Monthly Haul: May 2026

 Hello my frilly friends~

    Earlier this month, I moved apartments and cities to live on my own for the first time! So suffice to say frilly purchases have slowed down. Given my current financial situation, I need to be strategic with what I choose to add to my collections. My wardrobes in all styles are fairly sizable enough that I could justify not needing anything else. To be able to say that is such a luxury in this era of high tariffs and shipping costs. 

    That being said, I do think I have been lacking in my EGL media collection lately. Someday I would like to own every Gothic & Lolita Bible that was ever published, but for obvious reasons, that will take some considerable time. So to fill my spring days as I unpack box after half-smooshed box, I have been scouring Lace Market for any editions of GLB that need a home on my shelves. With great luck and determination, I dare say I have been successful! Let us take a look at all the little bitties I bought in May.

New additions

    Some clothes that I did justify buying were on my wishlist. The JSK I bought as an impulse buy because I am weak for chocolate prints.

• 2 head pieces (1 classic in ivory, 1 sweet in brown)
• 1 blouse (classic in ivory)
• 1 JSK (sweet in brown)
• 1 pair of tights (gothic in black)
• 1 handbag (sweet in dark brown)
• 1 pigtail wig (brunette - works for any style but purchased mainly for sweet)

    Those are all the clothing I bought, but I also acquired some mooks as mentioned. I bought a bundle of four mooks (GLB Boudoir, Vol.19, Vol.41, and a copy of Gothic Lolita & Punk). I do not much care for the GLP issue but Saboten is coming up in the summer so I might have an opportunity to sell it. I am not familiar with that mook; there is no articles or comics or add-ins. Just flatlays of brand's new collections. That would be nice to look at but does not serve me personally. In a separate bid, I also won an issue of GLB Vol.52. So that is five volumes of lolita mooks!

A very modest May haul

Coords of May

Casual sweet coord to go mattress shopping with my parents

Old school sweet coord for summer ILD; we watched Kamikazi Girls!

My makeup and wig for summer ILD

Casual kuro coord to go see Backrooms in theaters

Wishlist Progress

    Only three items out of all my purchases were on my wishlist. That is 43% of my entire haul. Not great, but could be worse honestly. My classic wardrobe is severely lacking, which is why the blouse and bonnet were so crucial to have. The wig is for experimenting with hair looks. Late last year I got color typed as a deep autumn, so brunette is ideally my best hair color. Unbeknownst to me, I have pitch black hair right now! So while I figure it out what to do with my natural hair, I want to play around with a brunette wig. 

EGL Goal Progress

I'm sad to say I did not make much progress in my EGL goals this month. 

• Sell anything that does not fit: I have a giant pile of lolita and normie clothes that need to be sold or donated. Actually I am a bit overwhelmed by it. I set a goal of posting three items per day to sell, but I haven't been sticking to it. Eventually I need to buy a couch, which will go against the wall where my "mountain" is so if I want to have friends come over and be able to SIT, I have to prioritize this soon. 
• Host more meetups: This month was busy with moving and planning what to bring to the ILD potluck (I made it easy for myself and made a charcuterie board). I will forgive myself this month.
• Decorate a lolita-esque room: Definitely want to do this, but I have been slow to unbox. I will decorate as I empty boxes. 
• Learn to sew a rectangle headdress: I asked my mother if she still uses her old Singer and turns out she does not and agreed to pass it down to me! The bobbin has been broken for a while, but honestly I used to be pretty crafty with a sewing machine. Once she digs it out of whatever cabinet its been lodged into, I might be able to fix it myself (and YouTube).
• Be more consistent on blogging: Well I am posting today, aren't I?

    As summer approaches, I am feeling the draw of sweet country lolita ebb closer. This year I am focusing on building out my sweet and classic wardrobes. It might sound shocking to my readers who know me as a true goth through and through, however it has been fun playing with bright colors and pastels! Anyone who knows me personally knows I like to change my appearance every six months (a hyperbole but also, not really). Call me a cameleon if you will, but I like exploring what fashion has to offer. Let's see what's in store for this summer. Happy ILD everyone!

Monthly Haul: February 2026

Dear my fellow frillies ~

New Purchases

    This was definitely the month for buying only what I needed. I made one big axes femme haul for some basics pieces fill out my sweet and classic wardrobes. For the longest time, I have been needing more EGL undergarments; all of my petticoats are black, which I suppose for darker swassic dresses is perfectly fine but majority of my main pieces in those styles are very light colored. So a white petticoat is extremely necessary. 

