Lolita Level Up Quiz 2.0

A few of you might remember an older Lolita quiz from Parfait Doll that gauged your Lolita Level. I recently discovered an old Livejournal entry in which I took the quiz and got to thinking about just how much Lolita has changed since the quiz was originally made over 4 years ago! Back in 2010, there really weren't a ton of opportunities for Lolitas outside of Japan. Sure, Baby and Angelic Pretty sometimes did fashion shows at anime conventions, and the second Baby shop outside of Japan was freshly opened, but beyond that the Lolita community was much the same as it had been for years. So I got to thinking, what sort of things are Lolitas in this day in age marking off as their rites of Lolita passage? What opportunities do Lolitas have now that were just frilly day dreams back in 2010? Soon enough, the Lolita Level Up 2.0 Quiz was born! 

The rules are simple, you get a point for every one of these things that you can say you've done, add the points up at the end, and you have your score! For the purpose of this quiz the term "brand" is open to your own consideration. If you consider Bodyline as a brand, or don't consider anything that wasn't designed by Mana himself as brand, that's up to you. Questions are broken up into groups of 16 to make counting your points easier!

• You have a favorite brand
• You own a petticoat
• You own multiple petticoats in different cuts and/or lengths
• You own a parasol
• You own an item from a brand
• You own a novelty item from a brand (plates, mugs, stuffed animals, home decor, and other "non-wearables")
• You own an item from Bodyline
• You own an item from a Taobao brand
• You own an item from a Western indie brand
• You own an item you bought of eBay, Amazon, or a shady website and it came out okay
• You've bought brand directly from their official store
• You've bought a lucky pack
• You bought an item in reserve
• You own a complete Lolita outfit
• You've worn a complete Lolita outfit in public
• You've worn a complete Lolita outfit in public and it wasn't even on Halloween or at a convention

• You've bought and sold on an online Lolita community
• You've paid retail price for a rare secondhand brand
• You've paid double the retail price for a rare secondhand brand
• You've paid less than 20% the retail price for secondhand brand (ex: you paid $40 for a piece that originally cost $200)
• You've bought from a Japanese auction
• You've ordered from a shopping service
• You wear clothes you've made for yourself
• You wear a print you've designed yourself
• You wear clothes you've had custom made for you
• Have had brand pieces altered to fit your size or style
• You've been wearing Lolita for over a year
• You've been wearing Lolita for over 5 years
• You've been wearing Lolita for over a decade
• You have enough Lolita outfits to wear a new one every day for a week
• You have enough Lolita outfits to wear a new one every day for a month
• You've converted an interested friend to Lolita

• You wear brand with your "normal" wardrobe
• You don't have a "normal" wardrobe because you only wear Lolita
• You know how to handwash your Lolita clothes
• You know how to wash a wig
• You've worn a wig, circle lenses, or false eyelashes
• You've worn a wig, circle lenses, and false eyelashes all at once
• You own a pair of rocking horse shoes
• You own a pair of tea party shoes
• You own a purse shaped like something ridiculous
• You own an old school rectangle headdress
• You own a bonnet
• You own Lolita roomwear or pajamas
• You own a Lolita item that was released this past year
• You own a Lolita item that was released over 6 years ago
• You own a Lolita item that was released over 10 years ago
• You own every item released in a favorite print/series

• You've worn something on your head that was never intended to be worn on a head
• You've worn a trendy accessory (deer horns, halos, peignoirs, eyeballs, etc)
• You've worn Sweet Lolita
• You've worn Classic Lolita
• You've worn Gothic Lolita
• You've worn Old School Lolita
• You've worn Boystyle
• You've worn one of the lesser worn Lolita substyles such as Punk, Ero, Wa, or Guro
• You know the difference between a JSK and an OP
• You can name at least 5 prints
• You can tell which items are from which brand just by looking at them
• You can tell which items are from which brand just by looking at them, even if they're not a print
• You can tell which year a brand piece came from just by looking at it
• You've taken Lolita outfit snaps
• You've traveled to visit a fancy looking place just to take outfit snaps
• You've started a trend that others have followed

• You own a Gothic & Lolita Bible
• You own every single Gothic & Lolita Bible
• Your picture is in a Gothic & Lolita Bible
• Your picture is in a Gothic & Lolita Bible because you're a model for a brand
• You own a Lolita sewing pattern book
• You've made something from a Lolita sewing pattern book
• You've seen Kamikaze Girls
• You've read Kamikaze Girls
• You've met Novala Takemoto
• You've met Misako Aoki
• Misako Aoki has made you an official Lolita ambassador
• You've met one of your favorite Lolita designers
• You've learned how to sew/craft just so you can make your own Lolita clothes/accessories
• You've decorated your house/bedroom to match your Lolita wardrobe
• Your Lolita wardrobe is part of your decor (ex: you display your hats on a shelf, keep a mannequin dressed up on display, etc)
• You've been interviewed for a newspaper/magazine article for wearing Lolita

