Making Old School New Again: Priere

Chunky platforms, bloomers peeking out the bottom of a skirt, yards upon yards of lace, lacy headdresses tied under the chin—all things we tend to think of when we reminisce about what Lolita used to be. But what if it was all back again, and with an updated look that was cutting edge and even trendy? That's exactly what Japanese indie brand Priere is doing!

Taking inspiration from antique dolls, Yukarin of Priere has created an angelic vision that harkens back to what Lolita was in the 90's, as well as the Victorian revival of the 1970's that brands like Gunne Sax popularized. Japanese pop culture is experiencing some serious 90's nostalgia at the moment (perhaps all the 1980's Fairy Kei girls have grown up and the girls who grew up in the 1990's are taking their place as queens of street fashion?) and is coming up with ways to reinvent the looks of the decade in fresh new ways. 

Perhaps the best way to make coordinates like this cutting edge is the way they're styled, gone are the bare faces and simple hair of early Lolita, and in their place are the currently trendy looks that seem to borrow heavily from moe pop culture. High bright blush, berry red lips, and flawlessly natural looking hair, often with professionally dyed unnatural colors, give a finished look to the old fashioned layered dresses.

One thing I particularly love about this brand's stylings is the use of mixed off-whites, with only touches of brown or gold, and yet most of the looks are paired with darker shoes, something that was very frequently seen in old Lolita street snaps. I think that the pairing of lighter frilly dresses with dark shoes has such an endearing look, and reminds me so much of sepia toned antique photographs of little Victorian children.

While Priere is not a Lolita brand, the aesthetics are very similar and I think that anyone interested in Lolita, particularly the current Classic Lolita trends, can find a lot of inspiration from this up-and-coming designer. The bell sleeves, the peeking bloomers, the layers of sheer lace, these are all things that elicit a strong sense of nostalgia from most Lolitas who've been in the fashion for a while, or even new Lolitas who know their roots, and it's exciting to see a new designer put a fresh face on the older designs.

Priere is a very new line and currently only has an Instagram with the promise of a future webshob. But you can also follow Yukarin's personal Twitter and Instagram for more. Tokyo Fashion also features an interview with Yukarin here.

Deer Lolita: Antler Headbands and Headdresses

 One of the trendiest things to do in Lolita right now sport a pair of antlers, believe it or not! This trend is blooming a couple years after fawn fur popped into the fashion and is definitely spurned on by the rising interest of Mori Girl and growing popularity of Classic Lolita.  It also laughs in the face of the silly notion that male deers are the ones with antlers! They're not something that's intended to be worn on a daily basis, but something that's saved for special occasions. Deer antlers are a little like the current Lolita's answer to cake hats: they're really ridiculous in a completely over the top way, and that's why we love them!

Antler headdress are largely a DIY thing at the moment, as they haven't exactly caught on in the mainstream yet. There are a lot of different independent crafters and designers who've created their own for sale, and they're relatively easy to construct yourself if you are handy with some polymer clay and a hot glue gun.

Excuse the instagram photo! It's the only picture I have of them for some reason!

A few months ago I whipped up a pair for myself overnight, using whatever I happened to have on hand, which happened to amount to some paperclay, antique lace, a brooch, and a few fake flowers. For such an incredibly simple thing to make I received tons of compliments on them!

I've put together an Etsy treasury for some inspiration and window shopping! What I really love about this trend is how it doesn't have to be limited to just one tend. There are antlers in pastel shades paired with delicate pink roses for the Sweet Lolita, foresty antlers in natural colors surrounded by deep jewel toned flowers and leaves for the Classic Lolita, or black-as-night antlers for the Gothic Lolita. Not only that but there are delicate and tiny antlers for the demure Lolita to over the top and oversized pairs for the Lolita who really wants to stand out.

What do you think of this trend? Is it just too silly to take seriously or are you as enchanted as I am by these adorable antlers?

Holiday Touches For Lolita Outfits

 The holidays are just around the corner and some of us are probably already heading to holiday parties, if not just trying to add some festivity to their outfits to get into the holiday spirit.

