5 Hard Lessons About Lolita Fashion

It's no secret that being a Lolita isn't all kittens and rainbows. Wearing Lolita isn't going to fix all your problems, and mingling with other Lolitas doesn't mean you're going to be welcome with open arms into a completely accepting sisterhood. Just like nearly anything you do in life, Lolita has its ups and downs, and today, let's look at a few of the downs that tend to sweep by and take even the most hardened Lolitas by surprise sometimes. Consider this something of a 5 things I wish someone had warned me about list!

You can't wear Lolita all the time

I know that a lot of people who start in the fashion imagine a life where they can wear nothing but Lolita and live the Momoko lifestyle they have been dreaming of, but it's probably just not going to happen. While there are plenty of opportunities to wear Lolita, and even more to Lolify a little bit of your life, it's just not something you can cram into every nook and cranny of your day to day life.

A question I get a lot from people looking to take their Lolita to the next level is "How do you wear Lolita to work/school/fancy events/etc?" expecting that other Lolitas have figured out some sort of neat trick they just haven't thought of that is going to make this work, and the truth is simply that there are going to be times when you simply cannot wear Lolita. And in all honesty, it's really not that big of a deal.

You're no less of a Lolita because your job or school wont let you dress however you want, or because sometimes you have to put on some normal clothes, or other times it's simply too hot or too cold or you're too lazy to bother with all those petticoats.

People aren't going to want to be your new BFF just because of your clothes

Don't get me wrong, going to Lolita events and being an active member of Lolita communities are a great way to meet like minded people, and wearing Lolita might be just the ice breaker you need in a social situation, but people aren't necessarily going to jump at the chance to be your new BFF just because you happen to be wearing Lolita, even if they're wearing Lolita too.

Ultimately, Lolita clothes are just, well, clothes. And anyone can wear them. Lolita fashion attracts a very wide variety of people, some are going to mesh with you, and some simply are not. I feel like a lot of newcomers to the fashion come in with the attitude that everyone else who wears Lolita is going to instantly like them and agree with them and like the same things they like, and when they are shocked to find out that other Lolitas are just regular people, they write off the possibility of being friends with other Lolitas as a hopeless cause. "Hardly anyone talked to me! I felt so left out!" is all too often the cry of someone upon coming back from their first Lolita meetup.

Lolita fashion is a great common interest to have with people, but just like in any other situation, sometimes you're going to have to put in the effort into making lasting friendships with other people.

You're not going to be able to wear every dress you fall in love with 

I feel like this is a hard lesson that some people sort of never get over! There are so many amazing dresses released by brands, both big and indie alike, it's honestly hard not to love them all. But sometimes it's just something that's not meant to be. 

Maybe the dress is incredibly rare, is out of your price range, out of your size range, or simply doesn't look the way you hoped it did when worn. Sometimes you just have to let it go and learn to love a dress without owning it. Trust me, your wallet and closet space will thank you for learning this lesson!

There will be unexpected things you're probably going to have to buy

This is a lesson I'm learning all the time! Try as I might I feel like I am all too often having to buy something really unexciting that I absolutely need in order to wear something that I'm just dying to get the chance to coordinate. I might want to spend all my money on the dress of my dreams that pops up on auction, or some exciting new release, but what I really need is a new petticoat and a pair of comfortable black walking shoes. Oh, and dry cleaning, and some plain colored tights, and a plain button up in cream, and a plain underskirt in just the right shade of brown, and I think you get my point!

It's fun to get swept up in wanting new main pieces, but there are so many basics that you need too. Especially if you wear the fashion on a regular basis and you wear some pieces so much that you get the chance to actually wear them out and probably have to toss them in the trash. I don't even want to think about how many pairs of tea party shoes I've had to throw away simply because they were just too worn out!

 It's going to take some hard work to get what you want

Many new Lolitas seem to think that people who've been wearing the fashion for a while all know some sort of magic trick to make things easier when it comes to finding just the right piece, in just the right size, for just the right price. The hard truth of the matter is that there is no trick, most of us who wear Lolita who have pretty much any sort of budget at all or fall anywhere outside of the standard size put in a lot of time and effort into building our wardrobes. We hunt and we lurk and we plan and we save! 

