#lolita advice

[frederickkittens]

Part 1 of my list of Chinese indie brands

It’s a lot to sort through and compile honestly so i wanted to start with a much smaller section that I think the people who interact with my account would find the most interest in:

Oldschool on taobao

Disclaimer: I’m not arguing semantics about a key word in a post made to highlight Chinese brands. Oldschool has always been used as short hand and as a key word to describe the aesthetics and style of pieces from a certain time and not just pieces actually from that time. If you’re actually confused: these are not authentically pre 2006 lolita shops: they’re simple shops that I think do a good job at emulating oldschool aesthetics, or have items that work well in oldschool coords. Disclaimer over now let’s get into the fun stuff

Shops with ❤️ next to their names are ones I’ve personally bought from and can discuss in more detail if wanted !

❤️Lace garden

vintage headbands shop

Mukumuro

❤️Totoro shop

❤️Flower bag shop

❤️summer clothing studio

❤️rococoheroine

sos meme club

sweetheart wonder house

rose and neverland

cyan cat

take shuya away

little bear lolita

❤️nobleman socks

big grocery store

a thousand trees

Antaina

Angelic imprint

With puji

Princess reserved

Youma princess mother and baby

Not everything from these shops works for oldschool and may not be everyone’s taste but I hope it helps!

I will be making follow up posts of specific oldschool items I’ve found that aren’t from shops that consistently sell oldschool. Thank you guys for being patient with me putting all this together.

[frederickkittens]

Perhaps this will be helpful to you and or op!

Ouji isn’t my specialty or forté but taobao and Chinese brands certainly are so I’d be dumb not to add the few I know

Little Dipper

Danger girl

Princess chronicals

荧鲤之森原创设计

Castle too

Forest song

Immortal thorn

Arca et Ovis

I’m like a huuuge ouji obsessor- do you know any relatively cheap brands for ouji lolita? Please 😭😭😭🥹

I dont have any experience in Ouji yet but I have a big haul of it coming soon! Ive heard Princess Chronicles is a big favorite among Oujis and im trying them out myself too :3

[frederickkittens]

With this devastating news I want to push how easy it is to use a shopping service and that many like jpshopping.jp have very affordable shipping options and fees. Don’t let the lack of direct sale stop you if you love innocent world

I was even able to secure a preorder slot for the frederick pochette through JSS and they handled it SO easily and offered very affordable combined shipping with some other stuff.

If you’re lost on how to use any shopping services and this post finds you before anywhere else here’s a little JSS tutorial since it’s the service I have always used

The website is quite… archaic… however it is safe and reputable. They can buy from Japanese secondhand sites as well as shops like innocent world so they’re great especially if you want to buy from multiple places and save on shipping.

For innocent world and most shops you’ll click “order” and then “online shop”

It’ll bring you to this page- it’s simpler than it looks.

From the top down:

Item amount can be toggled up and down and it will add more spaces to enter items to buy below.

“Item one” is where you’ll fill out for the items you want…. So let’s look at how to do that.

Let’s say I want to buy this beautiful innocent world op!

Just copy the name of the item first. Wether it’s in English or Japanese doesn’t matter. I personally go ahead and put the color I want in the title so it’s hard to miss

Item price just toss it in without commas IN YEN!

This is all you really need to fill out. You can leave notes for yourself or reiterate a specific color or something in the notes and enquiry sections below

When you have all your items added it’s as simple as just selecting if you want to ship the item as soon as it arrives or combine it with other packages (I would always select to hold and combine just in case you want something later, you can always request to ship it alone after if you select this option) I also personally recommending selecting the “select after JSS receives item” shipping method as then you can view all rates for the specific weight of your items

After that hit confirm and it will bring you to the summary page and where you can select payment methods. It supports PayPal and direct card sale. If you over pay or an item gets canceled they automatically refund it to your payment method once all other items in that batch are received by them

Once you’ve paid and ordered you can keep track of your orders and their statuses in the history tab. You’ll be met with this.

And if you hit the down arrow it will expand to show you even more information such as individual item statuses

For example in this order I can see what items were canceled or arrived already- I don’t have any orders that I’m waiting on but you can usually see “processing” and “waiting arrival” as statuses too.

I hope this tutorial covers the basics and can help you all continue to support innocent world and other brands you love.

If you have questions please ask

Innocent World will no longer ship internationally soon.

After December 19, 2024, you’ll need a forwarding service to order from them if you’re an international customer.

Image ID: A screenshot of a message from Innocent World’s English website saying “As of Thursday, December 19, 2024, we will no longer ship overseas. Shipping destinations will be limited to within Japan.

If you wish to ship overseas, please use online shopping services such as tenso.com.

