Clothing Ideas: Sneaker Lolita

I must begin by apologizing for the dead silence. Basically, my return from the turkey massacre went like this:

Luckily, my ass is recovering from the trauma. Don't procrastinate like me, kids. You just get ass-raped by work if you do.

With holiday shopping (and me shopping), I've been looking into additions to my wardrobe that I can make with holiday cash and the ease that I tend to have being off my campus for a month (i.e. not needing to pay for every meal or laundry load). So, going around DSW, initially looking for work shoes to wear to an office job I don't have while my sister looked for herself and considered getting our mother a giftcard, I saw these:


This was a particularly awesome find, since I actually had just been talking about sneakers in lolita with a friend. I really think that sneakers are awfully overlooked in lolita which is sad. They're extraordinarily comfortable, and for urban lolitas, it's really good to have comfortable shoes that are easy to care for and have for more casual meets. Of course, they're beyond difficult to work into classic and gothic style and you certainly can't wear them for a formal meet like a fancy tea party on International Lolita Day, but what about movie meets? Disney World meets? When you're on your feet for a long time, you can rack up a lot of damage if you don't have the right arch or too high a heel, and while there are a lot of alternatives to sneakers like tea parties and rocking horse shoes, I've seen lolita friends' shoes end up getting worn so much that they're beaten to the point where they're loosing their soles, especially since most of them are taobao replicas or Bodyline. Some shoes aren't meant to take the beating of walking cross town in Manhattan several times in a year. I propose that sneakers are a very good alternative to save the live span of your nicer lolita shoes. They're made to take the beating when we need to do a lot of walking and they've been a huge part of fashion for the last few decades, breaking away from their duller gym mold and jumping into many more interesting designs, especially in this past one.

Sneakers look best in more casual coords, but they can work fantastically in more elaborate punk and sweet outfits. There's a fantastic abundance of brightly colored fashion sneakers available, and while they can get pricey... well, firstly, if you're not willing to shell out some serious bucks on foot wear, you're probably in the wrong hobby fashion, and secondly, I'm willing to bet that your folks or S.O.s could be more willing to shell out $40-$80 on sneakers that you can wear just about everywhere but the office than a $250-$300 brand one piece or $150-$20 on a pair of highly embellished lolita shoes.

Another advantage is that with sneakers, you definitely get to play around a lot, as you can with more casual outfits. They add versatility to your wardrobe so that you can wear those loli accessories with your jeans and tee-shirts and balance out everything a lot better. Let's look at the new Chucks I got for example.

I have a coordinate for lolita that I can easily swap out my skirt for jeans and still have a completely working coordinate. I can't really do that with my heart buckle shoes, and my run of the mill boots that I could wear otherwise with other outfits, lolita or day-to-day, really don't add or take from the outfit. The sneakers here, though, are eye-catching but not out of place for both.

For those of you interested in the same pair that I have, you can find them on DSW's site. There were a few more special designs I was going to link like this one, but it's sold out and I haven't seen them elsewhere, sadly. Still, the good thing with Converse is that they come in many designs and colors, and you can even customize a pair for yourself on the site or, if you like to take on craft projects, get a simple white pair and draw on them with fabric markers or paint.



You can also go beyond Chucks, though, and wear more athletic sneakers. A con of this would be that they can be harder to coordinate since, unlike Chucks, they aren't as customizable, as well as the fact that these can get really pricey. A pro is that you now have a good incentive to start running (my sport of choice, btw), and there are also a lot of nice designs and colors of these available that can get you wearing lolita with certain accessories that you didn't think of before. Also, there are some sneakers that give you extra height while not only staying comfortable, but are shaped to give your legs more tone as if you ran regularly just from walking. Who doesn't like having nicer stems?

Honestly, a year ago I would have had my doubts about wearing more athletic-looking sneakers in lolita, since I've seen so many people wear converses before and they're fabulous enough to be featured in Marie Antoinette, but my friend Amber (amanikitty on egl) has work Southpole sneakers with a casual sweet outfit, and I think they work fabulously.


Those other chucks were actually bookmarked with her in mind, but they sold out before I shared them.


