A guide to lolita Disneybounding!

I've been mulling over writing this for a while and decided I finally have worn lolita to the parks enough to warrant a quick guide on wearing lolita fashion at Walt Disney World (WDW) in Orlando, Florida (that can potentially be applied to Disneyland Resort in California). I cannot guarantee that everyone will have the same experience, but I am trying to take more than just my personal experiences into account when I draft this so this can be helpful to a lot of different people.

Not only is this going to be a guide to make sure that you're not turned away at the entrance for resembling a character, this is also going to include some handy tips on how to prepare to go on rides and walk around all day with maximum comfort. I hope you enjoy it!

Let's start off with the bad news: generally, because most lolitas are grown adults dressing in a fashion that can be easily interpreted as a costume, there are a lot of horror stories where lolitas are asked to leave by security because they don't want to cause confusion with Disney cast members. Some may remember this story, although I have very little sympathy for this person. Why?

• Allowing random adults who are unaffiliated with Disney presents a liability issue. If a family gets confused and thinks they can line up to take a photo with you, and you end up blowing up at them or squeezing their child too hard or doing something that can ruin their experience, they'll think they can sue Disney for recovery when Disney had nothing to do with it.
• It can disrupt the other visitors. If some families believe that you're cute enough to have a photo with, there are some who just want to try and run to Space Mountain as quickly as possible. Generally, photos with characters are taken in purposeful areas that are out of everyone's way, and chances are, you're not in one of those when you're getting stopped for photos. A crowd can develop quickly the moment you say "yes" to a photo, and people can have trouble getting around you as a result.
• This may seem a bit obvious, but you need to be working for Disney to do anything that puts you in the same capacity as a cast member. Sadly, taking photos with a family is included in that, so if you want to make sure you go largely unnoticed at a Disney park, don't encourage those photos. Just tell them, "Disney may have a problem with my outfit if I stop to take photos with your family. I appreciate your compliment though!" and move on. I haven't been stopped yet for photos, but that can happen when you're going with more than one lolita in Disneybound outfits. 

So this probably is disheartening to hear--however, there are some great ways to get around this.

This will probably be a hard one to pass off at the parks...

1. Avoid colours that can be equated with a Disney princess. Thankfully, aside from Alice in Wonderland, most popular colours in lolita won't get you confused with a princess. If you do decide to take the risk and wear... Say, a yellow dress, wear it without a petticoat, or a wig that would make your hair colour different from Belle's. Sax dresses should be fine, just try to coordinate it with another colour and make sure your hair colour isn't close to Alice's blonde. Thankfully, due to my skintone, most people won't confuse me for most of the princesses, but I try to follow this rule of thumb anyways. You don't want to wear very literal interpretations of Disney characters because it can increase your chances of getting kicked out. 
2. Don't wear your poofiest petticoat. This is for two reasons--petticoats are a pain to wear on a lot of rides (Space Mountain, I'm looking at you), and it makes you look much more princess-y than normal. Wear a dress that would look nice with minimal poof, or if you do decide to wear a larger petticoat, refer back to hint #1 and ensure that you don't have the same hair + colour scheme as a well-known Disney princess. 
3. Mickey ears! Mickey ears are surprisingly the easiest way to get past security and to not be confused with a cast member. This is especially so for the customised embroidered ones that you can get at the parks. Generally, both attendees and cast members will assume you are just a huge Disney fan and nothing more when you wear mouse ears. They're also offered in such a wide range of colours and sizes, you can have a lot of fun coordinating an outfit around your ears! I generally forgo traditional hair accessories for a Disney hat of some sort, or just keep one on hand if I feel like I might get kicked out. If you're curious to know where to get your hats embroidered, you can ask a cast member. Both Magic Kingdom (the Chapeau) and EPCOT (Mouse Gear) have hat stores near the entrance that also provide embroidery!

I added wing clips from kawaiigoods.com!

As an added note, Magic Kingdom is the park that is potentially hardest to get into when you're dressed in lolita thanks to Fantasyland. The other parks are much easier to enter when you are wearing the fashion.

Now that the major warnings and tips are out of the way, here are additional tips that would make your trip easier.

They are soooo cute!!

