The Updated Rectangle Headdress

The rectangle headdress is often seen as an instant Lolita "don't" for many people, and it's understandable why. The rectangle headdress often brings up images of cheap lace hot glued to an extra wide rectangle and then tied with a sloppy satin bow under a chin. Even good quality rectangle headdresses tend to have a little too many ruffles and only look good on a small percentage of people. But, I think this is no reason to write them off completely. While I doubt the rectangle headdress is ever going to make a big come back, there are ways to update this accessory, which was once so prevalent in the fashion, so that it looks a little less like a homemade maid costume and a little more elegant.

The best way to update the rectangle headdress is to simplify it. Think of it not so much an extra place to add some more lace to a coordinate and more of a fancy headband. Whether you are making one yourself, or in search of the perfect one, make sure it's a relatively simple one. Avoid any gathered lace or ruffles around the hem or any extra large bows on it. If your headdress has ribbon ties consider tying it behind your neck instead of under your chin, or even stitching it onto a stiff headband. Try to find a very thin headdress, no more than about 2 inches wide, nothing that takes up your whole head! Below are some good examples of very up-to-date rectangular headdress.

This one from Victorian Maiden is very simple. It's merely a thin strip of matching fabric with a tiny lace trim and a small ribbon. It's also on a headband base so you don't have to worry about tying it.

This velvet headdress from Innocent world is a bit wider, but since it doesn't have any lace or a ruffle around the end it can easily get away with it. It has a pretty strip of matching lace across it to give it some elegant details. It's also on a stiff headband.

Antique Beast made this headdress, and while it is extra lacy and even has bows on it, the lace lays flat against the head so it doesn't end up looking like a maid headdress.

These are a whole bunch of Mary Magdalene headdresses and hair accessories. I think these are pretty much the perfect rectangle headdresses! They are slim, simple, and yet still elegant and pretty.

On the left is an over priced scratchy lace covered headdress from an Ebay shop, on the right is a Mary Magdalene headdress worn by this particular Japanese blogger. It's hardly a fair comparison! The Ebay headdress is awkward and goofy looking, while the Mary Magdalene one is simple and classy. These two headdresses are worlds apart in terms of style and quality, so it's not very hard to simply avoid the headdresses of questionable taste and find (or make!) something that is much nicer. While I don't know if the headdress is going to be coming back in style, it's certainly not something you should write off completely. I think that the right rectangle headdress can make the perfect finishing touch to a Classic or Gothic Lolita outfit.

One of my favorite things about these thinner, less ruffle covered headdresses is that you don't really need to style your hair around them! The thin and flat headdresses look just as nice with nicely brushed hair as they do with an up-do. Which is great for the everyday (or nearly everyday) Lolita, because sometimes you just don't feel like doing much with your hair besides running a brush through it! The extra ruffly headdress, on the other hand, usually needs at least pigtails to make it look a little less awkward.

What do you think about the rectangle headdress? Do you pretty much hate it no matter what it looks like? Or are you willing to make an exception for certain styles. Back when I first got into Lolita I had a couple rectangle headdresses and they always felt very awkward to wear, so I simply nixed the head accessories altogether for a few years until head bows became more prevalent. But, back then, many headdresses were much rufflier than these delicate head accessories that Victorian Maiden and the likes are offering up for sale, and I can definitely see myself getting more into this style of headdress, especially if it comes on a headband so I don't have to worry about accidentally tying my hair into the bow! Now that I have a shiny new sewing machine (that actually works for more than a couple inches of stitches at a time!) I plan on trying to make a couple slim rectangle headdresses. I'd like to try to make one in maroon with cream lace, and an all black one, because I think these would go very well with my wardrobe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a heads up that I'm having a little sale over at Ophanim, I'm offering 15% shop wide if you use the coupon code BLACK15. The sale will only last until Friday is over, so if you missed out on the lucky packs and still want a deal, now is a good chance!

Besides that, I hope everyone in the States had a happy Thanksgiving! Of course I'm thankful for all the good things in my life, even the things I take for granted, that goes without saying. But, since this is my Loltia blog, let's have a little fun and talk about all the frilly things we're thankful for :3 Are you thankful you managed to catch a really good deal on an auction? Maybe you happened to get a hold of the very last of a popular print while it was in stock, before the price sky rocketed. Or maybe you're thankful someone taught you to sew so that you could fill your closet with pretty frillies?