The best "magic trick" I can teach you would be to lurk more! Lurk everywhere and try to learn about everything! If you're interested in a particular style, learn who makes it, what sort of prices they go for, and what sort of hoops you should be jumping through to buy them. If you want to learn how to do something just like the pros, who make it all seem so natural and easy (be it posing like a kawaii princess or sewing beautiful dresses!) you're going to have to practice and you're probably going to make a lot of mistakes along the way. 

As many Lolitas will tell you, these little annoyances are definitely worth it for what the Lolita fashion gives back to them! For all the hours of lurking and learning, the reward is snagging your long sought after dream dress after all those years for a good price. For every handful of random Lolitas who you've met but neither of you are ever going to even remember each other names, there's going to a genuine friend.

What sort of hard lessons have you learned in the fashion that maybe you wish someone had prepared you for before hand? 

Kawaii Box January 2015 Review

Subscription boxes are all the rage lately! It seems like there's a subscription box for every interest, but there are very few for the kawaii lover. Enter Kawaii Box, one of the only subscription boxes filled specifically with cute things. I personally subscribe to this box and pay for it with my own money, however, for January I was chosen as Kawaii Box's reviewer of the month, and was sent a free January box for review.

Kawaii Box arrives in a, well, kawaii box! With their cute logo printed right on the box, so you know exactly what you're getting when you see it in the mail. Everything in the box is packaged very well, small items are in little baggies and everything is covered nicely with pink tissue paper, all fitting snugly into the box. While my box was a little squished in the middle, nothing was damaged.

I love cute flyers like this, and Kawaii Box includes a few, including a cute handwritten note and a Blippo flyer, which I believe is their parent company, with a discount coupon on the back.

What I've definitely noticed in the boxes that I've gotten so far (and comparing the previous boxes listed on their site)  is that the contents are generally similar, each month I have noticed you tend to get a snack, a couple keychains, some stationery items, a mini pouch, and a few cute accessories, making each box more or less predictable (at least for the moment!). That being said, this is the selection of cute accessories in January's Kawaii Box. The nail polish glows in the dark and the bracelet is a soft minty green and would be a cute addition to any mint-based Lolita outfit! Personally, the thing I look forward to the most in these boxes are the little pouches. They're so cute and I always feel like I can use more little pouches like this!

This month had 3 different straps in it, including one gigantic plushy one! It's far too big for a phone strap, but would still look cute hanging on a purse. The little deco strap has a mirror on the back and the upset looking emoticon one is squishy!

The snack in this month's box were these little Rilakkuma crackers, they were light and fluffy and tasted a bit like savory corn chips. They were tasty, but most importantly probably, the packaging was totally adorable.

Another thing I really look forward to in these boxes are the stationery items! I only recently started to get in the habit of keeping a planner, and having cute stickers and pens really helps me get excited about writing stuff down in it. Kawaii Box is a quick and easy way for me to build up my collection of cute stickers and stationery!

Kawaii Box is 18.90 a month, including shipping, and I personally think it's a pretty good value. If you have an import store near you, even small items like this are going to end up adding up to around $30 or more. For me, the best thing about boxes like this is the surprise and the fun of getting something cute and usable in the mail. All of these things (except for the glasses, because I wear prescription glasses!) are things I can regularly use and enjoy. Kawaii Box is definitely something I look forward to getting!

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!

Book Review: Kawaii! Japan's Culture of Cute

Recently I've been accumulating books about Japanese pop culture, particularly ones that reference the Lolita fashion in one way or another. There aren't a ton to choose from, but there have been a few releases that seemed worth checking out! 

The first one I'd like to review is Manami Okazaki and Geoff Johnson's Kawaii! Japan's Culture of Cute from 2013. Of the few I've recently picked up this one is probably my favorite of the bunch! I had actually almost skipped over this one completely because the cover made it look like a much more shallow book than it actually was. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was insightful as well as authentic, showcasing some things beyond just Hello Kitty bento boxes. Kawaii! contains a number of interviews with a variety of different creators about their own take on the kawaii lifestyle. The book is divided into six different aspects of this kawaii lifestyle!

The first section of Kawaii!, "The Roots of Kawaii" is probably the most wordy, even though it's composed of almost entirely interviews, just as the rest of the book is. There's really just a lot to be said about the early days of kawaii in the 60s and 70s! I love the kawaii characters of the 70's and it was really cool to get to see some pictures of the "fancy goods" of the era, in addition to the totally iconic shojo art of the era!

