Sartorial Saturday: Mad Hatter Day

Of course it’s Mad Hatter Day.

Yes, I know my petticoat is showing (It ripped, I fear. Again.). I didn't know then, though...

Outfit Rundown:
- tricorn hat: Ludwigsburg palace souvenir shop
- blouse: H&M
- T-shirt: self-made
- skirt: self-made
- tights: green clothing shop
- lacy socks: H&M
- shoes: Danish Duckfeet

Accessoires Rundown:
- umbrella (see outfit picture): Lisbeth Dahl
- rocking horse necklace: I am
- club stud/ teapot earring: Bijou Brigitte/ Claire’s
- hair ribbon (see below): self-made with Coppelius button
- fork bracelet (not pictured): artisan’s fair

Thanks to Imp for taking these pictures! :)

Matching Monday – Unspeakable

I consider Ero Lolita one of the most interesting styles in Lolita as it’s not really meant to be worn in public most of the time. With the following coordinate I tried to arrange an outfit that I personally would wear in public.

The “every day friendly” coordinate for this week has some points that draws it from the boudoir to the street:

• The colours. Sadly I wasn’t able to find pieces in exactly the green from the absinthe ad above, but if I had, I’d loved it to be a bodice or shoes. Green isn’t a colour generally associated with dessous, especially erotic ones, just as well as the old yellow from ad, parasol and bloomers. Black in contrary is a common colour for Ero Lolita and, of course, for lingerie.
• The stockings used for this outfit are woolen, opaque ones. While I’m a big fan of those, many people will rather think of a tomboyish little girl or a hippie, but that’s exactly what makes them everyday proof!
• The blouse is made of sheer fabric but with a high collar and pintucks that make it more present.
• The tops. I chose three of them, just for fun. We’ve got a short one on the top that would be great for a night out – actually, I’ve got one that’s pretty similar in my closet. For every day, one would need a tank top underneath the blouse here, at least I’d be more comfortable with one. The bodice in the middle is my favourite, I definitely need one like that. It’s very feminine but without any lace or too much cleavage and the look is almost baroque- or rococo-like. The last one is the most common choice for Ero, a corset. I took the plainest I found, but I’d prefer one made of matte linen. This is a case of “tank top or party” as well, but I’m not too much a friend of corsets for every day, anyway.
• The boots. While higher heels are pretty obvious for this style and rocking horse shoes at least have lacing ribbons that make them a very lady-like and even in the right outfit appealing choice, platform-only (whithout heels) combat boost are rather unusual. I love that chunky look!
• Accessoires. I don’t know why, but for me, Ero Lolita is always connected to parasols. Here it’s a asian-style one from Clockwork Couture and not only had it a colour similar to the light stripes of the bloomers but also was it not to delicate and lacy but added a fragile air to the look I wanted to achieve. The necklace was chosen randomly, I just like bird skulls, and if you just think of how lightweight and brittle they are, it’s a turn in the same direction as the parasol. Plus, I love the Victorian look of the pendant!

I won’t write about the bloomers, for me they are such essentials of Ero that they don’t need an explanation. The ginger beer and bonbons were only added for fun, by the way.

The second coordinate today – yes, there are two this time – is a more refined version:

The several elements are pretty much the same (the bloomers are even just another colour way!) but the outfit is significantly different.