    I also need a hoop skirt for the summer. I actually don't find the crunchy organza of my petticoats uncomfortable because they have a lining in them and I can wear sport shorts or cotton bloomers underneath, but still I have been curious about how hoop skirts might work for me. The rest are just some spring basics as it starts to get warm here in Arizona. Last year I bought my first main piece in red so since then, I have been on the look-out for red "base pieces" (blouses, socks, shoes, etc). Ankle socks and a straw bag will do very nicely for summer. 

    The second haul I made this month was made at Arizona Matsuri, a Japanese culture festival held every year in downtown Phoenix. I made a few purchases walking down the vendor stalls. My favorite item I bought was a handmade straw bag made by a shop vendor who used to be a loltia herself! It came in handy to hold my water and smaller purchases throughout the day, but only until hours later did I realize I already bought a straw bag earlier this month! Silly me :( I guess we'll have to see which one I like the best and sell the other one. 

    Lastly, I took advantage of Atelier Pierrot's winter sale and scooped up some daily items, such as a wallet and AirPod case, to frillify my life. I also got a skirt and a corset in a fun color. I have a handful of corsets but for some reason they are all black! So I figured one in an accent color would be put to good use. The skirt was a shameless "well I just want it" type of purchase :P 

My February haul~!

Coords of February

Wishlist Progress

    Currently I feel my gothic wardrobe is in a good place that there really isn't much that I would consider a wishlist item. The things I do want are more "nice to have" shoes or other accessories. I'm noticing a lot of these items are just basics in red. I never noticed how little red accessories I own, despite having a few dresses with red accents. My list is as follows: 

• A long-sleeve blouse with hime-style sleeves in white
• A pair of wristcuffs in bordeaux
• An overbust corset, preferably in red or another accent color
• A Néant Glass coffin ring in white
• Metamorphose platform heels in red [they are currently sold out in my size :( ]
• A pair of Victorian granny boots, maybe from American Duchess
• A non-retractable parasol in black
• A long straight wig in red

    My classic wardrobe is very small, to the point where I am still collecting my first starting basics. So that being said, I need: 

• A high-neck blouse in ivory
• One long-sleeve bolero, either in dark brown or ivory
• Legwear of some sort in bordeaux and dusty pink
• A small structured bonnet in ivory
• Shoes in bordeaux and dusty pink

    Finally in my sweet wardrobe, I'm just mainly padding out my accessories with other colors. As mentioned earlier, I'm trying to introduce red into my color palette. There were many items I purchased in my axes femme haul that were on my wishlist so I feel really productive! I am in the process of collecting red basics such as: 

• A short-sleeve blouse in red
• Short-sleeve boleros in pink, sax, and/or red
• One pair of wristcuffs in red (but a brighter shade than the pair I need for gothic)
• A pair of simple tights or OTKs in sax
• A pair of tea parties in red
• A non-retractable parasol in pink

EGL Goal Progress

Sell anything that does not fit

    I plan to move in a few months, so this is one of my top priorities. I have started to audit my existing wardrobe for pieces I do not reach for very often and ones that do not fit anymore. It just takes a while to take photos, decide prices, and write up sales posts on multiple platforms. I want to try to maximize sale potential so I plan to post in my comm's Discord and on Lace Market. I hope to get around to it next week.

Host more meet-ups

    I haven't hosted many meet-ups so far this year, but I did "substitute host" a meet that was originally hosted by another comm member, who had to quit due to family emergency. I had a lot of fun taking over responsibility though! There's a lot of good horror movies coming up so maybe I will host movie meets for some of those.

Be more consistent with updating EGL Instagram & blog

    Lately I actually haven't been wearing lolita often, so when I finally did put it on after so much time, I remembered how good I feel. I missed that feeling. This is why I don't post coords often on Instagram, but I want to feel motivated to wear the fashion more. So I made it a 2026 goal to try to post more, on my lolita account and also here, on my blog! I miss writing too, so look forward to more posts from your favorit curator!

Shoe Brands for Large Footed Lolitas

 Dear my frilliest of friends,

    Have you ever noticed how small brand shoe sizes are? It is kind of ridiculous. I researched several major EGL brand's websites and Lolibrary entries to see what sizes they offer for their shoes. What I found is, for the most part, all the brands offer the same four or five sizes. This roughly converts to sizes US 5-8, though keep in mind sizing between countries is not a 1:1 ratio.

