SkyBluePink

Today's outfit was very much inspired by Dolly Kei fashion. The Dolly aesthetic is so opulent and ancient, there's nothing not to like about it really! Except one thing, it's very female-orientated. You don't see many boy-style versions of these recently popularized japanese street fashions. (Thats not to say they're not out there, they're just uncommon)
So here is my Dandy Doll style outfit <3

Makeup closeup. You can see my new limecrime lipgloss <3 My flatmate and I bought the full collection between us, since we both wanted different colours out of the set.

Aren't they gorgeous? So shiny and bright. Cherry on top, Loop de Loop and Golden Ticket are mine!
Now, I had planned to put them on for a review video and take some photos with each of them, BUT, when I went to get started my lip burst and started bleeding! EEK. Damn this cold, dry weather.

It happened on camera though, so here's a nifty wee shot of the CARNAGE. I have coated my poor lips in antiseptic and lip balm now, and they've healed up for the most part. So lipgloss review will have to wait until another day.
In unrelated news, I started playing SimsSocial on facebook...

goodbye real life :p

February 06, 09:56 PM

Pastel Goth

("the pastel goth" by Oblyvian at http://oblyvian.tumblr.com)

"Pastel Goth" or "Creepy Cute" is a relatively new gothic substyle rising in polularity at an incredible rate. The basics of this style involve typical gothic elements (dark eyeliner, dyed hair, studded collars, ripped fishnet tights), clashing with cute childish elements (cartoon t-shirts and pink glittery hair accessories). The point is to juxtapose the harsh, dark elements, with the cute soft elements to create a kind of visual paradox of innocence and corruption all at once.

Think baby pink hair with black lipstick and/or those popular eyeball or bone shaped hairclips from Kreepsville. (http://www.kreepsville666.com/)

(http://www.etsy.com/shop/SugarCoatedSprinkles?ref=seller_info)

This style can be seen as an off-shoot of Fairy Kei, or just a gothic version of Fairy Kei. Here was my own "Fairy Goth Mother" outfit from halloween 2010 :)

(http://ohvelveteena.blogspot.com/2010/10/fairy-goth.html)

February 06, 03:52 AM

Cult Party Kei

As much as gothic lolita will always be my 'main style', lately I've found msyelf drawn to the latest incarnations of vintage-fantasy styled fashions. These include Natural Kei, Dolly Kei and Cult Party Kei.

Cult Party Kei appealed to me because of it's airy, floaty, ghostly appearance. It overlaps very nicely with Shiro-Gothic style, which is far too seldom seen in my opinion! I love being bundled up in oodles of lace and ruffles, and I never could resist a vintage nightgown. For these reasons, Cult Party Kei hit the nail right on the head for me. It overlaps a lot with Dolly Kei, which is about european vintage styles the way Mori Girl is about looking like a fairytale girl who lives in the woodlands. The lolita style I most enoyed cultivating was always the appearance of a little girl from long ago, possibly escaped from an austere school or house at night. It's the whimsical feeling of being young and lost. It is sad, but full of hope.
... But now I'm rambling. In any case, that is the feeling Gothic Lolita brings to me, and it is shown jsut as well in Cult Party Kei.

The style itself is fairly recent, much moreso that Dolly, Natural or Mori Girl. And much much moreso that Lolita of course. It is named after the vintage clothing shop the look originated in "Cult Party" in Koenji district of Tokyo. However, the main hub as it were for this style is now "The Virgin Mary" clothing store, when Cult Party moved there.
(there is a great online guide to this shop here; http://thefashionatetraveller.com/the-virgin-mary-store-in-harajuku-cult-party-kei)

You can find lots of lovely examples of this fashion on ohyeahcultparty.tumblr.com

the other images in this post are from

http://ameblo.jp/kikilalamanapyon/image-11122205229-11705500045.html

February 05, 07:36 PM

Natural Goth

Todays outfit was very much inspired by Natural Kei and a little Dolly/CultParty Kei. But of course, with a gothic ilk.

Op and Overdress - Metamorphose
Headband - MM

You may notice, I have done some tweaking of the Pages on the blog ^
The Online Sales page now has information on, and links to Low Down and Dandy. There is a new Gallery page, made to display some of my original artwork, and I added a link to my youtube channel on the contact page.
<3 Yay.

February 03, 03:49 PM

Making my own jewlerry

I have had an inordinate amount of energy this week, and decided to use it creatively! Here is a small example of the things I've been crafting.

Utensil necklace. Made from handpainted peices of a toy kitchen set <3

Tea cups and saucers. One sweet, one guro! My plan is to attach these to headbands, or make them into enormous rings....

And a porcelain tea-set ring;
I made two of these, and am still working on the necklace made from the teapot and milk jug to match it.

I hope you like them as much as I do <3 personally, I'm really pleased with them.

