offbrand

LBC: The Most Versatile Lolita Item I Own

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lbc

The most versatile lolita item I own would definitely be a blouse! Blouses can be worn under JSKS or with skirts, and blouses can also be used for ouji coordinates. I am not sure which blouse I have is the most versatile one, but after some minutes of thinking, I decided that my most versatile blouse is my black Fanplusfriend short-sleeved blouse.

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I believe that this blouse is the most versatile item I own because it can be used for a variety of different substyles: sweet lolita, classic lolita, gothic lolita, and even casual lolita. It has a simple design and the color is solid black (no other colors work their way into this blouse). The simplicity of this blouse makes it easy to match with different styles, as long as the color black works for the coordinate. Black is an easy color to match too! If the blouse was blue or red, for example, it would be harder to mix and match. In addition, the short sleeves make the blouse ideal for summer heat, and it can be layered with a bolero or cardigan for the autumn or spring, plus with a jacket or coat (plus a scarf and gloves) for winter!

Here are some previous coordinates using this blouse:

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943713_10100278562780239_608462281_nMy most recent coordinate with this blouse was for the Baby the Stars Shine Bright Grand Opening in New York City. It was a really hot summer day, and I did not want to deal with the high-collar design of this blouse, so I unbuttoned the top buttons. As you can see below, the blouse still looks decent even though I didn’t button it all the way to the top! It worked quite well for the heat.

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Here are some detailed photos of my beloved blouse:

 

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So how about you? What is the most versatile lolita item that you own? And if you are not a lolita, what is the most versatile clothing item that you own?

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~Be sure to read other blog posts on this topic for the Lolita Blog Carnival! 

Fire Extinguisher, The Bloody Tea Party, The Literary Lolita, Smithsonian

A Coordinate for California

/ lolitaland / 2 Comments

Wow, it has been a month since my last post… Sorry about the brief hiatus! I thought I was going to participate in Lolita Blog Carnival this month, but time flew by and suddenly June is almost over.

But now that it is almost July… I have something to share! In a few days, I will be going to the airport… and flying to the West Coast for the first time! I am so excited. I will be attending Anime Expo in California, and staying in CA for a week with my friend Terry. I’ve never been to California before, so I’m looking forward to it!

I have to pack light, but I will be bringing some lolita clothes (and of course, my petticoat). I also will bring some gyaru stuff with me. I really want to get into the gyaru style as well!

On Day 3 (Saturday) of Anime Expo, I plan to wear a sweet lolita coordinate. I decided to plan out my coord beforehand so I wouldn’t have to struggle to coordinate an outfit in a jet-lagged state.

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The coordinate is mostly pink and red! The cutsew is from Angelic Pretty and the skirt is from Bodyline (but it’s a replica of Angelic Pretty’s Fruits Parlor).

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The headband and the necklace are made by Sweet Mildred, and the fuzzy star and the small bow are both offbrand. The wristcuffs are from Classical Puppets on Taobao, and they were a present from my friend Terry. Of course, I have to bring these wristcuffs with me! The socks are offbrand and the shoes are from Bodyline (with my orthotics inside ❤ luckily, they fit!).

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I may pack some cute rings with me to wear too! We’ll see… I also plan to use a wig for this coordinate, probably my short milk tea wig from Gothic Lolita Wigs.

I can’t wait to wear this coord at AnimeExpo! (And hopefully, I’ll wear J-fashion throughout the week after the con!)

 

The Wonderful World of MBOK

/ lolitaland / 3 Comments

You can find some great deals on Mbok! Mbok is a Japanese online auction site that has a wide variety of items. There are lots of great J-Fashion (including lolita!) items there: you can find dresses, shirts, skirts, pants, jewelry, hair accessories, bags, novelties, and more. If you are not a resident of Japan, you need to use a shopping service to bid on Mbok items. The shopping service I used is Japonica, but there are other shopping services out there.

Searching for specific items on Mbok can be time-consuming, since you have to scroll through different pages, but it is pretty easy to find good deals on brand (and offbrand) items.

I would recommend using the Google Translate extension if you have the Google Chrome web browser. If you do not have Chrome, copying and pasting the Mbok URL into Google Translate works too. Google Translate is not perfect, but it works well enough to help with Mbok navigation.

Check out Mbok’s Alternative/Punk section for lots of lolita items! This is where you will find Angelic Pretty, Baby the Stars Shine Bright, h.NAOTO, Emily Temple Cute, Jane Marple, and more. This section houses lolita, gothic, punk, and other alternative styles.

You can also search for items from a specific brand on Mbok by looking at the brand category. Here are some great links to lolita brand items on Mbok:

Innocent World

Baby the Stars Shine Bright

Angelic Pretty

Metamorphose

Putumayo

Here are links to some great brands that may carry loliable items on Mbok:

Axes Femme – This brand has great cutsews and cute blouses! There are some nice skirts, JSKs, and OPs too (but not all items will accommodate a petticoat). An Axes Femme item was one of my first Mbok purchases!

Liz Lisa – This is a popular Gyaru brand that has some loliable blouses, cardigans, and cutsews.

Tralala – I’m not too familiar with Tralala, but it is one of Liz Lisa’s sister brands. You may be able to find loliable stuff here too!

Jesus Diamante – I’m not too familiar with this brand either, but it’s a popular Hime Gyaru brand and I’ve seen lots of cute loliable coats from them! They also have really cute parkas/sweatshirts.

If you are interested in Gyaru fashion, check out the whole Mbok 109/GAL section. I have not extensively explored this section yet, but there are tons of brands and lots of cute and cool clothes!

If you want to use Mbok’s search feature, here are a few terms you can try:

ロリータ or ロリィタ-  Lolita

姫  –  Princess (Hime)

ワンピース – One Piece (OP)

福袋 – Lucky Pack (Fukubukuro)

Find many more helpful search terms from this EGL post by Kyomu.

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If you have any questions, feel free to let me know! I am not an expert, but I can try my best to answer your questions. I hope someone finds this post helpful!

Have fun browsing and shopping~!