• You've made friends through Lolita
• You've made friends in foreign countries through Lolita
• You've celebrated International Lolita Day
• You have a separate facebook profile just for Lolita
• You're known by a different name when you wear Lolita
• You've twinned with someone
• You've tripleted with people
• You've been part of a group of clones
• You've taken purikura in Lolita before
• You have a purikura app on your phone
• You've had to explain what you were wearing to a stranger
• You've been called a princess by small children
• Old ladies have complimented you and remarked how nice it is to see young people dressed so nicely
• You've been called Bo-Peep
• You've been asked if you were in a play
• You've been asked what you were cosplaying as, or compared to an anime character

• You're a member of online Lolita communities
• You're active in online Lolita communities
• You mod an online Lolita community
• You mod an online community of over 1,000 members
• You've attended a meetup
• You've attended a tea party meetup
• You've attended a brand sponsored tea party
• You've traveled multiple hours to attend a meetup
• You've hosted a meetup
• You've hosted over 6 meetups
• You've hosted a meetup with over 20 attendees
• You've been to a Lolita swap meet
• You've attended a large scale Lolita event or convention
• You've been on staff at a large scale Lolita event or convention
• You've been to a Lolita panel at a convention
• You've hosted your own panel at a convention

• You've seen a Lolita fashion show
• You've modeled in a Lolita fashion show
• You've seen a brand fashion show
• You've modeled in a brand fashion show
• You own your own Lolita clothes/accessory line
• You've hosted your own brand's fashion show
• You have visited a Lolita shop
• You've traveled to another country just to buy from Lolita shops
• You own and run your own Lolita shop
• You're friends with a brand shop girl
• You are a brand shop girl
• You run a Lolita blog (traditional, tumblr, vlog, etc)
• You run a Lolita blog with over 1,000 followers
• You have been called "e-famous"
• You have been called "e-infamous"
• You've been featured on TV for wearing Lolita

 1-15 points means you're familiar with the fashion and have taken an interest in all things frilly and Lolita. You've probably attended a few open events, maybe own a few pieces of Lolita, lurk the online communities, and you definitely are on your way to knowing your stuff! Your next step is probably buying the final piece for your first full outfit and finally headed to your first meetup!


16-40 points means you're just starting out in the world of Lolita. You may have been interested in the fashion for a few years but are just now getting involved in wearing the fashion on a regular basis and joining local communities. You probably have a couple full outfits but are still working on building a larger wardrobe. Alternatively, you have a larger wardrobe and definitely know your stuff, but you aren't very active in local or online Lolita communities and are perhaps more of a lone Lolita. Your next step is probably either finishing up adding a few more pieces to your wardrobe or to starting getting to know some other Lolitas.

 41-60 points means you're probably a very well-rounded Lolita. You have a fair sized wardrobe that allows a variety of outfits and some style experimentation, you have a few Lolita friends, and you've attended your fair share of meetups and even fashion shows. You probably have a few volumes of the Gothic & Lolita Bible hanging around your bookshelf and you've definitely taken an interest in Lolita hobbies. Your next step is probably to step out of your comfort bubble, try a new style you've always wanted to try, host your own meetups, or perhaps finally apply to be a model for a local Lolita fashion show.


61-80 points is the realm of an experienced Lolita! You've probably been active in the fashion for a number of years, have a fairly large and diverse wardrobe, and have attended (and hosted!) your fair share of Lolita events. You're most likely well-known within your local, and online, communities. You're probably practically an expert on the fashion and have probably introduced, or at least guided, a few friends along the right path in the fashion. Your next step is most likely to do a closet cleaning or some wardrobe organization because you probably have a few years of accumulated clothes.

 81-100 points is at the top of the Lolita game. You've definitely been active in the fashion for a number of years, or possibly you've had a very intense first few years. You've gone out there and had the chance to do some pretty cool things that you always dreamed of doing back when you first got started as a Lolita. There's a good chance you're a leader in both your local Lolita communities and the online Lolita-sphere. Your next step is probably to kick a few more things off your Lolita bucket list! 
 
