The Lolita Questionnaire: Part III

41. Ladies: Lipstick or Lip Gloss?

Lip stain or lipstick for me. I prefer a matte color.

42. Have you ever pulled a ‘pit crew change’, while out in Lolita (changed clothes or transformed)?

Kind of. I did once do a stunning two-minute change from my fast food work uniform to casual Lolita while in a restaurant bathroom. I had to get dressed for singing at Ash Wednesday church services, and I was on a very tight schedule.

43. What is your impression on twinning (or group coords)?

Go for it! As long as you’re having fun, I don’t see a problem with the idea of twinning or group coords.

44. Are you a ‘Petite’, More to Love Lolita or fairly average in body type? 

Heehee. “more to love Lolita.” I like that. I’m a pudgy girl.

45. Do you feel composed when you wear Lolita in public, or do you generally find yourself nervous?

I’m composed until someone compliments me. Then I don’t know how to respond.

46. How much of your or your parent’s income would you say indulges your love for Lolita?

Very little, actually. I’ve got most of the basics that I want or need, so it’s just a matter of one piece here or there to reinforce that. I’ve also got plenty of fabric, so it’s just a matter of making clothes with it.

47. Was there a time lag between your learning of Lolita and purchasing your first item?

Ooh, yes. From Halloween 2003 to 2010 for my first actual purchase (before that, it’d been a lot of retro and Lolita-inspired looks).

48. What is your most expensive Lolita item?

You know, I don’t actually know. My Meta JSK, the skirt I purchased from Eat Me Ink Me, and a secondhand Megan Maude JSK were all about the same price.

49. It takes a lot of money to be a Lolita, Brand or otherwise. How do you save?

I’m a cheapskate. I save money wherever and whenever I can, so there’s almost always buffer in my bank account. Since my Lolita purchases have become few and far between as my wardrobe has grown, saving has become really easy.

50. If you could have any Lolita shop in your local area, what would it be?

In terms of Brand, I’d probably most like to see a Meta shop because the clothes fit me and, while some of their designs are warped, it’s often really cute.

51. “Man, what a rip-off!!” Have you ever thought that about a store?

Yes. Usually handmade shops where the maker hikes up the price without having the experience to make a quality item. Not all handmade shops, of course, but there have been a few that I’ve come across where the quality was horrible.

52. All tea, all shade: what really gets your ruffles riled up about the Lolita culture/fashion/community?

Rudeness.

53. Do you tend to stalk EGL comm sales? Have you ever sold or bought anything? Share your experience.

Not really. I look occasionally when I’m in a mood, but since I try to keep my needs in mind I rarely buy these days. I’ve bought several things. I’ve had good experiences all around, though I have had to alter a few things to make them suit my frame.

54. Is there a Lolita Model, Community Celebrity or icon that you adore?

Yes. I wrote a whole blog post on it.

55. What Off-Brand(s) and/or Brand(s) do you absolutely detest?

None? I mean, there are some that I wouldn’t wear personally, but that’s not a brand thing; it’s a me thing.

56. What Lolita motif do you find distasteful? (ero, sweet, gothic, etc.)

None? I’m not big on sweet on me, but I find it adorable on other people.

57. What do you do with the clothes you don’t want anymore? Has this ever occurred?

I’ve sold one dress. However, with the way that I buy clothing, I usually stare at it for a long time before actually buying. I need to have a piece that can work for me, so I rarely just stop wanting the clothing.

58. Fashion or Lifestyle? (What is Lolita to you?)

Both. I have aspects of the lifestyle Lolita, but mostly it’s just clothing to me.

59. What is your most recent purchase? (Not necessarily Lolita)

I bought a new petticoat and a black ruffled chiffon blouse.

60. Is there an item you love that you can’t buy/seem to find? (Making EGL connections, for the win)

Yes and no. I’ve been having a hard time finding a blouse in the exact color that I want, but that’s not a particular item but rather an issue of fabric. I’ve got my eye on some fabric, though, to make it.