So, you might be thinking, "Big deal, you and your friend have worn lolita with sneakers, but I don't think that I've seen any that might work for me..." Well, let's make some fantasy coordinates then, shall we? We could put Meta's recent Kimono Print pinafore with a pair of Ed Hardy's, Meta's Old Rose with a pair from DKNY, AP's Milk-chan in brown with a pair or Pumas and AP's Marionette Girl with a pair of Marc by Marc Jacob. The first and third pairing, though, certainly lend to a lot of other potential coordinates since they're a solid color, but having the second and fourth shoes could really get you thinking about your wardrobe in a different way. For example, accessorizing more solid pale outfits with a lot of gold and cream, in the case of the DKNY sneakers.

There are many other outfits, but I don't want to over flood this article with the possibilities. Plus, in the end, it's all up to you and your own sense of style to really make it work. And also keep in mind that sneakers have this one wonderful thing that can get swapped out to be made just a little bit more girly: shoe laces. Laces can be done up in a variety of interesting patterns and can be bought in many cute ways... or made, if you're really clever about it.

And for those of you who are still doubting hard and thinking that you'll not accept it until you see brand making sneakers... well, you're already late to the party. Done and done.

Now i just need this damn snow to thaw so I can enjoy the first outfit I've coordinated for my boss new kicks.

Happy Holidays!

There's something about being a little disheveled in your petticoats after a long two days with the family and watching the best Christmas movie ever (Die Hard) that makes you want to be a super, frilly badass.


Whatever it is that you celebrate, I hope you had a good one and got lots of good food in your bellies, loot in your closets, money in your pockets and joy in your hearts. We'll be back on a schedule this week.

A Brief Filler of Excusses

I sincerely want this blog to have weekly content, and I have a topic, but due to work load and the distraction of sweet, glorious turkey and vacation, I honestly can’t concentrate as much as I’d like on the post. I’ll try to have it out by Wednesday night, but there are no promises.

For now, though, here are some random doodle of my many distractions.


(Click to enlarge)

And here's some extra eye candy. Mmm, crying Eames.

Lifestyle Lolita: Momoclones, Bloomer-bearing Baddies and Identity

This has always irked me, because for all my foul language and behaviors, I honestly do consider myself lifestyle. Then I turn and see these painful, probably faked personas in girls where they need to be prim, perfect little princesses, talking about how lolita has shown them to be classy elegant women. That’s good and all, but I can’t help be feel looked down upon by these types for...well, being myself. I also can’t help wondering how good or bad those girls were before they fell for the frills of lolita fashion and picked up this Faux-coco persona.



Now, let’s start with digging through the Oxford Dictionary and Wikipedia (yeah yeah, not accurate/can be changed... This isn’t academic, and this is pretty sound and easily backed with a little cross referencing anyhow):

lifestyle(life·style)
Pronunciation:/ˈlīfˌstīl/
noun

• the way in which a person or group lives: the benefits of a healthy lifestyle

A lifestyle is a characteristic bundle of behaviors that makes sense to both others and oneself in a given time and place, including social relations, consumption, entertainment, and dress. The behaviors and practices within lifestyles are a mixture of habits, conventional ways of doing things, and reasoned actions.

...A lifestyle typically also reflects an individual's attitudes, values or worldview. Therefore, a lifestyle is a means of forging a sense of self and to create cultural symbols that resonate with personal identity. Not all aspects of a lifestyle are entirely voluntaristic. Surrounding social and technical systems can constrain the lifestyle choices available to the individual and the symbols she/he is able to project to others and the self.

The lines between personal identity and the everyday doings that signal a particular lifestyle become blurred in modern society.
-Wikipedia


Basically, looking just at the definitions of what a lifestyle is, both views are still lifestyles. You have your “lifestyle lolitas” and you have lolitas with a lifestyle that differentiates from the expectation of lolita from lifestyle lolitas and, often, outsiders. It makes a split down in the culture itself, which is not uncommon with other lifestyles, but I feel it’s a little curious, seeing as how it comes out of something that was just started as an aesthetic and not an ideology, like punk.

Thus, I’m going to look a little closer at what apparently defines a lolita lifestyle.



Alright, I actually found a Wikihow on lifestyle lolita!



Ok, aside from the historical research, this is pretty standard for all lolitas...



Wait, what?



Gee golly, doodle me! Such fiendishly vulgar language!



