My First Dress

[Antique Angel]

I've been very interested in lolita for 4 years now, and I've decided to finally get my first dress. I'll be getting $100 for my birthday. Does anyone have suggestions of where to purchase a good beginner dress that's within the $100 price range? (Needs to ship to U.S.)

[legnanellaf5]

I would actually break that down abit because you likely arent going to have the other stuff you need for an outfit too, so it isnt 100$ for a dress, it 100$ for all the things.

If you want to get really minimalist, the most you need to do is get a dress (op so you dont need a blouse), and a petti, but that assumes that you can do the rest yourself. You can find loliable shoes soemtimes, but if you are into sweet that is harder than classic.

I would suggest saving up so you can get a bit more than that 100, and then go make a big taoabao order. That way you can buy things from a few stores. this is a good guide to start getting into taobao, and has links to other things like styles and other things. At least go to the store classical puppets for a petticoat. A reminder is that taobao is hkd, so when you are looking up the prices, remember to google conversion with that in mind, even if you translate the page and it says yen.

[Chaotic Wishes]

Agree with the above poster- are you trying buy just a dress, or the entire outfit? Because you can't wear just the dress with nothing else.

For easy to order from and cheap, use Bodyline and Fanplusfriend. These are okay quality.

For better quality, cheap, and a little more complicated to order from, use Taobao. It is more complicated because you need to use a shopping service. Here is a beginner's guide to Taobao. For different brands, here is a list. Here is a shopping service guide.
You're going to want a petticoat, and the best store for that is Classical Puppets. For blouses, Magic Tea Party is okay, Chess Story is really nice, and so is Dear Celine (though they sell out of stock fast). Depending on what styles you like, you'll want different stores. For example, Chess Story is a little more sweet/classic, and Krad Lanrete is goth/classic, Surface Spell is classic but have a side store called Surface Spell Gothic for gothic pieces, etc.

For brand, you can buy secondhand for cheap items. Consignment stores include Closet Child, Tokyo Alice, Alice+Fururun, Usagiyouhinten, and Maidenclothing. These all ship overseas. If you can't read Japanese, it might be a little for you to browse, but just use Google translate for things.

[Undead Romance x]

If you aren't interested in Taobao, there are options like Bodyline (carries mostly sweet lolita esq things, but lower quality of product) and Fan Plus Friend (carries mostly gothic/steampunk items).
F+F also does custom sizing.

Although I do agree that you should continue saving up, so you can maybe get higher quality things with your order!!