1.) Figure out what your favorite part of your outfit is then highlight it!! Above I really like the Princess sleeves on my blouse so I made sure to pose in a way that wouldn’t hide them. My shoes were the least important part of my outfit so I didn’t worry so much about getting them in the shot
2.) Have energy in all of your body. Now this doesn’t mean you have to be stiff or post as enthusiastically as I do, but be sure not to look limp or disinterested unless that is important to the concept of your photoshoot
3.) Play music that suits your mood and your outfit! I find taking self portraits in silence to be completely unbearable and it’s a lot harder for me to be creative
4.) Experiment with your poses, there will be some that don’t work but just don’t post those ones
5.) Take a test shot before you begin, use that photo to double check that your makeup shows correctly and isn’t smudged and that your clothes are sitting correctly! I have forgotten to do this in the past and would have saved myself hours of editing.
If you have ever watched Annika Victoria you will be aware of the term the style pile, a pile of clothes that need repairs or to be resized. A few months ago I dedicated myself to putting all clothing in need of repair or tailoring into storage to fix it, but now this pile has been haunting me. It sits and stares at me and I struggle to get to motivation to go through it!
It’s not that I don’t like the clothes in this pile, in fact if I didn’t I would have donated them away when I first cleaned out my closet. However these projects just loom at me. I think one thing that’s been keeping me from motivation, is that I know that I already struggle to keep up with laundry so adding this in would add to the laundry I already can’t keep up with, as well as many of the projects in this pile being multi step projects.
The one I have been slowly but surely making progress on is working on replacing the shirring panel in a skirt to elasticate it since the zipper broke and I hate zippers but it has been so much trial and error to go through. I’m determined to finish the project in order have my skirt back.
I also think altering some of these clothes is hard because it’s accepting that time has passed and I have changed. I have changed for the better but it’s still hard. I’m not the same person I was when I bought that skirt when I was 16, I’m 23 and I have a whole new wonderful life now. It’s weirdly nostalgic and bittersweet to think about. As I write this it’s giving me motivation to work more on this ongoing project I think it’ll be a good representation of how my journey with lolita fashion has changed
Lolita Fashion wardrobes are often made out of expensive investment pieces meant to last a long time! Here are some ways to keep those pieces lasting longer
1.) As soon as you receive your pieces reinforce any of the buttons, taobao pieces often have somewhat flimsy sewn on buttons. There is special thread specifically made for buttons you can get at seeing shops
2.) If you’re someone like me who sweats and needs to wear deodorant you may be familiar with yellow stains, getting cheap undershirts can help your especially light colored garments from staining
3.) Treat any stains you see upon purchasing or having an accident happen immediately, the sooner you act on it the higher chance you have of getting it out
4.) Keep up with regular repairs if your see a hole forming in a piece of clothing take the time to repair it as soon as you see if before it develops into something bigger
5.) Once every season take the time to go through your clothes and see what you want to keep, it’s much easier to take care of a wardrobe you love
🎃 Go looking for the perfect sweater to pair with coords through the cold months, eliminating the choice between being cold or fashionable
🎃 Find cute halloween themed accessories at the store! If your fashion is on the sweet or spooky cute side I have found some surprisingly wonderful accessories at the dollar store and pharmacy this time of year.
🎃 Give orange a chance! It’s the most underrated color in egl in my opinion and instantly gives a spooky but festive vibe to any coord
🎃 Carve pumpkins to get into the Halloween spirit! Maybe carve a cute cat or an elegant design!
🎃 Try making your own pumpkin spice mix and use it to bake or make your lattes at home!
🎃 Wear as many gothic or gothic inspired coords as you can this month!
🎃 Watch Creepy Cute Movies like Coraline or anything done by Tim Burton, the Nightmare Before Christmas is my personal favorite
Well, hello everyone! It’s been a long while. I took some time off of some parts of the web in order to recalibrate but I am very happy to be back in time for the month of Halloween! I have big plans this month, I will be participating in Vlogtober again so if you want to see daily video content from me please checkout my Tiktok (@lilianarowena) or Youtube (Liliana Rowena)
Here’s my Must Do list for this month
Get my nails done a spooky theme
Carve a pumpkin
Bake spooky cookies
Wear Bat Eyeliner as Much as Possible
Wear as many Gothic or Spooky Cute Coords as Possible
Ask my fiance to give me a pastel goth makeover
Have a halloween meetup with my friends
Go to a Halloween Party at a Bar
Make Sure I have my Shinobu costume to match my brother
We have all seen it, the leaving lolita sales, or long winded posts about why people have to leave, but why does it happen so often in egl? To be fair I haven’t spent a lot of time in other alternative fashion spaces, and as far as gyaru goes I am a complete and total beginner. But I have been actively participating in the lolita community for around five years now and it is an amazing phenomena to me that this community seems to engender burnout in its own unique way.