1. Buy cute character card pass cases! WDW uses a tap card system in their parks, and with how big most lolita bags are (and the desire to just wear a backpack), it can be a pain to take it out when needed. (You don't just need your cards to enter the park, they're also used for Fastpass, so they also end up being used to get on rides. If you are staying at a Disney Resort, you may also need to tap the card to charge things to your account and use the Disney Dining Plan. I am constantly taking mine out since I have an annual pass and want to get discounts!) There are some adorable Duffy ones available, but if you do a cursory eBay search, there are both official and unofficial pass cases for almost every character!
2. Magicbands are an even better alternative to the traditional ticket. Magicbands were only phased in relatively recently--they are basically wristbands that store all your information so you don't need to drag around your cards anymore. They sell plenty of pretty covers and colours for your Magicband, and I've seen a lot of people paint their own as well. They sell also sell a lot of cute decorations so you can rori-fy those wristbands. (Or you could just hide it under a sleeve... But where's the fun in that?)
3. Go for a braided hairstyle or something very simple. The rides can really tangle up your hair and wigs, so braiding it or maintaining a simple hairstyle at the parks is your best bet. Since my hair is sooo long. I usually just go for braiding it in some way.
4. Limit yourself to one bag. The great thing about Disney rides is that they are still a lot of fun, but were made keeping a family (with all the backpacks for their kids) in mind. All rides have a carry pouch in the front that you can slide most bags into, but I find them too small for most lolita bags. However, most of the rides never go upside-down, so a staff member will allow you to keep a bag by your feet. I actually try to sandwich my bag between my legs so it doesn't move around in the car, and you're usually good to go on most WDW rides. However, you are not allowed to keep them on your lap. If I'm not wearing a petticoat that day, I also try to squeeze it between me and the side of the seat. If you had more than one bag, none of these methods would work very well, and you'll have to constantly put your bags in a locker.
5. Wear an offbrand piece over your lolita outfit on rides. Whether it's a longer coat or vest, you may want to bring something easily washable to wear over your lolita. You can't guarantee that the seats are clean, and you normally can't just ask to be seated somewhere else without having to wait in line for longer and potentially pissing off some people around you. You could also bring a small towel to lay on the seat, but I'm usually too impatient to do that or am afraid I'll leave the towel behind, so I just go for this option. However, all Disney parks are absolutely meticulous with clean-up and I've never actually had anything stained while I was at a park--but it's always good to take precautionary measures when you're wearing an expensive dress.
6. Pack an extra set of shoes--preferably those extra comfy athletic slip-ons from Adidas or Nike. Even the comfiest pair of lolita shoes take their toll on your feet while you're running around, and most lolita bags can fit a simple pair of slippers inside. Just make sure that the lolita shoes you are wearing also fit inside the bag for when you make the switch. 

I'm still salty that there's no purple available. =(

The least lolita-friendly rides (excluding the water rides because... Well, it's obvious. Ride those at your own risk!):

• Mission: Space: I went on this ride for the first time a couple of years back wearing Magical Etoile with zero petticoat and it was super hard to find a place to put my bags. If I wasn't wearing my hair down that day, the restraints would have messed up my hair, and the ride moves around A LOT. I felt self-conscious for the stranger sitting on one side of me since I kind of "overflowed" into his seat. I would try and get on the edge of the ride next time so I have some more space to put my stuff and can just have a friend on the other side of me. The good news is is that by far, Mission: Space has the biggest container for your bags and my biggest lolita bag has fit in there.
• Rock 'n' Roller Coaster: This is probably the most roller coaster-y of all of WDW's attractions (it goes upside-down!). So, for obvious reasons, it's pretty hard to ride this in lolita. They provide a decent amount of space around you though, but I still wouldn't ride this with a very large petticoat.
• Expedition Everest: For a lot of the same reasons as Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, this can be a bit of a pain to ride in lolita.
• Space Mountain: Probably my favourite Disney ride, but with the worst seat design. I have to ungracefully pick up my skirt and tuck it around the restraint since it's supposed to go between your legs. I always look an utter fool getting in and out of it, but it's totally worth it because... Well, SPACE!
• Tomorrowland Speedway: this ride tends to be the dirtiest. You don't really want to wear lolita on it. I never am interested in riding it anyways with the rest of Tomorrowland calling for me, and it's probably my least favourite ride since it's Go Karts with even less... Go. If you do end up wanting to ride it however, follow tip #5 above. 