Interviews in this section include the curator of the Yayoi-Yumeji Museum, Eico Hanamura, a couple different researchers with the Kyoto International Manga Museum, Macoto Takahashi, and Yumiko Igarashi. 

The second section was entitled "Cute Design Overload" and focused on kind of "iconic" Japanese kawaii, from cute merchandise characters like Hello Kitty and Gloomy Bear, to cute shops like Swimmer, to cute public works, to even Itasha which is an otaku fad of tricking their cars out with anime character decals.

This section was one of the largest in the books and very photo oriented, but still had a fair number of interviews with the Gloomy Bear creator Mori Chack, Swimmer designer Hiroko Sakizume, and Nameneko creator Satoru Tsuda.

The third section in the book, "Adorable Eats", was very brief and all about cute foods! This section was mostly devoted to pictures, but it did have an interview with Miki Ikezawa, a rep for MaiDreamin.

The fourth section was called "How to Dress Kawaii" and was tied with the chapter on kawaii designs for largest in the book! There were tons of interviews and street snaps in this section, pretty much all of which I found very interesting (which is fantastic, because it was the reason I bought the book in the first place!). While most of this section is devoted to street fashion and designers, there is, of course, a few pages devoted to cosplay and Comiket. Books like this almost always inevitably will talk about cosplay, and I'm thankful that this book kept it very short and kept the focus on fashion designers and lifestyle wear rather than costume and otaku culture.

Interviews in this section included Shoichi Aoki of FRUiTS, Kumamiki of Party Baby, Takuya Sawada of Takuya Angel, Yuka and Vani of 6%DOKIDOKI, Toyoko Yokoyama from Conomi, Lolita models Rin Rin and Chikage, and Gashicon of h.NAOTO's Hangry & Angry line.

The fifth section was "Cute Crafts" which is pretty self explanatory! It featured a number of different Japanese crafters, of both modern cute things as well as traditional Japanese cute things like kokeshi. This section was brief but packed full of pictures and interviews with various crafters.

The final section is called "Kawaii Visual Art" and is a bit different from the design section because it featured artists who create art for themselves rather than as part of a larger merchandising business. This section was also brief but packed full of pictures and interviews. A lot of the art in this chapter was trendier and edgier than the design section and was a refreshing end to a book about all things kawaii.

Interviews featured in this chapter include Chikuwaemil, Junko Mizuno, Osamu Watanabe, and a handful of others.

Overall, while the actual Lolita related content in this book is minimal, I really enjoyed this book. I particularly loved the different takes on the kawaii culture, and even the different creators very definitions of the word!

I actually recently put together a list on Amazon of all the English language books about Japanese street fashion that I could find! I have a handful of them but I'm hoping to work my way through the list and eventually get them all. Especially while I'm anticipating the possible English translation of Shades of Wonderland!

The Lolita's Pillow Book- Brief Musings On The Fashion

I am a little bit obsessed with The Pillow Book, which is a book written over a thousand years ago by a woman named Sei Shōnagon, who was a lady-in-waiting to the Empress of Japan. Thousand year old Japanese literature doesn't exactly sound like the most exciting read, but The Pillow Book isn't just a story, it's the personal journal of a very real woman. Despite how long ago in the past she wrote down her thoughts, catty and snarky and sincere and heartwarming thoughts, they're still resonate with us when we read them today. To compare her to a more commonly known historical figure, Marie Antoinette springs to mind.

I have a copy of The Pillow Book that I've had for a few years now, and I keep it in the bookshelf beside by bed and pick it up and skim through it periodically and it always seems like there's something new to read that I missed in previous readings.

An except from The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon

If you've never read the book (and I would really recommend you do!), it's generally set up with a brief header or an idea and then followed by a list of things related to it or a talk about an event that happened or just her opinion on the topic. You often hear The Pillow Book compared to a modern day blog because of this! Especially with how frank and even bitchy some of the topics are. While some are hauntingly romantic recollections of dreamy events, others are snarky comments such as how unfortunate it is that moonlight and snow are wasted on commoners, and lots and lots of talk about boys and gossip.

I would like to do something that I have been planning to do on this blog for a while, and take a few of Sei Shonagōn's topics and create my own list related to them. This is a bit of a silly and trivial thing to do with a very important piece of historical literature, but Sei Shōnagon has been a master of silly and trivial for over a thousand years now, so I doubt she would mind very much. Or alternatively, she would have minded an awful lot and would have snarkily added it to a list of "annoying things".

