Wardrobe Necessity: Moto Jacket

My moto jacket is probably my favorite jacket to wear with Lolita, even more than my fancy Lolita winter coat, or my Black Peace Now jacket. My own moto jacket I picked up from Karmaloop last Christmas during a rather insane sale, so this $80+ jacket cost me a little over $30. It's just awesome, it's cropped (which is a plus when it comes to buying jackets to go with Lolita. If it's too long it's going to squish your skirt if you want to zip it up!), it has puffy sleeves, and I've been slowly decorating it with pyramid studs and uber-kawaii pink prancing pony pins. A moto jacket might not be a wardrobe necessity, but it is a really awesome addition to any wardrobe, and a really easy way to really make a coordinate unique.

This is my favorite way to wear my moto jacket! With a pink and black Sweet coordinate. A skirt or JSK with a loud pink and black print, and a pink blouse peeking out from under the jacket. Finish the look with sweet styled shoes and socks, and some cute accessories. This moto jacket, from Wet Seal is so cool and cute with the puffed sleeves!

The other obvious choice for a moto jacket is to wear it in a Punk Lolita coordinate. This moto jacket is a very basic one from American Eagle. A plaid skirt combined with a JPunk brand tee goes perfect with the jacket. Accessorize with punky accessories, such as a studded belt or two, studded cuffs, chain jewelry, and a rather offensive Engrish covered JPunk tote. Motorcycle boots paired with a pair of black over-the-knee socks complete the look. Sexpot Revenge is a great brand to add a bit of WTFery to your wardrobe, both the tote and the tee are Sexpot.

Where to buy moto jackets

• The mall- Moto jackets are pretty popular right now, and you can get them for a relatively cheap price at a variety of mall stores. Forever 21 probably has the cheapest price, I saw them on their website for as low as $20. American Eagle, Hot Topic, and Wet Seal also are currently selling moto jackets for a reasonable price!
• Online- Karmaloop.com often has a variety of moto jackets, and if you catch them during a sale, they are so cheap! Tripp NYC has a wide variety of moto jackets, from neon pleather, to animal prints. Lip Service is also known to occasionally sell moto jackets.
• Lolita brands- Metamorphose currently has a really cool moto jacket out. Japanese "punk" brands like Sex Pot Revenge almost always have a few moto jackets for sale.

Ideas for customizing your moto jacket

You can, of course, leave your jacket plain, but there are so many things you can do to your jacket to make it unique. And because you can currently pick up one for a cheap price , you don't have to worry about "ruining" your new jacket. So, in the spirit of DIY, here are a few ideas for ways to customize your moto jacket.

• Studs- An obvious choice if you are planning on pairing up your jacket with a more Punk wardrobe. Ebay is a great place to buy studs and spikes, and you can usually find a bag of 100 for under $10. Add some to the lapel or the shoulders. Hell, if you are feeling creative, why not try your favorite brand logo in studs on the back? Pyramid studs are just little squares, so try to convert the logo into a simple black and white pixel image and then think of the studs as the pixels. Oh, the irony of having the logo of your favorite place to spend hundreds of dollars at a time emblazoned on the back of a punk jacket in studs. Sid Vicious is spinning in his grave! But dammit, it's cute.
  
• Rhinestones- Studs not quite your thing? How about some rhinestones? I want to hunt down a pale pink moto jacket and decorate it with square rhinestones, just like they were pyramid studs. Tacky? You bet it is. But how can you hate something so sparkly.
  
• Pins- I'm not just talking about band badges, but bust out your deco supplies that you've had sitting in a drawer since the deco craze Lolita went through a few summers ago and start making deco pins. Do a search for "Kawaii Cabochons" on Etsy and look for relatively large plastic deco cabochons, buy a few pin backs and you have instant and easy brooches in all sorts of cute plastic shapes. Or even use some old round badges and deco them. Cover them in fake whipped cream and rhinestones.
• Lace- The classic "needs more rori" solution is to add some lace. Buy some good quality lace in whatever color you think goes best with your new jacket and sew it along the cuffs and collar.
• Brand accessories- A jacket is the perfect place to show off brand pins and brooches, or even detachable bows from a dress with a cute print.

A jacket covered in all of these things is probably going to look like a hot mess, but experiment a little bit and find the perfect combination of the above ideas to make your jacket you and the perfect match for just about anything in your wardrobe.