Last week, I saw that Kawaii International was looking for photo submissions for their episode 13 "Kawaii in Black & White." They mentioned on their page that AKIRA and Minori (the shironuri artist) were special guests for this episode. Both of them are very inspiring, plus my entire closet is black and white, so I did not want to pass this chance up!

Black and white is a really simple theme, so I started thinking of how I could make it unique. People often ask me how I come up with coords and I always say I used to be really into Gaia Online. Seriously, that website help me learned how to dress. Then I remembered "halfatars." I was always amazed with those because I could never emulate it in-game, so I thought let's try it in real life and here's what I managed to come up with thanks to a lot of safety pins. Shout outs to Meci and Amber for helping me come up with this title. Monochrome + Romance = Monochromance. I submitted this picture:

Hat: Fox Cherry
Hair: Alpaca Sound Horizon Marchen wig + Arda Wigs short bands (pure white)
Blouse: Alice and the Pirates
Jacket: Atelier Boz Eternity Roland 2x
Buttcape: Atelier Boz 2x
Cage Skirt: Fanplusfriend
Garter: Metamorphose temps de fille + Chess Story
Socks: Metamorphose temps de fille + Alice and the Pirates
Boots: bodyline

With only one week to do this, I'm pretty satisfied on how it came out since I didn't want to alter and sew anything. Originally, I wanted to make this an ouji coord, but the Roland jackets hid too much of my legs to see any details. You can see how weird it looks in the back. I really am wearing two jackets at the same time! Needless to say, this is a photoshoot only outfit. I don't know if I made it in or not since the program doesn't air for another few weeks, but here's hoping AKIRA notices me!

Dear Black Peace Now also executed this technique. Minori is also incorporates it into her style. If you're up for a challenge, try making a vertical split coordinate. Try with all colors, not just black and white!

Photo by Chris CB

 

See more of Minori's Her Memories of a Dream

P.S. I am still mourning the loss of BPN. :( Good news: my copy of Animal Crossing: New Leaf should be here later today!! I'll post my friend code when I get it.

An Ouji Overview: Part 4 Headwear

Headwear can sometimes be the most interesting part of your outfit. Some people prefer not to wear  things on their head. It's up to you whether or not you want to wear one.  

Hats are the most common for ouji. The best quality hats are made of wool, but felt hats are also good (and cheaper). There are DIY hat tutorials online that use other materials, such as cardboard bases covered in fabric, which is fine, but just make sure it doesn't look like you're wearing cardboard. Cheap looking hats are very distracting.  Use good quality fabrics and decorations and avoid bad lace, flimsy materials, visible glue, and so on.

General Advice

• The more over the top your coord is, the more over the top your hat can be. If you wear a really fancy hat with a simple coordinate because the hat will overshadow the rest of your clothes. 
• Avoid:
• hats that are too feminine 
• (lolita) bonnets: Males traditionally do not wear bonnets. Since this is boystyle, a bonnet would look terribly out of place. With lolita, you have the poof of a skirt to balance out the power of a bonnet. With ouji, the silhoette is generally too straight to even out the bonnet.
• too casual styles like baseball caps, beanies, etc.

Coordinate from Triple Fortune
The hat itself is very feminine, but coord is OTT enough with a lot of details to balance it out.

Common types of hats:

Top hats

• They come in various crown heights. Too tall of a hat will make you look like an Abraham Lincoln impersonator.

Tricorns and Bicorns

•  Usually worn with pirate or more OTT coords.

Bowler hats

• Great for casual or formal outfits. 

Berets

• Good for all styles. Fits well with military and sailor styles.

Crowns

• What's a prince without a crown? They go well with more OTT or flashy coords.

Boater hats

• Go well with casual styles.  

Peaked hats, Shako, Newsboy caps

• Peaked hats go well with military or gothic styles.
• Shako are also known as toy soldier or marching band hat.
• Newsboy caps are good for casual and classic styles.

Mini hats

• Almost all of the hats mentioned above have tiny counterparts. Honestly, mini hats are difficult to pull off. They can look cheap and costumey very easily. You have to be careful with proportions. Often you will need a hairstyle that can compliment the mini hat. You also have to consider your face shape as well.

Good examples of mini hats.

Bad mini hats. The first one is too tall and looks comical. The second one has bad lace and would probably be too small as a hat on a head (if it's too small, you can't even call it a hat anymore). The third one looks like it's made of paper.

Other Headwear

Headdresses, Bows, Headbands

• Careful not to use ones that are too feminine. Alternatively, you can also stick them on hats.

Headwraps

• These aren't too common, but they look very cool with punk or pirate looks.

Shops
Not repeating from the list in part 3. If you know of any more indie or offbrand headwear store, I'd love to fill this list out more!

Antique Beast
Apatico* (no longer in operation, but very inspirational)
Bella Bows
Chocomint
Corgi Corgi* (have to find them in resale shops like Atelier Pierrot)
Fox Cherry* (ready stock shop)* 
Kikirara Shoten*
Paradise Rose
Play Things 
Rococo Soul
Rosa Nitada
The Royal Rabbit
SakuraFairy
Tour New Soul
Triple Fortune* (no longer accepts website orders; only available through events; limited quantities sold at Atelier Pierrot [thank you darkxdelirium for this information])
Victorian Maiden*

* do not ship international

← Part 3  |  Table of Contents  |  Part 5 →

International Lolita Day Summer 2013

Happy International Lolita Day! Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to the meetup because I didn't want to contaminate everyone with my germs. Even indoors, I was still sweating. That's what I get for wearing two pairs of socks and boots. I didn't do anything really besides finish watching some anime (Kuroko no Basket). I hope this day was enjoyable for everyone!

Kars!

 

I've come to realize I only wear lolita on ILD now.

Hat: Alice and the Pirates
Blouse: Magic Tea Party
Choker: Chess Story
JSK: Alice and the Pirates Versailles Rose Embroidery (ivory)
Socks: (diamond) Enchantlic Enchantilly, (lace) Metamorphose
Boots: bodyline
Bracelet: Chocomint
Ring: forever21