February 01, 05:34 PM

Gothic Lolita hair and makeup video

January 26, 12:35 PM

Dandy Transofrmation video!

January 22, 05:39 PM

Winter Faerie Photoshoot

January 16, 02:16 PM

Ichigo15 Kodona Clothing

These gorgeous examples of Kodona fashion are for sale at the taobao shop Ichigo15 here;

http://shop35513190.taobao.com/

January 14, 05:04 PM

Outfits to start the year.

Bodyline coat
MILK shoes

Metamorphose Blouse
BABY salopette
HeartE hairbow

Metamorphose shoes
Baby scarf

Metamorphose OP and hairbow

January 02, 04:48 PM

A Dandy New Year!

As always, lets start the year as we mean to continue! Well dressed and proud of it.

At some poit last year I remember making a wild claim about Kodona and Boystyle being on the verge of falling into popularity in our community, and how I felt it was about to become big. Well, it's almost here.
These are some of my favourite dandy-inspirational images collected over 2011;

"R- Series" model

KERA magazine scan

fashion model, Shiraz Tal

Stephen Fry and Alex Pettyfer in "Tom Brown's Schooldays

The following four images are all from the brand Miho Matsuda

and last, but by no means least;

Korean actress, Jeong Seo!

December 27, 04:49 PM

New Metamorphose Tailcoat

This little beauty has appeared on Metamorphose's Winter Releases page;

http://www.metamorphose.gr.jp/onlineshop_eng/outerwear/110140100019.php

I really don't need another tail coat in my life, but I just love them so.

December 24, 05:57 PM

Offbrand outfit

And entirely offbrand outfit I wore out to dinner for a friend's birthday.

December 22, 12:41 PM

Japanese Disney's Gothic Lolita Alice Collection.

The japanese Disney store has recently released a set of gothic Alice themed items, more than a few of which are very much lolita-appropriate.

Disneystore Japan, Alice In Wonderland

click for the online store^

At first glance, I was torn between loving it and hating it. Lets face it, this is basically the pinicle of gothic lolita for many. It's Disney, it's Alice, it's black, white and red, there's even a white-rabbit scarf and bunny-eared capelet.
They are adoreable. But, they also strike me as being tacky. There's really no elegance involved, and the whole collection is completely void of innovation or originality.
I feel as if this set is basically what the popular side of gothic lolita has been leading up to untill now. It's the Gothic version of current Sweet's vapid repitition.

Do you love it, or hate it?

December 13, 03:42 PM

Glasgow Christmas Meetup

Blouse - Metamorphose
Bunny Bear - BTSSB
Pantaloons - Modded Mew JSK

Turning a jsk or skirt into a playsuit or shorts is a great way of building up an adoreable kodona wardrobe. This fabulous handiwork was done by LDD's seamstress Kerry, who I have asked to do a tutorial of the process to post here. So look out for that!

December 07, 09:27 PM

New hair, and more vlogging.

Getting into the swing of things with this vlogging lark. This one has a proper purpose - to show you the basic anatomy of a dandy outfit when it's all put together.

Sorry the lighting is so dim. Hopefully in the future, I will have sunlight enough to make videos in, but for now we're at the mercy of winter!

Today, we have been out celebrating my partner-in-crime's birthday!Kerry, the other half of Low Down and Dandy is now as aged and wise as I am...

And for vanity's sake, here's a snapshot of my new hair;

December 05, 08:21 PM

Introductory Vlog Post

And so, Florentine was sucked down into another form of blogging. My compulsion to record absolutely everything that happens in life makes it impossible to resist these things forever. It was only a matter of time!
This was surprisingly fun to make. It's awfully simple, but thats the best I've got for now.

I hope, if you're interested, you'll subscribe to my channel!

December 05, 04:59 PM

Second- Hand Sales

The Sales Page has been updated. With actual content! So far, it's only Second-Hand sales, our Low Down and Dandy webshop is still in progress.
Everything on the second hand page is from my own collections and well kept, however, for whatever reason I need to sell them. Please do get in touch if anything catches your fancy!

December 03, 01:05 PM

What is Kodona Fashion?

Gothic Lolita Fashion or, "Gothic Lolita" is a subculture fashion that originated in Harajuku, Japan, as a street-fashion and is influenced by and aims to imitate victorian clothing, and the image of fairy tale princesses, old world elegance and antique dolls.

I took an interest in this fashion since I'd always been interested in vintage and victorian styles.

Not to be confused by the blanket-term 'gothic lolita', there are many substyles of Lolita Fashion. Gothic Lolita is simply my personal favourite. Other styles include the popular Sweet Lolita, and Classical Lolita, and more minor substyles such as Guro Lolita, Ero Lolita, Shiro, Kuro and Themed Lolita styles.

Lolita fashion as a whole, and it's subsets have their own established brands and designers.

