Back again with another mending project and taking you along this time! I purchased a lovely old red Metamorphose cutsew back in March, but the seller told me the white lace had a pink hue. She discounted it because of it. I figured I would attempt to fix her and today, I finally had the time to do the project!
Here are some before pictures of the cutsew!
As you can tell, the white lace had turned a very light pink. The print on the cutsew stayed white, but the lace has some red dye damage.
It barely showed up on this photo, so I turned up the saturation a bit, but as you can see, a very light pink hue. It is a little lighter than on this particular photo, but you get the idea.
To fix the dye bleed, you need a few things!
My life saver, Synthrapol laundry detergent. This is made specifically to remove excess dye. If Synthrapol is unavailable where you live, you can also use Metapex. Be aware, this ONLY works for cotton fabric!
You need a washing basket or bath tub that you can fill with 20 liters of water.
I use a measuring cup to make sure I have 20 liters and a big spoon to stir. You also need a normal spoon for the Synthrapol.
To start, you fill the washing basket with 20 liters of water. The water temperature should be 60 degrees Celsius. Basically, the hottest water that comes out of the tap. Then you put in 1 spoon (or 3 teaspoons) of Synthrapol. Once you have done that, you put in your garment. Now, you need to agitate the garment for 15 minutes.
I use the big spoon to agitate the garment, basically, keep moving it around in the washing basket. It is a full arm workout for sure!
After you finish, you leave the garment to soak for at least an hour. I chose to do two hours, based on the dye bleed.
After two hours, rinse it thorougly with clean water and then lay it down to dry. DO NOT USE THE DRYER. Wait until it is completely dry to see if you are happy with the result, otherwise, repeat the process.
Now, onto the results!
I am very pleased with how the lace brightened. It is still not a stark white, but the pink hue is way less than before. I would definitely qualify the lace as white now, but might repeat this in the future. I am very happy to wear this more now either way!🤍
I hope you found this blogpost a little helpful at least and until next time!
Happy International Lolita Day to you all! I wanted to document another 90s piece for the occasion and this time, it is Cornet. I first saw this skirt in a street snap in Fruits, dated February 1998. So I took the freedom to date the skirt around the same time!
Snap from Fruits 9, February 1998
In this snap, the skirt is coordinated with a tartan jacket and white boots and immediately loved the punk vibes it gave off.
Here is the Cornet skirt in its full glory. It has a lovely blue colour, more rich and full than the snap shows off. It is a little wrinkled after being worn by me first and then remembering to take photos at the end of the day, sorry for that.
I love the pleats it has, the black satin ribbon with the side ribbons and the cotton lace. It also has side shirring on the waist, but it doesn’t stretch much.
Here is a close-up of the floral cotton lace, very beautiful and simple.
What surprised me is that the skirt comes with two pockets! I have multiple Cornet skirts, but this is the first one that has pockets, what a blessing!
It comes with the yellow Cornet tag, which comes with most old Cornet pieces. I don’t know for sure when Garaus became Cornet, but the yellow tag showed up in 1998 at least.
I love the craftmanship of the skirt, it has a built-in tulle petticoat, lining, pockets. Honestly, wish more brands made skirts like this one today!
I hope you liked seeing another old school piece on here and until next time!
I used the term proto lolita quite a bit, to my knowledge coined by the lovely Ophelia from Cyncial Neo Princessism. Today I wanted to make a blog post with some explanation on the term, examples of the style and some general common styling to see in these coords!
When I use the term proto lolita, I use it to describe late 80s -90s lolita coords, just before the old school period (1999-2005). Proto coords are the coords just before that time for me. 70s and early 80s looks that inspired the fashion style as a whole do not get called proto lolita by me, though I am sure others can use it like that. For me, there are too many different aesthetics, vibes and influences there to categorize with one word. You have Vivienne Westwood on one hand, who was a great influence on lolita fashion, Gunne Sax/Pink House/prairie fashion on the other hand that greatly influenced the fashion. Then you have shoujo culture that influenced the fashion as well and Visual kei that emerged in the mid 80s as well. For me, too many different influences to all just call proto lolita. Plus when you look for coords with this term, only late 80s-90s coords show up.
So, what do late 80s- 90s proto lolita coords look like and what are common items and themes? Let’s dive into it!