    I understand brands mainly cater to Japanese audiences, whose bodies tend to be smaller on average to American ones. But ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these brands shifted their business strategy to appeal to Western consumers. They did this in many ways: offering English translation on their websites. shipping directly to Western countries without needing a shopping service, and some even offer plus-sizes (though their definition of "plus-size" could be questioned). The least they could do is offer one more shoe size up pretty please with sugar and cherries on top!

    It sure is hard to find cute and lolible shoes for US 9 and above. As a size 10 myself, I am shocked I still struggle to find appropriate shoes in Western stores let alone in Japanese ones. But if you are like me and have been blessed with tremendous tooties, then I have some advice for you: if you know where to look you can find the perfect shoes for your sub-style. I have kindly curated a list of brands I have personally purchased from. 

Sweet

Antaina

You can find this brand on TaoBao, Clobba, 42 Lolita, and Lolita Wardrobe. They are probably the MOST size-inclusive of all the lolita-specific shoe makers. Depending on the shoe model, you can find Japanese sizes 21~30.5! They also offer a wide variety of shoe styles and every color you can imagine. I cannot recommend this brand enough.

Angelic Imprint

This is another Chinese brand found on TaoBao, My Lolita Dress, and 42 Lolita. You can find Japaneses sizes 20~31, depending on the shoe model. This brand specializes mainly in sweet-style shoes and shoe replicas (such as Vivienne Westwood's iconic rocking horse shoes).

Metamorphose temps de fille 

Meta is one of the very few brands that offer larging sizing, so I would be remiss to not mention them. Although it is heavily dependent on the shoe, sizing can go up to 3L, which is 26.5. As a size US 10, I fit into their 3L size comfortably. They offer tea parties and wood platforms to go with your sweet coords. They also offer platform heels for gothic or very special hime coords. 

Gothic

American Duchess

American Duchess is an American company that makes historically accurate footwear from the 16th~20th Centuries. They offer a huge range of styles for any sort of historic look you are going for, in US sizes 5~13 men's and women's. They also offer wide versions of many of their shoes if you need that extra space. Lots of their shoes also work well for classic lolita. 

Fluevog

Fluevog could arguably be considered one of the penultimate shoe companies for lolita fashion. They are not cheap, let me tell you. But what you are paying for is a high-quality shoe worthy of your money. This is a canadian brand that specializes in quirky designs and funky colors. If you love a weird fucked up little shoe, you'll love them. They offer US women's sizes 5~13 and men's 7~14. Many of their styles are lolible in the right colors, so take a look and see what sparks your fancy.

Demonia

Demonias are a favorite in other alternative fashions, and depending on the style, can be worn very cutely with gothic lolita. Kera-08s (shown above) are a popular gothic and old-school option! I will say be careful with Demonias. They get a bad rep for being ita when worn with lolita, and many of their styles are not lolible. Do your research. Ask your comm or Big Sisters of Lolita Fashion on Facebook for advice. Demonia offers women's US 5~13.

Classic

Victorian Maiden

Victorian Maiden is one of the biggest classic lolita brands that's still active. They don't offer many types of shoes, but what they do have is surprisingly size-inclusive for a Japanese brand. Sizes available are Japanese sizes 22.5~27. These shoes can also work with with a gothic coord. 

Yana

 I love this brand! You can buy them from TaoBao or 42 Lolita. They specialize in qi lolita and classic lolita, though I can easily see some of their shoe styles working for an elegant gothic or hime sweet coord! Yana offers Japanese sizes 21.5~27.5, depending on the style of shoe.

Sentaro

This is a TaoBao brand who specializes in classic lolita fashion. They do offer some shoes in vintage styles, perfect for lounging on a chaise in a swanky salon or taking a stroll in a rose garden. While not as size-inclusive as other TaoBao brands, Sentaro does offer Japanese sizes 21~26 (which is roughly up to US 10). For a classic brand, that is still pretty good. 

So as you can see, there are lots of options for bigger feet for every style. I think the key is just looking outside of Japanese brands. Plenty of TaoBao brands offer a wide range of sizes. And many Western brands have options that are very cute and lolible. You just have to be a little creative. Do you have a favorite shoe brand that I did not mention? Please let me know! I'm always looking for new shoes <3

AYWI30C #3: Something OTT

 Dear my fellow frillies,

    The theme for today is something OTT. Now this is my favorite category so far. I love wearing OTT because I am going to get looks wearing lolita in any mode, so I might as well dress as silly and frilly as possible! I had so much fun putting this one together, as it uses pieces I rarely utilize in coords. 

