OTT & Theme lolita being the outfit standard now? ✙ Halloween lolita meetup

Photo by Heini Illukka

Hi sweeties! ♥

Like every fashion style, lolita keeps evolving to new directions all the time. It started out as much simpler old school style, at one point simple and OTT (=over the top) sweet lolita was a thing, then it started to move more into a classic direction and now it's passed that. There are smaller things becoming the things, for example cat prints, nun lolita looks, forehead pearls, animal bags and countless of other stuff. Right now I have a feeling that OTT and theme lolita is somewhat popular, but has it gone too much to the outlines of lolita? 

These days social media is so huge, that there is this kind of social media pressure. Okay there are those who post just for their own joy, but mostly it's more or less untrue. It has become a competition! Who has the most likes, how many comments there is, someone has more followers than the other one and so on. Well of course people feel good about being liked, that's normal. If someone gets lots of compliments, then surely they will feel more confident. Still it should not be about the e-fame. SoMe can also make people feed bad if they don't get the response they want, if there is too little of it or perhaps it's negative. Either way it can have a huge impact on people's self esteem and confidence level. 

When browsing lolita outfit posts in facebook, tumblr or instagram, it makes me wonder if the standard level of lolita outfits has become a bit too much. The ones that are getting liked and shared the most are usually high quality photos, outfits are over the top, there are lots going on with a pricey dress and extravagant accessories or the amount of them. There are some exceptions though; simple well done classic lolita looks are usually liked and classic gothic style with Moitie. This is a rough scratch from the surface and does not apply to everything, just something I started thinking about around the Halloween.

F yeah lolita wrote something good btw:

"YOU CAN BE A LOLITA FOR HALLOWEEN. YOU CAN EVEN COSPLAY AS A LOLITA.

It’s OK. You are not banned from dressing up in Lolita on certain days of the year if you don’t wear it the rest of the year. You can wear Lolita as a costume because you want to try it out in an environment where it is socially acceptable to wear a costume and you feel more comfortable trying out the fashion that way.

Be a Lolita for Halloween if you want to be one. Not a Witch Lolita or a Bunny Lolita or a Maid Lolita, just be a regular Lolita if that’s what you want. Lolita has managed to survive the past 20+ Halloweens and past 9 billion anime conventions without descending into costume anarchy. "

Has basic lolita become so ordinary, that every outfit needs to be extravagant? Yes it is fun to make awesome outfits, go through a lot of trouble for them, experiment with style, mix and match and show your creation to other people who will appreciate it. It is good to have lolita goals, inspiration, idols and a direction to improve the style towards to. But.... There doesn't always need to be a wow-factor, something that makes the outfit epic or special. It is good to remember the basics as well and just have fun with other lolitas and wear aesthetic wearable outfits. It's enough to enjoy wearing something pretty that one does enjoy, it doesn't have to be a theme outfit every time. I like to think that sometimes for special occasions like for example tea parties can have a more OTT themed outfit, because usually there is a theme for the event to get inspiration from. For everyday wear, meetups, shopping trips and such and even for the events and tea parties it is totally ok to wear something simpler. 

Everyone has their own style as well, someone likes more color, someone toned down, the other one simpler and some super exaggerated style. If you want to wear a chandelier on your head for buying groceries, then go ahead! If you want to wear a dress and a blouse to a family get together, then go ahead! It's your style and you decide! ♡ This is just me rambling about something that I've been thinking and perhaps I didn't lose my point while writing this without any plans really. x) The thing I would like to gotten through, that there should not be a standard to wear themed and ott lolita style all the time, it is not mandatory. Outfits can be well coordinated, worn beautifully and liked just the way they are. ♡

Photo by Heini Illukka

Photo by Heini Illukka

| French hood: made by me | Queen collar: made by me |
| Blouse: altered mix of a second hand blouse & HNHM sleeves |

| Dress: Maxicimam | Boots: Bodyline | Necklace: Restyle |

My outfit for this meetup is a theme lolita coordination. I made a simple black coord (calling it simple because there are nothing that black and a hint of purple) with my handmade accessories and the big sleeves to create an Evil Queen inspired coordination.

The french hood inspired headdress I made a year ago for a photoshoot and because I wanted to try this kind of historical Tudors era Renaissance headpiece. It's black velvet with hand sewn venetian lace and pearl beads. 

The collar is the one I made for Hellocon Tea Party this summer. It has an iron wire frame with black organza, some black fabric for the edges and hand sewn lace pieces.

The shoes are gotten at the time when there was a huge sale at Bodyline. I think they had some trouble, because heard that some got their orders canceled and it took quite a while to ship out mine. These are black gothic Bodyline boots s504 and at the time cost €18. The material is plastic, most likely PU leather. When using the shoes, they get these permanent wrinkles and the plastic is not really that warm or breathable material. Well they were cheap and they look good. Positively surprised how good they look and that they are not overly big around the leg. The only thing that actually bothers me, is how they are not curving enough from the front and when having them on, the leg pushes this wrinkle in front of the lacing. Hmm..okies I explained that really weirdly, hope you got the point. x)

I hope everyone has had a great Halloween!

Mine kind of passed without more than pumpkin carving, since been having the worst superflu-bronchitis-sinus infection-massive cough for over two weeks now. Luckily I got to dress up before the actual time (to me Halloween/Samhain/Kekri starts a week or two before the date and lasts week afterwards) for a spooky photoshoot and pre-halloween meetup that Rosa Nitida put together in Helsinki. 

For me it was a one day trip to Hki by train. Haven't been in a meetup there for a long time and was a fun change and got meet new people and see some friends. First we got together at the railway station, then headed to Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden to photoshoot out outfits. We had an actual photographer to take our pictures, big thanks to Heini Illukka for coming with us! ♡ The weather was quite chilly and we started to get hungry, so luckily we had a reservation for our big group of over 20 people at Fazer Cafe. Mmm.. I had some hot chocolate with rum, quiche with salad and a some cake, which I could not finish! My tummy was so full, but it felt so bad not to be able to eat it. Never happened to me before and hope it never happens again! O_O

Sini had the coolest gun shot wound!! Awsum ♡__♡

I spotted some Mana -shoothies before the meetup, I guess this meant that the day was approved and blessed by Mana-sama! ♡ ♡

Photo by Heini Illukka

Thank you lovelies! The day was so much fun and had such great vibes. 

Let's do it again soon! ♡

If you got some opinions and comments about theme, ott and costume like lolita or the topic in general, I would love to see them!

♡ Thanks for reading ♡

❤~ Saija Sasetar