Thank you for talking about silhouettes! I've been looking at some lovely regency-inspired dresses and wondering how on earth they were supposed to be worn for lolita fashion. They make a lot more sense to me now!

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

How cool! Yeah totally :) I am so happy it was helpful to you !

The thing you said about lolita shape was really interesting. I definitely agree that depth of detail is just as important to making something lolita or not as the silhouette, and I'd say that classic is also a style where that gets muddied. Because sure, a lot of Innocent World or Victorian Maiden designs look simple, but that's only in comparison to contemporary sweet lolita, not to contemporary womenswear or even to historical womenswear in Europe or North America. But both those styles can feature more or less dramatic A-line silhouettes, longer skirts, lesser reliance on "the extra frills" in favour of selecting one or two structural details to feature etc. And sure, they can be worn in non-lolita ways too - but just because they don't conform to the contemporary sweet lolita cupcake silhouette doesn't mean they're not lolita. The only problem with that is that this is a lot of subtleties and nuance for a newcomer to grasp all at once, when lolita fashion can already be quite overwhelming to look at when you're still working out what's what. So it's just easier to direct people to the simplest example of what definitely is lolita first before we deconstruct the subtleties of "why this thing that isn't like the template example also is lolita". And as for the mirroring photos - I use an app called Layout (might be called Layout For Instagram on the app store?). It's *very* crude, but that makes it extra easy to use, plus it's optimised for Instagram. I'm sure other apps can do that too (Meitu comes to mind), but the more features they have, the more overwhelming it gets to pick up, so I'd definitely recommend Layout to begin with.

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah I totally get what you mean! I think that's why I would suggest newcomers to lolita to be aware of other styles existing - but to really focus on *one* and research it a lot first. Like when I mentioned a lot of beginner advice videos being from modern sweet lolitas and aimed for that substyle- no harm in that! It's the most popular and represented one! But I guess it's like a pet peeve when I see some people (usually newcomers) who go out and try and argue about what isn't lolita and what is purely based on if it has a bell shape to it or not. It's not entirely their fault , its just due to ignorance and the big push for that golden rule; I'd like there to be more exposure to different shapes, styles, and personalities within the lolita fashion world. Especially when seeing the Lor video mentioning how she thought the gothic lolita items may not even be considered gothic lolita - and like I mentioned I do not consider myself one so I can't speak for them ; but it's just a different silhouette than what is commonly shown now even to people who often see modern gothic pieces on the sweeter side (for instance many of Lady Sloth's pieces). They often feature the typical exaggerated shape that is common in most popular sweet lolita pieces today, so I can see it being very easy for someone who is mainly exposed to sweet lolita media and only recently started the fashion to think that in order for something to be lolita it HAS to have a huge exaggerated shape. And omg thank you! I'll look into the layout app rn! I use Meitu, but I must be missing it or something because I feel like I can't find that mirror editing. Totally am probably missing it though, hahah ! Thanks so much for commenting and giving me the advice :D And for making the collab !

I have to agree with you that the defined cupcake silhouette isn't everything. The intricacies of Classic and Gothic styles are something that can be really hard to grasp even if you have been in the fashion for so long. I love CandiceBear too! It's a fun way of reliving the nostalgia for me XD Thanks for joining in the collab and telling us your thoughts on these questions!

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah totally! And ikr her videos are so nostalgic to me even if I didn't get to experience the things she mentions first hand. Thanks for commenting :)

Sewing your own cloths!!! ❤️ takes a lot of brainstorming haha I guess for me a lot of referencing, and sketching… because I want the end product to be useful in my wardrobe, Lolita or not. I use to watch a lot of sewing videos, they always use the machine.. then my hand sewing looks like machine sewing.. but my techniques expended after watching historical costuming! Feel like I can do a lot more things even without the machine! But I’d say if you want to sew don’t wait just start! Your existing clothes can already be templates, so you don’t even need to buy patterns.. and I don’t even have a sewing machine. but sewing is a huge hobby on its own 😅 it will consume a lot of your time 😁

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

Wow I never thought about handsewing garments! I've taken a few sewing classes- but the thing I struggle with the most is understanding patterns ^^;;; I am really bad at following directions and often have to re-read and re-do many things cuz it's hard for me to follow haha. But thank you for the advice I'm totally going to look more into all that!

@Oki.J

2 жыл бұрын

@@PureRaee pattern confuses me too.. I’m more of a follow video kind of person.. that’s why KZread is such a treasure trove for me.. I never went for any class so beside my fashion design friend im still a compleat noob haha.. if you trace your own pattern from existing clothes, you can study the clothes your tracing and write your own instructions 🤔 maybe it can get you started and less intimidated 😁😁

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

@@Oki.J yeah for sure! I’m definitely going to try ^^ thanks for giving me such great tips!🖤

aaah! the silhouette-rule! As one of those (feeling super old) early days 2000s lolita xD who had to put interacting with the community on hold for a couple of years and then comming back to it the last three years I am overwhelmed by that rule in particular, and the shift of what I feel is robbing the substyles of what they are, or rather were. What I have as gothic items that was considered gothic lolita then was suddenly labled as pure goth (wich I am sure the goths would take a mild offense to) or EGA. And what I rembered as classic lolita is now considered casual-lolita, while what I saw as hime lolita is now just classic. and while I remember that us old folks had some bizarre rules and sometimes was really mean towards each other, again personal experince, what I experince coming back now is a feeling of people trying to gentrify the substyles of holding them to a standard of the most loud substyle that is "trending" and then relying on accessories in the coord to personalize it. while I do enjoy the challenge of coording with the new rules, and I am so happy with how much more accessible it is to get a hold of fashion items now than before I feel like this silhouette-rule with all the poof, and how all lolitas are cute cupcakes works against people who wish to express themselves through lolita fashion and are uncomfortable with the styles that do heavily rely on the bellshape.