• Pick a print with a holiday motif. This is a surefire way to add some holiday touches to your outfit, but it's also the most expensive, and the least practical if you want a very versatile closet. Many brands will have, at one point or another, released either a Christmas themed print, or a winter-themed printed.  
• Go with jewel tones. Deep red and deep green are the iconic holiday colors, but other rich jewel tones can really set the mood for the holidays too! Jewel tones are rich, warm, colors that are perfect for this cold time of year.
• Choose velvets, satins, or brocades. Lustrous and luxurious fabrics are a great way to add some festivity to your outfit because they often have a "party dress" feel to them. If you can't justify getting a whole dress out of a lustrous fabric, try something like a high quality satin blouse or a velvet bolero to add a bit of luster to your outfit!
• Add some gold! This is probably the quickest and easiest way to add some holiday touches to your outfit. The best part about gold is that it can go well with most any color or style, and as a bonus, a few gold colored accessories can be picked up for a very cheap price! Try painting your nails gold to finish off the look!
• Compliment your outfit with fur. Faux or not, fur adds a cozy wintertime look to any outfit. Anything from a fur stole, to a fur collar, to fur trim can add a little bit of winter warmth to an outfit!
• DIY something! Head out to the craft store and pick up some holiday craft supplies! Anything from faux poinsettia, to plastic glitter snowflakes even, to cute Christmas ornaments to turn into brooches or to perch in a hairstyle can be picked up relatively cheaply and turned into something cute! 

If you're looking for some last minute touches to some holiday outfits, or even just some inspiration for something to DIY, check out this treasury!

Speaking of the holidays! The other weekend I got the chance to celebrate International Lolita Day with Ramble Rori and a ton of other great people! I got to see some familiar faces and meet some new people.

Awkward me and my fabulous bonnet. I stole this picture from Ramble Rori.

This was actually the first year I have ever gone to an ILD meetup! I usually manage to miss them, so this year was extra exciting to me. Unfortunately, I decided to leave my camera at home and the event was very dimly lit so cell phone pictures were pretty useless. Ramble Rori got a few fantastic pictures with her camera that I don't want to steal from her in case she wants to save them for a future post. We were actually adjacent to the party Victoria of Parfait Doll went to!

Vierge Vampur

In the past few months a few pictures from an up-and-coming Japanese indie Lolita brand, Vierge Vampur, have been making the rounds on Tumblr. Like the hundreds of other people who have reblogged these pictures, I'm completely blown away by these pieces! Take a look at what I'm talking about:

 

Not only are the dresses fresh and innovative, but the styling of the photoshoots is phenomenally creative! Unfortunately, one of the dresses I am most fond of, the one featuring the legs along the bottom, doesn't seem to have a worn photo to go with it.

What I, and many of the other people who are completely loving these designs, am very impressed with is the level of detail these pieces have, as well as the quirky designs. The cutlery dress features tiny spoon charms on the cuffs, complete with tiny bows, and on second glance the red and white striped dress is screen printed all over with various Victorian illustrations such as swallows, teeth, and scissors. To me these dresses are a mix of the decadence of Juliette et Justine, the cuteness of the Angelic Pretty releases that are reminiscent of old school designs, as well as the quirkiness of Otome brands such as Jane Marple or Emily Temple Cute.

One of the things I was most impressed with was the fact that these dresses didn't rely on the "traditional" custom border prints that many brands use now. These, instead, are very creatively screen printed, which is a process I've always loved more than printed fabric because I feel that it often adds an interest to the fabric, despite the fact that it relies on just the one color of ink! Especially when paired with velvet or an already patterned fabric!

Price wise, they are pretty typical of most Japanese Lolita brands, as their dresses tend to be between $250 to $300, thanks to the current high rate of the Japanese Yen and low rate of the US Dollar. Thanks to a heads up over on Twitter, I was just told that if you email them, they can do custom sizes for you!

So what do you think of this indie brand's designs? Creative and unique, or a little too out there for you?

You can find Vierge Vampur a number of places online:

♣ Official Website ♣ Facebook ♣ Blog ♣

Steampunk Inspired Lolita & Victoria's Clockwork Emporium Review

I've been asked a few times to do a post about Steamlolita but I've been putting it off for a while because I'm by no means a Steampunk expert! Recently, however, I was asked by Victoria's Clockwork Emporium to review one of their gorgeous steampunk pieces and it has once again made me a bit intrigued by this odd combination of Victorian elegance and futuristic fantasy.

First up is the review piece from Victoria's Clockwork Emporium! I was sent a lovely hair clip with the iconic steampunk cogs and gears. The hair clip was sent very quickly, within a few days, and was packaged securely in a bubble mailer and slipped inside one of the most awesome bags I've ever seen.

