Lolita in Tokyo wonderland - translation

I'm finally back posting something here. This time I want to share a new translation of a chapter from the book Lolita in Tokyo wonderland. I decided to translate the shopping/building your lolita wardrobe guide, since I think it can really help these who are thinking of starting wearing lolita clothes and building a lolita wardrobe. ( ^  ^ ) 

The book itself is a very nice and informative one. I believe that even these who cannot read Japanese will enjoy this book and be able to get lots of tips on where to go and what to do in Tokyo. If you are planning a trip to Tokyo this book can be a good lolita-guide. ( ^ w ^ )

Please remember that this is a fan translation.

Shopping guide for lolita beginners

When beginning ones lolita lifestyle and starting to build a wardrobe, what things should one buy? What do you call this type of item? How do you wear it? These are some questions we will be answering in this article.

Step 1 – collecting clothes

When first purchasing lolita clothing we suggest buying a one-piece dress or a jumper skirt and a blouse. It will instantly transform you into a lolita!

Jumper skirt:

Jumper skirt is a typical item in lolita fashion. Unlike a one-piece, a jumper skirt has no sleeves and can be layered on top of other clothes with greater variation.  It is usually layered on top of a blouse and wearing a jumper skirt without anything under is not typical for lolita fashion. The word jumper skirt is often shortened to JSK.

One-piece:

We suggest buying a one-piece dress to these of you who think “I want to instantly become a lolita!”. The word one-piece is often shortened to OP.

When you have gathered the above mentioned basic lolita items, you might also want to get your hands on the following clothes:

·         Cardigan: we suggest choosing a simple one, you can use it all year and match many different outfits.

·         

s    Skirt: a skirt can be worn in many different styles depending on the top you chose.

·         Cut and sew: a very useful and enjoyable item to wear, more casual than a blouse.

Step 2 – lingerie (gathering undergarments)

To make the skirt look lolita-like puffy, with lots of volume a petticoat and drawers are a must! You can vary the number of panniers you wear depending on your liking.

We recommend to wear a pannier under lolita skirts and dresses. As an example, the brand Baby the Stars Shine Bright has 2 kinds of petticoats: one with hard tulle and one with soft tulle. The hard type can be used with skirts/dresses made with heavy fabric (like velvet) or when lots of puff is desired, the soft one can be used under skirts made with light fabric or for slightly less puff. If you want to add more puff to your outfit you can always layer more than one petticoat. Wearing bloomers under the pannier is a must in lolita fashion.

Step 3 – socks and shoes

When it comes to socks and shoes non-brand items work well, but these from a lolita brand make the lolita look more complete. There are many people who first buy lolita socks, then get an increased interest in the lolita fashion and set out to become a full lolita.

Simple white knee socks or over-the-knee socks are OK. But matching the print of the socks to ones dress/skirt makes the coordinate more fashionable.  

Most of the lolita shoes are flat with a rounded toe part, they are very easy to wear and are comfortable. Some of the characteristics of lolita shoes are decorative straps and bows.

Step 4 – collecting small items/accessories

When you have gathered the essential clothing and shoes, let’s begin gathering some small items and accessories. Some people start their lolita collection by doing the opposite and bying accessories like bows and bags first.

Hair accessories

In lolita fashion lots of individuality can be expressed with ones choice of accessories. Main head accessories are head-bows. You can even add additional bows on the sides for a more gorgeous look. Bonnets and headdresses are also popular items. In summertime you can wear a tidy hat.

Bag

Motif bags are popular in lolita fashion, there are bags shaped like for example hearts, clocks, books and  instruments. Pairing the bag with a cute plush animal purse is even cuter!

Wristband

Wristands match perfectly with hime-sleeves (princess sleeves) that open up and become wide below the elbow. It is also pretty to wear them at times when you feel like your skin is showing too much or matched with a short sleeved blouse. As the name suggest (in Japanese these are called sleeve stoppers) you can use wristbands to pull up your sleeves so that they don’t get dirty white eating.

Umbrella

Having a frilly umbrella, usable both in rainy and sunny weather is great when going out. White skin is essential in lolita fashion, so let’s keep these vicious sun rays at bay in a cute way. 

International lolita day outfit

So as usual, I am late at updating here in time... .

As many of you already know this Saturday was International lolita day! Happy late ILD everyone~ (＝⌒▽⌒＝)

To be honest, I don't usually put much thought in the International lolita day, but it's a good reason to dress up and feel cute in this dark (winter) time. My outfit for the occasion was pretty simple, but I still felt cute.  (*^▽^*)

At home in my slippers XD

Everything I am wearing is from Angelic Pretty. 

I couldn't choose one picture so I posted all 3, even though my face expression is pretty much the same in all of them. lol

And a blurry picture of my face. 

Hope you all had a nice day on Saturday!