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

Omg yeah totally! I’m so happy to get someone’s perspective on this who actually experienced the fashions evolution first hand- it’s really a treat to hear. But I totally get what you’re saying! I feel like this rule is trying to force everyone into fitting within the reigns of modern/OTT sweet lolita. There’s nothing wrong with sweet Lolita as I myself participate in it sometimes too; but I feel like most criticisms and rule makings come from the hyper sweet OTT land. Even for classics (especially during 2020) it was like what you said, normal classic was what hime is. Actually even more OTT than what hime was originally! It was imo bordering historical costume wear. And casual lolita, at least within the last few years, was a coord that still offered a bigger petticoat, and a whole entire coord just was usually solid or simple prints and a blouse and skirt instead of a dress. I thought that was so weird cuz it’s not really all that casual but it is if you are wearing OTT all the time. OTT just overcasted everything even within gothic and classic and everyone had to have at least 10 pieces of jewelry on and a giant headpiece. Which is fine on it’s own but it’s wrong to associate that with what Lolita is as a whole. Plus, like I mentioned in another comment, even modern “gothic” lolita (more so just what is most popular rn) is a lot more just creepy cute/dark sweet to me. Like a lot of Ladysloth to me falls under that category because it is often sweet prints in darker themes or following sweet rules and sweet shapes like cupcake shapes.

😍 Watching from London UK 🇬🇧

@Pure_Ray awesome video and yes some of those questions that you got asked kinda related to me also a new video will be dropped on my channel on Friday Afternoon do stay tuned

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for commenting ! I am happy you enjoyed! :)

@dreamyfluff6951

2 жыл бұрын

@@PureRaee your welcome

Ooooh INTERESTING. I guess I do mostly watch sweet Lolita, even though I don’t fully subscribe to that style 🤔🤔🤔 it’s interesting that your definition of Lolita is the detail of the lace placement, because that’s also not my style 🤭 (though I recognise the very iconic lace placements) I guess what I relate to the most in this fashion, is the layering.. haha I don’t mind being ita, it’s a comforting place to be.

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

Layering or having a different definition for what lolita is to you doesn't make you ita at all! Your style always reminded me a lot of mori kei inspiration too and I think that is what makes it really unique and , well, YOU! It's really all about what style you're trying to go for and how you achieve it (for instance, hyper sweet lolitas focusing on big poof and lots of accessories; or me who likes intricate lace and ribbons being into old school). One isn't more lolita than the other and the reason why I brought it up was to stop saying only ONE of the factors that makes something lolita to one substyle shouldn't be for ALL styles.

@Oki.J

2 жыл бұрын

@@PureRaee yep! And I found that so fascinating!! ❤️ thank you for sharing ^^ I’ve wanted to get into Mori k longer than I’ve wanted to get into Lolita 😅 I feel I’m not layered enough to be fully in that fashion.. I’m always dipping my toes half way into fashions but not fully in it :x

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

@@Oki.J honestly I think taking a bit of inspiration from all different fashions is so cool and I respect it even more than going full fledge 😭👍

I relate to the struggle with taking photos by yourself uuugh I have a single spot in my home where I find both natural lighting and enough space to move around. Then, I have to balance my phone onto a glass sculpture (my trusty pretend-tripod), set the timer, rush back into the spot I know will fit my whole body into the frame, pose and hope for the best. At the end of the process, 90% of the shots are me looking disheveled and wonky, while 10% are salvageable. I use the back camera to up the quality of the photos, but that implies a good chunk of them will feature only half of my body and I don't even realize it. I mean, it's a mess :,) sometimes I'm so desperate I just want to leave the house and ask a rando to take a picture of me aaah

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

Omg yeah that’s so relatable 💀 I bought a tripod for my phone but tbh it’s not much help because I just have no space for full body shots! It’s like how you said; I only have one small area haha and when I film videos, I’m just putting my phone on a dresser and lean it against a tissue box 😂 for taking photos I use the front facing camera just to know if I’m in frame and stuff and then I take a video posing and screen shot the frames I like. I find it’s the least time consuming 😅

Yes, the details over shape.

OMg yes, I had the same reaction watching the Lor video,,, I am glad that proto lolita is getting a bit more popular again, bc it feels like we're having actual discussions about balance again instead of "ehm ur not wearing a blouse lol. more poof=better 🤪" There was this one reddit post with Star Night Theatre that was referencing the AP add where they don't wear a blouse, but they have gloves on (love that picture so much haha) and I was like OMG AMAZING 10/10 and then I checked the comments and someone made the "ur not wearing a blouse" comment and I replied so catty lmao 😂😭😂 I was SO DONE. Like the a u d a c i t y- (in retrospect obviously a dumb thing to get fired up over, but a lolita has their limits-)

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

Oh I totally feel you! I would get so fired up about things that were being said to me and other people in communities online about stupid rules that do not even partake in making a lolita coord. I have mentioned it a lot before in my other videos, but people would tell me and others that if you have more than one color scheme in your wardrobe than you are all wrong. When I would enter beginner lolita communities after being away from the scene for so long I would often get the overly nice welcome and then an almost exam on if I pass their test. They would find any little thing to pick out from me and try and tear it to shreds - like the color scheme comment. In all seriousness, who even cares what someone else does with their clothing. Sure , if they are hurting the public in some way- but if they want to wear a coord without a blouse why do they care so much lol thats the thing that is more frustrating. Just let people live their lives. Plus, it doesn't make you a more seasoned lolita by pointing that out to someone - it makes you look like you obviously dont know much about the history and background! And it is very weird that experimentation in an alt fashion was so frowned upon for such a long time. So glad to see it changing