*Items from ‘tenso.com’ will be shipped domestically. Therefore, consumption tax will be charged.

*Returns or exchanges will not be accepted via ‘tenso.com’ purchases, excluding cases of defective products or incorrect delivery.

*We are not responsible for any loss or damage to your package via ‘tenso.com’. Please contact tenso.com directly to resolve any issues.

If you have any questions about the ‘tenso.com’ service, please directly contact ‘tenso.com’.”

[addisonella]

I’ve been making fashion centered art for years, and here’s a thread of tips, resources, etc, that has helped improve my clothes

Disclaimer some of these are free, and some of these have a price. Regardless, use whatever works best for you

Draw in a box lesson 0-1: These lessons are crucial fundamentals that will make so much about the art process easier. Specifically, how to represent 3d objects in a 2d space. My understanding of folds and ruffles improved a lot after these lessons. It also helps you guess how clothes will sit in certain poses and on different body types if you don’t have a direct reference.

Marco Bucci’s video on clothing folds: It’s brief, to the point, and insanely informative. Great for people with low attention spans. Take out a sketch book, take notes, and draw the examples he explains. Not only did I learn a lot, but I have something physical to reference every time I’m stuck.

Studies: I went to Pinterest, found some clothes, and labeled the different folds I saw to help me get better at identifying them. After this, I would sketch the reference to put my observations into practice.

Identify the clothes you prefer and drown yourself in it: I love jfashion, especially lolita fashion. I’m constantly interacting with the fashion on Pinterest and xhs. The more I see it. The more ideas I add to my “visual library” the more I can reference to (hopefully) make more creative illustrations in the future. Follow brands that create the clothes you like/typically draw and examine what you wish to recreate in your art.

If you gather enough pictures and file them somewhere. You should have a solid amount of references put in one place to refer to. I’m saying this for people whose Pinterest feed/algorithm has been completely destroyed by AI who want to become independent from it.

Okay, brush time. These are brushes I use in my art, which is pretty hyper fem, so they may not be useful for everyone. They're worth checking out, anyway.

Ruffle brush by @doitchu_brush: If you work with ruffles often, it's definitely worth the price. Here’s the brush swatch I made in case anyone wants to see how they work. https://www.acon3d.com/en/product/1000032987

CSP brushes:

Kawaii lace brush - Content ID：2041603

Laces - Content ID：2048336

Lineart Plaid Tile and Brushes - Content ID：1720380

2 types of pearl brushes - Content ID：2089582

Flower patterns - Content ID：2115308

Flower Ice Tulle Lace - Content ID：1985477

Free flower patterns - Content ID：1911211

Lace trim - Content ID：1809465

Airbrush for clothes light and texture - Content ID：1783197

Lastly, some unbearable self promo lol. I sell coloring pages of my work my kofi. You can buy the png for $3 or the psd for $5 for more flexibility. I used to color lineart to improve when I was little, so I'm sure it can be helpful to someone else, too!

[a-goth-a-go-go]

help needed — fashion related

i want to make a headdress that you see in many lolita and gothic lolita styled outfits. i could’ve sworn i saw a video of someone upcycling ties from the thrift store to make one of these (although the video wasn’t a tutorial, and was rather short)

im just wondering if i can, and if anyone here has?

im thinking of using strips from two different ties and interweaving them for a sort of intricate pattern, but im not sure how that would look:)

p.s. please be nice

[ms-all-sunday]

prince & princess

[frederickkittens]

Spica has a labeled section specifically for their original goods so you can easily filter to shop just from their branded stuff on their website! They’re a popular choice for oldschool accessories because they’re one of the few remaining brands that still makes styles like the ones seen above!

So if the resale and retailing sections bother you it’s extremely easy to filter them out just to view the spica originals. The top image in this post is the button you’ll click to view just spica originals!

So after hearing some lolitas talk about Spica's shop, saying it's a good place for old school accessories and they buy cute stuff there,

I caved and checked out Spica's website this morning

and after looking at it all I can ask is what are yall smoking

I just see aliexpress dropships left and right

There are some cute original items but the shein shit outnumbers it by like 15 to 1

they even have the With Puji replica

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined

[frederickkittens]

So, I'd like to hear about some of those Toabao fabric shops. Also, basic instructions on how to order would be swell. Also, what the shipping usually like?

I'll DM if there's anything more detailed I'd like to know, but I felt like this was a good public question since people really don't seem to talk about this.