101 points is within the ream of Lolita royalty. You probably have enough clothes to dress your own personal rufflebutt army, which you could very well easily raise with a wave of your very expensive burando scepter! You're well known by Lolitas both near and far, who are most likely green with envy at what you have in your closet, who you've met, and what you've had the chance to do. There are probably still a few items left on your Lolita bucket list that have been haunting you for a while now because you thought they've always been out of your reach for one reason or another (perhaps it's that long-distance shopping vacation, to complete your dream dress list, or to finally host the tea party of your dreams), but look how far you've come yet! Whatever it is you want to do, you can probably achieve it easily, or at the very least, you definitely have the patience within the fashion to stick with it for a while and work on getting it done.

Keep in mind, this is obviously just for fun. You probably can't walk into Angelic Pretty and demand a discount because you got over 100 on this quiz, and the burando police aren't going to sneak into your house at night and steal your petticoats if you got a low store! I'd also like to give out one final shout out to Victoria of Parfait Doll who made the original Lolita Level Up quiz all those years ago, if you want a big of nostalgia, go take her original quiz. If you took it long ago, take it again and see how you compare (I've gotten an extra 20 points in the 4 years since I last took her quiz!).

What's your Lolita level? How accurate is the descriptions for you? Are they spot on or way off for you? My final score is a whopping 98 points! Here's to hoping 2015 brings me those final few points to knock my score up to Lolita royalty!

Invent 5 New Lolita Holidays To Celebrate

I haven't had the chance to do a Lolita Blog Carnival post in a while, but this week's was just too fun to pass up! The topic is invent 5 new Lolita holidays to celebrate. Every good Lolita knows that every year comes with, not one, but two International Lolita Days as an excuse to get together and have some meetups, but what about the other 363 days of the year? Now's our chance to fill the calender up with more excuses to wear Lolita!

January 26th

January 26th just so happens to be Novala Takemoto's birthday, and what better day to have a Lolita holiday on? Maiden's Day is an excuse to completely indulge in the lifestyle of Lolita. Put on your laciest Old School Lolita dress, sip your most expensive tea, and watch Kamikaze Girls for the millionth time in your life. The best part about Maiden's Day is that you don't necessarily need other Lolitas to celebrate it with, because who needs things like friends?

March 19th

March 19th is already a familiar holiday for a lot of Lolitas, as it's Mana's birthday! What better day to recognize Gothic Lolitas than on his birthday? World Gothic Lolita Day is an excuse for even the sweetest of Sweet Lolitas to goth it up in some black clothes. Take a cue from Mana's Visual Kei roots and put on some Shironuri makeup and go totally OTT with your Gothic coordinates!

Second Saturday in August

This comes a couple months after the summer ILD, in what is usually the hottest time of year, a time when people just generally don't wan to wear Lolita. Come August, most Lolitas probably realize that they haven't worn the fashion in a while! Let's change that with International Casual Lolita Day! Everyone shows up with their favorite Otome-inspired blouseless JSK, big straw hat to block the sun, ruffly ankle socks, and meetups are chosen based on places have the best air conditioning.

October 13th

Wearing Lolita in October is sometimes more annoying than it should be because it's so close to Halloween that people tend to assume there's some sort of Halloween party going on that they weren't invited to. OTT Day is a chance to go all out with your Lolita, regardless of your style, and do it in a big meetup group. So now when people ask if there's a Halloween party going on, you can tell them "No, as a matter of fact, it's Over-The-Top Day, just wait till you see our Halloween costumes!"

December 28th

Who doesn't love Christmas parties? But the real shame is that once Christmas is over, you have to wait almost a whole week before New Years Eve parties! With Lolita Christmas, the holiday doesn't have to be over so soon. In that awkward week of resting between Christmas with the family and spending all New Years Eve partying we can easily fit in a special holiday just as an excuse to bust out the green and red velvet Lolita dresses you never have a good reason to wear the rest of the year! Ruffle-Butt Christmas is, basically, exactly like regular Christmas, only it's just for Lolitas. You get all your Lolita friends together for one last Christmas party of the year and exchange presents of brand novelties, bake up some cute pastel sweets, and finally get to incorporate tinsel into your coordinates!

Check out these other blogs participating in this week's Lolita Blog Carnival!

✦ Northern Star ✦ Lace Tea Pot ✦ Hello Batty ✦

The Most Accurate And Shocking Lolita Documentary Yet: The Secret Life of the Lolita Part 1

As Lolitas, we were all unlucky enough to have been the subject (sort of) of the recent My Strange Addiction episode about "living dolls". Luckily for us all, Deerstalker Pictures has released the first part of a startlingly accurate portrayal of the Lolita in her natural habitat. It's short, hilarious, and only a slight exaggeration about how real Lolitas live.

