°˖✧✝Happy Birthday to Me✝✧˖°

After a semester of six classes, a teaching internship, tutoring, projects on top of projects, two twenty page papers, and, to top it off, a thirty page paper, I was dead tired. I just wanted to turn off all of the lights and go to sleep for a week or so (more like a month). So when my birthday came around in mid May, a day before my last class, I didn't really treat it more than a regular day, which is pretty sad, to say the least. But, luckily, my parents were there to help cheer me up and get me through some of my sadness. I didn't get a celebration or cake for my birthday, but I did get a generous amount of spending money from them (thanks to me making the Dean’s List again).

One thing that is worth knowing about my parents is that they are not as open to sub-styles, sub-cultures, or sub- anything for that matter. So when my interests diverge from the normality, they cringe at the idea and cope by making fun and downplaying them. If I had five dollars for every time I heard them say, “This is just a phase” I could finally purchase a Moi Meme Moitie OP straight from the company’s website, including tax and shipping! Therefore, having my parents agree to buy a Lolita dress for me means a lot to me. Well, really, I guess I would have to say that my mother’s actions house the most meaning. It was my mother who actually agreed to buy me something Lolita related and even helped me pick what to get. My father just gave me money and told me to go wild with it (not his actual words, heehee~). I just decided to use some of it for my Lolita wardrobe without him knowing. And I think that’s for the best. As I have seen before, older salary men types and Lolita don’t really match.   

Monma-san and my father are kindred spirits.

The first piece that I was able to snag, after a lot of misses from waiting for mother to give me the money (she REALLY didn't want to pay for a Lolita dress at first), was Innocent World’s Lace Crinoline Bustle JSK on Closet Child. What attracted me to the JSK at first, was its low price of $86. Oh, and that it was black. The site had multiple listing of the same dress which made me a bit weary to its value and construction. Usually, when there are multiple listings, I just look at the first one and not even bother with the others. But I noticed that one of the listing titles was longer than the others, though still bared the same price of $86. When I clicked on it, I saw that the JSK was a different version with a dotted tulle bustle on the back of the dress. From there, I knew that I was going to get it without any questions. The other version of the JSK was just far too plain in comparison.

I don’t know whether this is common for all Lolitas, but I imagine the next step for a Lolita after purchasing a used brand piece that is not as recognizable as Vampire Requiem is to search its origins. However, once I found the dress in question on Lolibrary, I began to feel concerned. The original stock photos made the accent color of the ribbon printed on the fabric look blue, while the pictures on Closet Child looked more purple like a periwinkle, if not lavender altogether. I thought, how the heck did blue turn to purple? And then, a horrible vision of a Lolita continuously dipping the dress into a bucket of hot water whilst evil music ensued clouded my mind. To make sure I wasn't getting some type of washing project gone wrong, I desperately went online to search for personal pictures with up-close detail shots taken from every angle possible. To my relief, all of the pictures showed the color to be bluish purple like the Closet Child photos suggested.

The next piece I was able to acquire is now one of my favorites in my wardrobe. It’s an old school Metamorphose set from the Rakuten second-hand shop, Tokyo Pirates. I’m glad that I found this. It has made me so incredibly happy, so much so that I let out a tiny shriek of glee when my payment was finalized.

Look  at it. It's dripping with such old school tackiness that I adore. If my father ever find out that I spent his money on something like this, he'd never forgive me, hahaha!

Just like with the Innocent World JSK, I went online to do my research on the set’s product information and photos. However, because of the set's age, I went straight to the archives of Old School Lolita's Tumblr page with the high hopes of finding a street snap or stock photo. I just knew that I saw pictures that vaguely resembled my set floating around in a post. After about fifteen minutes or so, I was lucky enough to stumbled across a post of the set's blouse that estimated the construction year to be 2001! A couple of more post into the blog, I was able to find a picture of a girl (model? sales clerk?) wearing the full set. I couldn't help scream out, "THAT'S MY SET!" I'm delighted that I was able to discover the set's different colorways, but, in a way, happier with the one that I bought. The black on black coloring is more pleasing to me and I adore the pink rose accents. The print is very familiar to the vintage dresses that I already have.  

As an added bonus, I found a drawing for my set by none other than the fabulous artist Mitsukazu Mihara! There's nothing new about this picture; it has been floating around the internet and the Lolita community for years. But I would have never noticed that my set severed as one of her references without me looking at every outfit with a peter pan collar, princess sleeves, lace and ribbons without such scrutiny. I nearly fainted when I realized.  

In the group of the three Lolitas, my Metamorphose set is the one on the right next to the tiny Mitsukazu icon at the bottom.

It's like Mitsukazu drawing ME, right? Well, a Lolita can dream. Excuse me while I Photoshop my face on this picture. 

 °˖✧'Till next time