I didn't include rides like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train on this list because I feel like they represent the average for most Disney rides. You have similar experiences with this ride than you would on Dumbo or the Flying Carpets. They have pretty large seats and constraints that don't really interfere with your outfit, and move slow enough where you can feel comfortable keeping your bags at your feet. The rest of the rides are like Pirates of the Caribbean, It's a Small World, or Haunted Mansion, where you really just sit in a ride car and watch things to by. They're as lolita-friendly as a theme park ride could be!

WDW (or any Disney park really) is a great place to visit while dressed up. A lot of the staff members either wear lolita themselves, know what it is, or just really appreciate that you're going to the extra nine yards at Disney! I haven't had a problem with people being rude or aggressive with me, and I've just had a fun time all around.

I can't imagine going to Disney in an outfit that isn't covered with Disney references, and I hope this inspires you to do the same on your next Disney vacation! If you do end up going to Disney, let me know and show me your photos, I love seeing Disneybound lolitas!

Make sure to take lots of photos with your favourite characters too!

If enough people are interested, I might do a lolita guide for Universal Studios Islands of Adventure as well!

LBC: Goals for 2015!

It's nearly 2015, and right on schedule, it's time to share my goals for the new year! I have three main ones and one super-secret one (which I will keep really vague until I'm ready to make an official announcement) that I'll talk about today. Feel free to share your resolutions as well--and I hope that we can keep each other on track!

Parents and alternative fashion.

Hello everyone! Once again, I will have to apologise for the silence on my end--with school starting up again, it's so hard to keep up with a blog. I've been having a blast interacting with people on Instagram though and updating over there since it only takes a couple of minutes out of my day to post something there~ In fact, all the photos on this post are from there since I haven't had time to put together a lot of new photos for the blog in a while. (; A ;)/

I thought I'd address two frequently asked questions I receive a lot--and they are variations of:

1. What do your parents think about your clothing choices?
2. How do I get my parents to accept how I dress?

Nothing I say here can be taken with a grain of salt--everyone's parents are different and prioritise different things, but I'll try to share my experiences and advice that follows my experience as best I can. I hope you find this post informative!

Fairytale Boutique Events!

I visited Fairytale Boutique very briefly in March, but I was with a colleague from law school, so I kind of bolted out of there before I could spend too much time in there. I'm really happy I was able to return not once, but TWICE this summer! The first one was Fairytale Boutique's Second Anniversary Event, and the second event was their Third Harajuku Fashion Walk!

Pink House Style at the Lavender Festival.

Last week, I went to a small meet-up at a lavender festival in Sonoma. The first day didn't quite go as planned, so we visited a winery instead and returned the next day to observe the beautiful plants. I tried to create a coordinate with a Pink House feel using vintage and handmade items paired with a tea-length dress.

LBC: Your First Lolita Item.

Hello all!

I am incredibly jealous to see all the updates all over my Newsfeed from the Enchanted event! I wish I could have made it. Hopefully next year I will have more time to travel, since this year was spent stressing out over studies.

Again, I thought to use the Lolita Blog Carnival as a great way to keep my blog active and maintained. I'm going to have to change my blog layout soon... This one is very outdated.

Thinking about my first lolita item made me realise just how terrible I was as a beginner. I purchased everything in the wrong order, and my first few coordinates were absolutely terrible. I am not counting my first hand-made lolita dress, purse, or headdress as my first item since--aside from the headdress--not much is actually "lolita."

My first lolita (and brand) item was a parasol that I purchased from egl_comm_sales. It was one of my first online purchases, and if I remember correctly, I bought it for around $30 shipped at the time. I only have one photo of it that I dredged up from my abandoned Poupée account. (I heard the website is more or less dead now, that makes me so sad!)

I hope you don't mind the edited background--I took the photo in an incredibly dirty room that I am embarrassed to display haha. I'm not that much more organised these days, but at least I take time and effort to photograph my wardrobe now. =_=;;

Law school! + Inevitable Hiatus

For those of you who haven't been reading recent tweets or checking out my Instagram, I started law school two weeks ago and I am more than swamped. Labor Day weekend is more like an excuse to have an extra day of studying versus an extra day of relaxation! This just goes to show how busy I am as of late... This has been sitting in my drafts for months!! 

Earning my J.D. has been a lofty goal of mine, and one that I hope to achieve with no regrets. I want to spend the next three years completely engrossed in building a career that will help shape my future, and maybe the future of others. But to do that, I have to make sure I can get the highest scores possible during my first year of law school. For this reason, I am announcing a hiatus.