Yeah... the rest is just common sense (hygiene), preaching and the basics of getting into your local lolita community.*

This is why a lot of people who probably actually are lifestyle lolitas will never admit to being lifestyle. Some people take it to a ridiculous level and are really not at all being true to themselves. If you want to honestly improve yourself through lolita lifestyle, that’s all fine and dandy. Congrats on working to not make yourself into a total miscreant mess, but please stop pulling the “I thought lolis were supposed to be lovelies/how crude and unloli!” card and do not look down on others. That kind of flat out snobbery is just simply antagonizing and puts a bad name on lifestyle lolita.

*(To be fair to those who’ve contributed to the WikiHow article, they do tell people to stay true to themselves, just be more courteous and feminine, etc. Still, though, I know a lot of people would halt right at “rebuild your personality.” I would contribute myself just on principle, but...then I wouldn’t have this blog post.)

On top of all this, I suspect that a lot of this behavior is based more on what one thinks a lolita should act from the perspective of someone outside of the lolita culture. For example: I smoke, and I’ve smoked in lolita on the street. I’ve had people see me smoke in lolita, compliment my outfit and then follow with, “But it looks awkward with you smoking. It ruins the image.” I ask if they say that about any well-dressed smoker they see and admit that it’s simply that the image my clothes give off is that of someone who...well, pretty much follow wikiHow’s steps 8-10. The last thing they’d expect from a picture perfect loli––regardless of whether or not they know about lolita fashion at all––is a smoking, swearing, drinking girl that, clothing aside, is more normal in modern society than the historical fiction fantasy that many lolitas romanticize. People of other alternative subcultures don’t go out of their way to satisfy stereotypes for non-goths or non-punks: why are we doing it?

Honestly, I can’t help but think that some lifestyle lolitas are really just trying to stamp themselves into Momoko’s personality while forgetting some very important facts:

-Momoko was already considerably different and interested in “lolita” hobbies well before she found lolita and Baby the Stars Shine Bright.

-Momoko is a horrible, horrible person (i.e. lying to her already financially troubled father for money) and she acknowledges this fact with little care.

-Novala, though he’s written works that are essentially lolita manifestos and the essay on becoming a proper young lady, has himself said in the English afterword of Kamikaze Girls that he is not the last word in how lolitas should behave.

When we see girls that take it so far that the lifestyle is something that they never were or wanted to be before, especially when it’s less who they were and more of a certain, fictional someone, I can’t help but liken it to doing something else...



Yeah, I went there. People forget that there’s a “play” in cosplay. When I cosplay, I’m wearing the clothes and mean of a fictional character. When I’m lolita, I’m wearing my own clothes and personality. Granted, I do carry myself different in lolita often from myself in tee-shirt and jeans, but it’s still me.

I feel a need now to remind people that I’m not insulting the lifestyle. Again, I consider myself lifestyle, for all my messes and swearing. The lifestyle is all about surrounding yourself with beauty, nostalgia, cuteness and (at least a sense of) luxury. I’m all for this and seek it in my daily life.

So on that note, I’m going to show those of you who sternly say it’s just clothes that you might actually be in what effectively is lifestyle lolita regardless.

Looking at what has lately become the definition of a lifestyle lolita, I feel that we forget that more of what makes a lifestyle is what we do in response to a certain aesthetic or ideology rather than how we fix out personality and demeanor because of a label. When I started lolita and started labeling myself as a lifestyle lolita, it was because of the fact that things I already liked and did fit in with the aesthetic of lolita, rather than liking the aesthetic and wanting to fit in related hobbies into my life. Ditching the newer WikiHow article, I was happy to see that the second Google result is the older post from the sadly often forgotten Lolita Handbook. It, to a certain degree, agrees with my opinion of doing more than simply behaving. Things that the article covers are enjoyment of the arts, nostalgia, going to meets and enjoying decadent/luxurious treats, goods and activities. It still sounds elaborate, but let’s look at it from a different, more simplistic angle:

Do you go to (or try to go to) meets regularly? Have you made lolita friends from said meets? Do you enjoy stereotypically cute/sweet “lolita” foods and drinks at said meets?

Do you (at least visually) enjoy films like Marie Antoinette and Dangerous Liaisons? What about fairytale movies? Do you try to see these movies with local lolitas?