Things that make you feel nostalgic

• Bell sleeves
• Very ruffly rectangular headdresses tied under the chin
• Knee socks with a ruffle on top and little bows on the side
• Eyelet lace
• Baby the Stars Shine Bright's dress tags
• Finding an old website with a picture you used to envy when you first got into Lolita

Things that make your heart beat fast

• When you're brushing your hair and all of the sudden the brush gets caught in the lace on your dress
• Seeing the mail carrier walk towards your house carrying packages
• The last minute on an auction
• Getting lost going to a meetup that you don't know many people at
• When you run into another Lolita you've never met before when you're out and about

Awkward and embarrassing things

• Stumbling in platforms at a meetup
• Knocking things off of table tops with your petticoat
• Accidentally opening your parasol too close to a person and knocking it into them
• Misidentifying a brand
• When one sock falls down while you're walking and you don't have anywhere to stop to pull it up, even worse if it's a long OTK and you have to lift up the hem of your skirt to fix it.

Infuriating things

• Seeing the little orange "we missed you" slip in the mail box while you're waiting for a package, even though you were home all day and didn't hear a knock on the door or the doorbell ring.
• Reserves selling out withing minutes, while you're sitting around still waiting for the shopping cart to load
• Livejournal downtime
• Lectures by people who don't have any interest in wearing the fashion on why you're wearing it wrong
• When people try to tell you what the word "Lolita" means

People who seem enviable

• Seeing pictures of people's large closets
• People who live near to brand stores
• Hearing about a friend's trip to Closet Child in Japan
• When other people's perfect hair gets mistaken for a wig
• Anyone who has your dream dress, even if it's the only dress they own

Things that look fresh and pure

• The tissue paper around a dress you bought new from a store
• The deep slightly luminous black of a brand new black dress
• Unworn shoes without any scuffs still nestled in their shoebox
• A brand new curly wig still in its wig net
• A flawless Shiro Lolita coordinate

While I was searching around for how The Pillow Book has inspired other bloggers (And it has! In so many different ways!), I stumbled across this, a Twitter account for Sei Shōnagon. I was quite confused by it at first, wondering what exactly I was looking at at first, I thought it was just a totally average Twitter account that happened to be using that name, but then it dawned on me. These are exactly the sort of things, and even the same tone, that Sei Shōnagon mentions quite frequently in the book. Something like this just goes to show you how The Pillow Book's topics have translated so well over the centuries.

I would encourage anyone to pick up this book, but if you don't have the time to add a new book to your reading list, I would love to see your versions of these types of lists! If you happen to make a similar blog post with these own list topics, or even similar other ones, I'd love to see them. Who knows, in a thousand years they might still be read!

Lolita Blog Carnival: Tips for Surviving the Summer in Lolita

I'm finally participating in another Lolita Blog Carnival! This week is all about summer, with the topic "Tips for surviving the summer in Lolita". I decided to write less of a tips post, and more of a summer Lolita essentials list. Over on Tumblr, this image of the "Goth Summer Survival Guide" has been circling around and I absolutely love the idea of a cute little graphic of summer essentials, so I did something of my own version for Lolita.

My last post about summer wardrobes was more of a trend prediction and some wistful summer window shopping, this post is all about the basics that can be translated into pretty much any Lolita style!

• Parasol- A parasol is a pretty good addition to any summer Lolita wardrobe because it's like a portable patch of shade! Consider a UV blocking parasol, or at least an opaque one and avoid lace parasols, as they are more pretty decoration that useful at blocking the sun.
• Cutsews- Cutsews are perfect for summer wear! They're usually much less stuffy than blouses and the jersey knit is better at keeping you cool.
• Cute hair ties- For those that don't want to suffer through the summer in a wig! Plan on wearing your hair simply and naturally and spice it up a little with a few cute hair ties. Personally, I think pig tails or braids are the perfect lazy-day summer hair style!
  
