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.
The same group photo also seems to have what looks like it might be a chocolate print hiding in the back.
They have a matte finish and are beautifully detailed. The artwork perfectly mimics a metallic sheen on the ribbon edging, thought it’s actually solid print. The sides are stained a darker shade of brown, and the backs are raw wood with a pin. There is no chemical or ink scent to them; they actually have the very faintest scent of wood, which is really refreshing. There is a slight wood texture under the printing, which gives even more depth to the image.