What did I thank the great and powerful Mana-sama, Lord of Lolita for when I bowed my head at the dinner table full of a bounty of pink cupcakes*? Why for this, of course!

I managed to get a hold of the pink colorway of Angelic Pretty's Rose Toilette skirt, a print I have been dreaming about for some time now. I got it for a pretty reasonable price too. I'm still dreaming of red JSK or OP, but I am incredibly happy to get a hold of this piece! Sarah of Momoberi actually sold it to me, she even remembered me blogging about how much I love it!

*That cupcake and Mana thing didn't really happen.

I Do Declare's Giveaway, Some Sold Out Lucky Packs, and 500k Hits

A few weeks ago Kelsey of I Do Declare was having a give away on her blog. I commented on the post not expecting much, since I never (and I mean never) win giveaways. But about a week ago as I was going through my blog roll I saw she was announcing the winner. I almost skipped over it because I thought "Oh, well that has nothing to do with me XD" But I clicked anyways and was quite surprised to find that I was the lucky random winner of a couple totes and a tee shirt, all of which are screen printed with I Do Declare's unique designs!

The prize, all bundled up and pretty! I loved the card, it was so elegant and fit Kelsey's designs perfectly.

I promptly tore into the package to see what I got! Even though I already knew what it was XD I was still surprised to find two totes in the package (only 1 pictured, the other is identical, I just didn't have room in the picture for it).

The screen printing is awesome. On the totes it's thick and gorgeous, and on the tee it's much lighter and sort of vintage looking, which suits tees much better than thick printing, as thickly screen printed tees tend to crack and shrivel the first time you wash them. The design, as you can see, is an amazing unicorn. Angelic Pretty can keep their plump little carousel unicorns, I love badass medieval unicorns!

The tote bags are really great, if you want one for yourself you can pick them up at the I Do Declare Etsy shop. The very first thing I did with my totes? Filled them up with a dozen packages. What was I shipping out? Why, Ophanim lucky packs! I was completely prepared to announce them on my blog, I even made a fancy graphic and everything....

But, as you may have guessed, the lucky packs are all sold out. They actually sold out within a half hour! Something I was definitely not expecting! These were so successful I definitely plan on doing some more lucky packs once it gets a little closer to Christmas. If you want to grab one the next time I put them out, follow me on Twitter, since I'll be tweeting about them as I make them and when they are posted!

In keeping with this post's hodgepodge of awesomeness, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for reading my blog :D You might not notice it, since it's aaaall the way at the bottom of the page in a tiny little font, but my hit counter hit 500,000 sometime two nights ago. I tweeted for people to be on the look out for that then went to sleep, the next morning I got a few screen shots of counts reaaaally close to the 500k, including one of 499,999 by Zeloco of the Etsy shop Eat Me Ink Me. I figured the 500k went unnoticed until later that day Neena commented on my lucky pack sales post letting me know that she actually got the 500k but couldn't send me a message on Twitter about it! She sent me a full page screen shot, but I've cropped it just to show you the magic number.

500,000 hits :D That's half a million! Thanks again to everyone who reads F Yeah Lolita!

Old School Sweet Lolita: Angelically Sweet

While browsing through some Gothic & Lolita Bibles I noticed that the earlier ones have much more white or off-white coordinates than any of the newer volumes. These pale colored coordinates have such an angelic and innocent aesthetic and it's definitely more elegant than the modern pastel rainbow Sweet Lolita, which tends to focus on cuteness as opposed to elegance. I really love this style of old school Sweet Lolita but it's hardly ever seen any more unless it's someone deliberately dressing in Shiro Lolita, and then the focus is more about dressing mainly in all white, not maintaining an angelic air.

These are some of my favorites from the early volumes. One of the things I really love about some of these coordinates is that they are not afraid to combine off-white with white. White/off-white combos are often seen as an instant Lolita faux pas to some, but I think this is something of an unfair statement that people heard once and take a little too much to heart. True, if you are wearing a white dress and socks a pair of off-white shoes are going to look out of place, and a white blouse with off-white lace paired with a pink and white skirt is going to look strange, but that's not to say that all white and off-white combos should be written off. If you balance the two colors nicely, such as matching a white blouse and socks with an off-white JSK and socks, the result is lovely.