• Summer themed accessories- Whatever theme you feel is the most summer, add a little bit of it to your wardrobe with some themed accessories! Whether summer reminds you of sun-ripened strawberries, roses in bloom, or something more nautical themed.
• Hats- A hat with a brim is going to further help keep the sun off your face!
• Short socks- As a Lolita who's been around for a while, I've sort of been waiting years for short socks to be popular in Lolita again, because a summer spent in long socks and tights is a summer spent hot and sweaty.
• Secret shorts- Skip the bloomers! No one will know if you're wearing a casual pair of lounge shorts under your dress! It's always tempting just to nix the bloomers completely in the summer, because they're just so awful in hot weather, even the shortest pair (It's the elastic, I swear! There's nothing I want less in hot weather than wearing elasticized clothes), but to keep it modest, switch to shorts instead.

What sort of changes do you make in your wardrobe during the summer? Are you one of those Lolitas who is content to melt away in full, and fabulous, Lolita? Or do you have to make changes to how you wear Lolita in the hottest months?

Check out these other posts in the LBC on the same topic!

♤ Imaprincess ♤ Lace a la Mode ♤ Lolita in the Sky With Diamonds ♤ Ramble Rori ♤ A Sweet Lolita's Disney Life ♤ Jess Cosmic Delight ♤ Jewelry Box of Starry-eyed Lolita ♤

Being a Lolita at an Anime Convention

Since this post is all about conventions, I want to start this post out with an announcement about The Tea Party Club UK's upcoming Lolita convention: Frock On! Frock On is a UK Lolita convention happening in late August. I've been incredibly excited to see so many Lolita conventions pop up in the past few years! Unfortunately they're all pretty far from me, but I've been trying to participate in whatever ways I can! For Frock On, I'll be remotely answering Ask Miss Caro-chan questions. So if you have you're in the UK and have any Lolita questions that have been eating away at you, check out this page to see where to send your questions!

Since this post is all about conventions, this is a post I've been blogging because so many other people have written their own view on this topic that I felt the loliblogosphere maybe didn't need yet another post about it. But, I think it's finally time to add in my own two cents on the topic of being a Lolita at an anime convention.

I've been, more and more frequently as the years go on, regularly attending anime conventions since about 2006. I'm a late starter among my friends, who can sit around and talk about going to the very first of a few of the local area's largest conventions. My first convention happened very shortly after I got my first real pieces of Lolita clothes (thanks to a very large order from Fan Plus Friend) and I was really excited to get the chance to wear my new clothes in an all-out sort of way in a place where other people knew what it actually was I was wearing. Unfortunately for me I sort of looked like a hot mess, fortunately for me and everyone else it was a 2006 anime convention and it was pretty much on par with the times and the only other Lolitas at the con were 2 girls I very briefly saw all the way across the convention floor and then couldn't find again.

Packing for anime conventions

 As a Lolita, packing for an anime con can either be a nightmare, or a total breeze. But before deciding what way the Loli-pendulum sways, you need to decide on outfits!

Most Lolitas who attend conventions in their Lolita finery will use the chance to go completely all out in their outfits. This might mean that extreme OTT outfit that they haven't had the chance to wear yet, a style that they feel is inappropriate for their daily lives, or a themed coordinate or even a Lolitafied cosplay. Plan ahead on what you want to wear on all 3 days, lay out all your clothes and shoes and purses out to decide what you think looks best, if you have a giant suitcase that you don't mind carrying around, then great! Toss that all in there and you're pretty much set! If you don't have unlimited space, you're going to have to be a little trickier with what you decide to pack.

Personally, as someone who is often at conventions to peddle my wares in the artist alley, I have a ton of bags and almost no space for my clothes. I actually plan to fit everything I need for Lolita in a single backpack. This isn't always easy, but I have found a few shortcuts for fitting 3 frilly dresses and a ton of accessories into one little space!

• Plan your outfits around a single pair of matching shoes- Shoes are so annoying to pack! So plan on wearing one pair and wear them to the convention. Be creative with your outfits and see what you can do with just the one pair of shoes.
• Wear whatever you can up to the convention-  Petticoats are probably even more annoying to pack than shoes, so if you can, wear it to the con. With this pointer, I've gone one of two ways, I've either worn my "base" clothes to the convention (petti, solid underskirt, cami with a cardigan thrown over it), or worn a long flared jacket to hide my outfit under, I found an amazing flared trenchcoat at Wet Seal years ago that's my "Lolita in disguise" coat. I've actually secretly worn Maid Lolita as well as Guro Lolita on several hours of train rides under this jacket!
• Avoid fragile accessories- If you can't cram it into your bag without breaking it, consider just not bringing it. There are a ton of different accessory options, if you have very limited space, just try wearing something else. If you absolutely must, limit it to whatever can be easily and safely transported in your purse.
• Hang it all up when you get there- Your clothes are probably going to be very wrinkly from all that cramming, so as soon as you get the chance, take them out and hang them up. Most every hotel room comes with an iron, take the opportunity to blast your newly wrinkled Lolita pieces with some steam. 

