Happy Valentine's Day!

Photo:Teemu Salminen

                                                                                                                                                                                      

This one is from Nemo <3

See You! :)

Gothic Lolita Nostalgia

Let's continue with the gothic lolita theme. Here are some photos of my first gothic lolita style outfits, from the year 2007. Since then my style has changed towards more fantasy type of outfits, although there is much from the gothic lolita style left, and of course I also wear ordinary clothes and other styles (a bit hippie, ladylike etc.) too. When I look at these photos now, I think they are kind of cute but I think that, at least in some photos, I look a little bit chubby. :)

Anyway, it has been a lot of fun to dress up like this. At one point, I used to dress up like this almost every day. People have come to talk to me and interviewed me and have taken photos of me everywhere; on the streets, parks, trains, festivals etc. Even at Ikea. I remember after the photo shoot session in the frosty weather (pictures below) we went to Ikea with my ex. A woman stopped me there and said to me in Italy "Complimento!". She was amazed about my style. I acted cool, but of course felt thankful and proud! :)

This photo with the black parasol I found accidentally from the internet, it has been taken of me by someone on the street (South Esplanade) in the summer 2007.

May Day 2007 (below).

 

 Here I am walking in the yard of my castle in Wonderland. The winter is coming and the nature is dying. The sadness has arrived.

 I sew clothes by myself too, and this lolita skirt in this last photo which I like a lot (the bird is the 'cherry on the top' of this photo) is made by me.

See You Soon! :)

How to Make a Gothic Lolita Dress in 10 Minutes (and for 8 euros)?

 I am a big fan of lolita style after visiting Tokyo 2006. There is something classic beauty in lolita style.There are several lolita styles. One is for example sweet lolita, which means a lot of pastel colours and quality lace. A valuable and old- fashioned porcelain doll would describe it. Sweet lolita dresses are however really expensive.

Luckily gothic and punk lolita style is nearer my style. And you dont't have to necessarily use a lot of money for that. Yeah, I know some gothic lolitas disagree strongly with me about that, but I have my own opinion. So I bought this second hand dress for 8 euros from Ofelia market  (Burlesque - Gothic - Lolita - Retro - Rock 'n' Roll - Steampunk - Vintage second hand market usually couple of times a year at culture arena Gloria in Helsinki).  I recognize this dress, it is from Kapp Ahl's "Free your mind and be happy" -collection from couple of years ago.

So here is the dress. Quite dull and boring like this, I think, at least not my style. How to make this dress suitable for punk or gothic lolita?

I happened to have a blouse from the same collection in my wardrobe which I'm going to use underneath the dress. (argh excuse my hair, straight from the shower)

I also have two kind of hippie style tunics from that same collection, which I bought couple of years ago from Kapp Ahl and have used a lot. This one...

 ...and this one. Little gorgeous girl from a playground wanted to take a picture of me with my phone camera last summer. I was photographing her and Nemo. This is just ordinary tunic, I just added the petticoat, the belt and the rose. There are butterflies in the dress, the photo quality of my phone camera is so lousy you probably can't see them.

  The lovely girl I was photographing. And of course Nemo on the back.

So back to the original dress. This honestly took only 10-15 minutes to make this. I just grabbed, quite randomly, folds of the dress and sewed them together with few stitches. It doesn't matter if the edge is going to be uneven, it is even better that way. So, I didn't have to be violent towards the dress, I didn't use scissors at all. And I was able to do this while wearing the dress. So below are a lot of photos while I'm making it.

Aarrghh the photo quality, but you'll get the idea.

Don't forget the petticoat!

So, the dress suitable for a punk or gothic lolita is ready!

See You! :)

A Boy Met a Girl at IKEA...And They Kissed!

I love the trips to Ikea. We do that once in a while with Nemo, and friends are of course welcomed with us too. They mean to me soft ice cream, inspiring creative ideas, colours, Nemo can play, cheap food, relaxing and free trip by bus etc. I just love the whole concept of Ikea, and the energy in there. (Hey, maybe I should ask money about this advertising from Ingvar Kamprad ;)

 Nemo is watching children's program at Ikea.

Look at this gorgeous crab!

 Self-portrait.

 Nemo loves playing with the kitchen stuff.

 And with blocks too.

 Baby, the star is shining bright!

And there, between the storage shelves at Ikea, a boy met a girl...and then they kissed. The purest, the most innocent and unconditional love just manifested. This happened so quickly, so I couldn't manage to get a better picture. This picture kind of censored itself, but maybe that's because young love is so fragile. ;)

See You soon! <3