• The colours. Again, we’ve got black as one of the three basic lingerie colours (the others being white and red), but this time together with a rose colour, something between a fresh baby pink and old rose with an apricot hint. Those colours are common for dessous, too, but rather for the innocent look, and they kind of remind one of bare skin, too, or of rose petals opening, if you like metaphors.
• The stockings. Here they are sheer, way more charged with certain associations. Silk stockings with a seam are best, if you ask me, but maybe the seam’s too much…
• The blouse. This is the opaque piece here. The ruffles make it more delicate and add a lavish feel without revealing any skin.
• The corset. Yes, the top piece needed no further thinking here. It’s not the typical corset as it lacks a front plate and has buttons instead which add a cute and very young feeling, and the seams are piped in a darker colour which makes it an even better combination piece with black.
• The shoes. I’ve been drooling over these since I first saw them some years ago on MakoChan’s blog. They are so delicate, so velvety, so innocent yet appealing… Ahem. You know what I mean. They are perfect. The small heel makes them very, very feminine but more in a pastoral way (think of shepherdesses in rococo paintings) than in a way that makes you think of a fetish model.
• Accessoires. Again, there’s an umbrella, this time the Lisbeth Dahl model I’ve got, too. I don’t have to explain the difference to the other parasol, right? For jewelery I chose cameos and a very simply painted porcelain ring for a classical look and a heart pendant as a choker over a blouse like the chosen would have been ridiculous. Plus, a tight necklace would have been more cliché. :) The last thing to mention is the rose Alice band to take on the innocent and pink again.

And now it’s my turn again, today with a fashion design:

I drew this back in school when we got the assignment the design either jewelry or lingerie and I chose the latter. The (very) small collection consists of a brassiere (what a great word, so much better that the abbreviation!) with lace that is meant to look like an old iron fence, french knickers with embroidery and a corset. Fabrics are linen, velvet and raw silk, which is really, really unlikely, but I’d have been satisfied with other high-class matter, too. You can see that I even planned other colour ways, but I missed to scan the second page with the exact brassiere and knickers design (the other colours were light steam blue, pastel park lake reed green and old mansion ochre with darkened stripes for the straps and pocket).

As for music, I’d reccommend Emilie Autumn today as her outfits remind me very much of Ero, most of the time.

 

Come to think of it, I could use an outfit like the first one for M’era Luna festival in August… Hm…

Back from the City

I’ve been to Frankfurt again. Originally it was to switch my armoire from the unstable black wire-with-curtains light model to a smaller dark wooden type from the first half of the last century that kept catching dust in my mother’s basement. But as my father decided that if we went to get the closet on Saturday I could as well come with him on Thursday when he drove home from Marburg anyway, I had one and a half day to spend in the big city, too.

One of the worst things about my beloved fairy tale town is the lack of shopping opportunities. Even though I’m not much of a hoarder of clothes and accessoires I love to go window-shopping. Marburg sadly has only one not-so-unique H&M and neither Claire’s nor Accessorize, so I was thrilled to learn that in Frankfurt even a second of the latter had opened during the last months!

And this is (part of) what I brought back:

A cute tea-pot-shaped earring. Actually it’s a pair, but as I seldom wear two of the same pair I decided to use one of this cute tea pots to make a charm or necklace. The only thing I dislike is the harsh contrast of the muted pastel of the charm and the bright red of the ribbon above it, so I think I’m going to change it.

Another pair of earrings. They had a 3-for-the-price-of-2 sale at Claire’s, and I couldn’t resist! And yes, it’s true, I love chocolate! I think these will be great for the attire for my planned pâtissier Steampunk LARP character. When I told Jules I suggested that maybe the matching brooch would be nice for his Dorian Siskins (a character who’s a chocolatier, too). Even though it would be quite weird if two sworn enemies wore matching jewelery…

The last of the tree pairs is shaped like carved roses. Aren’t they beautiful? And they’re matching my wearable rose bouquets! The small spoon is new, too, to always carry it in my bags if I feel the urge to get me some mousse au chocolat or something similar.

My last purchase was a set of paper napkins with this really elaborate print of antique cutlery drawings, just in case I’ve got to hold a tea party some day. :)

Well, it was really nice to visit my old city again and I’m looking forward to April when I’m able to do this more often again due to my new university ticket. Oh, and I got me another something, too, but I think that’s worth a post of its own.

Rose Bouqets made of Fabric

Last week I went shopping with Bambi for some simple T-shirts or longsleeves. I couldn’t find what I looked for and was about to leave, when I decided to check the accessoires section on my way out, where I found an old rose-coloured dream.