A Lolita's convention checklist

Never been to a con, or any other weekend long Lolita excursion and not exactly sure what to pack besides just your outfits and the usual traveling items? Afraid you're going to be forgetting something you take for granted and are totally going to be missing out on later? This is what I try to remember to pack when I get ready for conventions:

• Comfortable shoes- You're going to be doing so much more walking or standing than you ever thought you would. Tea Parties are sort of amazing for this. If you want to wear a particular pair for photoshoots, consider bringing a comfortable pair of flats you can carry in your purse!
• Bloomers or shorts to wear under skirts- I wish everyone wore something under their skirts at conventions, Lolita or not.
• Bandaids- not just for booboos, but because you might need a few to put on the back of your heels to prevent blisters. Because your comfortable walking shoes are sometimes never comfortable enough.
• A sewing kit, including safety pins- Honestly, the safety pins are going to be your savior if something needs a quick fix. Safety pins save floppy bows, quickly replace missing buttons, keep straps up, and quickly fix torn tiers of petticoats.
• Bobby pins, hair ties, and a portable brush- To do any quick fixes for hair. Even if you're planning on wearing a wig all weekend, plan for the very likely event that you realize it's too hot and crowded and awful to wear a wig and you don't realize this until halfway through Friday.
• Emergency makeup and mirror- Whatever you can fit in a tiny pouch or ziplock in your purse, not your whole makeup bag. I would suggest lipgloss, mascara, and a portable amount of concealer, and some eyelash glue if you're wearing falsies or gluing anything to your face.
• Calling cards or mini notebook and pen- You're most likely going to meet someone interesting or need to make note of something! If you get stopped for pictures, be sure to give your card to the person taking the picture and ask them to let you know if they upload them somewhere.
  
• Pick-me-up food you can keep in your purse- I recently discovered how amazing Cliff Bars are for preventing you from dying right there on the convention floor. Packets of nuts or granola are also pretty great! But whatever your pick-me-up food of choice is, bring at least one for every day you'll be at the convention.

 What to do as a Lolita at an anime convention

Anime conventions are rarely just about anime anymore and usually run the whole spectrum of Japanese pop culture, as well as general nerd culture, so you don't have to be into just anime to find something you're going to be interested in at an anime convention, even if you are just there for Lolita.

Panels Most anime conventions are bound to have what is commonly known as a Lolita 101 panel, even though it's rarely called that. It's just a basic introduction to Lolita for the con-going audience. I know, I can hear you groaning now "But that sounds so boring! I know what Lolita is already! Why would I want to go to that?!" here's the thing though, many Lolita panels, even if they are aimed at the complete newbie, are secret code for "Hey Lolitas! Go to this room to meet other Lolitas!". If the convention area has a local Lolita community, there's a pretty good chance they're running this panel and hanging out in the audience. Lolita 101 panels are often where any swap meets, meetups, or other unscheduled Lolita events are usually announced.

In addition to the classic Lolita 101 panel, if the local area that the convention is in has a large and active Lolita community, there's a good chance there are a few other Lolita or related J Fashion panels happening as well.

Fashion shows

Lolita, or general J Fashion fashion shows can often be a main event at anime conventions and they can range from a more elaborate style of Lolita 101 panel featuring examples of the different styles to opportunities for local designers to show off their looks. Larger conventions also commonly feature actual brand fashion shows!

If you're interested in participating in convention fashion shows, you can usually find model, or even designer, call-outs before the con either in the local Lolita community, or in the convention's forums.

Tea parties or meetups

A Lolita tea party or a smaller meetup is common at conventions that have a large Lolita attendance and they can range from an off-premise tea party or restaurant meetup, to a quick and casual "Hey, let's meet at this location in the con at this time!" gatherings to get the chance to meet the local Lolitas. Usually these are held after a Lolita meetup or fashion show.

Lolita meetups at conventions aren't going to be something advertised in the programming (although it will frequently be mentioned at any panels), but is generally more word-of-mouth. If the area the convention is in has a local Lolita community, as them if there's going to be one. Alternatively, you can usually just ask a few Lolitas you happen to see at the convention if there's going to be one, one of them is bound to know!

