When I was new to lolita, I was the worst at impulse buying things just because they were cheap. Over the years, I got better, but I still have had some rather unfortunate pieces. This week, in connection with the Lolita Blog Carnival, here are five things that seemed like great ideas at the time, but in reality were horrible.

1. This coord, which involved a sax twintail wig and a bodyline underskirt

I was convinced that this AP JSK would look super cute paired with sax. I put my sax purse with it in my closet, and I loved it. So, I decided I needed a sax wig and a sax underskirt.

Ok, so, for the record, I look terrible in sax, it just doesn’t flatter me at all, and this wig was no exception. It was some cheap, cosplay wig from ebay and it is probably the worst wig I’ve ever put on my body willingly.

I only have some old blurry mirror shots of me trying this on; I never actually wore it, thankfully.

The bodyline skirt that I bought to use as an underskirt looked ridiculous too, so I sold it off. The wig was donated to a friend to chop up for runway, but even she didn’t want it.

2. Metamorphose Rose Gold Boots

What matches rose gold metallic meta boots? Nothing. That’s what. They don’t match dolly cat, or day dream carnival or anything that it would make sense to pair them with.

They also make my ankles look fat, and my ankles not being fat is like one of the only things I’ve got going for me.

But I can’t bear to let them go, so they sit in my closet and I hope that someday, somehow, I’ll figure out how to coord them. Thankfully, I got them new on auction for a song  (I only paid 4,300 Yen for them), so it’s not the most expensive mistake…

I’ll probably just have to buy a whole bunch of metallic rose gold stuff, honestly…

3. This Old School mystery vest from Metamorphose

I love this vest in theory, but in practice, it never looks quite right. Even when I get something I think looks ok, my SO fusses at me that it looks off. Someday, I’ll find a way to coordinate it.

Until then, I’ll continue to make coordinates with it on the dressform. What my SO doesn’t have to see, won’t hurt, right?

4. This cutsew vest from Metamorphose

I love this vest in theory, but in reality, I want my vests to have structure. This cutsew one just sort of smooshes around in the worst way. It combines the worst of a button up blouse, a cutsew and unwanted layers into something generally unflattering.

I’m stupidly still convinced I’m going to find a way to make it work. At least I only paid about 5,460 Yen for it; I didn’t buy it new or anything, so it’s not hurting me too much to hold onto it.

Maybe one day I’ll find a way to wear it successfully….

5. Angelic Pretty’s Holy Corset Cutsew

I was certain this was going to look great under my star night theater JSK, but the red part was totally the wrong shape and looked really weird layered with the JSK, the collar wasn’t right and the stripe was way too chunky.

It’s a cool idea, and a cool cutsew, but it was way too goth for anything I was ever going to do, so I ended up selling it off without ever wearing it. Hopefully the new owner found a way to rock it like it deserves!

Bonus: Every pair of navy/blue shoes I own.

I keep trying to buy blue shoes, but not a single pair of shoes I have bought has ever matched anything in my wardrobe correctly. Not. One. Pair. I have a pair of boots the same color as the center pair of an*tai*na sweet shoes as well. The sweet shoes were supposed to be royal and the boots were supposed to be black. They are a weird blue green that almost matches the Charles Crown OP by Innocent World, but not really. The vivienne westwood x melissa ones are too green as well. The florals match literally nothing. The mary jane heels are the best pair here and even they don’t really match well because they are too desaturated. Blue shoes are hard.

Other blogs participating in this theme:
♥ Vanilla Bear ♥ Cupcake Kamisama’s Lolita World ♥

This week’s topic for the Lolita Blog Carnival is 5 underused print ideas. A lot of the motifs in lolita are pretty common, and it’s actually rather hard to come up with anything fairly universal that hasn’t already been done. However, here are five things I think are really under-done!

1. Dragons

Unicorns and mermaids pop up now and then, and even faeries pop up sometimes, but dragons are almost unheard of in lolita prints. Pumpkin Cat, a Chinese indie brand released a print with cartoon styled dragons that look inspired by the dragons of “How to Train Your Dragon”. Beyond that, Infanta, Strawberry Witch and R-series put out prints with traditional Chinese dragon imagery, but the only Japanese brand print that I know of with any sort of dragon is Juliette et Justine’s le premier cri de prophete, and that’s a screen print. For how popular fantasy is and has been the last decade or so, it’s astounding to me that we haven’t had a single print that features a full color, fantasy book cover style, western dragon. Granted, dragons are difficult to draw, and there are definitely people who specialize in drawing them for things like book covers and trading cards (in fact the rarity of dragon images that aren’t directly from a handful of artists on deviant art is why I’m using a very old image from Marco Polo’s the book of wonders) but I would think some one out there would have paid someone to draw some dragons for a print by now!

2. Sailor Moon (And Other Classic Magical Girls)

There is a huge overlap between girls who like OTT sweet lolita and girls who like magical girl anime. Sailor Moon has been partnering with all sorts of companies to make sailor moon themed and printed clothing, but not a single lolita brand has partnered with sailor moon. Baby made a card captor sakura collaboration OP, but it was literally just a replica of a dress from the series, not a print. I’d love to see something like a clow card print, or a sailor moon print that showed things like the cats, magical objects, and roses etc in the style of one of the sweet brand’s normal art style. There have been some unlicensed fan things from indie brands, but nothing really good and solid that was done through the correct legal channels.

3. Oranges (And Other Non-lemon Citrus Fruits)

Lemons aren’t super common, but they at least show up periodically. However, how many prints can you think of that feature oranges, limes or grapefruits? Granted, the orange / yellow / green / pink pallet of citrus fruits does limit what colors you can make a base dress, and they aren’t overly popular colors, but they are super fun for summer!

4. Penguins (And Other Snowy Creatures)

The only print I can think off of hand with penguins is this one by Haenuli. If you ask one hundred 3rd grade girls their favorite animal, you are going to get a fair number answering penguins, polar bears, arctic foxes and/or seals. Sanrio has Tuxedo Sam, and lisa frank has a handful of colorful polar bear, seal and penguin characters. Making these fluffy, snow dwelling animals look cute isn’t hard, and they would make for great winter prints!

5. Motifs Of European Countries that aren’t France or England

French and English royal motifs, french tri-color motifs, and french food show up all the time, and Russia shows up from time to time but other countries from Europe rarely make an appearance. There are all sorts of interesting historic motifs that could be pulled from many other countries in Europe.