The piece itself is very well made. The first thing I did, of course, was try to pull it apart. Well, maybe not, but I did test it a bit to see how well it was held together. Try as I might, none of the various little cogs fell off, it looks like they are held on with a pretty industrial strength glue, which is incredibly important on a piece like this, where all the more pieces mean all the more opportunities for something to fall off.

  I loved the packaging! The piece was in this awesome skull covered bag!

The gears and cogs are in a variety of different metal colors: silver, bronze and brass. Making this piece easy to coordinate with other pieces of jewelery you happen to be wearing because you really don't have to worry so much about the metal colors matching.

I was very impressed with how beefy the piece was, this wasn't just a couple small cogs glued together, it was practically a layer cake made out of broken watch parts! It is by no means at all a heavy hair clip, but it's definitely substantial, which makes it feel all the more sturdy and unbreakable.

 One thing I particularly like about the clip was that that the clock hand moves around! It's not exactly like I'm going to be fiddling around with it while it's clipped in my hair, but it's definitely a little touch that I really liked.

Victoria's Clockwork Emporium has a lot more to offer than just Steampunk pieces, although Steampunk clockwork pieces are their specialty, but they also offer a fair amount of pieces that are perfect for the Victorian inclined Classic Lolita.

Mixing Steampunk with Lolita

As I have mentioned, getting my hands on a cog-covered Steampunk piece really piqued my interest in this unique style mishmash. I certainly didn't magically transform into a master of steam-powered Victorian aircraft in the past week and a half, but I have spent much more time oogling Steamlita coordinates than I have in quite a while. Personally, I don't ever find myself too enthusiastic about the completely over the top Steampunk outfits, the ones that involve props and elaborate costume pieces (Although I would love to be able to try my hand at making some of them! I've secretly always wanted a steam-powered Pip Boy), as cool as they may be, I just prefer outfits that are more day-to-day wearable, despite how far out from the norm it is. Which is why a Classic Lolita with little Steampunk details- cog jewelery, utility belts, spats, aviation hats, etc. is definitely my preferred mixing of the Steampunk style with Lolita.

Some of my favorite Steampunk Lolita outfits are by AyraLeona on Deviantart. Her Steampunk outfits definitely have the balance of wearability and creativity that I really love! It doesn't look like she's in a costume, it looks like this is just what she wears. I feel like she's taken the Steampunk style and really made it her own.

I think that the Victorian nature of Steampunk lends itself very well to mixing with Lolita, and even if you don't want to go all out and build yourself steam-powered leather and brass gauntlets, you can still add a very obvious Steampunk touchs to your Lolita outfits that really adds something different from the generally girly and cute touches that you often find with Lolita.

Again, I am by no means a Steampunk expert, so I don't think I could really give any great advice on how to successfully mix the two styles other than "moderation!", so instead I'd like to ask how other people mix the two styles. Do any of you also participate in the Steampunk hobby/lifestyle/fashion? If you do, do you mix it in with your Lolita wardrobe? Where on the Lolita to Steampunk spectrum do you personally feel like is the ideal Steamlita? I might not be an expert on the style, but I do know that it's a somewhat hard style to get right. Go too much one way and you just get a Steampunk outfit with a shorter skirt, too much the other, and it's just Classic Lolita with maybe a pair of goggles.

Innocent World's Rose Stained Glass & Some Various Stained Glass Accessories.

Up for reservation on Innocent World's webshop is a new print, Rose Stained Glass. I'm really loving this new print for how unique it is! Sure, there have been prints in Lolita's past with stained glass inspired art, but I believe this is the first time a print that just looks like real stained glass has ever been made. Take a look at the closeups of the print!

 

It comes in 3 colors, apricot, bordeaux, and blue. Bordeaux and apirot looking very similar, one just being a little more pink toned than the other, which, while a bit strange (it would be nicer if apricot was more of a... well, apricot color) it is nice for people who like their reds to match exactly to be able to have their pick for the one that matches their wardrobe better.

Innocent World is currently taking reservations for this print, which comes in 3 colorways and a skirt or JSK option, both of which come in short and long lengths, it is expected to be released in late September.