Let’s start with some general pointers to proto compared to modern lolita and then look at common themes. With proto lolita, you see way less poof than modern coords, less matchy matchy coord and less strictness with hair accessories, hairstyles and footwear. It is truly a streetstyle, so more carefree, fun and less strict with following rules. I personally love to see that in fashion. Let’s look at common themes!
Leopard prints
When you look at proto lolita coords, you see a lot of leopard prints, also in pink! Vivienne Westwood leopard plush bags were very popular and worn a lot and you also saw leopard cowboy hats with the general cowboy trend in the mid-late 90s.
Fruit prints and straw bags
Many brands at the time released fruit prints, like Milk, Jane Marple and Metamorphose. You see it worn a lot in 90s coords, and often paired with straw bags as well for a cute summery vibe.
Red and pink
If I have to name two colours that you can pick to start your proto wardrobe, red and pink would be it, no doubt. Many proto coords feature baby pink and bright red, also paired together. It gives a very happy vibe to me and I don’t see this combination a lot anymore these days, but correct me if I am wrong.
Chunky and funkyshoes
Vivienne Westwood released the iconic rocking horse shoe design in 1985 and you can already see it worn in early 90s proto lolita. Next to this iconic design, you see lots of different fun shoes. You see big black Koji Kuga boots, also worn with all pink coords, fun platforms with flowers or fruits and also sandals. In proto lolita, shoes are mostly chunky and funky and do not need to exactly colour match your coordinate!
Cowboy hats
In 90s proto lolita, you saw a lot of cowboy hats, which was also a general trend in the mid 90s in Japan, together with bolo ties and cowboy boots. If you don’t have any inspiration for your headwear in proto lolita, just throw on a cowboy hats, bonus if it has leopard print. But also, in proto lolita, you can just skip your headwear too!
Daisies and flowers
Many proto coords feature cute flower details, like daisies, on bags or in your hair. It looks really cute with fruit prints and is a simple way to have a cute detail.
Bears and other plushies
In proto lolita, many people wore plushies with their coords. Pandas and Pink Panther were common, but as you can see, you can do anything. It adds instant cuteness and personality to a coord.
Fun legwear and legwarmers
When it comes to legwear, you see fun socks, stripes and legwarmers, that you could also wear over your high socks. I personally love the legwarmers and wish I could see it more in current lolita styles too!
Late 90s: Gothic Lolita
In all other proto coords I shared, you can see some common themes and also see them overlap in the coords. I did however also found some Gothic Lolita coords from before 2000, these are all late 90s, but have to say that most gothic lolita images I found are from 2000 and upwards. However, Malice Mizer, the Visual Kei band with a huge influence on lolita, was started in 1992 and their guitarist Mana released his own brand, Moi Meme Moitie, in 1999. So I would argue the style was there in the 90s, just have less records of it. Here are a few examples of cute darker coords nonetheless.
Now I have discussed all these elements of the style (and I am sure I am missing some), let’s look at how to incorporate it in your own coords.
My own proto inspired coords with these elements
In this coord, I took inspiration with the panda bag and 90s Buffalo platforms to give it some proto elements. The top and skirt are presumably from 2000, as they were featured in the magazine Alice Doll, but felt it matched well with these 90s elements anyway.
Hat, bag: Heart E
Blouse, skirt: Good Luck
Shoes: Buffalo (vintage 90s)
Necklace: Vivienne Westwood
Socks: Offbrand
In this coord, I took some inspiration from proto lolita too with the red x pink, leopard print and cowboy boots, which are both also from the 90s and worn in several streetsnaps. It is definitely a more common old school coord otherwise, but with these elements, it gets some proto vibes!
Headdress: Bodyline
Cutsew: Putumayo
Apron and skirt: Metamorphose
Bag: Vivienne Westwood
Boots: Milk
Necklace: Maxicimam
Socks: Offbrand
And for the last one, in this coord I took proto inspiration with the strawberry print, leopard bag and legwarmers. I also made it a little edgy with the choker with the chain, however, that is a feature you see more in the 2000s.
