soon!

On a side note, I'm absolutely crazy about Mumford & Sons right now... Their music really touches my heart. Any other fans?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KCg_QEHtkY