If you’re just going to be shopping using someone else’s links they send you you have a nice easy task ahead of you haha! If not creating a taobao account is pretty necessary. I’ve found that the taobao mobile app is the least finicky way to use taobao and the easiest way to sign up IN MY OPINION is through Alipay. Taobao loves to lock accounts but I haven’t had an issue since signing up through Alipay instead of just regularly. The mobile app of taobao has a really awesome image search feature so if you’ve seen an item on a reseller or even just somewhere randomly you can pop it in and it’ll pull up that item or if it isn’t available, similar items. Here’s a handy key word guide. Unfortunately a lot of taobao brand lists are really lacking and haven’t been updated so I don’t really want to link any of the ones I know of, however I can definitely make a list of my own eventually.

So if you’re anywhere other than China it’s really easiest to order with a shopping service due to taobao being kinda finicky. I personally use Spreenow but there’s a lot of good ones, 42 agent, parcel up, etc. there’s actually a google doc of different Shopping services for both Chinese and Japanese shopping. It’s incredibly useful honestly!

How you buy will vary a little depending on your shopping service but most of them just have you make an account and then simply paste the link in, typically doing so will pull up all of the information and automatically translate it for easier use of non Chinese buyers ! (This is a step that honestly would be easier to walk through in DMs or for me to explain using a specific shopping service instead of just in general)

Shipping can vary a lot depending on the weight, time of year, and what shipping options your chosen service provides. Many will have a weight calculator built in on their website so you can get a little estimate ahead of time. Shipping rates are really high right now due to the holidays but they should go back down soon ish! I know I’ve seen a shipping and service fees comparison for shopping services somewhere so I’ll see if I can find that again…

NOW FINALLY OMG…. On to the fabric links!

甜浆果原创设计

葵喵酱lolita原创布料

狐猫原创布艺

樱桃手工布艺YTshougong

扉页诗原创布艺

Mila米乐布艺

There are definitely more even just that I have saved but this post has gotten long enough that the tumblr app is getting mad at me tryna edit it- I’ll reblog when / if I add more !

Definitely if you’re looking for a specific sub style or vibe lmk that too because most of what I have saved is either oldschool usable fabric or like cutesy sweet😭

[fracturedolls]

I want to try sewing some of my own lolita pieces! Sadly I have the good ol giant bust smaller waist combo so a lot of brand jsk's fit me kinda funny (The waist is in the middle of my boob QwQ) I was wondering if anyone who's sewn their own pieces before has any advice :0

[sanestkanadefan]

Gimmie tips on where to shop for clothes please ( Online stores are preferred, I plan on going thrifting as soon as possible)

My styles are the following

Romantic goth

Coquette ( Melanie's form of coquette specifically)

Dark academia

Pastelcore/softcore

Witch(y) fashion

Cutecore

Lolita

Cottage core

Alternative

Please recommend any good places

[xx-emo-plague-doctor-xx]

Does anyone here know where I can get Ouji fashion for someone that isn’t necessary petite? XD I want some for personal clothing and also maybe a Black Butler cosplay.

[frederickkittens]

If you’re still taking coord prompts would you do some summer appropriate sweet coords? Struggling to wear lolita in australian summer rn

Alongside the collages I thought id share some tips / advice for this too! I live in the hot humid south in the USA and know the struggle well so to accompany the inspo here’s some of my biggest tips

- fully cotton ops or ops with no lining

- try to go for cuts that don’t have a lot around the neck as that will minimize heating up significantly!

- lotta people recommend hoop skirts, I personally hust use a petticoat that’s lined with cotton bc of sensory issues

- cotton ankle socks !!!!

- learning to style your hair in different up off the shoulder styles

- carry a handheld fan - it’s a cute accessory and very functional

This coord uses one of my actual favorite ops for the summer. The cut, the lack of a lining, and the cap sleeves make this an incredibly nice dress to beat the heat in- I own it in pink! It’s fairly cheap since it’s Bodyline too and honestly really cute. I used a headband and a nice bun hairstyle so there wasn’t unnecessary warmth on the head !

This coord uses a sunhat to shade the face from the sun and a jsk with no blouse. To balance out the look of not having a blouse i picked a jsk with many details around the chest to fill that that area in. Since we lack details on the arms I used simple wrist cuffs to help balance again.

[apresmidiaparis]

A Canadian Lolita’s guide to custom fees and self clearance!

***All of this is information is based on my experiences with the subject. I am not an expert and this is just advice.***

I’ve gotten most of my information by just googling “how to self clear a package Canada” and the following article. Please do your own research on addition to this guide!

https://borderbee.com/2014/01/13/how-to-self-clear-your-parcel-with-customs/

What are custom fees?