Another detail often seen in these early angelic Sweet Lolita coordinates are ruffly sleeves. Either wide, lace covered bell sleeves, or a long sleeve with a wide ruffle at the end. All in all the designs were much more detailed, lots of ruffles, lots of lace, and lots of bows and other sweet details. The ruffles didn't stop at the dress either! Socks had a lacy ruffle around the top, frilly bloomers peeked out from under skirts, and headdress were extra lacy or they even wore a decadent white bonnet. These old school angelic outfits were definitely over-the-top in their own way and could definitely hold their own against a modern OTT Sweet Lolita outfit.

Updating this old school style

This style is easily updated for the Lolita who loves the style, but wants a few more up-to-date details. The result, I think, ends up a little bit more Classic Lolita than Sweet Lolita, but then again, old school Sweet was often very similar to Classic Lolita.

I've picked a BtSSB staple for the JSK, a pale cream colored empire waisted JSK and paired it with a white blouse with some wristcuffs for an extra lacy ruffle. To update the look a bit I switched the knee socks for a pair of over-the-knees and instead of an old school ruffly headdress I've picked one of Innocent World's rose covered headbands. To complete the look, and to further the angelic theme, I've added a few pieces of antique gold jewelry, a couple of which feature crosses and cherubs.

This is a gorgeous style, and while people still certainly do wear Shiro Lolita, I would really love to see more white coordinates with an elegant and angelic aesthetic to them. These old school sweet coordinates have a certain look to them that many modern Sweet Lolita coordinates just don't have, despite how OTT both are. What do you think? Would you like to see the next big Angelic Pretty piece be a lace covered dress like one of these, or do you prefer cute over elegant Sweet Lolita styles?

The Little Bunny Bear Bag That Couldn't

If you are unaware of what a bunny bear bag (aka usakumya) is, it's a stuffed animal styled purse released by BtSSB. It's rather hard to get a hold of and is usually very expensive when it does pop up for sale. Up until now the bunny bear has been left alone by the hoards of knock-off sellers, sure, Bodyline released a few generic stuffed animal totes, and Leg Avenue even released a knockoff of Innocent World's rabbit purse, but no one had ever released something that was obviously supposed to be a bunny bear knock-off. Well, until this:

This sad little creature is supposed to be a bunny bear bag. In case you don't recall what they look like, here's a picture of the original Baby, the Stars Shine Bright bunny bear bag:

They look similar, they look very similar, but the knock-off looks very... well, off. I think it's the flat face and the tiny little red eyes placed on either side of the nose. Instead of looking charming and cute, it manages to look both terror stricken and forlorn. I almost feel bad for the poor knock-off bunny bear bag, like maybe a hug and a pat on it's strangely wide little head as well as a "There there, I know you're not brand, but you can still be cute," is all it needs.

I'm not just hating on this sad little squish faced bear simply because it's not brand. Not at all, if this was just some cheap knock-off you could pick up off of Bodyline for $10, I would be all over it, like I said, it's cute in a sad sort of way. What makes this knock-off so hilariously bad is that it's being sold for nearly $60. Yes, this little guy, who's quality is probably on par with something you would fish out of a claw machine in a Denny's lobby, is being sold for nearly as much as the original bunny bear. You can actually buy mini bunny bears for cheaper than this knock-off!

What do you think of this little guy? Is he sad enough to love? Cuter than the original? Or a will his beady little eyes be haunting your nightmares tonight? I'm also curious to know what people think of stuffed animal bags in general in the Lolita fashion. Personally, I can't really see myself using them very much, and I think they're useless if their compartment is so small that you have to carry a real purse with you, but I think they go really well with OTT Sweet outfits.

Split Color Wigs

One of the big fads in the Lolita communities at the moment is 2 color split wigs or dye jobs, which, if you haven't guessed, is an almost Cruella Deville styled dye job often found in dual candy colors. This style of dye has been around for years in the Western goth scene and has been seen fairly frequently in the Gothic & Lolita Bibles for the past few years, but it is just now getting popular in the Lolita scene here due to a few Western indie shops selling split color wigs for a reasonable price.