The Lolita Questionnaire: Part II

21. What is your personal feelings about yourself in Lolita? In one word/phrase, how would you express your style/image?

I love me in Lolita. I feel happy, and I think I look good.

22. Did you ever think about quitting Lolita? If so, what was the reason?

Not quitting. I do sometimes pull back and stop wearing it for a while, but I’ve never considered quitting.

23. How do you feel about celebrities in Lolita?

Just like other celebrities, they don’t really sway me one way or the other.

24. *The must ask question* What is your dream print/Lolita item?

Grazia Crown. It wouldn’t fit the size I am now, but it’s just so darn pretty.

25. What was your first item, pertaining to the fashion? (jsk, doll, magazine, otk, etc.)

A secondhand skirt from FanPlusFriend. I still have it.

26. Do you have a signature pose for photos?

Standing?

27. What shoes do you feel best suit the fashion? (Dream V, platform, Mary Janes, etc.)

It depends on the outfit. For me, basic Mary Janes or Victorian boots best suit the style. However, that’s my style. The shoe depends on the outfit.

28. Do you wear tiaras or have an opinion towards hime and princess cuts?

For the most part, they’re not really for me. I’ve got a mini crown that I’ve been making, but it’s more about the historical reference than the princess thing. As for hime and princess cuts, as long as they flatter the girl behind the hair I don't have a problem with them.

29. Is Lolita the only J-Fashion/culture you subscribe to, or is there more?

I dabble in dolly kei and dark mori.

30. How do you feel about ‘Boys Style’, Kodona, Ouji and/or Dandy?

Love it! I’d like to get more into it if I can find the time to sew and find hats that work on my head.

31. What types of lace do you tend to prefer?

Soft lace. I’m not picky about the type of lace as long as it’s high quality.

32. Would you consider yourself a doll collector? (BJD, American, Pullip series, or otherwise)

Oh, yes. I have a growing collection of Monster High dolls, and I’ve got a broad collection of dolls from around the world that my grandmother gave me.

33. Are you satisfied with your wardrobe, or are you insatiable?

I’m mostly satisfied. At this point, I’ve got a few pieces that I want (brown and ivory underskirts, a new black vest, a blouse in plum, and skirts made from my fabric stash), but I’m not the sort of person who always needs more.

34. What is your favorite flower?

Lavender!

35. Right now, what is your favorite accessory?

Hmm. Honestly, I’m kind of obsessed with a rose gold pomegranate necklace that I got a little while back. I’m actually working on a Persephone-inspired coord to go with it.

36. How do you feel about cosmetics? 

They make an outfit look polished, but I’m not terribly offended by the decision not to wear them. My skin is pretty sensitive, so I often don’t wear makeup.

37. If this applies to you: what tends to be your make up routine, when you wear Lolita? Does it differ from your normal routine?

It’s usually the same. For events, I’ll wear foundation, but otherwise it’s just a bit of eye makeup and a light lip stain.

38. Is there anything you want to shamelessly plug (endorse)?

Not at the moment.

39. Do you have lashes that you are loyal to?

My own. I don’t usually wear falsies.

40. Would you say you are more of a Brandist or Off-Brand Lolita? (Based solely on preference, of course)

I wear off-brand because I can’t fit into brand. It’s not a preference thing; it’s a measurements and budget thing. As for preference, I prefer neither; my taste depends on the individual items.

The Lolita Questionnaire: Part I

There have been a lot of Lolita confession blogs over the years, but one of my favorites has definitely been Tell The Tea on Tumblr. A while back, they created their Lolita questionnaire that contains some interesting questions. So, in lieu of a regular post this week (while I work on a new theme for the blog!), I’m going to be posting twenty answers a day from their survey.

Let’s get started, shall we?

1. First things first: Your Screen-name and/or Lolita Alias and it’s meaning?

I don’t really do “alias.” I’m Emily whether I’m in frills or not. My blog title is “bookish beauty” because I like books, I am bookish, I like fashion, and I like where fashion and literature collide.

