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Gothic & Lolita Bible 37

I feel like I've been waiting forever for the new Bible to come out! Like many Lolita's, I don't really buy the Bibles any more. With import fees they are just too expensive and sometimes they are nearly impossible to find without having to spend even more on shipping. So, instead I wait around for someone else to buy it and scan it and upload it to Jmagazinescans, a Live Journal community devoted to scanning and uploading Japanese magazines. Earlier this morning I did my usual desperate check on the comm to see if the new Bible has been uploaded, and what do you know!? It has been! By two different people no less. You can download your own copy here or here. Of course, there are drawbacks to just downloading the magazine, first of all being that you aren't supporting the makers of the magazine, but also you sometimes have to deal with low resolution scans, missing pages, and you don't get to have your own flesh and blood (er, paper and glue) copy of the magazine. But, for free, you can't complain, and you can always pick up the real thing later if you really like it, and if you can find it.

This issue of G&LB was sort of a let down. Nothing really blew my mind and the photoshoots ranged from "meh" to "sort of neat". The patterns, on the other hand, are awesome, and a good incentive to actually buy it since scans of the patterns are nearly never included with scans of the magazine. Pattern scans for this issue feature a beautiful BtSSB nightgown, an h.NAOTO headpiece, a Peace Now star shaped purse, an Angelic Pretty hooded capelet, and an Innocent World apron, bustle skirt, and detachable bib collar. That's enough goodies to make up for the uninspired photos and coordinates!

One final thing, before I get to a few of my favorite pages, on the topic of complaining about things I love, let's talk about these new photo covers :( Frankly, I hate them. I loved the beautiful cover art that the Bibles used to feature and I really don't care about whoever it is on any of the covers. There is, sadly, little art inside each of the Bibles, so why take it off the cover and replace it with something you can find in abundance inside? The illustrated covers felt like something much more special to me, with glamor shots on the cover it feels like just another fashion magazine. The Bibles have always been a little bit more than just a fashion magazine, containing bits of Loliwisdom and sewing projects and all sorts of other useful things that make you a well-rounded Lolita, even if you couldn't always read the language. But the cover glamor shots sort of take away that feeling for me.

What did I like about this issue besides the patterns? Well, there were a few things at least, and I'd like to share some of them with you. Click for a much larger picture.


This issue also featured what looked like an in-depth guide to the different kinds of Lolita clothes and styles and laces. Which would be pretty useful and interesting, if I could actually read Japanese!

13 comments:

  1. The pics are nice :) The only reason I'd really buy or bother to download the magazine though is the patterns. I'd really like to try some of those you mentioned! Unfortunately I can NEVER understand them...

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  2. (*__*) oh, wow! I've been after a decent nightgown pattern for quite a few years. The Babyssb design is exactly what I've been after. I tried a Butterick nightdress pattern and it was a waste of money. It was supposed to be simple, yet to me it was far too complicated(even after studying it thoroughly beforehand). Seems that I can only follow Gothic & Lolita Bible patterns successfully XD also, I adore the IW skirt design, I have a few ideas in mind for colour & print variations. I'm definately putting this Gothic & Lolita Bible volume in my Yesasia wishlist for later on.

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  3. i love the 2nd n the 4th pics the best cuz i dunno ...it reminds me of some fairyland made by a much younger me....=]

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  4. I wish TokyoPop hadn't dropped the English edition of this mook. Maybe I should hound Stu Levy about picking it up again.

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  5. Something I've just realised rereading this entry, how are the photoshoots "uninspired"? (O.o) is the inspiration not German faerytales? Since the katakana on the cover reads the engrish for Deutschland (^_^) I'm sure the "gurimu"(and maybe "douwa" which seems to be "fairytale") on the cover is supposed to be Grimm, but I could be wrong. Is it theme or composition that is "uninspired"? One other thing I don't understand fully (>_<) why do people keep saying they "hate" things, when its such a strong word. To me, "hate" has connotations of prejudice, or disliking something so much as to destroy it completely. I could understand if you were to thoroughly dislike it, but I can't really understand hating it. Cover wise I'm thinking maybe the mook is trying to move away from manga/anime thesedays(at least on the surface)? Obviously shoujo manga is still connected to the history of Lolita fashion, as inspiration for the fashion, and the fashion inspires artists. But, I've heard that men who like moe anime buy the mook too, so maybe the creators want to distance themselves from it, who knows. It might explain the move away from illustrated covers by shoujo manga~ka towards using real life models. I neither like nor dislike the new style of covers, they are what they are(a change from the usual) so I accept the choice by the creators.

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  6. Personally, I just think that this issue isn't as strong as previous issues, and the coordinates are, for the most part, not that interesting to me. Thus, uninspired. In regards to "hate", not everyone uses it as such a strong word, I tend to throw around "hate" for things I simply dislike. If I said something like "These new covers make me vomit with rage and then I black out in a rage coma", for me, that would be a strong opinion, but not simply "hate". Like I said, I just really dislike these new covers because I loved the art on the old covers and besides the few pages of manga in each issue, there's not much Lolita art inside, but what there is a lot of is pictures of models wearing Lolita. So, like I said, I dislike the new system of just putting pictures from the inside on the cover. It gives it a very "fashion mag" feel, which is less than what the GLBs are. I can understand why they are doing these new covers, but that doesn't mean I have to feel neutral about it. I can have an opinion one way or the other just because I understand the reasons behind it XD

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  8. Actually, I haven’t bought a bible in years either. The reason being – I don’t have time to read one anyway, because I provide <a href="https://www.dissertationproposal.co.uk/dissertation-services/phd-dissertation-editing-services/>dissertation editing services</a> and I have to work all day long. To read your article, now I am little curious and I want to buy new bible, whenever I will feel free so I will order this.

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  9. Actually, I haven’t bought a bible in years either. The reason being – I don’t have time to read one anyway, because I provide dissertation editing services and I have to work all day long. To read your article, now I am little curious and I want to buy new bible, whenever I will feel free so I will order this.

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