I will try to check back on comments on this blog from time to time, but for the most part my Tumblr, LookBook, Blogger, and Facebook fan page will be relatively quiet until I have more time on my hands. Those of you who have known law students before (or were one yourself) know just how grueling this first year is, and how impossible it is going to be for me to really hold my attention in two places at once.

From time to time, I will be posting the occasional tweet or Instagram photo, so it won't be impossible to strike up a conversation with me, just a little harder. =)

Fashion is still not far from my mind though, I have been trying to wear something cute every single day of school, so every once in a while I will post a selca or a cellphone shot of my outfit for that day. I committed the greatest faux pas during my orientation though--I completely misunderstood the dress code and wore casual clothing for a business casual event... ^^; After that I was determined to make sure I looked good every day to make up for it, and I think I've been doing a pretty good job of it so far!

Thanks for all your support and lovely comments, this blog is still relatively new in my book (even though it's been a little over a year since I started updating it!), and all of your input has really helped me gain confidence and mature in preparation for law school, believe it or not. I feel like I can take on the world now!

If any of you have been considering a career in law or want to know more about higher education in general, don't be afraid to send me an e-mail at lanarosefanfan AT yahoo DOT com. I'm not an expert quite yet, but I do love to hear myself talk and help people out!

Another trip to New York!

I thought I would share some photos of my recent trip to New York!

I especially loved this trip because I was really able to dictate where I wanted to go and the types of places I'd enjoy seeing. Hopefully next time I get to go alone or with someone with similar taste so I can cram even more into my trip! Really the whole shebang revolved around food. I was in the mood for traveling light so most of my photos are from my iPhone. @3@

Lolita 52: Best places to wear lolita!

I have been absolutely terrible with keeping up with my Lolita 52 posts, mainly because I wasn't sure if it was really keeping people interested or not. @3@ But lately I've been feeling terrible for keeping my blog quiet (I have good reason for this, I promise!!), so I thought I'd whip up a Lolita 52 post just to show that I am still alive!

I think I drew a really fun topic this time, "Best places to wear lolita." I'm the type of person who does not take most dress codes seriously and always pushes the limits on what to wear, so I had like... 5 billion places I wanted to share with you, but I tried to narrow it down to my top 5 favourite kinds of places.

It was really nice using mostly old photos throughout this post, I was able to dig through some memories stashed away in forgotten SD Cards and also pass the time!

1. Historical houses. I've visited quite a few dressed in lolita, but my favourite is a tie between Vizcaya Gardens and Ringling Museum of Art! They both have beautiful gardens and fantastic back drops for outfit shots.

Eep, this photo is so old! It's from the last time I visited Vizcaya, circa 2011. The whole place is built using coral and re-used materials! James Deering was ahead of his time when he built this mansion in 1916--it was super eco friendly!

2. Theme parks! Especially ones with fun carnival rides~ It just seems so nice to run around dressed up among all the lights and decor that come with great theme parks. Of course my favourite is DisneyWorld.

Meeting Mulan at my most recent visit to Disney! She asked me questions about my Oswald hat and told me to "listen out" for Mushu and report to her if he's causing any trouble.

3. Conventions. Okay, some people may not agree with this, but I love convention atmosphere. I'm already a ginormous geek, and then on top of that I can be around other people dressed up really cool who won't even question what I'm wearing! Not to mention you usually end up running into other people dressed in alternative fashion you never knew about, so it's a chance to make more friends! It's also the perfect occasion to wear that super impractical and over-the-top coordinate you've stashed away in the back of your closet.

I would probably never wear a coordinate like this anywhere else, but it was fun doing a super over-the-top raver-inspired get-up using a piece by Atelier Pierrot! This is myself and the fantastic Scoper Monstar, who quickly became an awesome friend. =D

4. Teahouses! This is a big cliché among lolitas that I whole-heartedly grasp. I love tea and the fancy foods that come with tea. You can also get cute photos with the china cabinets. Bring it on!

Another old photo from a meet-up from around 2011 sometime. The tea house I went to this time was so endearing, although a bit pricey. I recommend it to anyone in the area, it's called The Tea Room!