Blouse, skirt: Metamorphose
Headbow: Baby the Stars Shine Bright
Camisole: Jane Marple
Socks: Alice and the Pirates
Bag: Vivienne Westwood
Choker: Sex Dynamite London
Shoes: Demonia
Legwarmers: Old remnant from ballet class
So, these were all my musings on proto lolita and how to incorporate some elements in your coords! I am by no means an expert and all of these things are just written by my observations and experiences. I hope this was useful or gave a little inspiration🤍
Back with another review, this time for Canadian brand I.N.a.R.I! They make a lot of EGL gothic and Visual Kei garments and presented a camo collection a little while back. When they did an online drop, I knew I wanted a camo blouse from them and choose one in a grey colour palette. To my surprise, they also dropped a fake leather blouse that I couldn’t resist, so I got both garments. Time for a review it is!
They came well packaged with stickers from the brand.
First up, their pleather blouse! It has shirring on the sides, giving it a very nice silhouette. It feels a little nicer worn loose over a skirt than tucked in because of the side shirring, but I guess that is just personal preference. The buttons are press studs, so they close very easily.
There is no shirring or lacing in the back, but side shirring is also there.
The collar has the brand name on it, making the blouse very unique. It usually gets buried with my long hair, but I do really like the feature.
The sleeves have elastic too and some really nice and simple cotton lace, which is also at the hem. I adore the simple lace, making the blouse a little cuter.
Then to the camo blouse! I wanted a camo blouse that would pair easily with black and white and this one was perfect for that. I fell for the wide raschel lace and the grey undertones.
I love the peter pan collar with the big raschel lace and this one has the press studs as well.
Again, a very clean cut at the back, this blouse has no shirring and was true to its measurements.
The long sleeves have two elastics in them, making them look a bit like sausage sleeves. I adore how flattering it is.
And yess, this one has the brand name in the collar as well, perfect!
The items were shipped quickly after my order and arrived after approximately 2 weeks from Canada. I can only recommend this brand and look forward to their future releases!
Back with another blogpost, today I wanted to show off a very old school Jane Marple JSK that feels surprisingly modern classic. It is their Velour Rose JSK from 2001 and wanted to show some close-ups as I barely see this dress mentioned, but it is a gorgeous design, very much like a wearable oil painting!
Here is the JSK in its full glory. It has various schades of brown, red, ivory and purple throughout the entire print. There is even some navy blue.
The fabric is not a normal cotton, but very heavy and it feels like a canvas for the painting. There is no stretch at all to it.
Here you can see the texture of the fabric even better, it is insanely beautiful. The tag is Jane Marple Dans le Salon.
I think the cut and the pleats of the skirt part are very flattering, it doesn’t allow for much petticoat at all, but I prefer the long slightly A-line silhouette.
As I said, no stretch at all nor shirring in the back, just clean lines and a back zipper. I would say the bust is around 90 cm max and waist 70 cm.
Some close-up of the skirt. The tulle part is separate, it is a skirt that is sewn inside the waist of the dress.
I love how the print continues on the soft fabric, it adds so much depth.
The dress is of course lined and you can see the tulle skirt inside the dress.
The hem is not that wide, but definitely gives us a slightly poofed silhouette. I still think it reads very much lolita.
Overall, this dress is just wonderfully intricate and unlike any other dress I own. The fabric is heavy, beautifully intricate and the print is just art. I wear this dress a lot with black and platforms for some old gothic vibe, but am sure you can wear this in a very modern classical vibe as well.
I hope you liked seeing this underrated old school piece, until next time🤍
Back with another headdress review, this time for Phantasmagoria Garden, a Swedish brand that makes old school inspired EGL designs. They started in February 2024 and released Rose Embroidery headdresses right away. I really liked them back then and hoped for a rerelease, which they did in February 2026!
Stock photo over on their Instagram
I immediately fell for the black and white colourway, so I wrote them to order one and got very quick replies! It was send fast after payment and it arrived on Friday March 13 from Sweden, so I am very happy with how smooth and fast the process was!
It came well packaged with a cute ribbon and thank you sticker!
It came with a beautiful enclosed letter and here is the first shot of the actual headdress!
I adore the cute art on the envelope, so cute!
Inside there were a sweet card, care instructions, stickers and a beautiful artwork by the designer🤍
I love when items come with care instructions so I can wear it for the longest time! Taking good care of your items is so important.
This gorgeous slightly creepy artwork came with it too and I really adore it, I am gonna find a frame for it to hang it on my wall soon!