2. What made you fall in love with Lolita?

Historical inspiration and full skirts! When I was younger, I developed this intense love of historical costuming and I never really lost that. Lolita offered me a perfect way to create something wearable out of that knowledge.

3. Which Lolita motif do you subscribe to? (Gothic, Classic, Sweet, etc.)

Lots of classic and gothic with a touch of sweet. No matter what I wear, though, it ends up getting pulled inexorably toward the classic end of its spectrum.

4. How do you feel about Lolitas with piercings/tattoos?

Love it. Each person is an individual, and I love the girls who rock piercings and tattoos. That said, the thought of doing either to myself sends me into the fetal position because I am terrified of needles.

5. Which Brands and/or Off-Brands do you live for?

I covet Megan Maude and Blasphemina’s Closet like nobody’s business, and I would really love to get a piece by Leif. I love the pieces I’ve purchased from Eat Me, Ink Me. I love me some Metamorphose Temps de Fille. And, if I could fit into it, I’d be a Mary Magdalene and Juliette et Justine fiend.

6. How many Lolita friends do you have?

IRL, none right now. There are a few girls who live in the area, but I haven’t met them yet.

Online, I’ve got a few. *waves* Hello!

7. Are you actively involved in your local community?

Not at the moment.

8. Do you own or read any Lolita magazines?

I’ve got two issues of Otome No Sewing Book, and I read a few zines

9. Do you wear bloomers?

Yes and no. I often wear a split slip because I haven’t made/found bloomers that are long enough and comfortable.

10. What Headdress do you tend to favor? (bonnets, ribbons, hairbows, hats, etc.)

ALL OF THE THINGS CLIPPED TO MY HEAD. For serious, I’ve got a blog post that I’m working on about the ridiculousness of my barrette collection. I’d wear more hats, but they’re hard to find in my size, so I take the idea of a fully festooned Victorian hat and just sort of remove the hat part.

11. Do you store your Lolita clothes in a special place?

Nope. The skirts are in the same section of closet, but since I use Lolita pieces in non-lolita outfits sometimes, it all gets mixed together.

12. How would you describe your music taste?

I like music. I take a little bit of everything, depending on my mood, but my favorite music tends to fuse early 1900s music, folk music, or symphonic music with other genres. For some reason, this often ends up with large, Viking-like men shredding guitars. Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of a Russian band called Arkona. Tomorrow it might be showtunes. Who knows.

13. Do you tend to wear Lolita for special occasions or casually?

Both. I wear Lolita most weeks to church, to most special occasions, and sometimes just because.

14. Favorite color(s)?

Currently, I’m lusting after that deep red-purple plum color. My favorite color really changes with the wind.

15. What are your hobbies?

All the things! I sew stuffed animals and clothing. I cross stitch. I design and create my own hair accessories and jewelry. I cook. I like playing with the family dog. I love bicycling. I read a lot on a variety of different subjects

16. Is there anything you are careful of in Lolita?

Dirt and red food are dangerous when I’m wearing white or ivory. Otherwise, I’m no more careful with my Lolita than I am in the rest of my dressier clothing.

17. How often do you find yourself in Lolita? (daily, weekly, monthly, sporadically, yearly)

At least once a week. I’m working up courage to wear my Lolita pieces at my new job, but I used to wear it almost every day of the week when I was at my last job.

18. What would you say is your Ghost of Lolita past? (Most embarrassing Lolita moments)

The time I said something was “too gothic Lolita” for my taste. I had a bad brush with an ita (sweet girl; not such nice clothing) and it tainted my view of the fashion for years. Other than that, every mistake has been educational for me, and I am embarrassed of none of them.

19. What is your current hairstyle and color?

My hair is currently my natural blondish, brownish, reddish color. It’s bobbed and wedged in the back, and it’s grown out to about chin length now.

20. Do you tend to wear wigs when you are in Lolita, or do you go ‘all-natural’?

All natural, if just because I haven’t found a wig yet that called to me and would fit. I’d love to wear wigs on occasion, but my head is big.