I've always had a soft spot for stained glass, it can be both charming and breathtaking, and it's impossible not to love they way it catches the light and makes any room look magical. So, needless to say, I was quite excited to see this print. While not always seen in the world of Lolita, stained glass themes can be a nice touch to a Lolita wardrobe, if you're currently missing out on this release, you can easily (and affordably, in most cases) add a little bit of stained glass to your wardrobe in the way of jewelry.



As you can see, there is a huge selection of jewelry and accessories on Etsy made with real stained glass. I would really like to showcase something a bit special and striking in this treasury though, and that is the ruby red stained glass purse!

While I would be terrified to be carrying around a glass purse, for fear of shattering it to a million pieces, I can just imagine how perfectly something like this would go with any Classic or Gothic Lolita coordinate, stained glass print or not!

If you're looking for something a little more affordable, the above small purse is actually a fancy decor box, but since it has a working clasp and chain, I don't see why the brave couldn't carry it with them as a real, if a bit small (but not much smaller than the inside of a Bunny Bear!) purse.

Sweet, Gothic & Classic Lolita Etsy Treasuries

It seems it's every Lolita's dream to one day be able to sew their own clothes, but sadly, it's a talent that not all of us have. I am sure that if I were pressed, and had a pattern, I could sew up some fancy clothes for myself, as I do know my way around a sewing machine, but I'm simply to impatient to ever sit down and actually finish anything I can make under a sewing machine. So, instead, I like to spend time oogling the things various other Lolita seamstresses make and wistfully think to myself "One day..." On of my favorite places to do this is through Etsy, probably because I'm just a little bit addicted to making Treasuries! In my last Etsy lurking adventure, I made three treasuries, one for Sweet, one for Gothic, and one for Classic Lolita. These are all relatively simple treasuries, just some nicely made cute clothes by various Lolita seamstresses, with a few crafty accessories thrown in for good measure.







Looking at some of these gorgeous clothes really makes me want to at least try to ever finish anything on the sewing machine. It just seems like there's so much unlimited potential when you can make your own Lolita pieces!

Why have I been lurking on Etsy a little more than usual lately? Because I've spent the last week and a half getting my Etsy back in gear! It is nowhere near complete, there are still a number of things that I still need to get in my shop, but for now, it's at least a little bit full. For the next week or so, I'd like to offer free shipping as a little "Thanks for being so patient with me while I get everything back up", just use the coupon code WELCOMEBACKSUMMER and you can get free shipping on anything in my shop. I hope you don't mind this little aside to mention my shop update!

I'm sure you've noticed how quiet it's been on the blogging front for me! I just finished up my "vacation". Quotes because, while it was my vacation from my full time job, I still worked every other day at my part time job! There were several days in a row when I didn't even bother to turn my computer on, which is very rare for me, as I'm pretty obviously internet addicted. I hope you all can just bear with me for a bit while I get back into the swing of things, yet again!

Etsy Treasuries Inspired By Fellow Lolita Bloggers

A few weeks ago I discovered the joy of making Etsy Treasuries. If you don't know what they are, an Etsy Treasury is simply a collection of cute things to be found on Etsy, arranged with some sort of theme in mind.

I decided to smash two of my favorite things together, blogging and Lolita, to create a few Etsy Treasuries inspired by a few fellow Lolita bloggers! Can you guess who these Treasuries are inspired by? Give them a glance over and then try to guess!










Do you give up? The first two should be pretty easy. Blue, White, & Bronze is inspired by Miss Lumpy, which should be evident by the copious amounts of blue, as well as all the vintage hats and flowers. Pink Kei is inspired by Victoria Suzanne of Lolita Charm, if all the pink, fairy kei, and cute dog accessories didn't make it obvious enough. Finally, Red Fox might be a bit of a head-scratcher to some, but it's inspired by my friend Erica's blog, Darkly Darling. These were all really fun to make, and maybe sometime in the future I'll try making a few more Lolita blog inspired Etsy Treasuries!

Day 5- 10 items from your wishlist.

My wishlist is hardly a static thing, it changes pretty much all the time, and I've really never been one for dream dresses that I pine away for years over. At the moment I'm actually not really looking for anything that I feel like my closet is missing, but instead I'm buying much older pieces that feel nostalgic, or represent, to me, the ideal old school aesthetic. That being said, a lot of the follow items would fall into that category!

Angelic Pretty Cross OP, I would loooove to own this in black! I think this is the archetypal Gothic Lolita dress, even though it's Angelic Pretty.