Swap meets

Swap meets are another informal get together that's sometimes, but not always, advertised in the convention's programming, and they're incredibly fun if you have the space in your luggage to bring up some clothes you'd like to swap! If you've never been to one, it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like, you meet up with some other Lolitas and see who has any clothes they're willing to trade. Most conventions do not allow back-alley buying and selling, so most swap meets are strictly swap, rather than buy.

What to expect at an anime convention

If you've never been to an anime convention before you might be in for a surprise! Conventions can range from being massive, overwhelming affairs, to much smaller laid back weekends hanging out with cool people and taking in some neat panels. Do a little bit of research for what sort of convention you're headed to, check the local area's Lolita communities and maybe get to know some of the local Lolitas online beforehand.

As a Lolita, there are two interactions with the average con-goer that you are almost guaranteed to have: People will ask for your picture, and people will ask you who you're cosplaying as.

Conventions are often a chance for many people to show off and taking pictures and posing for pictures is often a big part of the con going experience, if it's something you feel very uncomfortable with, you're welcome to decline having your picture taken, don't feel like you're required to pose for a photo just because someone asks. If you wish to wear Lolita but remain a little more inconspicuous, consider toning down your outfit. Personally, I've found that if I wear relatively uneventful Gothic Lolita, I get very few, if any, photos taken of me. If I wear pretty much any other style, I will get a bunch. Black sort of blends in in large crowds and your average con goer might not really be able to spot the difference between your immaculately put together Baby the Stars Shine Bright kuro Lolita outfit and the dozen black-based Visual Kei Lolita inspired outfits they already filled up their memory card taking pictures of. If you're camera shy, unfortunately photos are a very big part of the larger event. Even if you're not currently posing for a photo, many people take photos and videos candidly, and it's almost impossible to stay out of the backgrounds of photos.

If you do get asked who you're cosplaying as, try not to take it as an insult. About 90% of the people at the convention who are dressed in anything other than jeans and tees (and about 25% of the people wearing jeans and tees) are going to be cosplaying a particular character. Just respond simply by saying that you're not actually cosplaying as anyone, you usually won't be pressed further on the matter.

Avoiding drama: Don't cause it and you probably won't be getting any in return.

There is always a bit of background talk about Lolita drama at conventions, and most of these center around "rude Lolitas" who were sitting in silent judgement on someone else, usually from all the way across a convention hall. Generally, I feel like a lot of these stories are over dramatizations by some people who are either wildly overestimating how friendly strangers are going to be to you just because you're wearing similar clothes or who are completely misinterpreting a situation, if not so completely bizarre as to be outright fibs. After all, if you say "Hi" to someone in a room crowded with several hundred (if not thousand) other people at a convention and they don't respond to you, it honestly probably doesn't mean anything at all.

The truth of the matter is: not everyone is going to be nice to you, and that's life, regardless of what everyone is wearing. Even if you met someone who was outright rude to you, so what? Conventions typically have between a few hundred to several thousand attendants, if one of them didn't say "Hi" to you, or was even outright mean to you, just find one of the other myriad of people to talk to instead. I've been to many different conventions over the years and honestly have never run into this fabled "rude convention Lolita" even in my days of looking like a hot mess.

Generally, if you don't assume the worst out of people, and ignore those who's worst does show, you'll manage pretty much avoid any sort of convention Lolita drama.

What do the rest of you do to prepare for wearing Lolita at anime conventions? Do you have any special packing tips you've learned? How do you feel in general about wearing Lolita to anime conventions? I know some people feel like it's inappropriate, considering Lolita fashion isn't exactly an anime, but the majority of anime conventions are more general Japanese pop culture conventions, and tend to be filled with a large number of different panels and events that are not necessarily anime related. Plus, for many people who wear outlandish clothes, anime conventions are generally a safe space to dress up without being hassled by people who don't agree with their fashion choices. It's pretty much a guarantee that at an anime convention, a Lolita is not going to be the strangest dressed person in the room!

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!

