The Details That Make The Dress

The Details That Make The Dress

http://www.fyeahlolita.com/2011/02/details-that-make-lolita-dress.html

A Lolita outfit is often so much more than just a bell-shaped gathered rectangle skirt with a cute print and some ruffles. Lolita dresses often have many details that are sometimes overlooked by even the people wearing them! 

Bows

Bows are a simple way to add some cuteness and elegance to a Lolita outfit. There pretty much isn't anywhere you can't stick a bow on a Lolita dress! Going down the front of the bodice, on the skirt hem, on the sleeves, pretty much anywhere there is some free space a nice bow can go! Check out this tutorial about how to make really nice looking bows.

Pintucks

Pintucks are a very common Lolita detail, and are found on many Lolita dresses, blouses, and even bloomers. They're often found going around the bottom of a skirt, or running down the front of a blouse. They add a very vintage feel to dress designs, and are most often found on solid color pieces to add some interesting texture to the piece. If you would like to try making your own pintucks, check out this tutorial.

Lace Hems

While Lace is often used for decoration, crisscrossing a dress or running the length of skirts, it's certainly not mandatory, but you'll be hard pressed to find a Lolita piece that doesn't have at least some lace running along the hem. Even simple Lolita skirts that feature prints instead of details will still usually have a little bit of Lace running along the bottom hem.

Beading Lace

When lace is used to decorate dresses, and not hanging off hems, a common way of adding even more detail is to use beading lace, which is a strip of flat lace with a channel running through the middle where a strip of ribbon is run through. The ribbon is often tied off in a cute little bow were the seams meet!

Shirring

Since most brand pieces come in one size only, they tend to rely on shirring so that people of different sizes can fit into their dresses. Shirring can be found in many different places, either a small panel along the back, the whole back of a bodice, the whole bodice, or even on the straps. There are a couple different ways to do shirring within the Lolita fashion, one relies on thin strips of elastic (but not usually elastic thread, that rarely works with the thicker fabric that Lolita dresses are often made with), the other relies on elastic casings. Shirring, when done right, often creates a very interesting and elegant fabric texture, but when done wrong it can make a piece look ill-fitting.

Corset Lacing

Corset lacing is a detail that used to be found on nearly every Lolita dress but has faded a bit in popularity. Now it's pretty much just confined to the backs of dresses so that they can be made smaller, not on the fronts of bodices or even running down a skirt. Corset lacing is often achieved by running ribbon through lace with loops, but sometimes grommets and even little loops of ribbon are used.

Gathers

Like shirring, gathers provide an interesting and elegant texture to fabric, but unlike shirring, gathers aren't meant to be stretched out and are stitched in place. A common place to find gathers is on the bust of a bodice and even sometimes along a skirt. They are often reserved for dresses that have a more elegant or even Victorian look to them.

Ruffles

Ruffles are just as common as lace along hems on Lolita dresses, and when making your own Lolita clothes, or buying on the cheap, when good lace can't be acquired it's recommended that you look for a dress with ruffles instead. Although, ruffles are also commonly combined with lace.

Embroidery/Applique

Embroidery and Applique isn't too frequently used, but when it is the effect is very striking! Floral and vine-like designs are a very popular motif on Lolita pieces,but bigger, more elaborate designs are used as well, as a focal point on skirts and coats. Metallic gold thread is often used in Lolita embroidery, giving the embroidery a very lush and decadent look.

These different design details are used in abundance on Lolita dresses, one plain colored skirt might have pintucks, gathers, lace hems, ruffles, bows, beading lace, and even embroidery as well. In an older post about an Old School Sweet Lolita style, these elements are often used in copious amounts to make plain colored dresses stand out in a very over-the-top way that doesn't rely on bold, rainbow prints. And indeed, before custom prints were commonplace in the fashion, brands relied more on different details to make their pieces look interesting and decadent. I've noticed that over the years brands seem to be relying more and more on prints to make their pieces interesting and having a much simpler base dress. If you look at nearly any one of the big "must have" print dresses, and try to see the dress through the print, you'll notice that they are relatively plain dresses. A bit of lace on the hem and some ruffles on the bodice perhaps.

For the Lolita who sews her own clothes, consider learning to do even a few of these techniques to add to your next piece. Even learning how to do pintucks and make nice ruffles can lead to so many different options when you make your next piece.

These are both the same basic skirt, a gathered rectangle, but with pintucks and ruffles and lace, it makes the skirt look completely different, and undoubtedly Lolita. While learning these things might be tricky, and the skirt on the right would indeed take more time, effort, and a little extra money for a few more yards of lace, sometimes the extra effort can make a huge impact on a relatively simple gathered skirt.

While the dress with heirloom styled details isn't seen as frequently as in past years, brands still do make a lot of pieces with them! You just often have to hunt around in a sea of bold prints and simple designs. Here are a few of my favorites that are currently being sold on brand websites.

  
 

As you can see, these dresses all feature at least a couple of different kinds of details, even the very simple Innocent World JSK features pintucks, corset lacing, and lace along the hem, making it go from a plain pleated dress to what is obviously a Lolita dress.

I hope those of you who are relatively new to the fashion and considering making, or even buying on the cheap, their first Lolita dress have learned from this post that while a simple bell shaped skirt with a fitted bodice does indeed make a Lolita dress, there is really so much more to the style than just the silhouette!