There are a few places you can get hold of wigs like this outside of Japan, you can order from either MintyMix or Cosplay Wigs USA. Both shops have a few different color options and are around $50 for one wig. Or, if you are daring, you can try to create your own split wig with this tutorial. Keep in mind that you're not exactly going to save a ton of money making your own split wig, since you're going to have to buy 2 wigs to cut up and due to the way you cut them you are only going to be able to get one wig out of the two. The upside to making your own is you have complete control over the colors.

Two different kinds of split wigs from indie shops, Cosplay Wigs USA on the left, MintyMix on the right.

If you're looking for some split color inspiration, you can find a few examples in various Gothic & Lolita Bibles, below are some that I stumbled across. This hairstyle works well with any Lolita style, blond and black working well with Gothic, pastel duos work well with Sweet Lolita, and natural duos work well with pretty much any style.

Ever since I saw the tutorial on how to make these I have been looking at my own small wig collection trying to decide whether or not I want to sacrifice two of my three wigs to make a split color wig. I eventually decided on sacrificing my pink wig and buying a purple wig to split with it. I'm still waiting for the purple wig to come to see if it's the right shade of purple, and if it is, hopefully I'll get some pictures of the process up! Why a purple and pink wig when pink and black or black and white or any other number of color combos would be much more suited to me and my wardrobe? Well, let's just say I have plans for something ridiculously over-the-top that should be ready by Anime Boston this year. Speaking of Anime Boston, I just paid for my Artist Alley table : 3 but more about that some other time.

A Coordinate Inspired by Cinema Strange & Lolita Music Musings

Every now and then I like to play around on Polyvore and design an outfit around a favorite song of mine. This particular coordinate is based on Needlefeet by Cinema Strange, a song about a little girl playing in the forest with her dolls and hears some strange things.

The lyrics allude to a very elegant and old fashioned time period. The little girl is not simply a little girl, she is a marchioness, her dolls are maids, her fort made of sticks and leaves a manor and they are sitting down for tea. It is both a charming song and a creepy song. The vocals and the music are a stark contrast to the lyrics and, typical of the post-punk/deathrock genre, feature nearly unintelligible dramatic vocals and scratchy guitars. If I was actually trying to turn someone on to Cinema Strange I wouldn't turn them straight to Needlefeet, but instead to the song Catacomb Kittens, which is the song that turned me onto the band.

I would post the actual song, but I don't know if anyone would actually like it XD So instead, the story version of the song, which I somehow managed to hear first, or at least, I noticed it first. Whenever I would put my music on random this story always caught my ear and held my interest. It's not a spoken word version of the song, but instead a whole story based on the song.

I occasionally get questions on my formspring asking about Lolita music, much like what to do when your petticoat deflates, I am really clueless about most Lolita music! To me, there is really no such thing as "Lolita music" because I don't really think that Lolitas have to listen to specific music, and if they did, you would get a bunch of different opinions, depending on who you asked! The Momoko purists would claim that classical music is Lolita music, Jrock fans would claim that the Jrock bands who wear actual Lolita is Lolita music, some people claim that Emilie Autumn is Lolita music simply because she once wrote a song called "Gothic Lolita", and the list goes on. Of course, none of these people are either right or wrong, if to them that's what Lolita music is then it is, for them.

Personally, I don't really go out in search of Lolita bands. I have tried in the past but have been mainly uninterested in what I found. Although, there are a number of bands I listen to who remind me of the Lolita aesthetic for one reason or another. Some other time I would like to get a play list of sorts up of "Lolitay" songs, but in the mean time, here are a few bands that remind me a bit of the Lolita aesthetic:

• Rasputina- The number one Lolitay band on my list. Besides being fronted by a bunch of girls in Victorian underwear with cellos they are well known for singing about obscure and strange historical events and Victorianesque themes. If the music that Rasputina makes could create a world, I feel that Lolitas would make up a large percentage of the population, or at least frequently vacation there!
  
• Sopor Aeternus- One of my favorite musicians of all time! Like Rasputina, Anna Varney of Sopor Aeternus creates a sort of world with her lyrics, this world is often much darker than Rasputina's, very much on the Gothic side of Lolita, but it is still a beautiful world.
  
