Clothes Swap-meetup vol #2

Last saturday, Ilona hosted another clothes swap meetup, mainly for lolitas, but there were other friends present as well. Everyone brought some food, so we had a  multitude of it, and there was an abundance of clothes to browse through. Here's some pictures I took of the event!

From the archives (IMAGE HEAVY)

Another one for the weekend!

I have an impressive amount of photos on my photobucket account, and one day I went through all of them. I was surprised to find pictures of things I used to own and things that are still more or less on my wishlist, so I wanted to make a post dedicated to them. A vast majority of these items are from my sweet lolita days, but I can appreciate the old-school feeling a lot of them have, not to mention the nostalgy these clothes and accessories carry.

Some things I had and loved

Including the year I bought them. I'd imagine some of these are still in circulation.

Baby seal bag (2009)

It was one of those baby seal backpacks you tend to find at cruise ships or thriftstores here in Finland, but I made it into something more fanciful. I still think this is rather cute in a scruffy way, but it stopped suiting my style.

Blue BtSSB polka dot JSK (2009)

At least I think it was BtSSB. I only wore this dress during one photo-shoot until I switched styles.

Blue AP polka dot daisy bow (2009)

 A bit of a shaky picture. It went perfectly with the jumper skirt above.

Demonia boots with faux fur (2010)

 Awesome boots for gothic lolita, but they broke about a year after I purchased them, and I just haven't gotten around to buying a new pair.

Pink AP sweater with knitted strawberries (2008)

This sweater was never really my favourites in any way, despite it being cute, but I just HAD to include it, since it's one of those ongoing jokes that this particular knit from the leaving lolita sales of Reetta/Elina has been worn by 90% of the lolita population in Finland. Here's proof that I was probably the second or third owner.

Heart-shaped AP headdress (2007)

A friend visited Japan again, and acted as a shopping service on the side for me.

Pink AP apron (2007)

She also sent me this.

Pink F+F coat& cape (modified), self-modified mittens (2007)

My first lolita coat, and how I loved it! I added the faux fur trim and lace hearts on the coat, and the paw-pads on the mittens.

Pink AP skirt (2006)

The same friend that acted as my shopping service in 2007, did the same in 2006 as well, and I got this skirt, which was my first brand item, along with a pair of pink AP socks. The feeling when I lifted it from the pink plastic bag and smelled it was incredible. I'd really want to know where this skirt is now.



Front




Back



...And some things still kinda want

 

THAT Black/black or red/white BtSSB heart bag

Metamorphose flocky rose bag in white or red colorway

Red polkadot AP knit bolero

BtSSB chess JSK (the official name of which I can't be bothered to google right now)

Red Baby shoes

These BtSSB bunny earmuffs, but black

Black&red winter crown headdress (I've wanted one since like 2006, but it would mean I have to make one myself. These were already a rare novelty in the available colours.)

A cornucopia of styles!

Lolita and J-street wear are divided into so many awesome sub-styles that anyone who's "bent that way" is bound to find something to suit their tastes.Pictures are here to demonstrate two of the less-seen styles; Gothic Aristocrat and Sailor Lolita.

Gothic Lolita

Gone are the times when GL only meant black and white. Rich shades of electric or dark blue and jewel-tones like ruby, amethyst or emerald are just some of the examples that may be paired with black to create a striking, yet elegant and somber look. Contrary to a general belief, Gothic Lolita is quite versatile. The style can either be very sophisticated and dressed-down, or it can be very ornate and detailed. It can even flirt with Sweeter styles, and still be undeniably Gothic! What I love about the style is that by wearing it correctly, one may take on a slightly creepy, morbid and still cute and doll-like appearance.

Kuro Lolita

What applies to Gothic Lolita, applies almost equally to Kuro, apart from the fact, of course, that it has no colour whatsoever (black is not a colour, remember? Nitpick nitpick) but is entirely and without exception, full-on black.The style, worn, was originally "meant" to always be paired up with Shiro Lolita (full white), to supposedly make a formidably noticeable monochromatic twins -effect. In the western countries, however, the style can stand just fine on its own.

Gothic Aristocrat (female version, of course)

The west and the east seem a bit ambivalent as to what this style includes, but here, at least, we seemed to have found a consensus of a very mature, Victorian mourning-style. Corsets, feathers, lace gloves, veils, elaborate hats, dark colours, jewelry, even furs and taxidermy accessories have established themselves as parts of Gothic Aristocrat. It was, just like its little sister-style, Gothic Lolita, originally created by Mana with the added term "elegant" in front of their names (no need to explain who this guy is, right?).

Shamelessly stolen from Iira's Tumblr (Rosanitida), but you know nobody really does it like her.

On the left, although a bit too simplified and MMM-standard for my liking

Ah, now that's better! ...me and my amazing MS paint skills show you how it's done.

Sailor Lolita

I love the ocean, I love the seaside and I love boats, ships and sailing. Only natural that I would find this nautical sub-style of Sweet Lolita super attractive! It seems to be a reoccuring theme for me every summer, a buring desire to wear Sailor-inspired Lolita clothing. It's somehow so fresh and crisp with its often two-toned white, black, navy blue and red colour combinations that it never fails to remind me of sunshine on my face and salty waves splashing against rock or sand.

 

Old School

Yes, well, it's not technically a style of its own, but it is the way Lolita looked for a long time. It's not just the nostalgic combination of black and white that's currently coming back into the fashion, but has a sort of a clumsy, home-made look to it in many occasions. This is very much the case when looking at old street snaps from associated magazines. The style was developing, and many of the so-called rules and regulations of Lolita were created by us westerners. Headdresses, clunky shoes and even black lipstick were all the rage way back in yesteryears, and let me tell you - not all Lolitas wore petticoats. (GASP) Styles develop and change, but that doesn't mean we can't appreciate what they used to be, and even be inspired.

Trip down memory lane: style progression

I'd better get the embarrassing truth out there, and encourage others to do the same! I really had to dig up some ancient dirt, but as we all know; the Internet doesn't forget, so I was able to recover plenty of incriminating evidence!

2001-2005

This was when I first learned there was a style by the name of Lolita. The Internet provided very little information; only a few photos and vague references to dolls and anime. I have no pictures of  the time I initially experimented with the style (towards the end of 2005), but it was awful and dead wrong, trust me. Lots of scratchy lace was involved.

2006

Slowly getting a picture of what Lolita includes, I still made some beginner's errors, as can be seen below. Tiny aprons, messy and fake-looking Goth hair, cosplay-gloves, corsets, nurse-caps and kitty ear-warmers are totally a part of a successful outfit.

Me, making Eä&Visual look even better in comparison.

2007

Finally! The anatomy and quality of a real Lolita outfit pretty much down, and this was the time when it was already a bit more common for brand and information being available online. I myself was an avid Angelic Pretty fan, and got a huge load of pink-and-white items from Japan in the summer of 2007. All of them I sold pretty quickly, I suppose, after only a few uses.

Already flirting with Gothic Lolita for Halloween meetup in 2007.

2008

 This was the year of transition for me. Still a full-on sweet lolita, it was in the summer of 2008 that I wanted to first try Kuro and then also start using black, white and red. My Amalolita days were a thing of the past by 2009.

I and Marie sharing secrets.

Although looking red-nosed and flustered, the outfit was nice and I loved my hair!

2009-2012

So here we are. Starting from full-on Kuro Lolita and eventually moving on to traditional Gothic Lolita. I've been wearing my favourite Metamorphose dress and that self-made bonnet to hell and back, they're probably the only two Lolita things I own that I won't give up or sell.