April, May, & June Coordinates

With the Anime Expo crush over the last couple of months, I haven't had much time to wear Lolita (or blog, apparently) so I only have ten coordinates in the last three months.

Wait, did I say ten?! Somehow, even with all of the convention planning, cosplay sewing, and friend-wrangling, I managed to be able to wear a lot of Lolita.

October & November Coordinates

Is it really already December?! I've been neglecting my blog lately, I think because I haven't really done any new sewing or cosplay projects in the last few months--too busy with other things! My "real" day job has been pretty stressful lately, but Lolita is surprisingly relaxing for me so I did do a lot of fun things in the fashion community, even if I didn't do much else.

Read on for the outfits~

August & September Coordinates

August was a slow month for Lolita, but September was super busy! I staffed/paneled at two conventions, went to a tea party, and hung out with friends.

Also! I know I'm not the best at generating blog content, but recently I got a request on tumblr for a sewing tutorial. I'm not sure I'd be the best at a tutorial, but would anyone be interested in a sew-along? I think I could do that!

Read on for the outfits.

May & June Outfits

I've been missing in action the last two months preparing for Anime Expo and San Diego Comic-Con, but now I'm back and mostly recovered from the two largest conventions of the summer being within less than a week of each other!

I combined both my May and June outfits, since I didn't have many opportunities to dress up (spent every spare weekend hour working on cosplay, oops). Read on for more!

April Coordinates

April was another busy month for Lolita--again, I had five opportunities to get dressed up and hang out with people, which was so much fun! I've been trying to wear Lolita at least once a week this year, and been quite successful recently.

Read on for five Classic & Gothic outfits...

February Coordinates: A little bit of every major substyle!

For such a short month, February ended up being very busy for Lolita events and excuses to dress up! When I was going through all the pictures to make my monthly post, I realized that I managed to wear an outfit in each of the major substyles--two Classic, one Gothic, one Sweet, and one Ouji!

Follow the jump for all five outfits.

Winter Forest [Photoshoot]

'Tis said that when

The hands of men

Tamed this primeval wood,

And hoary trees with groans of wo,

Like warriors by an unknown foe,

Were in their strength subdued,

The virgin Earth

Gave instant birth

To springs that ne'er did flow--

--"The Forest Reverie" by E A Poe

I got to work with another great new photographer this weekend, Brian--please take a look at his work! He was really fun to work with, and we got some great shots. I really like how the wintery "dead" woods match the feeling of the outfit. Follow past the jump for lots more pictures!

January Outfit Roundup

Only two outfits this month, but January is usually a slow month for meetups. I love that having a monthly community swap meet means there's always a guaranteed opportunity to dress up, no matter how everything else goes! We also had a movie night meetup.

December Outfit Recap: so many fun holiday events!

December was a busy month for Lolita events, with International Lolita Day (the biannual "unofficial" Lolita holiday) and multiple Christmas meetups. I also had a chance to dress up with my family for the holidays! It was also a really busy month for sewing, but I'll save that for another post.

October Coordinates

October means Halloween, and Halloween means themed coordinates, right? I had a couple of opportunities to dress up this month, and definitely had fun taking advantage of the ability to do themes and get a little more costume-y than usual.

Read on for three outfits and their breakdowns~

Sewing Project: Halloween Damask Underbust JSK

Hello everyone, I'm finally back and busy after an amazing vacation. I've had the sewing itch for the last few days, so I got started on a few different projects, and finished one today! I fell in love with the fabric when I ordering a for a commission a while ago, and I'm so glad that I got it.

This time, the design was inspired by Innocent World, since I love what they do with overall printed pieces. I'm planning to wear it to Disneyland in a few weeks as part of a Nightmare Before Christmas coordinate, but until then, here are some more pictures and construction notes~

August Outfits

I actually was able to wear Lolita four times this month, but only took pictures at three of the meetups, so you'll just have to use your imagination for the last one (I wore my handmade black and ivory harlequin skirt)! Lots of Gothic-Classic hybrid coordinates, as always~

July Coordinates: SDCC + casual community meetup

Since July was mostly taken up by Anime Expo and SDCC preparation, I was busy basically non-stop! Somehow, I was able to wear Lolita several times, which was a nice break from cosplay. Early in the month, we had a last-minute meetup at our favorite tea shop, and then I wore Lolita for two days of SDCC. I also wore a casual coordinate at AX, but never managed to take a picture (it was my Rapunzel cutsew OP, for the curious).

June Coordinates & Lolita Weekend in Tijuana

June has been so busy for me with cosplay, so I was really glad to have a few opportunities to dress up and relax. Lolita Weekend with Misako Aoki in Tijuana was a wonderful break from Anime Expo preparation!

Read on for three outfits and a few quick snaps from the event!

Review: Mystery Garden Chiffon Bonnet

I've been wanting a plain black bonnet for a while now, so when I saw an advertisement for Polish indie brand Mystery Garden's new chiffon bonnet design on one of the Facebook communities, I figured it was a good time to go for it!

May Coordinates: I'm going through Lolita withdrawals...

This month was crazy busy, and I didn't have any chances to dress up until almost the very end of the month! Not that I wasn't out having fun, because I was, but I definitely start to feel a little bad when I can't wear Lolita for long periods of time. Three weeks is too long...

There were only two meetups, so only two outfits this month.

April Coordinates: Lots of Gothic, and a little bit of trying something new

Somehow I ended up wearing a lot of more Gothic coordinates this month. I mean, I wear a lot of black anyway (considering over half my Lolita wardrobe is black) but usually things end up looking more on the Classic side. Then, at the end of the month, I tried to wear something more colorful and a bit out of my comfort zone. Go me!

March Coordinates: Boystyle, Pirates, and More

photo courtesy happiimilk.net (used with permission)

In March, we had two swap meets, a pirate-themed meet at the museum, and an indie brand tea party in LA. It was a pretty laid-back month, not too busy, but it's really just a lull before the storm--April and especially May are going to be pretty crazy!

February Coordinates: Berries and chocolate and clocks, oh my!

February was another busy month for Lolita, with a photoshoot, a couple of meetups, and Dapper Day at Disneyland! I've started sharing my outfits on Tumblr, and it's a lot of fun to see how far they go there. You can follow me at konekoanni.

I think my wardrobe transition from Sweet styles to Classic/Gothic is very nearly complete--though I did bring out some sweeter outfits for Valentine's Day. Keep going for the outfits~

The Raven [Photoshoot]

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

Back in January, I worked with the really lovely pixeldot at the park. Between the wedding parties vying for space and the fading light, we didn't get very many photos, but the finished ones are lovely! Keep going after the cut to see a few more.