5. Instead of tacky tourist, be a lolita tourist! Wearing lolita when you're going to a new country or area is really great, at least from my experience. Tourists tend to be some of the friendliest people you can be dressed up around, they always are polite and ask for photos with you and it's fun if you don't mind the adverse attention. (Of course, upon discussing this with friends, this may have a lot to do with my loving conventions and being a frequent attendee at them. I'm much more used to people asking for photos than most of my friends.) Just keep in mind, sometimes lolita is really frowned upon in certain places, so you want to make an intelligent decision. I usually tone down my coordinates or make sure I am not insulting a certain culture or belief by wearing a more over-the-top fashion. I've heard of lolitas being turned away at Versailles before since the fashion was considered too "over the top" and disrespectful. Be careful!

Another old photo from my first visit to Sweden years back! We were taking a ferryboat from our hotel in Stockholm. I spent most of my time in Malmö though. =D I realised I tend to pose really similarly throughout the years, haha! I need to be more dynamic!

I will be revealing a few more projects and sponsored reviews in the future, I've been really behind on posting about them. @3@ Remember to check out the previous Lolita 52 topics over here. Hope you all are having a great day!

Renaissance Faire Meet-up.

I am finally starting to go through all my photos on my two SD cards, although totally out of order. The next massive photodump I am going to do on this blog will be for things that happened a couple months prior to this event! My whole timeline is screwed up, aaugh.

I try to go to a Renaissance Faire every year, and this is my second year at this particular one! It was a total blast. It's a bit on the smaller end due to the venue, but I absolutely love how everything is so shady and covered with trees.

But first off, what I wore! (Just a quick sidenote, you'll see that my hands are always obsessively touching my hair... That's because I was just not able to find the pins I needed to secure the hairstyle that morning but I stubbornly went to the meet-up anyways with the impractical 'do. So in pretty much every photo I'm trying to redo it or just holding it in place, FFFFF.)

With this, my LookBook folder has gone around full circle with its dates! The first photo I posted for my LookBook was dated for April 5, 2012, and this photo was taken a year and a day later! Time has flown. I wore one of my most elegant pieces in my wardrobe with elf ears and a crown! I ended up looking totally different by the end of the day because I had glitter splashed on my face by a fairy, horns that I purchased from that same fairy, and then I ended up getting my hair braided.

KIRAMEKI Mag + Date night.

I am sooo sorry for the lack of updates--my life got so busy and I completely forgot to queue up some posts to fill up the empty space. ;A; Hopefully now I'll be back to the usual groove and will post some catch-up stuff in the future.

Until then, I have a really exciting announcement to make! One of my newest friends, the amazing photographer behind Saitam Photography, has given me the fantastic opportunity to be a permanent staff writer and designer behind his new magazine, KIRAMEKI! It is a magazine hoping to focus on alternative fashion and lifestyles, with a Japanese twist~

I was put in charge of the "Fashion Showcase" section, which is very similar to the street snaps in Kera and Gothic & Lolita Bible mooks! We're accepting all kinds of fashions from all corners of the globe, so if you want to share a photo, make sure it is 300 dpi and large enough to be used on 8.5" x 11" paper and send it to kiramekimag@gmail.com! We're hoping to have all our submissions in by mid-May so we can release the magazine in mid-June!

Since this is our first issue, we are looking for anyone who is willing to contribute graphics or editorials to the magazine. We are all just pouring our passion and time into this magazine, so we cannot promise any sort of reimbursement at this time.

If you own a company that you are interested in advertising, we are willing to let you advertise for FREE in our first couple of issues! All we require is an ad that is 8.5" x 11" sent to the e-mail provided above. C=

Lolita 52: How lolita has changed me.

Sorry for the late 52 post! I got caught up at work and only realised it's Wednesday in the evening and I had nothing lined up for the day, oops!

This week I randomly drew topic #52, and it is a very heavy one. "How lolita has changed me." (I guess my need to pose with food hasn't changed much at all though, haha!)

It's safe to say lolita has changed me in a multitude of ways, and I think a lot of the friends I've made and the experiences I have would just... Have not happened if I never got into lolita.

For one thing, I had a lot of body issues as a kid. I was underweight for as long as I could remember, and was very short compared to... Well everyone I knew. This led to a lot of criticism from both peers and my parents--always forcing me to eat more or making fun of me for my gangly figure. I wore children's clothes well into high school, when most people had already graduated to "trendier" adult fashions. I was still running around wearing Limited Too stuff (I think now the store has been renamed Justice)!