Lolita Life Hacks

You’ve heard of life hacks, right? Easy little tips and tricks that can make life so much easier. They’re usually pretty cheap and make everyday tasks easier.

Well, hold on to your pettis, because these are a few of my life hacks for the Lolita.

Salad Spinner

This is a trick I picked up from Busty Girl Comics, but it works for more than just bras.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I wear a ton of tights. I'm not really a socks sort of person, so tights are my go-to item when I get dressed. As a result, I have a lot of dirty tights and not nearly enough lingerie bags to wash them in.

Enter the salad spinner.

The process of washing tights with a salad spinner is much the same as the process for washing anything else

1) Put tights, lingerie soup, and water in salad spinner. Spin 5-6 times.
2) Replace soapy water with clear water and place tights in to rinse. Spin 5-6 times.
3) Dump out water and spin 5-6 times to dry (may require more line drying, but it's a good start).

Simple as that!

Square Dance Supplies

Get your flinches out now, because some of the easiest Lolita life hacks are related to square dance supplies.

1) Square dance patterns, as I’ve mentioned before, are some of my favorite patterns to adapt for Lolita. It bears repeating, though, that they’re an easy-to-adapt set of patterns.

2) Square dance skirts. Yes, you read that right. One of the biggest issues I face as a Lolita is that my skirts end up too short. I prefer it if my skirts hit my knees, and many Lolita skirts… don’t. So I tuck a circle skirt under my Lolita skirt. I use solid-colored skirts with ruffles on the bottom for this. It also works great for adding a touch of color.

3) Petticoats! Most girls already know this, but it bears repeating that Malco Modes petticoats are a good, reasonably priced way to add fluff to your skirts. The very fluffy 582 and the slightly less fluffy 580 are the two big ones. Square dance or no, these pettis hold their fluff like nobody’s business.

Crayon Lipstick

Ever driven yourself half-mad because you couldn't find a decent lipstick to match your outfit or skin tone? I have. I look best in brown-based shades (or, you know, brown) and they can be more difficult to find than you might expect. So I use this tutorial by Ms. Toi to make my own lipstick from crayons to get just the right shade.

For me, the best color is “sepia,” and that might work well for other girls who wear classic Lolita, but you can literally work with any color. Want the perfect dark red? Blend it yourself. Looking for a super sweet baby pink? You can have it.

I love the creativity that this gives me. I also love that crayons are pretty cheap, making my makeup pretty cheap.

Shower Curtain Rings

Storage is something we all struggle with (or at least I do), but shower curtain rings can help you store OTKs and tights in your closet. Just clip the shower curtain rings around the base of a clothes hanger, loop your socks or tights through the ring, and hang them up in your closet.

Do you have any lolita-related tips that you've picked up?

The Story of my Fur Coat

It was as if it was waiting for me.

I'd walked into one of the antique stores in my hometown, just hoping to find a vintage hat, a set of cameo jewelry, or a nice pair of clip-on earrings. I never expected to find a mink coat, golden brown and hung with little care on the end of an old bookshelf.

I also never expected that such a find would fit.

It's a capelike number, cozy and soft and warm and well-cared for. Even the lining, a rich golden brown that suited the fur beautifully, was unblemished. And it fit. Even so, I tried to talk myself out of it. I wandered the store for a good long while before I finally walked back. It was out of my price range, but I talked to the store owner who talked to the seller who agreed to give me a discount on the coat (it had been a warm winter, and furs don't sell like they used to). I walked home with it gingerly tucked in a paper bag, keeping it close to my chest.

I hadn't bothered to look at the tag until it was hanging from my bedroom door and I was imagining the outfits it would look best with.

The tag struck me, then: Hope Furs. St. Paul.

I was curious. It's the historian in me. Is the place still open? When was it opened? If it's closed, when? Could looking up the shop tell me how old the fur was? Could it tell me the why and when of this pretty thing I had just bought?

I looked it up and, after some searching, I found much more than a when; I found a who.

Eva Hope Miller. The name probably won't ring any bells. She died in 1994, when I was just five. But what a woman!