Why is this? I have a few theories of what could be contributing to this. I haven’t done any studies so all that follows is merely opinion based on some observations I have made throughout the years. One of the things I think leads to members leaving so drastically is the sheer high maintenance of the fashion itself in a lot of ways. The clothing is expensive and taking care of it will either take a lot of energy or a lot of money and for a lot of people you can be pretty short on both. Most lolita fashion events in order to protect the communities integrity and safety require that you have at least one coord you can wear to go to that event, so if you run out of energy or money to care for your clothing, selling it off is a good option. However if an individual sells off all of their clothes than they no longer have a wardrobe to wear to events and if they wish to start over that is a daunting task, as wardrobes take years to build. Especially if you are on a budget
The second theory I have on why I see the burnout rate in lolita fashion being so high is because of what I will dub the “small town effect” egl is a group of extraordinarily passionate people but in the grand scheme of things and subcultures it is an amazingly small subset of the alternative fashion community as a whole. Also, egl is a very internet based subculture, we take the time to meet in person and do a lot of in person events however this means that there is eyes constantly on what’s being talked about online. This encourages lolitas to share their journeys with the world but there is always a risk of being posted to sites specifically to belittle the work they have done by people who they will never know who it is. This is a lot of pressure to be under and it can be really overwhelming especially for younger members of the community.
There are other factors that go into play here, but these are the two big pieces I see factor into people deciding to end their lolita fashion journey. There is nothing wrong with your fashion journey growing and changing with you and if one day you completely grow out of egl or you wear it to your grave there is no shame in either path. What breaks my heart is seeing people who are still so in love with the fashion still have to painfully leave it behind. Here is some of my tips I want to share to try to prevent that from happening, so that when or if it comes time for you to move on you’ll be able to leave with fond memories of this wonderful fashion you dedicated part of your life to.
My first tip is to never collect more pieces than you can maintain, regular closet cleanouts and selling what no longer fits your body or style can help you attain this to prevent yourself from having overwhelm. Remember with clothing care you will either spend money or energy maintaining it. If you don’t have a lot of disposable income on the regular you can always handwash your clothes however remember that this will cost you energy. If you don’t have a lot of disposable energy you can pay to have your clothes taken care of and maintained for you but this will cost money. Make sure that you keep within both of resources so that your wardrobe can remain a joy and not a burden
My second tip is to build egl into your budget so that you know what you can spend on it and it won’t be a financial burden on you. This isn’t something I’m an expert on but I will link a video that I find supremely helpful from someone with more experience with money than me here.
My third tip is that it’s okay to take breaks from the fashion from time to time if you need to, it will be there when you come back, your physical, mental and financial health come first.
My fourth tip is to if possible connect with your local comm and try to focus more of your energy into your irl comm than you do the online comm. Egl on the internet is a very complicated place and it can drain a lot of the passion and energy that you have for the fashion if you keep looking in places filled with negativity. People behind screens can’t see you and your reactions and the layer of anonymity means people might say things that they normally wouldn’t say. That being said, it is 100% okay to make online friends and reach out to individuals on accounts and work with those seeking to build more positive community online in egl spaces that work is important and will help combat on a community level the burnout many individuals in this fashion face.
My fifth tip is to stop seeking perfection, it is of course totally fine to want to improve your art in your coords as I see each of our outfits as wearable art that we transform into our own masterpieces with each coord that we build, but it can be easy to give into constant self critique and never really allow yourself to love what you’re wearing. Allow yourself to love your clothes and your fashion.
This is my first month participating in the bibliotecha blogging circle and I am so grateful that I was accepted to join! This months theme was self care! If you would like to check out all of the other wonderful bloggers and subscribe to a monthly newsletter click on the link down below
Self care is really important! We’ve all been through some pretty rough stuff lately and it could be good to take a moment to take good care of ourselves and do what we can to keep our spirits up. I always advocate for practical self care such as getting enough sleep, eating well and keeping up with doctor’s appointments but it is always super fun to treat yourself! Here’s a sweet lolita themed list of ways you could treat yourself!
❤ Get a kawaii bathbomb! I recently purchased a fairy themed one with a toy inside that I can’t wait to
❤ Bake a favorite sweet treat! Like cookies or cupcakes! You could find a really fancy one on pinterest to give a go
❤ Watch a cute show! My go to lately has been Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure! It is so adorable and I have been enjoying it so much
❤ Take some time to just take a break, set a timer and take a nap in a nest made of your favorite cute blankets and stuffed animals
❤ Make yourself a cup of floral tea and curl up and read a good book
❤ Clean up a space and make it super cute, light some floral or sweet themed candles.
Luna By The Lake With Cake 