    When I first purchased this dress, I was so worried how I would coord it. It has so many different colors that I do not own pieces in so I thought I was going to sell it. It was not until my birthday that I decided to coord it using what I had plenty of: black basics! Now I am not afraid to try new ways to pair items and I am excited to see what else I can create with this lovely piece. 

    With my sweet and classic capsules growing, I may need to consider purchasing some OTT items in those colors some day. Although impractical, I do adore Triple Fortune bonnets. One in ivory could be useful. As for sweet, I tend to see twin tails with piled headbows and clips for OTT coords so perhaps I should look into more variety of headbows. I currently only own one pink headbow ㅜㅜ

Bonnet: Triple Fortune

Cape: Marble

Blouse: Enchantlic Enchantilly

JSK: Innocent World

Tights: Estrellas

Shoes, Gloves: Metamorphose temps de fille

Belt: Eat Me Ink Me

Love & Lace,

♱ Sara ♱

AYWI30C #2: Something Casual

 Dear my fellow frillies,

    Welcome to Day 2 of my Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coords challenge! Today's prompt is something casual. This may be even harder than yesterday's prompt. I do not often wear casual lolita. But I did my best with what random black blouses I have (I do not own any sweet cutsews). I would wear this at home and watch Netflix. 

Blouse, Shoes: offbrand

Headbow: Morun x Muuna Stoik

Skirt: Sheglit

Socks: Marble

Love & Lace, 

♱ Sara ♱

The Curator's EGL Goals 2025

To my fellow frillies,

    As we approach the end of 2024 I want to reflect on my first year with EGL fashion. This year's goal was acquiring enough pieces to build out a wardrobe and learning the basics of coording. However now that I am entering my second year of being a lolita, I can shift my focus to other things. Here are my new year goals for my wardrobe and my lifestyle!

♱ཐི ʕ.•ﻌ•.ʔ ཋྀ♱

Wardrobe Goals

1) Sell anything that does not fit

    This goal is pretty self-explanatory. One of my dream dresses was Moitié's Silent Moon OP. The bust measurement of the dress is eight centimeters too small for me. I was aware of this when I purchased it, hoping that the shirring would stretch comfortably. It did not. And I was devastated.

    I kept it anyway as "inspiration" to lose weight. Now let us all fess up; we have all done this at least once in our EGL journeys. But let me remind any beginners to the fashion this is a toxic habit. It encourages the idea that our bodies the problem and not the dresses. So I did a very brave thing and sold that dress in a comm sale. I do feel happier now that it is gone. Moving forward I want to focus on only buying things that actually fit my measurements and if it does not, sell it with haste!

2) Make a classic lolita capsule wardrobe

    This year allowed me to create a robust gothic wardrobe and a good-sized sweet capsule wardrobe. I am satisfied with the size of both. But I have still yet to explore classic. It is strange how in early 2024 I hoped to end the year with a gothic and classic wardrobe only to somehow dip my toes in sweet. This is something I never thought I would ever do! Funny how people change. So for 2025 I want to focus more on building out my classic capsule. 

3) Try aristocrat style

    One of my final purchases of the year was a long Atelier Pierrot bustle skirt that would make for a perfect aristo coord. I got inspired to make a coord with it and I loved it a bit too much, so I want to experiment more with aristocrat style in the new year. This means collecting more long skirts, full-sized hats, and coats.

4) Experiment with Mana blue

    Prepare yourselves, gothic friends, for I fear I may offend some of you: I do not like Mana blue. I know. Booooo! *tomato, tomato* Before you put my head on a stake, hear me out: my reasoning is simple: it does not make sense for my wardrobe. I am inspired by historical fashion and Victorian mourning wear. Blue dye was too expensive for the common person to afford and wear on the daily. So it would not be something seen worn in society. Plus, I do not think it looks as gothy or vampiric as shades of red do. 

    Blue as a color to me screams alien-like, or otherworldly. Supernatural maybe, but not Mana-sama's favorite shade. Natural shades such as bordeaux or green lends itself better to historically-inspired EGL in my humble opinion. That is not to say that I abhor anyone who wears the famous Moitié shade! Which leads me to my next point: I want to finally experiment with the color. 

    You can have your tastes without ever having sampled them. I have a tendency to rule things out without giving them a fair shot. So the healthy thing to do would be to try it out. Worse case, I come to find I still do not like Moitié blue and I sell any pieces acquired. No harm done! Who knows? Maybe by this time 2026 my entire closet is looking like an Eiffel 65 music video!