• Cinema Strange- They have a lot of lyrics that are about creepy Victorian things, and a lot of their lyrics are very cemetery/death centric, but they are sung in a very dramatic and fast-paced way so they aren't exactly gloomy.
  
• Dead Can Dance- Dead Can Dance has a very wide range of styles, ranging from mellow folk to rock. They are a much more peaceful band than the other bands on this list and often have a very ethereal feel to their music.
  
• Kokusyoku Sumire- The only band on this list that is actually considered a Lolita band! Also the only Lolita band that I found I really enjoy. They wear the fashion, with their own twist, so I guess that's how they became known as a Lolita band, I don't speak Japanese, so I have no idea if their lyrics helped them become known as one. Despite the fact I don't know what they are singing about, they are very dramatic and operatic and quite fun to listen to.
  

Now, just as much as I listen to these bands I listen to things that are in no way, shape, or form Lolita, ranging from early 90's rock to Arabian pop/dance to power metal. While I don't think that fitting music is needed to even be a Lifestyle Lolita, it is sometimes fun to come across a band that reminds you of the frills, or to find out a band that you have always loved sings about loli-appropriate things, whatever they may be to you!

Do you feel that proper music is a requirement for Lolita, or are your favorite bands about as far as you can get from Lolita? I would love to hear any more Lolitay music suggestions, while I don't go around looking for music to match my frills, I always love to hear new bands!

La Grande Belle Fleur Bunny Scarf Review

I've been lusting a bit after a bunny scarf after I saw Baby's a few years ago. But I the ones brand shops sell are either too hard to get a hold of, are too expensive, or aren't really my style. Luckily I stumbled across the Etsy shop La Grande Belle Fleur, who pretty much specializes in adorable animals scarves. When I found her Etsy shop she had just sold an off-white bunny scarf, and while a pink or black one was tempting, I was really wanting that off-white one! So I sent her a message asking if she took commissions and luckily she had the time to make one just to my specifications! I didn't really have much in mind, I just knew I wanted an off-white bunny with fancy button eyes and red details. About a week later she let me know the scarf was done. I was pretty amazed at this since I can't knit and would assume something like this would take much longer, at least for me it would probably be sitting in my "to one day finish" pile for years.

About a week later the package came, as it was coming all the way from the UK to the US. The bunny was even cuter in person! There's a little loop on the underside so you can thread the back part to so it stays in place around your neck, keeping you cozy.

He's got a fluffy pompom of a tail and lots of cute details like a flower in one ear and a bow in the other. He's also sporting a super cute lace ruff. All the details are securely sewed or glued down, I can't imagine they will be coming loose any time soon.

And here it is worn, to show you how big it is. It's a pretty large size, so if you're going for a subtle bunny-on-my-neck look this isn't the scarf for you. However, if you want something super cute that's either going to be part of an OTT outfit or the stand out piece in a more toned down outfit, one of La Grande Belle Fleur's scarfs is probably for you. I'm quite tempted to pick up a black or a pink bunny to go with this one, since they're pretty affordable at $25-$35, especially for such a unique hand-made item that can be customized to match your own wardrobe perfectly.

If bunnies aren't your thing, there are a bunch more animal scarfs to choose from at La Grande Belle Fleur. KattyKins, the artist behind the shop, knits up animal scarves in all shapes and sizes ranging from ducks, to kitties, to pandas, to elephants.

La Grande Belle Fleur sells through Etsy, but you can also find her gallery on DeviantArt, and stocks a variety of things besides animal scarfs, including polymer clay sweets jewelry and hair accessories made out of real cookies and candies covered in resin. 10% of all of her sales go to animal charities, so you're not only getting something awesome by buying from her, you're also giving a little too.

I hope you all don't mind the couple of review posts so close to each other! I have been trying to put less of my Lolita funds towards burandoburandoburando and more towards local or indie Lolita seamstresses and crafters and I can't resist showing off my newest purchases.

