Weekly Alice

Now, Annie Leibovitz did do an incredibly wonderful and gorgeous Alice in Wonderland shoot a few years for Vogue, haute couture style. It rears its head up every so often on egl forums when someone re-posts. Therefore, I shall not be highlighting that particular shoot for Weekly Alice. If you haven't seen the Vogue photo spread and would like to, click here. 

Instead, I'll like to draw your attention to this other photo by Annie Leibovitz (I have much love for the latter's photography!).

Not overtly Alice in Wonderland themed, no, but still this photo of Kirsten Dunst depicted as the doomed Marie Antoinette has that aura of otherworldliness, a stranger in a strange land, to it. And I daresay Miss Dunst herself has never looked more ethereal or lovelier in this little gem of a photo.

Buying without trying

Sometimes Innocent World's stated measurements on its website doesn't exactly run true to life when the actual dress arrives. It usually turns out to be smaller by a few centimeters. This happened to me before when I bought an IW jsk that was stated to be 100cm stretch max BUT when it came, it fell short of the particular stated measurements by at least 5cm.

I was very disappointed, of course! I did managed to sell off that jsk but because of the incident, I became rather leery of buying off Innocent World's website without the option of being able to try on dresses first.

Well, all those doubts and uncertainties certainly flew out the window the moment Innocent World began its annual winter sale. Out, out, damn spot!

Did I happen to mention I'm a sucker for sale periods? It's probably the next best thing to actually being in Tokyo, at a Closet Child or Marui One, and trying on gothic lolita dresses until kingdom come.

Once the sale started, I sent in my order via email for Innocent World's Aglaia jsk which I have been eyeing for the longest time and had the danger sign of 'Few Left' attached to the navy colourway that I wanted. Thankfully it was still available when they got back to me for payment.

What threw all my reservations about buying without trying out the window



The second item I decided to get is the Tulle Lace 3 Ribbon which was a simple cutsew jsk and would do nicely for a casual outing.

I was pretty sure this would fit, being cutsew material (and comfy too!)

International ordering through Innocent World was pretty easy, being my first time ordering from them as well. Just fill out the international form on the English site, and make sure you list the item number plus colourway correctly, then click send! As Innocent World's English service is only in service a few days of the work week so replies to whether the items you want is in stock might take a while.

I made my order in early January and it arrived about one month later. Not too bad, considering Innocent World had put up a notice saying that shipments would be delayed due to the high volume of orders for its sale.

And the actual items in sight!

Somewhat wrinkled (my fault, not Innocent World's!) but everything FITS

I'm so happy (and not to mention, relieved) to say that this time, Innocent World's stated measurements is accurate *gasp* and that the Aglaia jsk which has a maximum stretch of 107cm listed on the site, but I just need 100cm, and so glory glory hallelujah, 100cm it does stretch till and still has another 7cm as a bonus (convoluted sentence structure here)! Oh I'm happy, yes indeed!

Innocent World can be hit and miss at times with its measurements but luckily this time, for me, it was a hit.

Lelong, lelong~!

lelong /lay-long, ˈleɪlɒŋ/ n. A Malay term. Sale by auction; to auction < Port. leilão auction, public sale; outcry; a sale at a discount, a cheap sale

It might very well be the first of its kind here in Singapore but yes, the local loli comm held a swap/sale meet last Saturday. I went along with some items of my own to swap and I ended up swapping one item and buying more things instead!

The swap/sale meet was held at an attic of a house (volunteered by one of the attendees) which gave it a rather fun and impromptu flea market feel to the whole affair. The quantity and quality of items brought for swapping really exceeded my expectations. Furthermore, prices, when it's a sale if a swap is not happening, were very reasonable.

Photos by Jasmine of Frivolous Indulgences

And the photos only showcase one portion of the entire attic space, which eventually, had lolita items of all shapes, sizes, inclinations, spilling over everywhere.

Personally I like swap/sale meets as it's a chance to exchange or even buy items without going through the hassle of extra shipping costs and also not having to endure the waiting period while item is on the way. Plus what you see is what you get. And you also can try on the dresses to see if it fits before you decide to swap or buy. All gooooood~

As for me, here's my haul from the meet, hey-ho!

