Lolita Fashion on Taobao (Part 2)

April 3, 2018 / lolitaland / 2 Comments

Here’s Part 2 to my guide to Lolita Fashion on Taobao! It’s going to be really simple: a list of lolita fashion shops I own items from. Check out Part 1 for tips for shopping on Taobao and keywords you can use when you’re browsing and searching.

Here are brands I’ve purchased from (please note most of these I didn’t buy from Taobao, since I purchased them secondhand, and for the ones I purchased directly from Taobao, I used a shopping service):

Classical Puppets – I have two of their petticoats, and love them! I reviewed their A-line petticoat back in 2013, and this petticoat is still in fantastic condition even after being through the washing machine so many times.
Long Ears & Sharp Ears Studio – I’ve never purchased from them, but I modeled for them at the RuffleCon 2015 fashion show and the designer gave me the tights I wore to keep.

The tights (and bottom of the dress) I modeled

This Dear Celine cutsew matches my Angelic Pretty skirt & half-bonnet so well!

HMHM
Chess Story – You can see one of my favorite JSKs here (from Chess Story!).
Yilia

Blouse from Yilia

Magic Tea Party

JSK and Headbow from Magic Tea Party

Bonnet from Elpress L

FoxCherry – They have really cute accessories! I purchased some wrist cuffs from them recently, and also have a hair clip I got secondhand years ago.
Flower Field – I purchased a hoop skirt from them last year.

I think that’s it for Taobao lolita brands I’ve purchased from, although I’m pretty sure some of the accessories I bought secondhand came from Taobao (but when I purchased them, the original owner wasn’t sure of the brand, and without tags, no idea where they came from). I’ve also purchased socks from Secret Shop and shoes from Secret Shop secondhand, but I can’t seem to locate their shop on Taobao anymore.

I was going to add in wig shops here too, but I think I’ll make a different post about wigs and keep it separate from this section.

Do you have a favorite Taobao brand? I’d love to hear about it!

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Lolita Fashion on Taobao (Part 1)

October 23, 2017 / lolitaland / 7 Comments

Hey everyone! One of my friends recently got into lolita fashion and wanted a guide to affordable lolita items. I still have my MBOK guide up, I wrote up my first experience with Taobao, and I wrote a post for a Lolita Blog Carnival prompt about Favorite Taobao Shops & Pieces, but I never created a guide to great places to get lolita items on Taobao.

So, what is Taobao?

Taobao is like a Chinese eBay or Amazon. There are tons of different stores and sellers!

Since the pricing is all in Chinese Renminbi (also known as Chinese Yuan), you’ll need to check conversion rates to see how much it’ll cost in your own currency. Definitely keep in mind shipping fees and shopping service fees, if you choose to use a shopping service. I heard there’s a way you can purchase from Taobao directly now and have them forward packages to you, but I’m still most comfortable with a shopping service since they can help answer my questions about products and give me peace of mind.

In my own experience, I’ve purchased clothes (lolita as well as non-lolita), shoes, wigs, false lashes, cosplays, and accessories from Taobao. I’ve also purchased a bag from Taobao too (my beloved Japanese-style school bag that was my go-to convention bag for over a year)!

Wig from Taobao (fashion wig I used for my Sara Crispino [Yuri on Ice] cosplay)

Taobao is a lot of fun to browse, but can get overwhelming. I’ve definitely spent way too much time browsing Taobao… For example, being on Taobao and looking at all the things I want to add to my wishlist, and then I glance at the clock and wonder how the heck it is already past 2am?!

Wig from Taobao (photo by theamazingknight)

Another thing that took a lot of time to figure out is… navigating! I speak Teochew/Chao Zhou, but not Mandarin (and I never learned how to read or write Chinese; I only know how to read numbers and a few characters). It was really difficult at first and I literally put things through Google Translate. Of course, Google Translate only works so far (like how it translates “product” as “baby” since the character for “precious item” is also “baby,” and products are listed as such). And Google Translate does not work on text within images. Most of the time, sizing is displayed in an image, so here are some sizing-related translations to help (Chinese (simplified) is on the left, and English is on the right):

尺码 — sizing
高 — height
胸 — bust/chest
腰 — waist
臀 — hips
长 — length
宽 — width
围 — circumference

Skirt from SurfaceSpell

Something else that confused me when I first browsed Taobao was the number of “deposit” or “reservation” items there were. I didn’t realize this meant they weren’t currently in stock. 定金 (deposit) and 预约 and 预定 (reservation) mean you have to pay a deposit to be able to eventually get the item. From my understanding, you need to purchase the item from the reservation page before you’ll be able to purchase the item on the 尾款 (post-reservation, I guess? the actual item) page. I’ve never purchased something from Taobao that was a reservation since I was always paranoid about not paying the shopping service in time for the post-reservation item page. If anyone has experience with reservation items on Taobao, let me know! I’m curious to hear what the actual process is like. I remember once I tried to buy an item from the 尾款 page and my shopping service said I can’t since I didn’t participate in the reservation.

Here are some useful terms you can use while searching for clothing and accessory items relevant to lolita fashion on Taobao:

Dress (OP): 连衣裙
JSK: 無袖洋裝
Salopette: 背心裙 or 背带裙
Skirt: 裙 or 裙子 or 半身裙
Blouse: 衬衫 or 女衬衫
Petticoat: 襯裙
Bloomers:安全裤 or 南瓜裤 or 燈籠褲 or 灯笼裤
Cardigan: 小外套
Bolero: 短外套
Capelet/short cloak: 短斗篷
Lolita shoes: 洋装鞋
Round headdress: 丸型发饰
Bonnet: 系带帽子
Gothic headdress (usually with veils!): 哥特头饰
Flower crown: 花环头饰
Beret: 贝雷帽
Straw hat: 草帽
Lace socks: 复古蕾丝短袜
Lace gloves: 蕾丝手套
Wrist cuffs: 蕾丝手镯
Parasol: 洋傘

When I search, I also add in “lolita” sometimes to see what shows up.