A woman who described herself as "a little go-go-go," according to her obituary, she'd developed an interest in furs when she was in her teens. She graduated from business school and began working as a bookkeeper at a furrier who she thought hired her to get rid of her. Then, in 1920s, she and her sister opened a fur shop.  Two women opened a fur shop. In the midst of the Great Depression. And it was a success. The shop was open until she clearanced the stock in 1952, after eighteen years of business, when her husband was diagnosed with cancer.

More than just a furrier, she was an incredible woman. She dated her husband for 23 years before marrying him because she was "too busy working to get married." She organized the first Christmas tree lighting in St. Paul. She helped create the first credit Blue Book. The governor proclaimed a day for her after she died.

She was a woman I wish I had known, and it was her shop that sold the fur coat that now waits in my closet for the next special occasion.

I like to think that my fur was part of the clearance stock. The story I tell myself is that it belonged to a woman who had yearned for a fur coat for years and had never been able to afford it until Hope Furs clearanced its stock, who cared for it for years until she passed it on to someone else, whereupon it changed hands several times before finding its way to a small town antique store and a young woman who cares for it very much.

I like to think that whoever bought this, like me, was unlikely to buy another fur anytime soon. I like to think that she cared for it, as nice as the coat is, for many years. I like to think that its over sixty year journey from a shop in St. Paul to my closet was filled with ups and downs, stories I will never know but may imagine.

But most of all, I like to think of the woman I stumbled upon when buying this fur, an incredible businesswoman and human being whose name rests on the tag of my fur coat.

Beyond the Pageboy: Retro Hairstyles For Short(ish) Haired Girls

About two weeks ago, the lovely lady who runs Les Fleurs Noires wrote a post about short hair and Lolita. She focused largely on accessorizing with short hair and styles to pair it with. And, in the spirit of sharing short hair style tips for the frilly among us, I thought I’d chip in with some of my favorite hairdo tutorials.

These focus on hair that is between chin length and shoulder length (sorry, pixie cut ladies, but I don't have personal experience with cuts that short and styling them!). It's also going to focus on retro hairstyles because, to be frank, I think retro hairstyles look adorable with Lolita and other frilly fashions.

Ribbon Braid Updo

Confession time: I pretty much lived in this hairstyle about a year ago. My hair had just about hit my shoulders and I knew not what to do with it. I also didn't have time (or money) to go out and get my hair chopped just because it was a little longer than I usually like it. Since then, I've decided that this is going to be my go-to for days when my hair is a touch too long and I just want it out of the way.

Then, I found this tutorial by way of Va Voom Vintage and absolutely loved it.

This hairstyle works well with a ribbon, a scarf, or even a random scrap of lace. One fun variation that looks great with natural kei or dolly kei inspired looks is this one from Megan Maude. With a thinner strip of lace and some smaller flowers, it looks quite nice with Lolita as well.

Tales of Christmas: Lolita Outfits Inspired by Classic Holiday Stories

Christmastime!

I love Christmas. I love giving gifts and spending time with family. I love that it is a great excuse for making foodstuffs for friends and family, whether they celebrate the holiday or not. And, in many cases, I love the stories that go along with it.

So I decided to do a few outfits based on my favorite Christmas stories.

Toy Soldier

This outfit takes inspiration from two of the many things I have loved in my life: nutcrackers and marching band. The shako (the bucket-shaped hat often seen in a marching band setting) is a strange choice with lolita, but it works with the military styling of the outfit as a whole. I chose a shako with a gold eagle both because it reflects the tone of the gold buttons on the vest and because I like a good black and gold shako.

Any plaid skirt would work for this outfit, but I chose to use this Bodyline JSK both because of its inexpensive nature and because of the layering in the skirt. The three tiers break up the line of the skirt and mimic the peplum of the coat often seen on traditional nutcrackers.

I would also say curled hair (or a curly wig if that's your thing) are a must with this outfit to offset the vertical nature of the shako. Give it a bit of volume to balance out the skirt.