I absolutely adore that green stripy parasol! I swapped it for a Beth bag.

A hooded capelet for S$40

An ETC skirt for S$85

Space and logistics wise, holding a swap meet can be a little tricky. But as long as there are willing and non-fussy participants and an empty space to be found, why not! It can be a fun and enjoyable time for those who attend and as mentioned, all the advantages of a secondhand flea market of sorts or a mini Closet Child in action :)

It's not cos-pu-re!

While I'm not ashamed of wearing lolita and liking this fashion, I don't announce it to colleagues of my workplaces, past and present. They usually find out themselves when I go to lolita meets and I get tagged on photos on Facebook since I do friend a few of my colleagues on the social network. Since I don't do over the top sweet like Angelic Pretty and I'm quite the dress down lolita (hur), I haven't bothered to set my Facebook settings so that said colleagues can't see it when others tag me in their photos.

So, inevitably, I'll get the 'I didn't know you cosplay!' on the first Monday back to work after I've been to a lolita meet.

Naturally, I'll explain it's not cosplay, gothic lolita is a fashion from Japan yadda yadda and yet, there'll always be THAT one or two colleagues who will gleefully keep bringing this little gem up at inopportune times and blab, 'Don't you know, she cosplays!' in front of the boss or other departmental colleagues.

I've gotten more or used to it and usually just dead-panned back, 'Yes, I know you always wanted to wear my Sailormoon costume. I'll bring it tomorrow for you.'

But....LOLITA IS NOT COS-PU-RE! lol! Of course, to the layman, I can more or less see how gothic lolita is seen as cosplay. Plus it's so much easier to generalise than try to make an effort and remember how one is a fashion movement and the other is costume re-enactment based on Japanese anime and manga mostly. Furthermore, lolitas at cosplay conventions can be common so I can't really blame the general public for generalising both.

As said, I'm not embarrassed about wearing gothic lolita or even of cosplay since I did use to do and enjoy that latter hobby as well. It's the intent and intention behind those comments by these colleagues that are obviously meant to try and make me feel embarrassed about my fashion likes or hobbies in front of others which I greatly dislike.

If you're facing a similar situation at your workplace, I can only suggest to keep one's cool and retort back with a quib or two if colleagues are bugging you about being a lolita. Afterall, quarreling with people that you see more often than your own family can make the workplace a lot more awkward for yourself. And in the end, as it has been reiterated so many times before and probably will again in future times to come, it's still just a fashion!

Weekly Alice

Does anyone still remember Heart E? This lolita brand used to be more well-known during the early 2000s but seems to have sunk back into semi-obscurity with recent times. They're still in business and have an online web-store but only sells some selected pieces through the Kera Angel shopfronts.

Ever since Tim Burton came up with his take on the Alice in Wonderland mythos with his film last year, there was a period when all things Alice including costumes became quite popular in mainstream consciousness. And, somewhat surprisingly, Heart E also came up with their version of the blue dress that Alice wore for when she first appeared on the silver screen.

This film version to be precise

Annnnnd, here we have Heart E's version

I actually did manage to see Heart E's version in OIOI's Kera Angel store outlet last October when there. Needless to say, I did a little double-take when I caught sight of it and did a mini inspection on the spot!

Probably to avoid any potential sticky lawsuits from Disney since Japan does have a Disneyland of its own, the bodice front of the Heart E version has been modified and the curlique design at the dress hem has also been simplified to what looks like random scrawls, with Heart E's own logo emblazoned on it as well.

The Heart E dress is pretty enough in real life but since it's going for a cool retail price of 22890yen, I wouldn't really recommend it as the overall design is too simple to justify the amount and the construction of the dress was only so-so. It's cute as a novelty item and a lolita take on the film dress but otherwise, if one wants to dress up as Burton's Alice, I would say the officially licensed Disney Alice costume makes a better choice.

Disney approves! Retailing for US$49.90 currently