Tuesday, April 27, 2010

How I started?

I've always adored lolita fashion when I saw girls dressed in lolita dresses in magazines and on the internet. When was that??? Ermz..secondary school? JC? And seriously, I never expect myself to dress in loli one day. It was kinda impossible because firstly, I have no idea where I can get the dresses and of course, it should be expensive.

I did know what cosplay was but could not tell the difference at that time. I only knew one thing - both cosplay and lolita are popular in Japan. I did not bother to find out the difference at that time because there was no way I would have the chance to dress in loli or to cosplay. No $$$ and of course, mom would not have allowed.

This continued till like 2 or 3 years ago when I went to Haru Shop at Far East Plaza. I did not go there purposely to buy anything. I knew Haru sells lots of the Japanese school girl costumes which I was a fan of at that time, cosplay costumes etc. I actually just wanted to see what they have. Well, window shopping is free! And there I saw a very beautiful red dress with white lace. The salesgirl was very friendly. When she saw me 'molesting' the dress, she just asked, "Wanna give it a try?" I just wanted to satisfy my curiosity - How will I look like?

Before I knew it, I fell in love with the dress. I always thought I wouldn't fit because I'm too skinny. But it was not too bad. Besides that, I tried on a Japanese School girl costume. It was a dream come true!!! So what did I buy in the end? Red Lolita dress ($100 plus?), Red Mary Janes ($88), Red Pannier and a Japanese school girl costume (i forgot the price). But these clothes and shoes sat in the storage box for some time till I wore it for a makeover photoshoot 1.5 years ago. It's also the first time I wore a wig.




It was after the photoshoot that I started to get a little interested in lolita fashion. I started looking at lolita stuff from ebay. And I started doing some 'research' on lolita fashion. After a while, I bought a blouse and a lolita skirt from Haru. It was selling at half price. From there, I got to know Bodyline web address which started my Lolita shopping!!! And I also ventured into In the Starlight which is based in United States. I bought many items from there but sadly now, they have already closed down their business. SADZ!!!!

A year ago, my boyfriend (then) told me that there's a lolita fashion shop at Cathay. When I managed to visit it one day, I was WOWED! The dresses are real pretty! Actually what wowed me more was the price. hahahaha! At that time, I could not imagine myself buying a dress at $300 - $400 plus! I tried on a blue jsk and it was really pretty. But I could not bring myself to buy it. Eventually I gave in when I visited Black Alice the second time. I was with my sister and my sister told me, "If you continue to wait, it might be sold already the next time you're here. You like it then can liao lor." I didn't expect my sister to encourage me to buy it. Now that I think about it, she has bought many branded stuff that cost even more than that! This is my first JSK from BTSSB and also from Black Alice.




Gradually, I realised that cosplay is not lolita. Cosplay is role playing a character from a story - anime, movie etc. whereas lolita fashion is a type of fashion, just like punk or bohemian fashion. But it's hard to explain to people what lolita fashion is. When relatives or friends ask me about lolita, they come to the conclusion - Orh.. cosplay la! Well, it's not easy to clear the misconception as both cosplay and lolita fashion both involves dressing up. Well, here's the difference:


Lolita fashion

Cosplay
(Yuuki Cross from Vampire Knight)

After awhile, I realised that the first lolita red dress that I have is actually more of cosplay lolita. Cosplay lolita is actually a kind of lolita in which it is worn as a costume and it is filled with much lace. It's not considered as elegant as the actual lolita. But who cares? It was that red lolita dress that brought me to lolita fashion. After the photoshoot, I have not worn it again yet. It still sits in my storage box at this moment. Still, I can't bear to give it away or to sell it. Each time I open my storage box and look at it, I will just hug the dress eventually. Well, I will definitely wear it one day again to relive the moment that brought me to lolita fashion.

5 comments:

Misato said...

wao~ Ur life process w Lolita~ ^^!~ Well written~ Love it~! I'm gonna stalk this Blog le~ hahahah

Ning said...

wah...FAVE liao...another blog in my stalk list...hahaha

Hoiz Hanamiko said...

hahah.. u girls are so funny!! Thanks for the comments!! Feel free to share this in your facebook! Can click on the icon on the right hand side. heez.

Jo Fong said...

Yes, I mistook lolita as cosplay too. Thnks for enlightening me on the difference, cousin! I think you look nice in the schoolgirl outfit - you looked v cute in short hair. The lolita fashion (with the hat) is also very natural and you look 'warm' in it. I kinda like you in natural makeup - because maybe you smile more?

Hoiz Hanamiko said...

Haz... I quite like the country lolita look - the one with the hat. I didn't expect myself to dress country lolita one day. I was quite happy with the natural make up I did, at least the fake lashes were easy to apply that day. :)

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