You can see more of Deerstalker's amazing Lolita-centric films on youtube! If you haven't seen any of them yet, I would definitely recommend them! They produce some of the most technically impressive, funny, and genuinely touching videos about Lolitas I've seen yet.

What It Takes To Be the Best Lolita You Can Be, According To The Gothic & Lolita Bible!

While digging through some pictures from the Gothic & Lolita Bibles, I came across this little comic. Of course, it was in Japanese originally, but I was intrigued and a bit confused by what was going on! I asked if anyone had translated this because I was quite curious what that owl was tormenting those girls for and Tanpoponoko came to the rescue and translated it! I simply edited her translations into the original comic for reading ease. If clicking it doesn't bring up a bigger picture (because sometimes blogger does weird things to images!) click here for a larger version!

Before I say what I want to say, check out the comic by clicking for a larger version (or alternatively, check out Tanpoponoko's text translation here).

I found this comic neat because it's a bit of a controversial topic in the Western Lolita circles, especially the bit about adjusting how you act and speak to be a better Lolita! Does that necessarily mean this is bad advice, even outside of the cultural context of Japan? I'm going to maybe be a little controversial in my own opinion and say "No, this is not actually that bad of advice!".

Generally in the West, it's regarded that owning Lolita clothes is all it takes to be a Lolita, and this isn't exactly untrue. It is definitely the biggest hurdle in becoming a Lolita, and you just can't be one without them, but to become a great Lolita it might take a little more than simply plopping a dress down over your head. While it's generally considered that changing the way you act and dress while in Lolita annoys people and makes it seem more of a costume than a fashion, it's not a bad suggestion to polish your look with a nice hair style and some simple learning how to move elegantly in a fluffy skirt.

You don't have to turn yourself into a perfectly made up and coiffed doll to wear Lolita, but a little bit of polishing in the form of some nice coordination, a good hairstyle, very basic mascara-and-lipgloss makeup, and learning how to move in a fluffy skirt without covering everything around you in your petticoat an simultaneously flashing everyone is never a bad thing! If you're looking for some very basic things you can do to make your Lolita look the best it can be, learn to perfect those things!

Ridiculous Lolita Trend Predictions Vol. 2

A couple summers ago I made a blog post making some pretty ridiculous Lolita trend predictions, it's always been a favorite post of mine and one I've meant to revisit for some time now! So the basic premise of this series is, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the first one, that Lolita has some pretty weird trends to begin with. Our preferred faux-fur print is baby deer spots, we wear tea cups on our heads, pair skeleton tights with super sweet dresses, and carry around purses that look like pancake mix boxes. So what sort of trends might be a little bit too weird for Lolita? Or alternatively, are just weird enough to work. This volume of ridiculous trend predictions imagines what could be popular in the upcoming fashion seasons!

 

Classic Lolita Armor

I can imagine Juliette et Justine starting this trend! It starts with one of their off-the wall photoshoots that, oddly enough, features real metal shoulder and arm armor paired with one of their elegant classic dresses. Soon Lolitas everywhere want to emulate this trend and are willing to drop several hundred dollars on metal armor pauldrons to vambraces (hey, it's probably not much more than the secondhand value of their JeJ painting skirts!) Thriftier Lolitas discover the famous craft foam armor tutorial that cosplayers have been familiar with for years and make their own. "Casual Armor Lolita" pops up when people don't want to go the whole nine yards and just wear pauldrons instead of the whole shebang. Arguments break out everywhere when people think that it looks too much like a costume, of course.

Bondage Pants-style Garter Belts

With the Pastel Goth trend looming above us like a big hip pastel shadow, the pastel colored bondage accoutrements are taken to the next level with bondage pants-styled garter belt systems. All the hassle of getting things stuck in the straps of your pants, without actually having to wear pants! A major shortage of sock glue, vital to holding up the garters attached to the straps, eventually causes the trend to die out. Angelic Pretty tries to revive the trend by releasing a pair of bloomers with attached bondage straps and garter belts, but Lolitas getting chairs caught in them and causing massive damage at tea houses across the world keeps the trend largely confined to photo shoots.

Brand Released Candy Jewelry

Remember when brands were tricking us into paying $30 for hair scrunchies? Well you're going to love their new line of $50 candy jewelry! Cute candy necklaces with big sugary (and completely edible!) hearts stamped with brand names, and giant ring-pops on gold plated bases pop up in various brand shops. Lolitas will go crazy for them and end up staining the collars of their blouses with half-eaten candy necklaces and getting ring-pops stuck in their wigs. The trend will only last as long as people can resist eating the jewelry, but for years afterwards, super rare un-eaten sets will sell for hundreds and there will be posts by eager newbies letting people know they think they saw Angelic Pretty candy necklaces sold at their local gas station, and post pictures asking more experienced Lolitas to identify which candy necklace release it was, but are disappointed to find it's not the real deal, but a regular old replica candy necklace.