And then to the beautiful headdress itself. It measures 33 x 15 cm, making it slightly bigger than my usual headdresses, but I really adore it! It is made from 100% cotton fabric, with cotton lace, natural silk trim and polyester satin ribbon.
On the back it has the beautiful tag from the brand and you can see how well finished it is here too!
I absolutely love the rose embroidery, it matches so many of my items well and I think it is so elegant and beautiful. I love the matching ribbons too, it is really a wonderful design to me!
Overall, I am really happy with my purchase, the timeline and the communication were wonderful and I adore the care when it came to the packaging and the letter. I can only recommend Phantasmagoria Garden and I hope to see more wonderful designs from them in the future! Can only recommend🤍
It was time for another review, this time for Polish brand Skresk Vision. They are known for making headdresses and ties, especially in vinyl fabric. I absolutely adore their designs and when they opened commissions a while back, I immediately wrote with a specific idea.
I have been wanting a purple headdress for a while, but couldn’t find any from my regular brands or secondhand. I wanted it to be a specific purple color and with some edgy details, so it would be perfect for punk/bangya coords. I claimed a commission spot and wrote my idea.
The owner, Nel, was super friendly and helpful and kept me well updated on the process. For example, she ordered a purple fabric for the headdress and it turned out the wrong colour. She immediately messaged and searched for a closer match, which they could find luckily! She was really patient and friendly throughout the process and the headdress was made exactly how I wanted it.
During the time the commission was being made, Skresk Vision showed another headdress in neon green vinyl. I immediately loved it and asked if I could order that one as well and have the headdresses shipped together. Once again, Nel was super kind and I was able to buy both. They arrived fast from Poland and were well packaged. Let’s look at them together!💜💚
The headdresses arrived well packaged in cute paper with stickers.
Here they are in their full glory! The purple one is a more rectangle headdress while the neon green has rounded edges.
The order came with a cute personal note and a business card. I am really happy to support them and really love the headdresses!
All their social media accounts, absolutely recommend checking them out!
Here is my commissioned purple headdress. It came with cute cross lace, ribbons with crosses, spikes and safety pins. Basically, everything I like, perfect for the coords I want to create with it.
Here is some details of the ribbons, the cute cross charm and the lace.
The label is on the back and instead of ribbons, it came with clips to attach to your hair. They feel really sturdy and when wearing, the headdress is firmly attached to your head.
Bonus: the neon green x black vinyl headdress. I absolutely love the spikes and overall details, it really matches my goth and lolita coords perfectly. I feel this is a really unique colour for lolita fashion and am excited to play with it more!
Same as the other headdress, a label on the back and clips to attach to your hair. It feels really nice and sturdy.
Overall, I would really recommend Skresk Vision for headdresses or to do a custom order. They really listened to my wishes and the purple headdress is exactly how I wanted it to be. Their own ready made designs, like the neon green headdress, are also really cool if you like a more gothic, punk or edgy look in your fashion! The timeline for the commission was fast and the order was quick to arrive after shipping it out. I truly recommend them and if I have more headdress needs, I will surely buy from them again!
Summer Tales Boutique opened their pre-order for their new Garden of Eden release back on December 17 until January 10. As I am a big supporter of my friend Katie and love all her work, I decided to look critically at my accessories again, sold off some things I did not wear enough and added three new pieces from her collection!
The Garden of Eden release was massive, to say the least. Summer Tales Boutique released jumperskirts, skirts, aprons, cutsews, ties, headbows, headdresses, camisoles and capelets. All in many variations for fabrics and colors. I genuinely had a hard time deciding but I did on December 18 and the items arrived on February 13!
Let’s take a look at the items I got🥰
I got three items, two ties and a headbow, and they came carefully packaged in paper bags.
On the paper bags, Summer Tales added the item tags with a cute sticker, saying the name, size if relevant and fabric.
Love a sustainable brand.
The items also came with this cute card, which turned out to be care instructions!
I am absolutely so pleased with this, I want my accessories to be in my wardrobe for a long time and this helps me reach that.
Here are my items! I got the Nostalgia Beige Linen Classic headbow with the double lace option, Nostalgia Rose Mini Tie in white and Nostalgia Tartan Mini tie with white lace.