I only filled out in the last year for the most part, but until then, I struggled to find clothes to fit (don't even get me started on my bra-shopping meltdowns), and hated how I could never get that "sexy" look that most girls aspired for.

When I saw the sizing for most lolita brands, I was stunned. My first response was, "Whoah, clothes made for someone short and puny like me... Clothes that remind me of Cardcaptor Sakura!" And the rest is history.

Finding pretty clothes that fit also led me to really care a lot about myself and embrace my girlier side. Up until that point, I was a huge tomboy who had no interest in wearing make-up or looking pretty. Really, the only thing "girly" about me was my long hair (although thanks to a couple hitches in the road it ended up being short against my will from time to time). I also just had zero confidence.

Really stepping out of my comfort zone and wearing something that I both liked and made me feel beautiful really helped me develop as a person. My first time really going out and wearing lolita in every day life (not including anime conventions) was my freshman year in college. My parents (even somewhat to this day) are not really supportive of my hobbies, so, finally being out of the house with a little bit of my own money to spend, I commissioned a replica of Angelic Pretty's Loving Princess one-piece from Fan+Friend. It's an eyesore now, but I loved it then. It was everything I ever wanted in a dress!

I had two non-lolita friends who supported my fashion choices and cheered me on, and my first trip was to the mall with both of them. We had a great time, and to put the cherry on top, a bunch of kids dressed in scene/punk recognised the style and screamed from nearly half-way across the mall, "LOOK, a gothic lolita!!" We exchanged Facebook URL's after hanging out for most of the night, and it was such a great experience. Thankfully it was a good experience, or my shaky confidence would have probably made me turn give up immediately.

Oh my goodness, I actually found a picture of the outfit from within the depths of my Facebook. @3@ It's a bit embarrassing to look at now, haha! I remember pouring hours and hours of effort into the crown I wore here. Wowowow, 17-year-old me.

But lolita has really changed me--I have more of a "no fucks given" attitude, and I met so many great friends through the fashion that I am still in touch with today! I guess being so open with your "weirdness" really gets you some long-lasting friends, and I'm thankful for that.

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the month! I'm finally going back home and next week is going to be packed! I have a photoshoot and a lot of meet-ups planned for next week, hopefully you will see the fruits of all that in the future! I use Instagram and Twitter pretty often, so check me out there for more real-time updates.

Check out my other topics under the "Lolita 52 Challenge" label!

Avina x Galaxxxy Rocks!

I am thrilled to announce the newest opportunity in my life--a chance to be a spokesmodel along with one of my best friends Meggie (of SweetieCakes)--for the Japanese brand galaxxxy! I made a silly little promotional image using a print I hand-drew almost a year ago. I'm glad it's finally seeing the light of day now!

Lolita 52: My first meet-up.

This week's topic for the Lolita 52 Challenge is #17, "My first meet-up."

The only reason I know when the meet happened is because I have one photo dated "April 4th 2009." I wish I had more photos of it, but I actually organised my first meet-up. I wore a pretty terrible outfit (I was attempting hime-lolita by wearing open-toed shoes and elbow-length gloves) and it was completely off-brand. Most of the meet-ups were really far away from my school campus, and I didn't drive at the time, so I tried to arrange something at the mall near me.

If there were any photos, there would have been very few because a security guard approached us and requested that we stop taking photos at the very beginning of our meet-up... What a shame. =| We went to a candy store, shopped around at Forever 21 (especially after one of the girls mentioned that their coordinate was mostly from there), and of course, ate lots of delicious food. I think that's actually when my love affair with Forever 21 started! Up until that point, I had given up on finding anything I'd like in local stores.

But really, the memories are great. I met some awesome girls, Aviva, Wendy, Le, Luci, and a lot of them I still keep in touch with to this day! 

Looking back on it, I was only seventeen when this meet-up happened, a freshman in college! Time has really flown by... It looks like the 4th anniversary of my first meet-up is fast-approaching too! This makes me want to do a little transformation timeline. *A* Alas, I am not at home right now with access to all my photos, so that is going to have to be saved for a later date.

Lolita 52: Describe my style is 5 words?

Tomorrow I'll be leaving my home (again), this time for a law internship in Maryland--so bear with me since it seems like the filler posts will have to continue for another couple of weeks. =(

The topic I drew this week for the Lolita 52 Challenge was "5 keywords that describe your style." I really suck at picking pretty unique words for this so this may be pretty boring--so I decided to spice it up with some photos of things in my wardrobe that fit that word!