Isn’t the pattern of this shawl wonderful? The fabric is sheer, flowing muslin that would flatter any Jane Austen heroine. I can’t wait to wear it in a decent Lolita or Mori Girl co-ordinate, but it also fits my black everyday garments.

The other wearable roses grew on the even further way out, in the children’s section. They catched my eye and I was really disappointed that there were no such pieces at the women’s section. But then I plucked up courage and decided to try it on in the largest size they had – and it fit and was suitable!

The print is really good and looks like it will survive several years of washing, it has a hood, pockets and thumb holes and adds a cute flair to my everyday attire, just like the shawl.

I beg your pardon for the somewhat blurry pictures, but the lighting conditions were kind of bad.

Rose Flower Fairy

Picture and poem by C. M. Barker, as always.

Best and dearest flower that grows,
Perfect both to see and smell;
Words can never, never tell
Half the beauty of the Rose -
Buds that open to disclose
Fold on fold of purest white,
Lovely pink, or red that glows
Deep, sweet-scented; What delight
To be fairy of the Rose!

Yes, I’ve learned another one and so finally did something for my Daring Deeds again! The Roses in my secret garden are still partly abloom, the one in the mint bed in colours like milk mixed with honey or caramel though pale old china amber to bright yellow, the one in front of the shack in deep, dark red like rubies, but even brighter and at last my favourites – the ones at the arch – in lovely pink like told above, partly blending into a yellow similar to the mint roses.

Roses are one of my main themes recently, as it seems – I’m watching MariMite at the moment, dried buds hang from my mirror, the Scoundrel and Bambi had a university project containing roses some weeks ago, I’m thinking about  Briar Rose, Snow White and Rose Red and The Beauty and The Beast designs for T-shirts and pillows and the dried petals fill a cake tin at the window sill… But I think I’ll have to devote another post to this topic. ^^

Intermezzo: Lolita Checklist

When I was browsing my favourite blogs I stumbled upon Victoria Suzanne’s Lolita Checklist on Lolita Charm and found her challenge to write my own list quite interesting. First of all, I love lists, I always write them: For assignments, to-do-lists, for things I need and things I want, things that inspire me and birthday presents. Second, I thought about my own definition for Lolita or rather how I define myself as a Lolita. And after reading different of these checklists I thought I was able to take the challenge and here it is:

My Lolita Checklist

Loves her Teddy bear like Christopher Robin loves Pooh.

Could spend days in antique or thrift stores.

Adores children’s books.

Is an anglophile.

Has daydreams about wild rose gardens in old castle’s ruins.

Sings musical songs aloud on the platform at the railway station.

Dreams of dancing all night long in a great ballroom.

With prince charming.

Doesn’t need much make-up, only a little rouge and mascara, sometimes.

Sets her mind at rest during long walks in the countryside or along the river.

Dresses in elegant colours like grey, black and rosé rather than in neon.

Loves green.

Rather designs and sews her dresses than buying something that everybody has.

Calls a poupée account her own and tries to update daily. ^^

Tends to use SPF 50 in summer to keep her white skin unburned but gets burned nonetheless.

Loves moths (look and name!) but wouldn’t want to have them in her room for any worldly treasure.

Collects old books, fabrics, lace and stamps.

Dreams of having a successful band with stunning stage personalities and outfits.

Would love to own a manor house for Steampunk or Victoriana LARP or an adequate small hotel downtown.

Loves to lie on mellow moss in a forest watching the clouds go by and then get up with dry leaves entangled in her hair.

Would rather be Rose Red than Snow White.

Could take a bath in good tea (figuratively), in a clawfoot tub, of course.

Could spend days browsing Manufaktum.

Does crafts like embroidery, crochet, spinning and sewing.

Is practically never found without her sketchbook.

Is vain enough to check her look in nearly every shop-window – just like Mary Poppins.

Sees fairies, goblins and leprechauns everywhere.

Lives in a fairytale.