Metamorphose Antique Bouquet. Any color, and any of the various releases of this dress, although I would love the bonnet, capelet, skirt set,

I forget the name of this Baby dress! I love it in the red colorway, but black and pink is nice too. It's like the ultimate brand whore dress XD

OK, so I don't know the names of most prints I like! I usually have to look them up. I've always wanted this Baby dress, and I regret, years ago, not buying it when I had the chance.

Angelic Pretty Heart Cut-out. Oh God, it's so tacky! I can't help but love it.

Any of Angelic Pretty's older classic floral releases!

I love Metamorphose's swan logo, and, while it's a little plain, I've been dying to get my hands on one of their pieces featuring the embroidery of it around the hem.

I sort of love Lolita aprons, and I really like this Meta one because it says "METAMORPHOSE" in giant letters across the chest. I loved the fact that older brand releases often printed their name hugely across their pieces.

Baby's Marie Antoinette, in red. It seems like whenever I have the cash to spare for this I can never find it, and then as soon as I go broke, someone finds my super old WTB posts and offers it to me T_T

Baby's Afternoon Tea, or really, just like with Angelic Pretty, any of Baby's older classic floral prints.

Interview with Tyler of Lily of the Valley

A while ago I got the chance to interview Tyler from the indie Lolita brand Lily of the Valley. I've always been a fan of Tyler's work. Back before I had a fairly large Lolita wardrobe, I used to download her KiSS dolls to give myself a Lolita dress up fix!

Tyler's brand, Lily of the Valley, is a brand that often focuses on historical inspired designs and prints, and has a very charming, somewhere between Sweet, Classic and country styling, with touch of old school Lolita. Her recent print, Sweet Matryoshka, is a little bit Otome, a little bit Mori, and a little bit Sweet. I am definitely a fan of the versatility and blurring of the edges between styles that her designs feature!

Besides being a talented designer, Tyler is also a very prolific seamstress. She sews nearly all of her Lolita clothes! All of the coordinates from her in this interview feature clothing she has made for herself.

How long have you been into Lolita? Since 2003, so err 7 years. I kinda feel like an old fogey sometimes. Like when someone asks about "old" Angelic Pretty dresses like Sweet Macron, and I'm think: "wait didn't that come out not too long ago? ...oh it's been a couple of years!"

What are your favorite styles? Most probably classic, although I like to try many of the styles and mix them. My current style is something like classic/sweet/mori/otome/natural-kei. haha. I enjoy wearing a lot of layers and using vintage accessories. I still have a place in my heart for old school sweet, although I can't seem to stop adding more and more layers and accessories.

Tyler in a dress of her own creation.

How long have you been sewing and wearing your own clothes? Since the beginning. My first lolita outfit was an off brand blouse with a blue rose print skirt remade from a longer skirt I got at a local thrift store. In the early years of lolita on livejournal making or remaking your clothes was really the only way to wear the fashion. None of the brands shipped out of Japan, and even "In the Starlight" didn't exist yet.

Another reason I think I make my own clothes has to do with my childhood. My mother is a fine arts jeweler and my Dad is an electrical/systems engineer. Growing up around a lot of crafty and DIY people, I heard quite a bit of "Oh, you don't need to buy that, I'll show you how to make it yourself." Once you get used to being able to make a lot of your own things it's hard to go back to buying things that aren't exactly how you would have done it. The only brand I currently own are some very lovely socks!

I think this delight in versatility of design is why I try to allow my customers as wide range of custom choices as I can with my lines and hats. I would like them to have a dress or hat that feels like theirs, rather then something just off the rack.

Tyler in a dress of her own creation.

You seem to make a lot of your own accessories and use a variety of different handicrafts in your pieces, do you have any favorite handicrafts? Oh that's a really hard question. I'm always trying new techniques. Well to start off; jewelry has always been something I've been interested in because of my Mom; it's a nice break from sewing. I am really hoping that the Sweet Acorns jewelry line does well, because I want to continue to offer matching jewelry for my lines.

Tatting is something that I have picked up this year. I enjoy it a lot because it's something you can do on the fly; pull it out during car trips or while watching movies. Also tatting is very fussy and feminine, and that appeals! It's almost a lost art, when I was trying to learn it I couldn't find anyone to teach me how. To this date I haven't found anyone outside of the internet who does it too. I really love old needlework techniques and like to do my own part to keep them alive. I wish it was something I could work into my lolita lines, but it's so time consuming it would be exorbitant!