Crazy Cat Lady Lolita

With all the releases of cat themed Lolita prints and accessories, soon Crazy Cat Lady Lolita is born, and real cats are brought into the mix. BYOC (bring your own cat!) meetups are held, causing much debate among the communities ranging from "Is it right to force Lolita upon your cat?" "Is it fair to exclude people who are allergic to cats from meetups?", as well as many partially shredded cat prints to pop up on the secondhand sales communities because, yeah, maybe it was a bad idea to get a bunch of strange cats in the same room as expensive Lolita dresses.

Wigs Made Completely From Flowers

While last time I predicted a wig overload trend, this time I predict something a little different. As Lolitas, we're all getting a bit tired of the wig trend, and try to find new ways to decorate our heads without using wigs. Combine this with the resurgence in Classic Lolita, and a need to cover more and more of your head with rose corsages just goes full-circle and soon flower wigs are born. Styled a little bit after the powdered wigs of the past, but made completely out of fake flowers in the perfect color to match your dress! Sweet Lolitas everywhere exclaim "And you said our wigs looked bad?!"

Terrarium Headdresses

I could see this coming from a brand like Victorian Maiden, who actually has an often forgotten about home goods section (ages ago, they actually sold a coffin on it!). I predict that they would originally offer cute little terrariums in their home goods section, but find the stock was just sitting on shelves. So what do they do? Glue them to headbands and decorate with roses, of course! Since this is such an easy DIY project, Lolitas all over make their own versions and Victorian Maiden, unfortunately, hardly sells any, despite the fact that every single Lolita is wearing their own within a week of them hitting the stores!

So what do you think of this particular lineup of ridiculous trends? More or less possible than the first batch of them? Personally, I can actually see a few of these happening! Terrarium headdresses don't seem so far out there, and the shoulder armor seems sort of awesome to me.

What sort of trends do you think are ridiculous enough that you want to root for them to become the next big thing? These sorts of posts are so fun, because it seems like even the most ridiculous thing you can think up can totally work! I would love to hear about your ideas on what you think the next big ridiculous trend could be, either in the comments, or in blog posts of your own!

Blogspiration: Juliette et Justine Fashion Shows, An Indie Lolita Design Contest, Lolitaopoly, and some upcoming Conventions!

Look at that! I managed to make another one of these link roundup posts in considerably under 6 months. I have a few random things to share with you all, in addition to some neat stuff I've stumbled across online, that I didn't want to bother with a whole new post with, so why not more blogspiration posts?

The UK Lolitas have a pretty large and active community, adorably called the Tea Party Club, and a few months ago they were lucky enough to get the chance to host a Juliette et Justine fashion show. They pictures are just now hitting the internet and you can check them out here. Juliette et Justine is such a stunning and opulent brand, so it's really amazing to get to see so many dresses from them all in one place, and done up so elaborately for a show like this! I seriously wish I had a local community that was able to pull off a feat like this!

If there are any aspiring designers and artists out there, the indie brand Pop Princesses is hosting a contest that is open for just a couple more days, that allows artists to submit their portfolios for a chance to work on an upcoming print with them! Check out this post for some more info on it. It could be a great chance to work with a skilled seamstress and make those burando dreams come true!

So, I was going to make this post earlier today, but I got a bit lazy and I'm really into MST3K and Rifftrax, so I kinda slacked off today because it was frozen and snowing out and watched a bunch of old Rifftrax, but I am really glad I held off (not just because I got to watch those Rifftrax) because I stumbled across this completely amazing project by Misirlou, of a Lolita version of monopoly called Lolitopoly. Seriously, check out this post! It looks completely stunning and hilarious. I want to be able to play this game so bad, it looks like a complete blast to play!

I absolutely have a soft spot in my heart for old school styled Lifestyle Lolita lists of cute ideas, so I was pretty pleased when I stumbled across this list of Princess Tips: 25 Spring Lifestyle Ideas. Spring is actually a lot further around the corner than I want to even think about, but these ideas are still really adorable, and a lot of them are really appropriate for any time of year, provided you're into the Lolita Lifestyle.

