Getting into Lolita?

[Spring Fawn]

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Hello! I would really appreciate some advice. I've been interested in Lolita fashion for about a year now, but I haven't really acted on it. So, that's basically my question. Any advice for getting started? How much money should I have to get started? Should I start with brand or off brand? Any specific places I should get my first Lolita clothes from? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! heart

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[MrxSprinkles]

The first thing about lolita is that it's not going to be cheap, no matter what. Even if you buy things offbrand or second hand, theres so many components to making coords that you're still going to be looking at a decent amount of money, depending on where you buy things though you'll still be looking at around 100-300$ or more.

There's a lot of ways to go about it, buying brand or offbrand depends entirely on you and how much you like the style. I've heard a lot of people say that if you're interested in lolita, save up the money and invest in a dress that you really love but if you're also just looking to try it out then offbrand might be a better option !

There are a lot of places to find lolita clothes and the best places I've found are facebooks sales [lovely list of them right here] where it's easy to access, it'll be a bit cheaper and most people speak english !

Most people who start lolita and are looking for a cheaper option, (because if you're not sure you'll like it then there's no point in spending 300$ on a dress right?) tend to look at Bodyline which has some nice things if you look hard enough and they also carry different styles if you're into, sweet, goth, classic, it's also a really great place to buy blouses but a terrible place to buy petticoats because they deflate really quickly.

I think lolita takes a lot of time to get into and you need to decide what style you think you'll like best, not saying you can't try them all, but really give it some thought instead of jumping head first and then realizing you're stuck with clothes you don't really like ^^


Sorry for the wall of text oh my goodness. This is entirely my opinion though but hope this helps though ~

[tangletongue]

Off-brand or brand doesn't matter - but if you decide to start with brand, I'd recommend until they have an end of season sale because then you can get a dress for 30% or 50% off. A good beginner purchase, though, is a great petticoat. People recommend Dear Celine or Classical Puppets - they'll run you about 40$, but I hear they hold up great. I'm waiting to order my own Classical Puppets petticoat too!

Bodyline is great for shoes and accessories, even if you don't like their OPs, JSKs, or other apparel.

If you look at some beginner's resources - I think the Lolita Blog Carnival or lolita-tips had some great articles - you can sometimes find examples of great coords that end up costing about 100$ all together.

[legnanellaf5]

I think that brand vs offbrand depends on what you want to do. If you want to spend 300$, it may be more clothing if you do it thorugh bodyline or wahtever, but then each of those are meh quality. Or you can get only 1 dress but its high quality from a brand. The latter way though means you will have a slow build up for your wardrobe but then each individual piece is better.

Money is up to you, because you are the one who needs to sustain it. A lot though is needed for start up because you need to get all of the pieces for that first outfit, then the other stuff can build off of that. You dont need a lot of pettis and bloomers but you need at least one. Blouses and shoes should be bought so that they dont just match 1 outfit but that you can wear it with a bunch.

I personally wouldnt suggest fb sales because of how unreliable it is in security. There isnt a way to stop scammers and a lot of the recent ones are from there. Go with the stores themsleves or somethign like egl sales for 2nd hand sales. Look into taobao and how to order from them, best for pettis but take months.

[Marokia]

the first things to do is research. You can't really just jump into lolita (or really any fashion choice).

[Princess JessieKate]

Honestly as far as brand or off-brand, or how much to start with, you can start however you want. You can start out with just buying one dress if you want to, but a benefit of saving up and buying more pieces at once is that you'll save on shipping. Like everyone else has said, you should research first, and I highly recommend asking an experienced Lolita about the first piece you want to buy before you buy it. Make sure you have your measurements taken accurately, too!

Something you might consider with your first outfit that could save you money is as simple as color. What color do you think you would wear most frequently? Pink? Sax? Black? A black alice bow, black shoes and a black purse might look great with your first dress, but then when you buy something pink you might have to buy accessories, shoes and a purse all over again! In the beginning, you can build your wardrobe faster by sticking to one color, then you can branch out later.

You could start by making a wishlist and adding only your favorite items to it. Go on HelloLace and look at stock pictures, and check off-brand stores, too! Save all your favorites (with their names, shops, any extra info you want) to a folder. You can organize it by how much you want the items if you want to. Then later, if you're browsing second-hand sales communities (something I highly recommend) you can tell yourself that you'll only buy something if it's on your wishlist, to avoid impulse buying.

Once you have a good understanding of what will and won't work, (which will likely take some experience actually wearing the clothes) I highly recommend thrifting to see what you can find to work into your wardrobe.

[Spring Fawn]

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Thanks so so so much everybody, I really appreciate the help~! heart

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[Princess JessieKate]

Spring Fawn

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Thanks so so so much everybody, I really appreciate the help~! heart

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You're very welcome!

[Chibi Blaze]

Look around for good lolita beginner sources like hellolace.net and tumblr blogs like lolita-tips
When I first heard about lolita, I was introduced to costumy gothic lolita as in "Goth" with very short skirts and black and red and fake corsets and chains and crosses and VERY costumy and ero nu-uh that's not what you want. But I eventually learned more and thank goodness I waited and didn't buy one of those Hot Topic-looking dresses.