Victorian Beauty Secrets for the Lolita

The Victorian times have been over-romanticized pretty much ever since the era ended, and those decades definitely weren't all scented gloves and garden tea parties. It's important to know that and understand the difference between taking a few cues from the lighter sides of the romanticized Victorian life and believing that these cues are the be-all-end-all of Victorian life and judging others harshly for not living their life like you choose to live yours. We've all heard this said from another somewhere or another before: "In the Victorian era, ladies didn't do _____, so Lolitas shouldn't either". Well, Victorian era ladies generally wore skirts that covered their knees (and shins, and ankles) and refrained from wearing pirate hats and head wear that looks like melting ice cream, so maybe we don't need to take every lifestyle cue from the Victorians.

However, the Victorian era has undoubtedly been a major influence in the Lolita fashion, and even lifestyle. While most Lolitas are content to keep the Victorian limited to their wardrobe and maybe decor choices, there are those that are interested in living a little more historically accurate. Personally, I'm very interested in beauty routines and recipes from the past, particularly of the Victorian era. I find them very interesting, and they're generally a very unobtrusive way to add an element of the Victorian to your life without having to change the way you act or invest in some majorly expensive antique furniture. 

One of my favorite beauty gurus of the era is Mrs. Harriet Hubbard Ayer, who wrote a book simply called Harriet Hubbard Ayer's Book. As someone who enjoys digging through old beauty books (thank you, the internet and pre-1923 copyright laws!) I'm familiar with the dry and often times ridiculous sounding beauty routines from the era, so I was pleasantly surprised to find Mrs. Ayers book, published first in 1899, not only very readable, but I enjoyed her particular style of writing and personality, and I also found her beauty routines to be very modern sounding, realistic, and generally most of them were not dangerous or even very weird (ok, so maybe baby head-gear to make sure they don't grow up with big ears is a little weird).

The majority of Mrs. Ayer's recipes were something along the lines of a cream, lotion, or fragranced oil or powder. Wax, oil, talc, fragrance, scrubby crushed nuts, rose water, and glycerin are commonly found ingredients in Mrs. Ayer's recipes. Not very different in composition from the multitude of recipes for homemade body butters and scrubs you can find by the hundreds on Pinterest. Personally, I don't even think it's necessary to go strictly historically accurate with these recipes, as the modern home recipes are similar enough (mostly, you're simply going to find a lot less sperm whale fat in modern recipes) so that your best bet would just be to find a modern home made soap, lotion, or whatever it is you feel you could use to suit your needs.

If you're looking for some more in-depth looks at beauty advice from around this era, check out The Gibson Girl's Guide to Glamor, a blog that focuses on beauty tips and recipes from about 1890-1915, and includes dozens and dozens of real-life applications and adventures in recreating the recipes found in these old books!

If you want to do your own hunting and searching, there are a number of old beauty books available for free online at Archive.org. Below are a few of the ones I have found and enjoyed digging through. However, there are dozens more available, just search around antique book archive sites for keywords such as "ladies", "beauty" or "toilet" and you're bound to find some!

• Female Beauty: or, the art of human decoration (1874)
• The Ugly-Girl Papers: or, hints for the toilet (1874)
• Manners, culture and dress of the best American society, including social, commercial and legal forms, letter writing, invitations,etc, also valuable suggestions on self culture and home training (1891)
• Woman’s Own Book of Toilet Treatments (unknown date)
• The Arts of Beauty: or, Secrets of a lady’s toilet (1858)
• Health, Beauty and the Toilet: Letters to ladies from a lady doctor (1886)
• Practical Hand-Book of Toilet Preparations and their uses. Also Recipes for the Household (1889)
• Harriet Hubbard Ayer's book; a complete and authentic treatise on the laws of health and beauty (1902)

If you do plan on attempting any of the recipes or advice you find in any of these old books, please use common sense and a bit of Googling to see if what you're about to do is safe! Not every practice from the past is a safe "old timey home remedy", ladies of ages past (as are ladies of the current age) are often infamous for doing dangerous things in the name of beauty. Many of the recipes and advice in such books are only good for interesting reading, not necessarily for slathering all over yourself and ingesting.

Do you have any particularly Victorian inclined beauty routines? I'm trying to get more into making my own beauty products and going a bit more natural with the ones I use. I sort of really love Lush products and have been lurking around the internet for recipes that are similar to the products I love so I can make. I've already made a ton of different salt and sugar scrubs (and prompted used them almost all up!), as well as a dry shampoo. I want to step it up a bit for my next attempt at a recipe and try making something like a lotion bar, or that witch hazel cold cream!