Doll Fashions

So, I have stumbled across these desirable platform Mary Janes, and someday wish to add them to my own collection of shoes. I love the color and the styling, and I'm sure they're more comfortable than some stilettos due to the platform and the thick heel. I wanted to have them for me, and for my bjd, Kurumi.

I started thinking about similar shoes that would substitute for hers, but none came to mind. She already has BTSSB rockinghorse shoes, but their bottoms are a yellowy, plastic substance not at all comparable to wood. I began to wonder about doll fashions in general, and how they compare to human fashions. Due to the fact that I am much more interested in female fashion than men's fashions, I will choose to focus on those aspects of the fashions whose representatives are stereotypically female.

Lolita - BJD and lolita seem to have been made for each other. All feministic 'infantalization' controversies aside, both ball jointed dolls and frilly dresses gained popularity first amongst Japanese enthusiasts, and then spread to the rest of the world's subcultural awareness. Lolita fashion looks great on the dolls, who are often proportioned like shojo manga characters (although Iplehouse's EID line and Fairyland's Chicline/Feeple 65 break the mold, no pun intended).

(An early Dollheart Alice outfit)

A very large portion of bjd fashion seems to have been influenced by the frill; Dollheart, Cheerydoll, and a myrid of other bjd clothing companies sport endless quantities of the fluffy lolita look. I suspect that this is largely due to Volks' early and ongoing relationship with both anime fans and famous Japanese clothing brands, like Baby the Stars Shine Bright, Atelier Boz, and H.Naoto Frill and Jelly, among others.

(Here, Hazuki from the anime Moon Phase shows off her lolitaness. I admit, I watched the show. In dubs.)

(Volks' first collab with BTSSB. There's a human size of this exact outfit, too :3... I wants.)

The healthy amount of cross-pollination occurring between anime/manga, street fashion, and doll culture also immediately produced another common doll look...

Punk - The black-chain-tartan wearing crowd also seems to have adopted ball jointed dolls (or is it the other way around?). Given lolita's relationship with visual kei and punk, I can see why this would be the next natural step. And in any given shoujo manga, the beribboned lolita character may well have a pierced boyfriend (Parakiss for please?).

Relative to lolita, examples of punk in anime are few (to my knowledge). It may be owing to the fact that clothing chains and tartan are harder to draw consistently than frills in a solid color, but that's just my theory. More often the punk 'personality' shines through in character interactions.

(H.Naoto creations...*drool*)

H.Naoto, the designer known for his punk/goth/gothic lolita creations of wonderment, has also collaborated with Volks to produce doll clothing.

(It's my beloved Kurumi!)

SDG Kurumi was the first to be produced from this collaboration, followed by similarly H.Naoto-clad SDG 'Ran', MSDG 'Yui', and MSDB 'Hewitt' (3rd Edition). Individual outfits were also produced, spanning a range of sizes. Most of the girls' outfits focus on a gothic or gothic lolita look. The boys' tend towards a gothic or punk appeal.

Mori Girl - Okay, no smooth transitioning into this one. But mori girl, the up-and-coming subcultural darling, is also seen mixing into doll fashions. It could have been the ease of cross-pollination between country lolita and mori that started it, but whatever the case, it is definitely present in the bjd world.

(Arcadia Dolls produced this country-lolita-mori-natural-kei hybrid line called Twilight Garden. Unfortunately, their site is currently closed to orders...hope they come back! *tears*)

Aprons and long overcoats over long floral frocks have long been a part of natural kei fashion, and they are an obvious choice for the owner who wants their dolls to have a cute, girl-or-boy-of-the-forest look. Mohair wigs with flower accessories, resin flower jewelry, and scrunched down lace or floral socks are among the accessories of choice for owners of mori-oriented dolls. Volks recently made an outfit set for SD16 and another for SD10, obviously referencing the mori style.

I believe that these are the major fashions that influence doll clothing in the current market. I would like to see more varieties of casual doll clothing, which are mostly produced by Sadol, Ajumapama and Nine 9. I wish for pleated cropped trousers in a khaki silk or linen, silk shift dresses, more varieties of patterned tights, etc... maybe some styles like J.Crew/Madewell carry, and which are found in higher-end boutiques. Of course, I'm going to get to sewing those things for myself (someday! I'll be good at sewing someday!) but I would love to see a company like Dollmore start to move clothing in that direction.

(As you can see, though, Dollmore has already made some headway on that whole 'contemporary fashion' thing with their recent line of Model Doll shoes.... :3 )

I did skip over fantasy, but I am not very interested in fantasy dolls or anything related to them, and so I had nothing to say about armor and period clothing (like Marie Antionette or Medieval inspired clothing). What do you think? Which fashions or fashion trends would you love to see for your dolls? Post some clothes and shoes you'd like to have for them! Pictures and comments always welcome.

Swedish Princess Cake

So, the summer has come, and all the girls are trying to fit into their new bathing suits. So what do I do?
Spam delicious dessert pics.

My boyfriend's little sister introduced me to Swedish Princess Cake. She let me have one of her precious stash, and I fell in love. I eve have a phone background of this unusual dessert. It's ice cream+cake layers+jelly+lime green marzipan (I think). And it's deliciously cold, so it's perfect for summer.

She got hers from Ikea, and it looks exactly like the picture above. I had no idea they sold so much Swedish food! If all Swedish food is like this I may have to go there some day when I have money XD (laughs.........yeah right).