Since I was a kid, the word "dream" was a real source of inspiration to me. I wanted to take the things I dreamed about (both awake and sleeping) and make them a reality, create soft silhouettes and crown everything with wings.

This is something that I think only really started to make an appearance in my personal fashion in the past year or two. Although most of the things pictured here I had for longer than that amount of time, glitter used to be something I found tacky or just garish. But lately, soft glittering accents have really pulled me in!

Looking back at my advice for buying a versatile piece for your wardrobe, strange colour combinations and outlandish ideas have really been at the forefront of my wardrobe. I really like the idea of taking something most people find ugly and just having fun with it! I guess that's why "aomoji-kei" is such a turn-on for me.

The older I become, the more I want to tip my hat to the things that made me who I am today, whether it's the Power Rangers or Cardcaptor Sakura. There are things I never really stopped loving that I always want to bring into every coordinate!

Last and certainly not least, is adding a little reminder of loved ones, family heirlooms, and "lucky" items. They end up sneaking into my coordinates one way or the other, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

How would you describe your style in 5 words?

Lolita 52 Challenge: The hardest part of my wardrobe to attain.

47. The item in my wardrobe that was the hardest to get.


To those of you who have known me for a while, the simple answer to this question is Magical Etoile. It took me years just to find someone selling it, and then the person who was selling it said that they were currently in a payment plan with someone else. Almost two months later, they contacted me saying the sale fell through, but at that point in time, the dollar had dropped so badly the dress had literally increased in cost by USD 200! I could have cried, but I still wanted the dress so bad and really scrounged up some money to just get it in my closet.

I'm really happy to finally have the dress, I wore it to DisneyWorld this week (yeah I totally went again) and got a lot of compliments! It's such a comfortable dress too, I feel like lolita dresses that released afterwards don't quite fit the way Magical Etoile does.

So basically it took me almost a year after its release to realise that I do really like this dress, then it took me over four years to find someone selling it in the colourway I wanted, and then I only received it in the mail in October of last year~

The photo above is of me packing Magical Etoile for a recent trip~ You can see Magical Etoile neatly folded in the background. That being said, if anyone has questions for how to pack lolita for vacations, I will gladly fill you all in~ I've been getting the question pretty often so I may just make a whole new blog entry for it.

Check out my other entries for the Lolita 52 Challenge! I basically post a random topic selected from a pool of 52 once a week, so by the end of the year I should be finished with this challenge! I'm really excited to see my blog grow as a make it a point to post more frequently. =) Hope you all have a lovely Sweetheart's Day tomorrow!

Lolita 52 Challenge: How people react and how I respond in return.

Okay, this is probably my favourite topic I have ever pulled for the Lolita 52 Challenge, I really love talking about things like this!

44. How strangers react to my clothes, and how I react to their reactions

For those of you who have been following this blog for a while, I do wear alternative fashions as a whole pretty often, even if it isn't necessarily lolita. If I'm leaving the house to do something other than go to the bank/post office, I try and dress up in something unique. For that reason, I've pretty much had a whole slew of responses to what I wear, but thankfully the bad responses aren't too severe. (Although there is this one time.)

I get anything from "are you part of a play?" to "you look like a princess!" or even general comments of admiration like, "wow, that's so cool you dress that way." If people ask a question I usually just respond with "this is a Japanese street fashion popular among some groups of young people," and they're usually just happy hearing that.

But I think the biggest (negative) thing I get are people blatantly pointing and staring at me to laugh or take photos. I usually just turn to them, smile really largely, and say "hello," and that terrifies them into submission, haha! I guess they expect no one to actually call them out on their rude behaviour, especially with kindness. I've realised that if they're around teenage age, they tend to be the meanest, especially where I live. Kids get away with too much here. D= If they're younger or older you tend to get generally positive comments, and old ladies are probably the funniest.

I also get "Lady Gaga" a lot, to which I grimace and say I have no intention of looking like her, but it is a Japanese street fashion--and then they laugh and say that's cool and move on. Most of my reactions don't last longer than a couple of sentences.

I've realised that just being nice to the people who are rude to you tends to rectify things faster than being rude. I've been with girls who would yell at them or glare and it just makes them want to poke fun at you more since they know they're getting to you. Just stay positive, or even goofy!