Starting with the headbow, a beige headbow was missing from my wardrobe. I had a headdress in beige that I didn’t wear much because of the side ribbons, so I sold that and decided to buy this instead. Summer Tales allows you to choose the lace, you can choose single or double lace, so you can get the bow just to your liking. I decided on double lace, because I really enjoy how it looks. This model of headbow is my favorite, I always push it down a little on my head and then it just looks so good. I am really excited to wear this!
Here you can see it from the back, it comes with a fabric covered headband.
And then I noticed, a new tag!🤍 It looks good!
Let’s continue with the Nostalgia Rose Mini Tie. You could choose two colors and I decided on white, to match my two white blouses that accidentally both feature rose lace. Summer Tales used to make a lot of mini ties, so this is back to their roots for them and you can tell they know how to make a cute tie. I love the rose emblemen and how soft and romantic it feels. That definitely won me over to add this to my collection, all my ties are fun and punky, this gives a total different feel while still wearing a tie!
The back has the new tag as well. You can tie in the back, instead of buttons or snaps that I see a lot with mini ties.
Cannot do a review without giving you a close-up of the beautiful rose.
And last but not least, the Nostalgia Tartan Mini Tie! You could choose which tartan and you could choose between white and black lace. I decided on Royal Stewart tartan as I really wanted a red tartan mini tie, something that was different from my others and would match a lot of my clothes. This was the only made to order item in my order, the rest was ready to ship, and I think they made it quite quickly (a month after order deadline).
Also a shot from the back with the new tag. I am happy I decided on white lace, I think it matches a lot of my clothes and am excited to wear it a lot!
The beautiful little crown, it even has a little jewel. Swooning. This gives me so many old school vibes, definitely peak to me.
Overall I had a really great experience, it arrived a month after the pre-order ended in gorgeous condition and well packaged with sustainable material and care instructions. I can only recommend Summer Tales Boutique, I know I am biased, but everything is just top notch. I know these items will be loved and used for a long time🤍
Today I am back with another dress details entry and today we are gonna look closer at an old school dreamdress of mine, this Kana Ichigo Moon JSK from 2003!
Kana Ichigo is a brand by Japanese artist Moon Kana, known for her iconic looks and music. She made a few garments, next to plushies. And this dress is one of those!
Moon Kana wearing the dress!
The dress was also featured in Gothic Lolita Bible #10.
I am overjoyed to own this iconic dress and want to show you all the details up close!
Here is the dress in its full glory. It is made out of a denim material and is very sturdy. The dress has no lining.
It features a lace applique of the moon and a soft cotton lace on the bodice. It has no shirring and a back zipper.
Here is the label, honestly so cute and colourful!
A nice detail I truly appreciate, I can adjust the straps! It is such a good feature I want to see in more dresses, was happy to see it here. After trying it on, I didn’t need to shorten the straps, but happy the possibility is there.
The dress has elastic at the bottom of the skirt and the same cute lace. I was surprised how wide the skirt is, definitely room for a lot of petticoat, something I am not used to as an oldschool lolita.
I am overjoyed with this dress and hope you liked seeing some detail shots! Until next time!
I have not made a purchases post in a long while, but I was able to find the headdress of my dreams recently and just have to share some photos of it.
The search for this headdress started in 2011, when I saw this headdress somewhere and saved a photo of this headdress to my computer. I immediately loved the deep burgundy color, velveteen flowers and the lacing. I felt it would match my style perfectly at the time and so I became on the lookout for it.
The photo I saw of it back in the day.
And now in 2026, 15 years after saving the photo in my wishlist, it arrived at my home. And it is even more beautiful than I ever imagined. I am obsessed. I will wear it a lot, it matches still so much of my wardrobe and it is just a timeless piece. After 15 years of searching, it is finally here.
Here it is, in all its glory! The colour is a very rich burgundy, almost more purple than red leaning, with gorgeous cotton lace. The ribbons and roses are just gorgeous.
The ribbons to tie around my head are also velveteen, a feature I would love to see more, because they don’t slip as easily as satin ribbon!
Let me just show it a little closer up, I love the rich colour palette.
A detail shot of the lacing.
And of course the back, having the simple Innocent World tag.
I am just swooning over this design, hope you had fun seeing my most recent purchase too! I can assure you that you will see it many times in my coords this year!🤍 Until next time!
Josine Maaike 