I would also like to point out, over on the blog sidebar, there's a Facebook logo and link. Yep, I got around to making a F Yeah Lolita Facebook page. I like to sometimes talk to people on Twitter about ideas for future posts, to get ideas or reactions, stuff like that, and I figure that it would be much easier to do on a Facebook page instead of Twitter. So, if you have a Facebook profile and love pressing "Like" buttons, consider liking F Yeah Lolita on Facebook :D

Gloves: A Lady's Accessory

There used to be a time when a proper lady would never go out without her gloves, but, for better or for worse, that time is no more. Even so, a pair of gloves are a perfect finishing accessory to a Lolita coordinate, especially now that the weather is taking a nose dive into winter.

Nearly every mainstream store at the moment, from Walmart to Nordstrom, is going to be selling nice ladies gloves for the winter. Places like Marshalls or T.J.Maxx usually have a really nice selection for around 10 dollars that include lots of real leather or lush velvet gloves. These are an elegant choice for chilly weather as they are typically very warm and much daintier looking than a pair of stretchy knit gloves. Look for a pair to match your Lolita winter coat or jacket! Black and brown pairs are the most easily found but with a little luck you can find whites, creams, and even bold blues or reds.

While unsuited for keeping your hands warm while throwing snowballs, vintage ladies gloves are still a nice choice when you want to wear something dainty on your hands. The best part about vintage gloves is you can usually pick them up for really cheap at flea markets and yard sales, typically a dollar or two a pair, and they come in tons of different styles. The downsides though are that vintage gloves are often itty bitty and you're probably going to be out of luck if you have large hands or very long fingers, they are also mainly found in white or ivory colors, although, with some hunting, I have found various pastel colors as well as black gloves.

Lace or crochet gloves are also fairly easily found in trendy, costume or specialty shops. These can be found in a range of colors. Because of the wide range of styles and colors in lace and crochet gloves they are suited for any kind of Lolita but black lace gloves tend to work best with Gothic Lolita while ivory crochet gloves tend to work best with Classic or Country Lolita.

Not all gloves are created equal

Especially since gloves are seen as an alternative or costume fashion nowadays many gloves being sold in stores are often of a poor quality. They tend to be one-size-fits all too large, which often leads to baggy gloves, so keep in mind that, just like everything, gloves should not be ill fitting. You don't want it to look like you're wearing a cheap lace sack on your hands! If you can, you should really only buy gloves that you can try on first to see how they look on your hands. And with everything in Lolita, making sure they are made of a nice lace is going to make or break a pair of gloves.

Glove Etiquette

Like many things that were popularly worn in the past, gloves have a long list of nit picky etiquette to go with them. Since gloves have fallen out of popular wear in the past 50 years, and we're just going to be wearing them with Lolita, you can pretty much throw all of these out the window, much to the dismay of ladies who are old enough to have worn gloves in their youth! The one thing that you should keep in mind though is that you should really take your gloves off before you eat, if for the fact alone that you're probably going to end up staining your gloves if you try to eat while wearing them.

Vintage glove ad found here.

Sometimes though, a little frivolous etiquette is a fun thing, so if you're interested in wearing your gloves the proper way check out this post about glove etiquette and which gloves to wear on which occasion.

How to wear gloves with Lolita

There's no real right or wrong way to wear gloves with Lolita, so long as the gloves are of nice quality and match the rest of your coordinate, but there are a few things to keep in mind when trying out gloves with your Lolita!

• Try wearing short light colored gloves with a short sleeved Sweet Lolita outfit.
• Opera length gloves look best with short or no sleeves.
• Black fingerless gloves look great peeking out from under long Gothic Lolita sleeves
• Wear a colorful pair of wrist cuffs with plain black or white gloves to make them look more colorful than they really are.
• While it's against proper glove etiquette, wear your rings over your gloves! It looks so decadent.
• Try fancying up a plain pair of gloves with a pretty brooch.
• If you're crafty, you can always add some pretty lace or beading to gloves to make them match your wardrobe perfectly.
  

There are tons of coordinates with gloves in the Gothic & Lolita Bibles! They make a perfect finishing touch to so many different kinds of Lolita outfits.

While I have a pretty large vintage glove collection sitting around in one of my dresser drawers, I rarely ever get the chance to wear them. Although, with the addition of more Classic Lolita pieces to my wardrobe, and the oncoming Winter I think I'm going to try to work them into my daily wardrobe a little more. Or at the very least, try to remember to pack a pair of pretty leather gloves into my purse to keep my hands warm when I go out and find it a little colder than I thought it was!