Sweet-Classic Lolita

Sweet-Classic Lolita

http://www.fyeahlolita.com/2011/04/sweet-classic-lolita.html

"Sweet-Classic" is a phrase that I've noticed popping up in the last couple years that describes, exactly as it sounds, a style that's not quite Sweet and not quite Classic. I like to think of it as the modern Lolita's answer to Country Lolita.

Sweet-Classic is one of those "sort of" styles, it's by no means considered "official" so some people disagree that it's even a style in the first place, and will either consider it to be regular Classic Lolita, just in lighter colors and with cuter prints, or regular Sweet Lolita, with a more sophisticated design. But I feel that it's slowly becoming it's own sub-style, and while it may never be an "official" style, I think it definitely does have an aesthetic of it's own.

If you're interested in some coordinates that blur the line between Classic and Sweet Lolita, check out these scans from some various G&LBs! Click for a bigger picture.

  
   

Prints seem to be the big defining factor of this style, both custom brand prints and more generic off-the-fabric-bolt prints. Although brand, many of the following dresses are made with relatively generic all-over floral fabric, and can easily be replicated with easy-to-find commercial fabric and offbrand dresses with similar fabrics can be found at places like Bodyline and Taobao. Keep an eye out for pale pastel colors, not necessarily the muted colors of Classic or the bold and multiple colors of Sweet, but simple pale and pretty pastels. While floral prints still abound, often in vertical or horizontal stripes, there are also prints much more reminiscent of Sweet Lolita, such as cute animals and toys. But the difference is that while most Sweet Lolita prints featuring animals and toys are very cartoony, the Sweet-Classic print features much more realistic illustrations, giving the print more of a Victorian story book look.

Innocent World's Sweet-Classic
   

Innocent World is probably the brand that first popularized this look, back when they started jumping on the cute border print trend that Angelic Pretty started. While AP was out making prints with toys and cuddly bunnies frolicking and having fun, IW followed shortly behind with more sophisticated versions of cute prints. They often came in more muted pastels and featured much more Victorian styled toys and cute animals, if not just florals.

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright's Sweet-Classic

   

While Baby didn't really help popularize the Sweet-Classic look, they have been making dresses with a similar aesthetic for a long time, and are always a nice choice if you're looking for a piece featuring pretty Classic florals with a Sweet color scheme and a sophisticated, yet cute cut.

Angelic Pretty's Sweet-Classic

   

While Angelic Pretty has made the occasional classical floral piece ever since the beginning, they have sort of come full circle with a couple recent custom print additions such as Vanilla Chan or Sugar Pansy, both of which are a huge step away from some of their recent prints, as they are much neater and more sophisticated looking. Even though Vanilla Chan features big headed kittens and bows, the fact that the print is much more orderly looking gives it a completely different aesthetic than some of their other recent prints.

Okay, so I think I know what kind of dresses make for a Sweet-Classic dress, but how do I coordinate it?

Well, since it's not really an "official" style, more of a descriptive phrase, it's sometimes a bit hard to pinpoint what makes something Sweet-Classic, but there are a few key points to the outfits that help define the style.

• Limited color pallet. Many Sweet-Classic prints already have all the colors an outfit can need in them already! The Lolita interested in this tends to choose not to pick out multiple colors from the print to incorporate throughout the outfit and instead lets the dress and the style be the focus of the outfit, not the color scheme.
• Minimal and "grown-up" accessories. The Sweet-Classic look isn't about wearing as many matching accessories as possible. In fact, many Sweet-Classic looks seem to exclude wearing any jewelry at all, at the most, possibly a ring or a simple necklace.
• Simply styled hair. Gone from this style are the huge teased pigtails and wigs that are usually seen in Sweet Lolita, instead the Sweet-Classic enthusiast would wear her hair in a very simple, yet elegant, hairstyle. Such as a pair of braids, buns, or loose in a very gentle curl.
• Heels. Flat and cute shoes, while an option in Sweet-Classic, aren't seen nearly as much as a pair of cute heels, either heeled mary janes, or a pair of Victorian boots. Matching the color of your shoe to the color of your dress is not necessary, a white or cream pair of heels does just fine.
• Small hair accessories. Since the Sweet-Classic Lolita's hair is styled simply, without massive amounts of volume, hair accessories are kept simple as well. A small Alice bow, a round headdress, or even simply a cute clip or small hair bow is all that is needed for this style.

Of course, I don't believe that Lolitas should worry too much about fitting the perfect label onto themselves or their outfits, and they certainly shouldn't limit themselves or even individual outfits to fitting perfectly within one style. But I do think it is nice to have a tangible name to go with a particular style, especially if you really enjoy it! What do you think of the style? Do you simply consider it to be merely Classic in softer colors, or perhaps just Sweet with flowers? Or, like me, are you enjoying watching what could possibly be a new Lolita sub-style emerge and make it's own place in the world of Lolita?

while i was doing lolita sweet classic trend reseach, AP just released their new set called Petit Patisserie, which is far more in line with sweet classic than their sweet set usually are.

and then Megan Maude just released a new jellyjars print that is very classic while combining sweet mofits

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!

decora and Fairy Kei

http://hellokittyjunkies.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/fairy-kei-style-and-a-way-of-life/
http://spankgirls.tumblr.com/
http://tokyofashion.com/fairy-kei-fashion-japanese-girl-in-harajuku/
http://kittykatedwards333.buzznet.com/user/journal/7773151/fairies-do-exist/
http://littlecupoflolly.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html
http://www.cosplaygen.com/commonly-mixed-up-j-fashion-styles/
http://www.electricalice.com/blog/?cat=20
http://tokyofashion.com/nile-perch-fairy-kei-harajuku/
http://fuckyeahfairykei.tumblr.com/
http://www.miseducated.net/?p=7554
fuckyeahsanrio-.tumblr.com
http://www.myfashionlife.com/archives/2011/09/20/london-fashion-week-ss12-meadham-kirchhoff/
http://tokyofashion.com/6dokidoki-kyary-pamyu-pamyu-girls-in-the-room-parco-shibuya/

steampunk

streampunk is a new trend that is following along with the western poplar trend of streampunk
while streampunk may not be an Official  style
Alice and the pirates  has just opened pre orders for their new sets Milky rail train and clockwork tea party aswell as their lock the pandora and black and witch sets

http://www.babyssb.co.jp/reserve/lock-the-pandora/index.html

http://www.babyssb.co.jp/reserve/clockwork-tea-party/index.html

http://www.babyssb.co.jp/reserve/black-cat-and-wich/index.html

http://www.babyssb.co.jp/reserve/milky-rail-train/index.html

because streampunk is still a new trend the best expamples are in art

http://my-way-to-escape.tumblr.com/page/7