Some of the most popular for Gothic Lolita include;
          Black Peace Now (http://www.peacenow.net/)
          Alice and the Pirates (http://www.babyssb.co.jp/shopping-ap.html)
          Moi Meme Moitie (http://moi-meme-moitie.shop-pro.jp/)

Sweet Lolita's most famous names include;
          Angelic Pretty (http://www.angelicpretty.com/)
          Baby The Stars Shine Bright (http://www.babyssb.co.jp/)
          Metamorphose (http://www.metamorphose.gr.jp/english/index.html)

And for Classic Lolita there is;
         Victorian Maiden (http://www.victorianmaiden.com/)
         Mary Magdalene (http://www.marymagdalene.jp/)
         Innocent World (http://www.innocent-w.jp/)

And what about Boy-Style?
Boy-style, Kodona or Ouji-sama is the more masculine counterpart to Lolita. Immitating boys fashion inspired from the same eras that lolita is taken from; Rococo, Victorian and Edwardian.
Kodona could wear frock-coats, knee-shorts and top hats while Lolta wear petticoated dresses and hairbows.
There are no specifically Boy-Style brands, and it is a much less developed subset than the others, however, Alice and the Pirates, Peace Now and Metamorphose often have appropriately prince-like clothes for this look.

December 01, 04:14 PM

Dandy Artwork

Here are some things I've been sketching lately. If you're interested, there's more where those came from on my deviant art page= http://anubis-chiyuki.deviantart.com

November 23, 02:35 PM

Stargazer Princess Lipstick Set

Stargazer lipsticks are quite highly pigmented, and a staple in most goth's makeup bags! This little set is a great range of basic lip colours, and for the price the set goes for now, a great deal for four decent quality lipsticks! So I snapped one up from ThePeasKnees.com

November 22, 01:41 PM

A decent haircut!

It's been a long time since I got my hair cut professionally, I have a bad habit of just trimming it myself. Eventually it gets out of contoll though, and the mop on my head was getting beyond a joke. SO it was time to get it cropped again.

November 20, 10:17 AM

Youtube Tribulations

I recently made myself a new YouTube account, name "OhVelveteena".

My old one was either hacked, or accidentally deleted. Not sure which. I thought I'd blocked it by forgetting my password, but I know my password and know it was correct. Which leads me to believe that someone got into my account and changed it, then deleted it. I don't know why, all that was on there were some silly videos I made back in school and some videos of the Obon Matsuri I took part in when I lived in Kunohe.
Sad to lose those two videos, but the other ones might be better off lost to the mysts of time haha!

The question is, what do do with this shiny new account? I've entertained the idea for a while to get into vlogging. There's a few lolita channels out there, but no dandy ones as far as I can tell. Goodness knows I wouldn't have enough to say to make a whole channel about fashion, so perhaps a Life-of-a-Dancy ilk would be fun?

That way I could also share with you any extra clips or unrelated things that are just fun or interesting as well as showing you things such as, how to tie a bow-tie or cravat properly, or keeping your hats un-dented?

November 18, 02:12 PM

Kodona Code: Shirts and Blouses

Most, if not all lolita fashion blouses will work with Kodona, so long as you keep your style in mind. Big pink peter-pan collars will look cute with sweet styles, and high-collared styles with jabots, bows or cravats look great with classic and gothic style.
That's not to say you can't mix it up. A white peter-pan collar with a gothic style will lend you a much younger little-boy look than a gentlemanly dandy look, but it can work.

The great thing about dandy and boystyles, is that you don't really need a fancy or decoratibe blouse. A standard collared shirt can look just as nice, if not even more traditional and suave. The key with simple shirts is your neck wear.

However, be careful when buying shirts, especially in womens selections so you don't make this mistake that I made;

Do you see that HUGE dip in the front between the collar and the buttons starting? Some blouses are produced this way because it's fashionable to wear them with the first few buttons undone. This is not a look that works with kodona fashion. I tried to remedy this by pinning the top together with a pin-on bow worn as a bow-tie, but that just left me with a gap above and/or below the bow.

Other than that small faux pas, there's really no limit to the type of blouse or shirt you can wear. Be it vintage, gothic, frilly, lolita or just a standard suit-shirt.

November 10, 05:42 PM

Voltaire Gig, Glasgow!

As a birthday present, my fabulous flatmate Kerry got us tickets to see Voltaire at his first ever gig in SCOTLAND, nevermind glasgow, this week.
As he is one of my favourite musicians, I can honestly say I've been dreaming of this for a long time, so we got ourselves dandied up and rolled out to the Clasic Grand to party.

To my great fortune, we got to meet the man himself after the show. There is no better feeling that meeting someone you really look up to and discovering they're really nice in person!

Here's hoping we made a good impression, and he comes back to Glasgow again sometime.

Gothic Lolita Blog

Gothic Lolita, Vampires and Artwork