This weekend, on May 20, I celebrated my 1 year anniversary of being into Lolita! I took the time to reflect on how and why I got into Lolita, wear my first lolita dress on Saturday, and wear a new coord that I really love on Sunday.
I got into lolita on impulse last year at Anime Central, but the seeds were planted well before then. In my teens, when X-Japan, Malice Mizer, and visual kei in general were popular, I was familiar with the gothic lolita fashion and Mana's brand, Moi Meme Moitie. At the time, I don't think I knew about sweet, classic, or other lolita styles; I knew only the gothic style that was popular with followers of vk bands.
I learned about the brand Baby, The Stars Shine Bright from the movie Kamikaze girls, which I watched right around its US release time. Alot of what I knew about lolita outside the gothic/vk style was from that movie for quite some time. I went to my first lolita fashion show/panel at Tekkoshocon in 2011. This was where a huge chunk of my real lolita knowledge came from. At the fashion show that year, there were printed programs detailing the brands worn by each model. I learned that there were more brands besides Baby and Moitie, and that Bodyline made lolita items as well that weren't just for cosplay (I had familiarity with Bodyline and their products from buying cosplay, and assumed the entire site was for cosplay). After the fashion show, the girl running the show gave a detailed explanation of lolita, and also took questions from the audience. Since I was interested in anything and everything Japanese, I absorbed all that knowledge like a sponge, though I still didn't use it for quite some time!
I didn't attend my next fashion show until 2016, even though I had been to many other cons with lolita programming and even guests since my first fashion show. However, during that entire meantime, anytime I would see lolita vendors in dealers' rooms at cons, I would be tempted to look. I always loved the look of the fashion, but didn't think I would ever actually take the plunge. In 2016, Tekko had Lolita Collective in the dealer's room, and I also attended the con alone, so I had plenty of time to peruse this interesting booth at my leisure. I kept going back to it throughout the day...but never bought anything. That night, I realized I had passed the whole day only in the game room (my #1 hobby is rhythm gaming) and the dealer's room. I decided I needed to go to at least one main event, just to say I did. The lolita fashion show was that night, in main events, so I decided to go.
I was mesmerized by the looks in the fashion show. Unlike in 2011, there were fashion guests and brands who had recruited models to show off the latest styles. A coordinate contest showed off themed coords of attendees. The whole thing was on a different level compared to 2011 and now seemed very professional. I left thinking that if I would have seen the fashion show earlier in the day, maybe I would have bought something from Lolita Collective after all....
Only about a month later, I attended Anime Central in Chicago, where Lolita Collective was also vending. This time, I saw a dress that stole my heart. I wasn't planning on getting majorly into lolita, but I had to have that one dress. I thought I could make just one coord, and maybe wear it to Otakon that summer. I bought the dress, and a petticoat to go with it.
It was within a matter of weeks after buying that first dress that I jumped headfirst into lolita hardcore. I couldn't stop thinking about the dress I had bought. My first step was getting some basics, like a white blouse, knee socks, and wristcuffs so that I could wear it in a full coord. Within a month, I had 2 new dresses from Baby Ponytail and Metamorphose, and had bought my first Meta lucky pack. I was obsessed.
Now here I am, with a whole room of our house dedicated to my lolita wardrobe. I've been to a few meets with a comm about 2 hours away, and also got to enjoy the lolita events at Tekko this year while actually wearing the fashion. I don't see myself stopping anytime soon! Below you will see my first dress: a simple "anniversary JSK" from the Chinese brand Pink Up:
Pink Up Anniversary Japanese Fabric JSK:
Dress: Pink Up
Blouse: Anna House
Shoes, socks: Bodyline
Headbow: Cutie Creator
Shoeclips, jewelry: handmade
What can I say, I am still as in love with the dress as the day I saw it, even though it is so simple. I think I love it because of its simplicity and especially its bright and varied colors. I started out coording this with basic white items. I ended up not wearing it to Otakon...the fabric is actually very heavy and really not good for summer at all, but right now it's still cool enough for it. I always dreamed of being able to pull out different colors from the pattern, so I wore it with pink, blue, and white items. The me of 1 year ago would have been so excited!
Innocent World Strawberry Rose Garden JSK coord:
All Innocent World except off-brand shoes and handmade jewelry
This is a coord using one of the most recent dresses I've gotten, and I really tried to wear something as lovely as possible, and also something that would show how far I've come in lolita since last year. I feel like these Innocent World items are made for each other, even though they are from different release years. I also feel like this coord is just so "me", just like the one above, and all my coords really. But this one is extra special to me!
Overall, I didn't actually DO much for my 1st anniversary, besides just wear some of these clothes I love and enjoy them. I got 2 new Innocent World dresses as well, but the fact that they came this weekend was more coincidental than planned, haha.
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