When it gets down to it I think my favorite handicraft is making hats. There is something very exciting and satisfying about making one. The stiff lines and structure, figuring how how to trim it just so. Plus you can put a lot of trimmings on hats that you could never put on a dress! Feathers, silk flowers, birds! I have a bag of straw braid taken from a thrift store hat stashed away for when I have a time to make it into a spoon bonnet. I'm really looking forward to (and dreading) soaking the straw braid in hot water and seeing if I can fight it into a hat shape!

When did you start your own brand, Lily of the Valley? My first line "Keys to the Kingdom" was released in 2006, but before this I had done quite a few commissions. The line was skirt with a castle screen printed around the hem. It sold well, but not as much as I would have liked at the time. The continuous print was very hard to do and my friend who was doing the screen printing had real trouble with it. We filled the orders but ended up with a lot of misprinted material and frustration. That left me feeling a bit discouraged about future lines.

Keys to the Kingdom

So instead of trying a new one I came up with the idea for the Admiral Tricorn hats. They went over very well, and I still get a good number of orders, even 3 years later. This really encouraged me and I got used to taking several custom orders at once. Looking back to the "Keys to the Kingdom" line; while I think I was ready to do it, I don't think I had a good idea of what doing it entailed. I over reached; something that was feasible to do for one skirt was trouble for several. It was a good experience and really taught me that you have to be circumspect when making such large plans.

In 2009 I decided to make another go at it, putting up the Lily of the Valley website and my inaugural line "Excerpts from a Victorian Cookbook". I am very happy with how it came out and the response. It is great being able to get custom printed fabric in small amounts. I had considered getting fabric printed with my own designs before but it was never possible because of the very large amount you had to buy.

Tyler in a dress of her own creation, the Sweet Matryoshka print fro Lily of the Valley.

What are the ideas or aesthetics behind Lily of the Valley?
I am inspired by a lot of different things, so this is a very difficult question to ask! I'm rather influenced by fairy tales and their beautiful illustrations, I grew up reading them rather then watching the sanitized Disney versions, and I think they are really delightful, and sometimes quite dark. I remember reading the story "The Red Shoes" when I was little and being horrified for months because of it. That sort of thing appeals as well, because life is like that, it's very bright and rather magical; but there are those dark places that make the bright parts that much brighter.

Haha, I guess I haven't done many prints yet that have that feeling, I have so many ideas and it's hard to decide which ones to do. But I think I want my prints to invoke a feeling or story. "Excerpts from a Victorian Cookbook" was inspired by the illustrations from "Mrs Beeton's book of Household Management", and I was delighted by the idea of Victorian confections. When making a cake or pudding was time consuming, and strictly for special occasions; so they molded and decorated them until they looked like something fairies would make. While my newest line "Sweet Matryoshka" reminds me of a walk in the woods as a child. Birds to be looked at in delight, flowers and berries to be picked, mushrooms to be examined for pixies, and acorns and other treasures stuck in your pocket to be enjoyed later.

In all this I want my pieces to be very wearable. To be able to be dressed up to the nines as lolita, or dressed down with a little cardigan to stroll around town in. I hope I am successful at this!

What's the most difficult thing about having your own brand?
The scrutiny of being an independent brand in the both very large and rather small English speaking online lolita community. If I do something that flops, it's a much bigger deal for me then the established brands. I can only put out one line at a time, and pretty much have one customer base; who mass communicate very easily and quickly. If the Japanese brands put out something that the EGL community doesn't like, they still have the Japanese and other markets; as well as other lines. I don't have that luxury.

I do think that this really pushes me to work that much harder and try to think outside of the box; come up with motifs that haven't been done before, or haven't been done in that way before.

Tyler's illustration for her Excerpts from a Victorian Cookbook print line.

What is your favorite thing about having your own brand?
I think hands down my favorite thing is seeing my dresses being worn and enjoyed, it's a kind of excitement that's hard to describe. I remember years ago when I was taking commissions; seeing one of my dresses on a girl at Otakon and thinking "I don't remember that Baby dress..." before realizing it was something I made. I wanted to break out into dance I was so happy!