For most USA based lolitas, they have never faced customs and duties when receiving a package unless it is over 1000$ worth or more (the reasons for this I dont think I could explain very well, so please do us both a favour and if your curious just google it :,) )

Unfortunately for all of us who do not live in the US of A, we have to face taxation and fees on any imported shipment outside of the country. Yes, that means all of your beloved burando is going to cost even MORE! T^T

The price of these fees will be determined by you provinces tax % (in Quebec, taxes are around 15% of the total amount spent) and if you choose to accept the courrier company’s brokerage fees.

What are brokerage fees?

Brokerage fees are a fee imposed onto you by the courrier company for acting as your broker and clearing your shipments customs for you. These fees, like taxes vary with the amount spent and from company to company.

UPS notarially has the most expensive brokerage fees. As an example, I bought a dress from a us seller on lace market for around 285$ and my customs and duties came up to around 90$. They were trying to charge me more brokerage fees than taxes! If I remember correctly, it was around 50$ for the brokerage fees and 40$ of taxes.

I avoided these insanely high and unwanted fees by self clearing my package.

What is self clearance?

You can probably guess that self clearing is not accepting your courrier service to act as you broker and clearing your customs yourself.

This sounds intimidating and like you need a law degree to go through with it but I promise you this is so easy. There’s only 4 steps to this.

Step number one

First step is to find you courrier services email adresse or phone number.

Since I’m a girlypop with phone anxiety, I usually choose to contact them no matter what by email and sometimes that can be hard to find! Because these companies want to make money, they kind of want to make this as hard for you to do as possible! If you’d like to call them, The phone numbers for customer service is usually very clearly displayed on their official websites.

Here are the two email addresses that I’ve successfully self cleared my packages with in Quebec, Canada. I’ll try and add to this post when I have more!

UPS : custsvccaen@ups.com

FedEx : clearancehelpline@fedex.com

Once you have the email address, you send them a polite email saying

“hello, I would like to self clear my package with the following tracking number : [enter your tracking # here]. Can you please send me the necessary documents to do so?”

If you are uncertain about the email address you can always ask in advance that if they can’t help you to transfer you to someone who can.

Wait for a response with your needed documents, usually you will receive a response within 1 business days depending on the time of day you sent it.

Step number two

Print out ALL of the documents given to you. You are better off being over prepared than underprepared.

Step number three

You need to find your local CBSA office and get your poofy self down there. You can find your nearest cbsa by just googling cbsa [name of your city].

*Most if not all cbsa offices open at 8am and close at 4pm and are NOT open on weekends, so be aware of this if you work a 9-5*

Once you’re there you just need to wait in line, tell the customs officers that you’re there to pay your custom fees on a self cleared package and from there on they will tell you what to do and who to talk to. Make sure to bring ID with picture and corresponding address, just in case.

They might make you fill stuff out, they might not, all depending on how much information your shopping service gave the courrier service. When they’ve confirmed everything, they will ask for you to pay the taxes that are due and will give you a receipt. KEEP THE RECEIPT and pay attention to make sure they stamp it!

Step number four (final)

Take a picture or scan receipt and documents given back to you and send a copy back to the email address that sent you your documents (or if they direct you to send the receipt to another address, follow their instructions). Your courrier service needs to have proof that you have paid for your customs and duties.

And there you go! You have successfully self cleared a your package!

Sometimes you will have to pick up your package at l one of your courrier service’s locations but other times they will just proceed with the delivery as usual. They usually tell you in advance if you need to pick it up, but checking your tracking Is a more effective way to determine whether or not you need to do so.

If you do end up picking it up, be sure to bring your receipt and documents when getting it so the employees will have an easier time finding your package. Again, better to be over prepared than under prepared!

Extra tips!

- stick up for yourself! You have every right to self clear and you should not take no for an answer under any circumstances! The delivery people can be at your doorstep and you can and should deny accepting the delivery until they recognize that you self cleared or are self clearing your package.

- you should act as quickly as possible if you want to do this, especially if you have chosen an express delivery.

- usually you should only start this process when your package has entered Canada, but most of the time I have had success self clearing the second I get a customs invoice. I have had some unsuccessful attempts starting this process early with DHL though.

- in my experience, no two self clearances are ever the same. Sometimes it can go extremely smoothly and other times you be scared that they’ll send the package back to the sender. Be calm and always prepare for the worst.

- you should almost always declare your package as a gift, if your package is worth less than or equal to 60$ Canadian, you should not get charged custom fees. If it is more than, they should only charge you [the actual amount] - 60$cad (example 100$ - 60 = you should only pay 40$ worth of customs)

If you have any feedback on this I’d love to hear it! Again I’m just an amateur speaking from experience! :)

[gringadano]

[pixellangel]

one of the wigs in question (this ones ~$30 theres another short one i want that's like ~$20)