Thought I'd tag this post mori girl, too... can't you picture a mori girl in Ikea fawning over the Swedish goods? :3

Mori Outfits

These are just a couple mori outfits that I've worn this week. :3 I didn't intend to make the first outfit pictures so moody looking, but they turned out that way when edited and I didn't want to change them ^^; The second outfit was of course heavily influenced by me watching 'Heavenly Forest' (but I like those glasses anyway XD). The stripes turned out all weird in the picture, but I don't mind the effect.

Cute Long Skirts for Under $30

Okay, so more Yesstyle.com surfing, but I have some other stuff, too. xD

I really love long skirts, especially since they're so 'mori'. I think that just wearing one with your own everyday fashion can make you stand out from the crowd, and long skirts are actually more flexible coordination-wise than most people would immediately think (in my opinion). But they're often expensive (both to make and buy, depending on the material and the fullness of the skirt!). So here I've compiled some cheaper options for long-skirt fans. :3 I might do a feature on more pricey skirts (just because they're so pretty! O_O) but that's in the future (and I might forget. ><)

This adorable t-length skirt by VeJanie is floaty and great for the spring or summer, for those days when you know you might be walking a lot and you don't want a lot of material around your ankles. It comes in this color and in black. It's only $16.50!

This skirt is plain in design, but the best part is that it's full and comfortable looking, and you can dress it up in a cute way, like the girl in the picture! It also comes in a ton of colors, all of which you can see on Daily Pink's page here,

If you're a size xs, you can find a really cute vintage skirt here at Etsy for $17.

There's another vintage skirt here at Etsy for $18, and the person has a lot of other nice vintage finds on sale in the shop.

There are probably tons of other skirts all over Etsy that are worth a look!

Happy skirt hunting! Also, if you have a long skirt, take a picture and post it here when you comment if you want. I like seeing long skirts and how people use them without looking frumpy.

Heavenly Forest (Or Tada, Kimi wo Ashiteru)

I just watched this movie, and I think it's absolutely lovely! I really like the main girl character, and the guy isn't so bad either. I found it reading Mori Girl's blog (big surprise!). The story is kind of typical of asian romantic movies, but the acting is very cute and the way in which the story is presented is really nicely paced and interesting. I think that all of the characters' emotions came out clearly and in a sensitive manner. I rarely like "chick flicks" in America, yet I do have a proclivity for both good and bad Asian romances, so I don't know how much my opinion is worth. It features both photography and mori fashion, so I don't know how much I could ever hate a movie with these things. XD

You *could* buy it off of Amazon.... or you could watch it here on Youtube.

hiu.yu on Flickr

All of these images are from hiu.yu's Flickr, where she photographs her wardrobe, her travels, her food, and the rest of the world in vintage-tinged, beautifully pale detail. I'd have to say, out of all of her clothing photographed, I'd love those rainboots -- they're just amazing! :3 She seems like a true mori girl from head to toe, and I love her light pastel coordinates. Undoubtedly, she has an eye for color and is hardly afraid to use it.

She also has her own website, where you can see her works.

Second Attempt at Mori

My second attempt at Mori fashion.

Mori Backpacks for Under $30

Been spending too much time on Yesstyle.com and not studying. ^^;

I found this adorable large bookbag here, for those mori ladies or otherwise that just can't find cute backpacks in which to carry their stuff. For the pic I picked the black and white striped one, since I thought that would be the most interesting to pair with mori items, but they have other colors such as black and white, brown and white, and star print.

This Smoothie bag is so fresh looking for Spring!

This bag from KTShop can work several different ways (only backpack way shown here, more pics on the page). I love the color, too!

I prefer backpacks to purses nowadays, just because they're so much easier to manage when going out and I can put a ton of stuff into it (my giant 1000000lb camera, notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.). I think that this hands-free appeal is great for the mori girl!

I think I'll take more time to post some features of things that I think are very 'mori' when shopping online. Of course, you might just get a load of Yesstyle links. XD

Mori Girl

I've recently fallen in love with the Mori Girl style. I found it via Angeldolls Blog, and got redirected to the wonderful Mori Girl's blog. What is Mori Girl Fashion? You're better off looking at the expert (Mori Girl, of course). Meanwhile, you can get the gist from some of these photos...

I've always been attracted to delicate and hippy-like things, but never had a chance to pick them up and coordinate them. I had no idea what I should go for with such outdated items! But with mori, I feel inspired to create a more fresh and modern yet otherworldly feel with old items and just plain "pretty" things that I like. I can get all the grandma stuff I want now and actually wear it. XD I feel as though it's a mix between h.naoto clothing, Marc Jacobs, lolita, and American hippy with some eskimo/scandinavian looks thrown into the mix. I prefer the more delicate, cream/pink/sky blue/light brown mixes you see prevalent in the pictures I've saved here, so I may be going for that style more than the heavier brown or grey (although, I never know myself what I'll end up liking sometimes, so we'll see XD.)

Yes... I totally just put my foot in my mouth. XD I grabbed the flowiest (and apparently very dark navy blue) skirt in my closet and my most comfy top to try my first intentionally mori coordinate. I hope it worked out! I've also newly joined the Mori LJ group. It seems a lot of lolitas are on the group, but I'm not surprised - the styles share some....philosophy if you will.
I'm not a huuuuuge fan of taking pictures of myself, but I will try to document my mori evolution here!
Also, for those of you who want more Mori, head on over to the Mori Girl Tumblr.