Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Vampire Forest (Alice and the Pirates)



Print post! The much talked about Vampire Forest samples out and... well, there are very mixed reactions. From what I've seen, the majority (of lolitas in the english speaking community) don't care for it much. There were a few things working against it.



1. It's an all over print. As you can see from the close up, it has some lovely art. But the composition is wrecked by putting it all over.
2. Dress designs are... meh. Not to mention all the samples are in the 'purple' colorway. I might feel different about the red, navy, or black (actually I like the black the best) but now there is no way to tell.



3. The name works against it a bit, because it's apparently an unofficial successor to Vampire Requiem, which remains as one of AatP's most sought after and valued prints. It also happens to be a border print and have very nice dress designs, so there's a lot of overshadowing going on.

What I do appreciate:
1. The bustle skirt design. It's very elegant and I can see it working well in the red colorway as a dramatic gothic piece.
2. The socks. I might actually get those. They are absolutely gorgeous.

In a perfect world I would have... The bustle skirt in black. Oh and the socks. The socks are awesome.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Aster Cafe by Lief


I got my Aster Cafe skirt by Lief in the yellow colorway the other day! It has such a lovely print... Definitely my favorite indie brand. I took some detail pictures, but because the lighting in my room is so horrid the color levels are a bit off.



The color blend of yellow, caramel, and darkish green. This skirt series came in 3 colorways, black, green, and yellow. There was really no question in which color I'd get, although to be fair compared to the other 2, this colorway has the least amount of color contrast.


The print itself is a very picturesque street view, with lovely iron wrought fences and classic urban cafes.

These two pictures were taken with flash, just to brighten the detail of the print. The non flash pictures were much truer to color.

I'll probably coordinate this with cream, browns, and offwhite. Lief was lovely enough to include a hair clip and a pin on bow with my order~

The skirt is lined, and the construction is very solid. I like the use of the trim as opposed to lace, it gives it a more modern feel. I can't wait to coord with this!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Midsummer's Night Dream Coord




Skirt: AatP
Blouse: Anna House
Everything else: Offbrand

This was my outfit (+ a very unlolita blazer, but I love it) for my ballroom club's social dance. I got a ton of compliments on the print~ It's also a pretty casual affair, so it probably didn't tip most of them off as "whoa this chick's got an odd fashion hobby"

Which I totally do, but go figure.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Moonlight Night Print Reserve (Metamorphose)



Well, it's September finally. School is starting, the days will get shorter (but not cooler, for a while yet), and the leaves will turn. So let's talk about new prints! One that certainly does echo with the imminent arrival of winter is Meta's "Moonlight Night" featured in this exquisite antique white JSK design. I love the twin ribbon bodice. In terms of the print itself, it's definitely Meta, but evokes words like "Iron Gate" since it does feature well... a gate.



But it's done in a very subdued way, gold on black or gold on white (or grey on black but that is really hideous in my opinion, see below). It's about 50% gothic, 40% sweet and 10% classic, if I had to break it down. This will probably be very popular with lolitas of mixed styles since it's so versatile.



What -doesn't- work is the grey on black colorway. Or, I think they were going for 'silverxblack' but went too dark, and now it is just not eye catching nor elegant. It's looks... well, mushy is the way I'd put it but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Either way, it'll easily be the least popular colorway unless it looks drastically different in person. I don't think it would have been too gaudy to use silver accents, or even just have whitexblack.

In a perfect world I would have... the JSK in goldxwhite ... it's such an elaborate, fun design