I actually stumbled across this post, It's Cosplay, Not C******, on an otaku culture blog I am particularly fond of, and it's about Cosplay vs. historical costuming, but I feel like a lot of what she says is very relevant to the Lolita too. Obviously the major difference between Cosplay and Lolita, is that Lolita isn't always, or even less than 90% of the time, a costume but more of a "Yeah, this is just what I wear" thing, but it's still a very interesting read and definitely something a lot of us have heard before coming from other people who dress outside what is considered "normal". I'd like to share the following quote from the post:

"It doesn’t matter if you play a character who was a queen 400 years ago, or you play one who will be queen of future Tokyo in a millenium. What matters is this is a hobby people are drawn to for their own reasons. As long as they’re having fun and not harming anyone, lets knock off the elitism and let them have their fun. It’s a big enough sandbox for us all to play with our toys together."

In F Yeah Lolita news, I've added an extra, and hopefully helpful, page to the site! Blogging Resources is a one-stop page for, you guessed it, resources for bloggers. I have been hoarding a lot of useful sites for myself to reference now and again, so I figured I would share them with the rest of you. The sites linked range from helpful blog coding sites, to Lolita specific memes, to blog posts others have written about being a blogger, to just sort of useful kawaii images. I'll be adding some new stuff as I find it, so if you're a blogger, you might want to check back now and again!

My final "OMG, guys, check this out!" is some fun news for me! It's just about convention season and I've managed to snag a couple tables at some upcoming conventions.

The most recent convention is actually only a couple of weeks away! The third year of U-con at Uconn is coming up on February 16th and 17th. U-con at Uconn is a completely free convention that's put on by our state's college. It's a small-ish 2 day con that has, I believe, between 700 and 1,000 people in attendance for the previous years. It's free and it's fun, and I'll be selling some stuff in the dealers room and just generally hanging out and doing con stuff. If you're in the area, stop by and say hi!

 The next con is actually a few months away, at the end of May, but it's one of my absolute favorites of the year, Anime Boston. I just got the news that I will get the chance to have a table in the Artist Alley this year, and I'm very excited for it! I have no idea where I'll be yet, or even what sort of stuff I'll be selling, but I just know I'm happy to get the chance to go back. I absolutely love the Lolita events that go down at Anime Boston!

I'd also like to mess around in this post a bit with link parties. If you're unfamiliar with the term (and you probably are unless you lurk around a bunch on craft blogs like I do!) it basically just means you get the chance to add your link directly to this blog post!

What's That On Your Head?!- Odd Lolita Headwear

Lolitas are no stranger to wearing odd headwear. Even the basic rectangle headdress is sort of WTF to most people (because, really, what is it?) or the mini hat or giant head bow are a bit odd if you really stop to think about it. But there have been things released and things that somehow got popular that have always sort of made me think "Who the heck thought this would be a good idea to put on their head?" Some end up being awesome, others end up looking just as ridiculous as you would expect them to.

So let's take a look at some of the stranger things Lolitas have decided to perch on their heads over the years!

Cake Hats

First up is what I like to think of as the original "weird Lolita headwear" the infamous cake hat. Cake hats come in a variety of different styles, from an individual slice of cake perched atop your head, to pieces that look a bit like mini top hats made out of cake, to just plain ol' balancing a wedding cake made out of lace on top of your head.

Angelic Pretty's Ice Cream Cone headbands.

 

A sibling to the cake hat would be Angelic Pretty's ice cream cone headbands. These come in two styles- upright, and spilled all over your head and dripping into your hair.

Angelic Pretty's Fluffy Bunny-chan Bonnet

I'm not being silly and making of dumb names for a dumb bonnet, that's actually what Angelic Pretty calls this monstrosity.  While adding bunny ears to a bonnet is not something Angelic Pretty invented, they certainly took it to the extreme. The best part about this bonnet is the bunny ears sort of flop up against the furry brim, and look like shorter bear ears, so instead of a cute fluffy bunny bonnet, what it looks like is a giant bear sneaking up behind you.

Alice & the Pirates' Pirate Hats

 

Their name is Alice & the Pirates, so of course they are going to put out pirate hats! Although, maybe we don't exactly need a full size pirate hat covered in bows to go with our Lolita. I'm sure that these could work in some coordinate, and I'm sure they could look awesome, but they're just so wacky looking I just can't imagine any self respecting pirate would go for a giant pink tartan bow on their hat, or even be able to see out from under that one with the stars all over it.

Extreme Mini Top Hats

 

If there is a brand that has elevated the act of gluing pompoms and small toys to a mini top hat, that brand is Angelic Pretty. These mini top hats are usually a bit bigger or taller than your average mini top hat, but that's really only so you can fit more crap on them.