Lifestyle Goals

1) Host more meets

    In 2024 I hosted three meet-ups: two movie meets and one craft meet. All of them were wonderful! As a social butterfly and a Capricorn, I found it easy to plan a gathering in my comm. I want to host even more meets in the new year. If I had it my way, I would attend a meet-up every month! I am not sure that is possible, but at least I can encourage it.

2) Learn to sew a rectangle headdress

    At some point in the fashion, one will become compelled to create a wearable item of their own. I am no different. I own 13 copies of Gothic & Lolita Bible, all of them with extensive patterns and tutorials on creating your own garments or accessories. Yet somehow I never took the plunge and made something. So I want to start small. The timing is fortunate as well; I could use a few more rectangle headdresses. I do not own a sewing machine (see goal #5) so this will be a hand-sewn project.

3) Read Kamikaze Girls

    I purchased an English copy of the out-of-print novel off Lace Market. But I have a nasty habit of buying books only to never read them. This EGL goal goes hand-in-hand with my personal new year resolution of reading more. It is not a long book at all, so this is very doable for me. This also allows me to consume more lolita media, something I also want to do in 2025.

4) Continue to decorate my room in lolita

    I think I did a good job of decorating in 2024. My room is starting to look like a Baby, the Stars Shine Bright showroom. But it could be even more frilly I fear! My ideal room would have framed artwork on the walls. I want to get more picture frames for the stack of art prints sitting on my dresser right now. I think a framed piece of artwork is much more elegant than a raw print washi-taped to the wall instead. Not that there is anything wrong with that! I have certainly done that before.

5) Buy a sewing machine

    My best friend in the comm pesters me to finally get a sewing machine. It is a logical purchase. Eventually with enough time spent in the fashion you will to want to make your own pieces, especially if you are plus-sized like me or are looking for something specific that you cannot find elsewhere. I used to know how to sew in high school; I miss making clothes if I am to be honest. Someday I will find the time to do the necessary research to determine which kind to get. I see an online favorite is the Singer Heavy Duty. Let me know if you have any suggestions for a beginner!

6) Visit Kei Collective in Phoenix

    I want to visit Kei Collective in Phoenix. Despite Arizona's population, we do not get "cool stuff" like other nearby states do. It feels like only in the past ten or so years we are starting to see new interesting businesses pop up. Arizona does not offer many physical J-fashion shops, but we do have Kei Collective, catering to Japanese and alt fashion right here in the valley. I have visited their booth at 2024 Saboten Con but never their physical shop. So I will make it a goal for 2025 to see them!

♱ཐི ʕ.•ﻌ•.ʔ ཋྀ♱

What goals do you have for your EGL wardrobe? Do you have any goals for your J-fashion lifestyle as well? Do tell, readers. I look forward to hearing from you~

Love & Lace, 

♱ Sara ♱

AYWI30C #1: Your Trademark Look

 To my fellow frillies,

    I want to start the new year in an ambitious way. I struggle with coming up with what to write so I have been stockpiling lolita challenges to use as ammunition for some new blog posts. One of my favorite lolita bloggers, Roli's Ramblings, has a wonderful 30-day coordinate challenge I want to try for the month of January. I think it will be a good test of endurance to see how long I can stick to a task. Any other neurospicy lolitas out there?

    Day 1 is your trademark look. Now this prompt really made The Curator ponder. Right out the gate and I am already stumped! Do I have a trademark look? On first thought, I would honestly say I do not. I am only one year in lolita fashion and I am still exploring my style in all the substyles I wear so it is hard to pick just one "signature" look. When members of my comm see me, what sort of style do they think of? I have been described as a "dark Sailor Moon" by one member. I think that is just because I had a period of only wearing this one old long black wig with all my coords and often braided it, giving it a Sailor-vibe. That was my very first wig so sadly it got ruined in my fruitless efforts to learn wig styling.

    On most days if I am not wearing something specific for a meet, I lean towards casual gothic. So I picked my favorite pieces that I grab often, as this felt like a good definition of "my trademark look". With this coord I would wear my natural hair in braided pigtails and do a simple makeup. I would probably wear this running errands (groceries, pharmacy, etc). In retrospect I think lace gloves or wristcuffs would work well with this, but I honestly forgot to add more accessories ㅜㅜ I'll keep that in mind for Day 2. 

♱ཐི ʕ.•ﻌ•.ʔ ཋྀ♱

Blouse, Corset, Skirt, Headdress: Atelier Pierrot

Shoes, Tights: offbrand

Bag: Moi-même-Moitié

Love & Lace, 

♱ Sara ♱