Lolita fashion book - Translation 3 (Gothic lolita)

And the final part of the Lolita Fashion Book - gothic lolita is finally translated! Somehow this article was the hardest one to translate, so it took some time. I had to translate it in chunks as well, as I have been translating some other texts and drowning in homework lately. ( > __ < ) I think this will be the last part I translate from the Lolita Fashion Book, so if you have any suggestions for future translation don't be shy to comment! ( ^  w  ^ )

Before posting the rest I would first I like to state following:
The book is Misako Aoki's copyright, this is just a fan translation.
I did not translate the contents of the book exactly as they are written - word by word. I translate in a manner that allows the text to keep it's original poetic feeling and nuance (I hope).

Lolita fashion book part 3

Gothic Lolita 

About the gothic lolita style

This is a style of Lolita fashion influenced by the gothic aesthetics. There are many theories about the origins of this style, according to the most common one: the gothic and lolita style came to be in the middle of 1990s, when indie designer brands started producing and selling gothic lolita clothes. 

Dark, demonic music, like the music from the band Black Sabbath had at that time reached Japan and gained popularity, along with the European gothic aesthetics. These two influenced the lolita style and gothic lolita was born. The gothic lolita style has kept the basic form and elements of lolita, but the overall theme; inspired by gothic elements and using mainly black color, gave this style a darker feeling compared to the previous, mainly cute lolita styles. The boom of Visual Kei music that came in 1990s has also been said to influence the gothic lolita style further. 

The style gothic lolita is popular with girls who like girly clothing, but also with these who prefer a more punkish style. Gothic lolita is inspired by mystical creatures, such as vampires and therefore has a dark, magical feeling to it. The clothes are not always black, other dark colors, such as dark red are also used in this style. 

When gothic elements were first incorporated into lolita fashion, the mixture of the two styles was often referred to as gothic & lolita. This was done to differentiate the new style from the other lolita styles. Since then the style which corporates both gothic and lolita elements has sometimes been called gothic & lolita and sometimes shortened to gosurori. But the most often used, original name is gothic lolita.

 A gothic lolita coordinate

This dark fashion uses mainly black color as its theme, but other colors such as dark red, blue and white are also used. Gothic lolita has the same typical layering style as the other lolita styles - JSK over a blouse, but it also incorporates some gothic, depraved, wicked components. Skirts with a design featuring torn fabric or tulle give the style a mysterious, devil feeling to it - creating a gothic doll-like look. One of the main characteristic elements of the gothic lolita style are birdcage-like designs over skirts and dresses. We should of course not forget to talk about accessories. Fitting accessories for this style are crosses, sculls and black roses. Motifs featuring the holy Mary are also recommended. A particularly popular item in gothic lolita is the coffin shaped bag. 

Black hair suits this style well, match it with accessories decorated with roses, a hat or a mini hat with tulle. Make up is also really important for this style. Strong, dark eye makeup is often used, strive to achieve a pale look; close to the one of a bisque doll.

Point 1 

Adding gothic elements to a JSK that could be worn for kuro lolita. 

Point 2

Adding a colorful detail in dark red or blue gives the outfit an extra dimension and becomes the main point of the outfit. 

Point 3

A cane/walking stick suits the gothic style very well. The umbrella in the photo looks like a cane when closed. 

Gothenburg Games - fashion show and lecture

I haven't updated here in a whole month now, sorry! ( ;___; ) November has been a long month with lot's of work and study, but little fun... I did attend an event in Gothenburg though. I was lucky to be  invited there to hold a small lecture on Japanese fashion (mostly lolita) and to be a part of a fashion show. It was a lot of fun to be able to actively spread some knowledge about Japanese fashion and to meet fellow J-fashion lovers from Gothenburg. I hope I can attend more events in the future! ( ^ w ^ )

Since I was on stage talking I didn't get lots of chances to take photos, but here are some photos my bf managed to snap! (It was dark, so sorry for the crappy quality)

This is my first "official" lecture about Japanese fashion as a Kawaii Ambassador. :3

2 cute lolitas from the fashion show <3

Colorful decora girls!

Linn was the organizer for the fashion show. She really did a great job!

and me

Somebody came and stood in the middle of the photo xD

After the fashion show we also did a small talk about the outfits the girls were wearing. 

This was my outfit for the day. ( ^  ^ )

This was an awesome art exhibition in one of the halls at the venue, so of course I had to take a photo  haha

Halloween 2015

It's Halloween! (or at least it was yesterday xD) Did you guys do anything fun? Personally I didn't really do anything special... I didn't go to any Halloween party or even watch a scary movie. ( T___T ) Instead I had a small "Halloween" themed, gothic lolita photo shoot! ( ^ w ^ ) Sadly it was nothing too creative, as I have been working all week, but I tried to create a certain type of feeling. Something like some old looking photos of a gothic doll.

Here comes quite the photo spam, as I couldn't choose fever favorite photos to post.

Most of the photos were taken in Lund cathedral or Lunds Domkyrka in Swedish. 

This is in the crypt~ spooky! :P

I am very holy, I glow!

Pretty candle <3

I love this photo,  I think it really has a vintage photo look. ( ^  ^ )

This old bench is an awesome place for gothic style photos. 

I think you have already noticed that I really liked posing there for photos XD

Looking just a tad evil ;)

And a photo of my whole outfit, just outside the church doors.