Being able to design the prints for my pieces makes it that much more special. I drew for years before I started sewing. The prints are almost a kind of story, in colors, symbols, and emotions. When someone decides to buy and wear a dress that I designed; they are sort of sharing that story, like we both read and enjoyed it. Hopefully in a non-cheesy way!

Where do you see, or where would you like to see Lily of the Valley in the future?
I would like to be able to come out with more lines more quickly. I have at least 20 different design ideas clamoring in my head and I'd like to make them all! This of course depends on how quickly I get orders and fill them. My current day dream is for my lines to sell out the day they are released!

I just got an embroidery machine so I am planning some embroidered lines. I'm really excited by the idea of doing a redux of the "Keys to the Kingdom" line as an embroidery, or a variation of the very popular prototype "Admiral Pirate Set".

Excerpts from a Victorian Cookbook

I guess in short I would like to see Lily of the Valley become a more prominent brand. I don't expect to mass produce like the Japanese brands, but I would like to have a comfortable niche, for those who appreciate the options and aesthetic Lily of the Valley is offering them.

You can find Lily of the Valley's shop page here, or check out her blog!

I have a dress set made by Tyler, I actually got it second hand and snapped it up pretty quickly because it was a really good deal and made by someone who's work I've always enjoyed. It's definitely a gorgeous piece! The design is awesome and the construction is just perfect. If you're looking for an indie brand, especially an indie brand with prints that are both Sweet and Elegant, I would definitely recommend Lily of the Valley!

La Grande Belle Fleur Bunny Scarf Review

I've been lusting a bit after a bunny scarf after I saw Baby's a few years ago. But I the ones brand shops sell are either too hard to get a hold of, are too expensive, or aren't really my style. Luckily I stumbled across the Etsy shop La Grande Belle Fleur, who pretty much specializes in adorable animals scarves. When I found her Etsy shop she had just sold an off-white bunny scarf, and while a pink or black one was tempting, I was really wanting that off-white one! So I sent her a message asking if she took commissions and luckily she had the time to make one just to my specifications! I didn't really have much in mind, I just knew I wanted an off-white bunny with fancy button eyes and red details. About a week later she let me know the scarf was done. I was pretty amazed at this since I can't knit and would assume something like this would take much longer, at least for me it would probably be sitting in my "to one day finish" pile for years.

About a week later the package came, as it was coming all the way from the UK to the US. The bunny was even cuter in person! There's a little loop on the underside so you can thread the back part to so it stays in place around your neck, keeping you cozy.

He's got a fluffy pompom of a tail and lots of cute details like a flower in one ear and a bow in the other. He's also sporting a super cute lace ruff. All the details are securely sewed or glued down, I can't imagine they will be coming loose any time soon.

And here it is worn, to show you how big it is. It's a pretty large size, so if you're going for a subtle bunny-on-my-neck look this isn't the scarf for you. However, if you want something super cute that's either going to be part of an OTT outfit or the stand out piece in a more toned down outfit, one of La Grande Belle Fleur's scarfs is probably for you. I'm quite tempted to pick up a black or a pink bunny to go with this one, since they're pretty affordable at $25-$35, especially for such a unique hand-made item that can be customized to match your own wardrobe perfectly.

If bunnies aren't your thing, there are a bunch more animal scarfs to choose from at La Grande Belle Fleur. KattyKins, the artist behind the shop, knits up animal scarves in all shapes and sizes ranging from ducks, to kitties, to pandas, to elephants.

La Grande Belle Fleur sells through Etsy, but you can also find her gallery on DeviantArt, and stocks a variety of things besides animal scarfs, including polymer clay sweets jewelry and hair accessories made out of real cookies and candies covered in resin. 10% of all of her sales go to animal charities, so you're not only getting something awesome by buying from her, you're also giving a little too.

I hope you all don't mind the couple of review posts so close to each other! I have been trying to put less of my Lolita funds towards burandoburandoburando and more towards local or indie Lolita seamstresses and crafters and I can't resist showing off my newest purchases.

I would also like to point out, over on the blog sidebar, there's a Facebook logo and link. Yep, I got around to making a F Yeah Lolita Facebook page. I like to sometimes talk to people on Twitter about ideas for future posts, to get ideas or reactions, stuff like that, and I figure that it would be much easier to do on a Facebook page instead of Twitter. So, if you have a Facebook profile and love pressing "Like" buttons, consider liking F Yeah Lolita on Facebook :D