Cutsew from Dear Celine

Here are some style terms that were fun to use for Taobao searches too:

Gothic: 哥特
Victorian: 維多利亞
Rococo: 洛可可
Country: 田园
Punk: 朋克
Steampunk: 蒸汽朋克
Retro/Vintage: 复古
Sailor: 水手服
Floral: 碎花
Oil painting style (those classical painting prints!): 油画风
Lace: 蕾丝
Tartan/Plaid: 苏格兰格子
Cross/Crucifix: 十字架粉

If anyone wants stuff added to this list, just let me know! I’m happy to update this. Over the years, everything I learned about Taobao were from a trial and error through Google Translate and Chinese dictionaries, lurking on LiveJournal, reading blogs, and browsing Taobao-related things on Tumblr. I did pop over to CGL on 4Chan for a bit to see if I could learn about Taobao but 4Chan really scares me and the posting format confuses me so I spent barely any time on there.

One of my fave purchases from Taobao: a JSK from Chess Story!

I will definitely write another guide after this one, so stay tuned! My next one will be simple: a list of my favorite Taobao shops that are relevant to lolita. I’ll note if I’ve purchased from them before, or not yet. Stay tuned!

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KCON NY 2017

July 16, 2017July 22, 2017 / lolitaland / 2 Comments

This was my second time attending KCON (I should probably write a throwback post about my first time…), and again, I attended for only one day. The difference here is I attended in 2016 for Friday only, but this year, I only went on Saturday. I knew I wanted to go on Saturday because TWICE was performing that night and that’s the group I was at the con for. My friend Ashley went on Saturday too, and she was there for NCT 127, so it worked out. We got to sit next to each other at the concert as well!

Photo taken by Brian Ngai

For the actual con, we got there pretty late (in the afternoon). I’m not sure how bad the lines were in the morning, but for us, the lines weren’t too long of a wait. The only problem we encountered was trying to find the area where we could pick up our wristbands (which are like badges for entry). The wristbands were really secure, so no worries about losing your “badge!”

During the con, it was fun learning some of Twice’s Signal dance at the dance workshop area. Signal was stuck in my head basically all day… but I didn’t mind at all. It’s such a cute and catchy song (and all the hearts in the dance are too adorable)! Ashley and I also got to sample yummy Korean snacks and beverages in the K-Food section.

Finger heart at KCON!

We also browsed the K-beauty vendors (I didn’t buy anything, but I did get some free samples). The Innisfree booth was pretty generous with samples, and there was also a claw machine you could play to try to win full-size products. Claw machines were definitely a trend, since I also saw (a gigantic) one at the Toyota booth.

Photo taken by Brian Ngai

For lunch (or I guess “linner” since we ate lunch at like 4pm), we got food from the food trucks. I had fried dumplings, a Korean fusion taco thingy, and a refreshing yuzu fruity iced tea. Afterwards, I couldn’t resist getting a butterfly pea flower bubble tea with lychee jelly. Everything was delicious (although pricey).

Before sharing my concert experience, I might as well share my outfit rundown (even though it isn’t j-fashion):

Photo by Brian Ngai

Flower crown headband: a gift from my friend Arien
Earrings: purchased from KCON 2016!
Choker: Icing
Top: Offbrand (literally picked up from a random street vendor near where I live)
Shorts: Delia’s (got this forever ago, when there was a Delia’s store in the mall I used to go to in New Hampshire with my family)
Bracelet: Icing
Socks: Offbrand
Sneakers: Nike

Waiting in line for the concert felt like waiting forever (especially in the heat), but Ashley and I made some new friends. It’s cool how Kpop brings strangers together! We chatted about Kpop, but also about anime and travel among other things. Once we got inside the concert venue, I could really feel the excited energy from everyone there.
The concert itself was amazing! Even though I was only there for Twice, all the performances were impressive and I had fun watching all of the guests.

I zoomed in with my phone and recorded lots of snippets during the concerts (and sometimes watched through my phone to see somewhat better). I was grateful to the screens at the back so I could see close-ups and such!

I freaked out when Twice had their special stage! They covered one of my favorite Miss A songs, Bad Girl Good Girl. Click here to check out my fancam! I recorded a ton of fancams even though I was sitting really far from the stage. My iPhone did a fairly good job at zooming in!

There was SO MUCH CONFETTI AND STREAMERS at this concert. I feel bad for whoever has to clean up the venue afterwards… Even though I sat way up in the area for cheaper seats, confetti still managed to land around me.

When I left the concert, I even found some of the small pieces of confetti in my KCON bag.

If you followed me on Twitter during KCON, you would have seen me live-tweeting throughout the concert. After the concert ended, I stuck around a bit to snag the following photo:

Last but not least, here’s my loot from KCON 2017:

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Most of the stuff was free, which is definitely a plus! Not pictured is a free baseball cap I got from AT&T which had the finger heart gesture on the front (and cool silvertone rings on the side of the brim). I forgot to include it in my haul photo since I was wearing it on this day and it totally slipped my mind. Fun fact: I first discovered the finger heart gesture on V App!

Here are the cosmetic samples I got from Innisfree:

I haven’t had the chance to try any of them yet, but I look forward to checking them out! Right now, the sunblock I’m using on my face is from Innisfree. Have any of you guys tried Innisfree products?