Do you have a strong fondness of classic children’s literature with female protagonists like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Little Women? Do you like other pieces of classical literature or historical fiction with female protagonists in the upper classes, like Pride and Prejudice or a Great and Terrible Beauty?

Do you have interest in going to classy themed parties like Dances of Vice?

Do you have hobbies that you incorporate a lot of lolita into? (this can be anything from video games to writing to knitting)

If you answered “yes” to four or more, you probably actually are a lifestyle lolita just from these actions. That doesn’t make fake or prissy, and yes, you can still smoke and drink and curse if you want to. Hell, I do it. Once again:



Even if the majority of your “yes” answers were to the questions about community, think about it this way: before lolita, did you ever approach someone just because the were wearing the same shoes or a similar shirt as you and make an effort to find people to hang out with them? It’s a small step, but it’s still one in the direction of having a lifestyle based in your fashion choices. You aren’t letting the clothes define you, really... but it is definitely a bigger part of who you are at this point than you probably thought.

The key thing in the end is to not loose yourself in the whole of it, which ever end of the spectrum you lie. Do not fixate on trying to be a perfect image of lolita, and don’t fixate on trying to not look like a lifestyle lolita if it’s not something you are going for. The majority of us are still young: by that virtue, we’re all still exploring ourselves, even as we find ourselves getting married and having children. And it’s ok to not totally know who you are. The exploration gives you character.

Insert Generic Intro Title Here

‘Lo all! So, here’s your generic intro post for me and this blog and blah blah blah...


Who the fuck are you?

I’ve been into lolita fashion for about seven years as of now and dressing it seriously for about three of those years. I’m active in my local meets, so most NYC lolitas are familiar with me. I like all styles of lolita and primarily wear casual coordinates of toned-down sweet, punk and classic. I’m also starting to get into more gothic styles. I essentially am not a brand whore and I mix my wardrobe a lot, though that’s really neither here nor there.

I’m sporadic in my posting/commenting on EGL on livejournal, but I try to follow as much as possible in that community and some related comms. Oh, and /cgl/. Yeah, I know; most of us lurk every now and then. Get over it. I’m also an occasional cosplayer, but save for a couple of exceptions (i.e. characters like Stocking), I’m not going to mix the two. I just love both costume and fashion, like many others.

I’m a girly nerd that gets torn between running to Forever 21 and Gamestop. I’m an illustration major that draws both fashion and comics. My father raised me in a confusing manner where I know all my etiquette and enjoy several traditionally feminine activities like sewing, cooking and gardening, but was also raised as a tomboy and can get rowdy easily.

I got into lolita admittedly through manga and cosplay. Around the time that I was starting to explore my tastes in fashion, my older sister got me reading ParadiseKiss while I was (get ready to cringe!) reading Chobits and Cardcaptor Sakura, so the combination really got me into J-fashion and frilly things. Later that year, I got Kera and G&LB as Christmas presents. As I learned more about the style seriously, I felt less in love with it’s weird Japanese-ness and more in love with the punk undertones of the style and the multi-period influences. I was already mad for period costumes, especially Victoriana, and I was seriously getting into rockabilly and vintage buying. I had a brief ita-phase and then dropped wearing the fashion for three years while still buying Kera and admiring the look. Down the line, I decided to start gradually getting back into the style, and I’ve been---ok, this is now getting boring.

TL;DR; I’m another fucking lolita with a blog. Onward!

So, what are you actually going to write about that will make me follow you? There are a shit ton of lolita blogs now: what makes this one different?

Well, this is largely going to be a blog of opinion pieces. I’ll occasionally be going over the “OMG, THIS PRINT DESU! LOVE!” type posts and a few guides, as is typical of a lolita blog, but seriously?

Sex. Drama. Lifestyles.

Typically things that a lot of other lolitas seem to only want to seriously talk about in wank comms or in private. It makes for difficult topic findings, and the serious posts might be slow in updating, but I seriously love talking about this shit and I want a place where I’m not quite as reserved as I am on egl and where I can do it without anonymity. I can’t help but shake the feeling that a lot of lolitas don’t want to talk about these things because they don’t want them to be associated with the style. But you know what?

By the virtue of diversity, they already are and I’m gonna talk about it.

Also, I have doodles.

So until next week, where I’ll go over the lolita “lifestyle”, I’ll let you enjoy some Max Raabe. Man, I love mixing the old and new.