Two Nursery Rhymes

A photoshoot that I did last week at a studio. It was my first time doing a shoot in a studio with professional lighting and equipment and the learning curve was steep. If the owner of the studio who's also a professional photographer wasn't there to help me along and suggest settings for my camera, I would have floundered like a fish drowning in sake. Still, it was a great experience and I have a whole new respect for photographers who do studio shoots professionally.

The theme for the shoot was nursery rhymes, lolita style! Can you guess the nursery rhymes? I think they're pretty easy to guess, lol! Outfits all conceptualised by the models themselves :)

Ye or Nay - Rococo Part II

And just as I posted an earlier blog entry about truly Rococo inspired lolita dresses, Baby the Stars Shine Bright released a series of Rococo inspired lolita dresses.

Right: 92400yen     Middle: 92400yen    Left: 126000yen

Yes, those are the selling prices of these  soon to be reservable Rococo inspired dresses on Btssb. 

Worth that much? Not to me, no. Are they overpriced? To me, yes.

They're being marketed as wedding dresses and probably somewhat explains the astronomical price-tags involved. The thought of paying roughly US$1500 for a gothic lolita dress, wedding or not, makes my mind boggle...even after watching that many episodes of 'Say Yes to the Dress' (guilty pleasures!) on cable and seeing how an average wedding dress at Kleinfeld's would cost roughly that amount. But the fact remains that no matter how we love our gothic lolita brands, we can't escape the fact that a lot of them are over-priced or over-hyped and these Baby wedding rococo dresses are one of those instances for me.

Some folks on the EGL comm have commented that these dresses are ugly as sin. I think the left and right ones aren't too bad but the middle one...I'm almost embarrassed to say I'm strangely attracted to it the way Borat Sagdiyev fascinated thousands in his lime-green thong swimming suit.

Pocket Full of Posies

Ring-a-ring-a-roses,
A pocket full of posies

Hush! hush! hush! hush!
We’re all tumbled down.

The pocket full of posies in this entry refers to a very pretty flower shop that's also a cafe where friends and I had a loli meet last Saturday. However, the main attraction for Pocket Full of Posies isn't the flowers or the food, the many tea selections or even the decor with its bears, frills and ribbons. No, the main attraction would have to be...the SWING SEATS!

The novelty of having actual swings while you eat or chat is very much...fun for me, hehe. Backwards, sideways, round and round, I swung my hapless fellow lolitas sitting with me until they requested for me to stop as they were getting vertigo, ahem.

Lol! But everyone still liked the swing seats and as mentioned, the food was good enough and came in generous portions while their special floral beverages were aromatic and nectarine to the palate.

Avoid the swing seats if you get seasick easily though.

Some photos from the meet shall ensue now~

Ivory who joined us later in the day plus a better look at those horridly amusingly fun swing seats.

A bear with angel wings hanging from the rafters, minding its own business.

And my coordi for the day.

Jsk: Innocent World

Blouse: Innocent World

I was going for something simple and subdue as the cafe is located in a very busy shopping mall which in turn is situated at the heart of our most famous shopping district, Orchard Road. The older I get, the more conscious I've become to gawks and stares =\

Let them eat cake! Or bread pudding's good too

When one looks up on online explanations of what Gothic Lolita fashion is, there always seems to be this one throwaway line which gravely announces that the fashion is influenced and inspired by the Rococo/Baroque period with its connotations of lavish, decadent gowns, stately French mansions, Marie Antoinette and the immortalised phrase of 'let them eat cake' (but this little gem of a flippant quote is supposedly hearsay) from Sophia Coppola's candypop coloured film.

 The fabulous courtesan, Madame de Pompadour, modeling the iconic look of a Rococo gown in her day.

Although I think most lolita dresses only really possess a small facet of a typical Rococo gown or even none at all. So when brands really does do a truly Rococo inspired dress, I immediately stand up and take notice.

The latest being Innocent World's Victorica Dress

It's called Victorica, alluding to Victorian?, but one can see its heavy Rococo influences. The characteristic half-sleeves, ribboned bodice and what I term as the 'curtained' skirt, all screams Rococo to me.

At one time or another, brands would come up with their versions of a Rococo lolita dress. My opinion is Juliette et Justine does it the most often and accompanied by very exotic sounding French terms.

Juliette et Justine's crème sucrée et fleur set.

And some examples of truly Rococo inspired dresses from other brands

Top: Metamorphose, Bottom left: Metamorphose, Bottom right: Innocent World

And lastly, this breathtaking recreation of a Rococo gown that works beautifully as a gothic lolita inspired Rococo dress as well.

Photo from Viona Art

I am an icicle on a snow-capped mountain

The weather here has turned horridly humid and the thought of piling on the lolita layers just makes me want to run screaming into the nearest aircon sheltered building. I really envy those who don't seem to feel the heat when in lolita because I do and very much so ><" Lolita is a lovely fashion but it can be inevitably very warm and scratchy to wear in tropical countries.

I tend to rash when I'm over-heated as I suffered from mild eczema as a kid and a rashy lolita is not attractive in the least, lol!

So here's some simple tips on how to stay relatively cool while still retaining the lolita aesthetics.

Wear a short-sleeve blouse under your preferred jsk

                           A cotton short-sleeve blouse can do wonders.

Try a bolero/cardigan instead

I myself am especially fond of Innocent World's short-sleeve ecru boleros. Not only are they breezy and light, IW make 'em in L size too.



Eschew a blouse, cardigan completely

Now, this is slightly trickier because not all lolita dresses can look good by themselves but there are quite a few that can.

A sleeveless dress that already has a collar can help make the outfit look less 'bare', while halter-necks are always good for that summertime style.

Pin your long tresses up!

It can compliment your overall look and also leave the neck cool.

Invest in a sturdy parasol

It provides shade from the sun if you have a need to venture outdoors and it can give your outfit just that extra touch.

Not a tip but a good sunblock is your friend under a harsh tropical sun