Previous topics:

6. My favourite lolita brand.
10. How I first found out about lolita.
14. Lolitas I would love to meet.
20. How satisfied I am with my current wardrobe.
26. How I get out of a wardrobe slump.

I'm currently traveling right now, so I won't be responding to comments as quickly as I normally do! Hope everyone is staying safe and having a good time. =)

Magic Kingdom on the busiest day of the year!

Any well-written guide on DisneyWorld will tell you that the weekend after Christmas and before New Year's is probably the busiest weekend to ever go to the park. But that's exactly when I decided I would go and drag a friend along! Honestly, I didn't find it that bad and I actually think Epcot during July 4th was a bit busier! I really enjoyed the park a lot this time, and even though it wasn't fully completed, the new FantasyLand attractions I did get to visit were really cool!

This is what I wore to the park!

I'm exceptionally lazy and the majority of these photos are taken from my Instagram. Check it out, I regularly document my travels on there!

It was one of the coldest days of the year when we went to the park, but even so, we braved the cold and took the ferry to the park! It's arguably the least popular this time of year, which was nice since we didn't have to brave the throngs of people rushing to the monorail when the park opened.

Lolita 52 Challenge: How I first found out about lolita.

By the time this posts on my blog, I'll probably be half-way through my three-day drive across the country back home. My blog will definitely be more active once I have some time to sit down in my apartment, but I feel like until March my life is just going to be way too busy. Just to keep my blog active, here comes the next entry in my 52 Week Lolita Challenge!

10. How I first found out about Lolita.

A lot of the details surrounding what happened when I first got into Lolita fashion 5-6 years ago is already fuzzy, and it doesn’t help that I found out about the fashion a good three years before I actually took the plunge and started purchasing pieces for my wardrobe. All I remember is that when I was 13 years old, and a freshman in high school, I had met a close friend of mine who introduced me to Japanese street fashions in general. Both of us had met at an anime convention (you could bet I was in my full-fledged fangirl phase—it’s a little embarrassing thinking back on it), and I wasn’t too big on dressing myself well or really just caring about my appearance in general.

My friend used to dress in Visual-kei type fashion back in the day (she’s graduated to largely 80’s grunge), but when she showed me some photos of her favourite bands, members wearing big cupcake-dresses with lots of frills and lace immediately caught my attention. I grew up watching Cardcaptor Sakura, and pretty much every aspect of my life was directly influenced by the show, and I always wanted to wear Sakura’s beautiful dresses that Tomoyo lovingly made for her, but could never find anything like it in the store. I even designed a couple of my own dresses that I had seamstresses make for me when I was in middle school which were really quite nice too! I only had a few select dresses handmade by some aunties that fit the aesthetic, and I literally wore them to pieces. I started to do more research, a friend later showed me Fan+Friend, and the rest was history!

I think my initial influence from Cardcaptor Sakura is a big reason why I'm so big into "anime-kei" now and always love to mix in some Magical Girl influences into most (if not all) my outfits.

Of course I had a pretty terrible ita failure somewhere in between, but I was dead set on wearing shiro Lolita, since to this day I’m not a huge fan of how pink looks on me (at least the straight pastel pink normally used), never liked any shade of blue, and wanted to control my spending by only buying things in my two favourite colours; white and lavender. Back then lavender wasn’t a very popular colour in the fashion (that has, of course, changed), so I settled on just straight shiro.

Since then my style has fluctuated and changed and I'm still trying to put together that perfect coordinate that really embraces all the things I love about fashion into one big ball! I love pastels, but I also love Cult Party kind of silhouettes and fabrics, but not straight sweet lolita... Who knows what I like.

These two coordinates are probably the closest I've gotten to that perfect sweet spot!

What are your stories about coming into the fashion? Was Lolita the first Japanese fashion you were interested in, or were you introduced through another fashion?

Previous entries:

14. Lolitas I would love to meet.
20. How satisfied I am with my current wardrobe.
26. How I get out of a wardrobe slump.

Lolita 52 Challenge: Getting out of a slump.

(Photo credit: Colodio)

This week I selected #26, how I get out of a wardrobe slump! I kind of cheated this time because I technically picked #38 before, but I thought it would be nice to do an accompanying hair tutorial with that topic, and realised I don't have the means to do that where I am currently, so I'll save it for another time.