This whole photo shoot was done in an hour or so, it was really stressful as there were lots of people in church that day. I somehow forgot the fact that many people come to church on the 31st and that it wasn't the best day for taking photos... ( > < ) I'm still happy with the result though! 

Hope you liked it too~ <3

Metamorphose tea-party

Finally it’s time for the Metamorphose tea party post! I must say that I actually thought I took lots and lots of photos, apparently I didn’t… anyhow I’m happy to share the experience and the photos I have!

The tea party was held at Schick Hotel Stefanie in Vienna, a gorgeous hotel with really beautiful rooms and decor. Too bad I didn’t take any photos of how the hotel looked from outside (and inside lol). I didn’t have a VIP ticket, but one of my roommates did - so we were at the hotel early and had plenty of time to take outfit pictures and such.   

Let’s start with my outfit!

 (The lightning inside the hotel made the photos a bit yellow).

I fell in love with the print of this Metamorphose dress and bought it specially for the occasion. (Sadly it was a bit too big for me, so I decided to sell it after the event.) The dress series is called “Noble Tea Party“ and I thought that it was therefore really fitting to wear to a tea party. ( ^ u ^ )

The rest of my coord is based on the name of the dress - I tried to recreate a ‘noble girl going to a tea party’ kind of feeling. XD The main point of the coord is of course the hat! It took me 2 weeks to make and it’s 100% hand sewn (making my hands very sad, and me pretty proud of the result). I got lots of compliments, so it was totally worth making and I am super happy everyone liked it!

The VIP guests were allowed in an hour before the rest of us, so while waiting there was a lot of photo taking going on. We were just under 200 lolitas at the event (my speculation) and I’m sad I didn’t take more photos, both of people and with people. So many lovely outfits I don’t get to show you guys. ( ;___; ) 

Here are some cute lolitas taking selfies while waiting.

I also snapped some awesome outfit photos!  (In case someone don’t want their photo to be seen here please tell me.)

One of my room-mates! We were 4 girls living together, but sadly never took a group photo. 

Next time!!!

I talked a lot with these 3 girls. They were really cute and nice :3 The girl in the middle made the dress herself. Awesome!

2 more cuties! <3

I love all-black coords! Such lovely hat~

I think steam punk lolita is really cool and this is outfit is awesome. <3 

While waiting I also had time to have a coffee with rum and whipped cream. I forgot what it’s called, but it is supposedly a specialty in Vienna. The hotel bar was really pretty, hence I had to take a ‘I’m drinking cofee’ photo!

I must say, there was A LOT of rum in my coffee XD much more than I expected. 

When the time for the event to start came, there were pretty many lovely lolitas queuing in the vestibule. 

I’m pretty sure some oujis are hiding in there as well.

Then it was time to go in, mingle and of course grab some food. I am so used to the fact that no photos are allowed in shops in Japan, I didn’t take any photos of the stalls. There was not a huge amount of shops at the tea party, but there were a couple of indie brands selling their awesome wares and of course Metamorphose had a stall managed by the designer Taira Chinatsu and brand president Ryo Matsuoka. I greeted them welcome to Europe and managed to take a photo with Taira Chinatsu. ( // ^ w ^ // )

She was really nice and sweet!

Also the Japanese band Die Milch was guests at the tea party. They were both really nice. <3

Speaking of food, here is a part of the buffet table and my plate – with mostly sweet stuff on it. Haha

Cakes! <3

One of the highlights of the event was of course the Metamorphose fashion show. All the models were really great and I think there was a nice flow and choreography to the show! I didn't manage to snap a photo of all the models, but here are some of my favorite looks:

Here is a link to a short fashion show video I filmed: 

https://instagram.com/p/88lVQmJJ1S/?taken-by=deadxsweetness

It's the very end when all the models walk out again. 

All the pretty models and Metamorphose designer Taira Chinatsu.

After the fashion show there was also a ruffle with lots of nice prizes, a Q and A panel with the designer and Metamorphoses designer chose the 2 pretties outfits. I won a cute set of a ring and hair accessories from myauMANIA. Thank you! ( ^ w ^ )/

After the tea party was wrapped up, there was an after party. The Gothic Dandy and Lolita Music festival! It was really awesome that it was held the same day as the tea party and I am really happy I could participate. I have no photos, since I left most of my stuff at the apartment, but the bands performing were: Die Milch (from Japan), Lolita KompleX, Meinhard and Swansong for a Raven. 

They were all really great and the performances were awesome. There were also 2 dance acts, which was really fun! I was standing in the first row, waving at everyone and dancing. haha 

The day of the tea party was long, but filled with lots of awesome meetings and fun activities. I hope everyone has as fun as I did. <3 I am really happy I got to go and I can’t wait to see all my friends again!

To end this long post, here are 2 photos of me and the pretty piano in the lounge of the hotel. ( ^  ^ )

*Casually pretends she knows how to play XD

 There are more photos from the tea party up on Facebook if anyone is interested in seeing more. Here are some links:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1073429772681261.1073741895.287371247953788&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1072992236058348.1073741894.287371247953788&type=3