Angelic Pretty's Jello Mold Hat

When Angelic Pretty came out with Jewelery Jelly, the Lolita communities first reaction tended to be "Since when is jello Lolita?!" which quickly turned into "OMG GOTTA HAVE IT!" but as quickly as many of us changed our mind on jello in our Lolita, most of us still were a bit confused by Angelic Pretty's choice of headwear for the set. They released a headdress made to look like a glittery brick of jello, complete with frothy lace whipped cream. On first glance it might just look like yet another silly cake hat, but the jello part of the hat his actually made with some sort of stiff sheer fabric. I've always been curious what this hat was made of!

Antique Beast's Bat Maid Headdress

 Definitely my favorite headwear on this list! Because it combines the kitchyness of Maid Lolita with Gothic elegance and bats. Because even Aristocrats need maids, and those maids are probably going to be dressed like frilly bats.

BtSSB's Usamimis

 

Usamimis were a trendy accessory for a little bit, mostly in the Gyaru fashion it seemed. They were little wired pieces of ribbon that were worn around the head and folded in a way that sort of made them look like lopsided bunny ears. They were cute and casual, then Baby decided to get their mitts on them. While some of Baby's usamimi's were just fine, some of them were completely ridiculous and ended looking giant and sloppy.

Very Expensive Hair Scrunchies

For some reason, a couple summers back, hair scrunchies got very popular in Japanese fashion. So brands started to jump on the scrunchie bandwagon and release their own versions of these little throw backs to early 1990's kids wear. Only, being from a Lolita brand, these hair scruncis (or "chou chou" I guess they are called when you want to pretend they aren't meant to be worn by an 8 year old in 1992 to decorate her side ponytail) tended to cost between $20 and $35. Hair scruncies are fine and all, especially with the often pigtailed-hairstylings of Lolita, but there's a limit to how much hair scruncies should cost.

Metamorphose's Gardening Teddy Kerchief

 

Sometime last year, when Metamorphose released their Gardening Teddy series, they really busted out some old school designs, but maybe went back a little too far into the old school, into the realms of Natural Kei, when it came time to think up some matching headdresses for the series. For whatever reason they decided a kerchief was in order. While it's certainly not awful looking, it's just an incredibly bizarre choice that seems several decades out of date.

Witch Hats 

 

 These are usually released around Halloween to go with whatever special Halloween set is being released that year, but I believe Antique Beast sells them year round. Personally, I like the idea of witch hats being worn every day. They're good hats, they've got a big wide brim to keep the sun out of your eyes, some flowers and bows for prettiness, and a point to show that you mean business.

Baby's Freakishly Huge Fur Bow

It seems like headbows have been getting larger over the years, but Baby, of all people, really took the cake when they released this monster of a headbow. To make sure that it will never stay up and probably even give you a neck ache at the end of the day, they decided to make it out of faux fur, which I'm sure you're aware is significantly heavier than cotton.

These aren't all the strange things Lolita brands have released as headwear over the years, and certainly not all the strange things individual Lolitas have decided would work best as a hat, but these are some of my WTF favorites. I really shouldn't be one to talk about wearing weird things on your head though, as I'm sure you all know, I have quite the fondness for oversized bonnets, and those of you that know me personally know that I keep a drawer in my armoire devoted to bonnets, which include a BtSSB bear eared one and a black and white bodyline one with huge awkward floppy bunny ears. And, as I've mentioned in this post, I would just love to see people wearing books as hats!

What do you think of out-of-the-ordinary Lolita headwear? Are you more of a tiny-side-bow kind of Lolita or do you like your headwear to be a bit more attention grabbing?

Trends of the Past: Camouflage Lolita?

Cruella De Vil wigs, mismatched socks, pastry hats, applying your false eyelashes about halfway down your face... Lolita definitely has it's fair share of odd trends that come and go with the times, but I think that one of the weirdest and most inexplicable ones to hit the fashion was the trend of Camouflage Lolita, from back in the old school days. Yes, that's right, quite possibly the least elegant thing in the world managed to become a Lolita trend, albeit not a very widespread one.

I'm honestly not sure how this happened, it probably happened with a somewhat strange Angelic Pretty collaboration in 2005 with the Jrock band Psycho le Cemu, in which they designed this set, complete with old school giant ruffly headdress, for the musician Aya.

 The elegance! The mystery! The crossdressing!

This was not a one-off, a just-for-Aya-to-dance-around-in costume, but something actually released by Angelic Pretty. Believe it or not, Aya was something of a Lolita idol, a pink-haired second-rate Mana, who often appeared in the Gothic & Lolita Bibles, usually wearing, or doing, something questionable. I am particularly fond of a picture of him posing with a vacuum cleaner, pretending to be some sort of Punk Lolita housewife, and one sort of awkward Wizard of Oz photo shoot that involved drawings of bishounen Scarecrow. I honestly have no idea what ever happened to Aya, I seem to recall some sort of brief career as a Halloween themed costumed rock star, but for whatever reason, he seems to have slipped from the pages of the Bibles, and from the Lolita timeline.

 Angelic Pretty's stock photos for this set.

When most people even recall that camo-print Lolita was even a thing, they usually think back to Metamorphose's Punkma Camouflage set released a year later, in 2006. After all, Meta tends to be the odd ball in the Lolita world, no one would have really expected Angelic Pretty to make something like this, it seems to have Meta's shenanigans all over it. Maybe Meta didn't invent camo-loli, but they certainly jumped all over that bandwagon with Punkma and released a surprisingly large amount of pieces, in a wide range of styles, in their particular brand of camo-print, which featured cute silhouettes of their bunny and bear mascots.

   

Believe it or not, there are actually a few more pieces in this series!

While this is Meta's most famous camo-print line, it certainly wasn't their first! Before this bunny and bear covered camo-print came a more generic print set. As far as I know, it came in grey and pink, had 2 different styles of skirt, and a heart-shaped apron. At least, these are the only pieces of it I have ever seen online.

 

A couple pieces from the original Meta camo-print set, complete with matching heart-shaped apron. Because just a camo Lolita skirt is never enough.

Did it come before the Psycho le Cemu Angelic Pretty set? Did Metamorphose, in fact, invent such a thing as Camouflage Lolita? Honestly, I have no idea, as there is very little information about Meta's first camo series online. All I know is that, just like all the other camo-print Lolita pieces that have released, it is pretty awesome, for it's equal parts of badass and tackiness. I actually used to own one of the pink skirts from this set! I loved it for it's tackiness, but never quite knew how to wear it so, regrettably, I sold it. I would probably pick it up in a heart-beat if I saw it for sale again, that is, if it was for the $35 that I paid for it and had been making the rounds through the second hand Lolita community for.

Sometime last week I was tweeting around Twitter and was conversing* with a fellow old school Lolita/fashion-in-questionable-taste fan about the old camo-loli and wondered if this weird trend could ever get revived for current generations of Lolita fans. Conclusion: probably not, but wouldn't it be wacky if it did? So, I coaxed some life out of my dying Wacom tablet and doodled up what I thought a print would look like this trend happened today in Lolita.

 Awful? More like AWESOME-FULL.

First thing to change, from the old style, would definitely be the colors, they're just too bold and monochromatic for the modern Lolita. Drawing inspiration from Angelic Pretty, I made a pallet of all the pastel colors I could think of (Which is apparently just four colors...) and made a big pastel mess of a camouflage print. If you squint your eyes and think about bunny rabbits, it sort of looks like what a lot of relatively recent Angelic Pretty prints look like to me. But, still, it was too plain. All-over prints are so Baby the Stars Shine Bright, and that's just not what we were going for. Knowing that Lolitas can't ever get enough of irony (Guro Lolita, anyone?) we decided to bust out the big guns. The big cookie guns, covered in frosting, and made into a frosting sandwich, that is. And some grenades and tanks and hearts for good measure too.

My tablet managed to give out on me while I was trying to draw up some outfits with this print, which is a shame, because they were actually really fun looking, if a bit completely an utterly silly. They involved hats shaped like tank cookies and machine gun cookie purses. And the dress came in 2 styles, typical Angelic Pretty OP, and a more Fairy Kei styled empire waist mini-dress with matching bloomers. I think I hear Maki and Asuka knocking on my door now, just begging me to fly to Japan and design dresses for them now!

That's about the short-lived and weird trend of Camouflage Lolita in a nutshell. What do you think about it? Did you not even know about this skeleton buried deep within the Lolita closet? Or maybe you were actually a fan of it at one time? When I first started buying Lolita pieces, this style was in full-swing, well, as full of a swing as it ever was, and I was a bit baffled by it, this manly and inelegant print, so out of place in a time when nearly all Lolita prints were classical and elegant florals, but I enjoyed it for it's silly irony, and I still do. When I hear people complain about some new trend being un-Lolitalike, or someone not considering something part of the Lolita fashion just because it doesn't follow their idea of elegance, I tend to think back to these camo-printed pieces and wonder how they would react if they knew that brands used to put out pieces like this.


*the following story is a bit over dramatized, the conversation basically went Her: "Remember Meta's camo print?" Me:"OMG LOVED IT! It should come back in OTT!" Her: "OMG WITH COOKIE GUNS" Me: "I'M GONNA DRAW IT!" But that's not very fun to read, or write about.