For the love of Tartan

I love tartan. I have loved it for quite some time and people who have known me the longest know this.  I feel it is a very classic, subdued, ladylike pattern event though it in our modern times has some punk connotations. 

With this said it is obvious that my wardrobe has a lot of tartan. I counted at least 11 tartan pieces ranging from dresses to blouses to scarves. One of my dreams is to have a coordinate made entirely of tartans but I am still missing shoes, a bag and hat so it's a long way of. 

This is my newest plaid or tartan dress. It's from Excentrique (my first Excentrique dress too!) and I love it. The hem is quite narrow making it perfect for shopping or having a casual tea time at The Ounce. It also came with a waist cincher which will likely go unused as I am not a big fan of corsets at this point of my life, but we'll see.

This is one of my hand made tartan dresses and it features my possibly favorite tartan, which is the black watch. The pattern has military history I find the colours very regal and strong though in this dress a made them a bit more feminine with the addition of the lace applique.

And of course I own a kilt. I wear it on my more casual days when petticoats just feel like hell. I love the colours in this piece and own a blouse in the same pattern. 

What  are your favorite pattern's dear readers? Do share in the comments as I'd love to hear if you love flowers or polka dots or tartan like me.

Madame Parapluie 

Autumn aesthetic

This autumn finds me inspired by witches(especially Slytherin witches) and vampires. My inspiration for gothic lolita has been back in a big way for some time now even though I still love classic too. Now I just have closet of two tales. On the one side we have the gothic vampire lady with silks, velvets and brocade and on the other the preppy, sort of snooty Slytherin witch with wools, tartans and little bit of quirkiness.

something gothic this way comes by mimielizabetha featuring home wall decor

The gothic side of my wardrobe is as always inspired by vampires and gothic romance. This year I am especially in love with Carmilla by Sheridan le Fanu and I hope it shows atleast a little bit in my wardrobe. Another big inspiration has been the new Guillermo del Toro movie, The Crimson Peak which I cannot wait to see. 

Little bit of Slytherin by mimielizabetha featuring Vivienne Westwood

Even the more classic side of my wardrobe is a bit darker again. I do love black dresses with white collars, being a Wednesday Addams fangirl at heart. As I pointed out in an earlier post my Potterheadedness has also returned with a vengeance and I love to add a little touch of Slytherin to my outfits.  Other than that after rewatching Gossip girl (I love the devious Blair Waldorf) I have also fallen in love with a slight preppy look and hope add that to my style as well. It feels so put together and chic. 

What are your ideas for this autumn, dear reader? Tell me in the comments.

Madame Parapluie

Inspired by: Harry Potter

Autumn is quickly approaching and my love for Harry Potter is once again rekindled by the most magical of seasons. So naturally I thought it might be fun to make one of these inspired by-things about my favourite book series.

I have loved Harry Potter since I was eleven and my elementary school teacher (who's name I have happily forgotten) started reading the first book to my class. Soon I was demanding the books for assorted Christmas, birthday and "hey I don't like to be stuck at the summer cabin for months"- presents.

Ever since those golden days Harry Potter has been a big inspiration in my life (I have even written fanfiction stories which I call  "The thing that will never be published") and naturally I have worn some Harry Potter inspired coordinates over the years and await wearing many more in the years to come. Here are just a few ideas I might utilize when the time comes.

House pride makes a good start

My Hogwarts house. according to Pottermore and assorted internet quizzes is the noble house of Salazar Slytherin, so naturally my house pride outfit is inspired by the cunning, ambitious, Slytherins. The method I used to make this coordinate will however work on any of the houses.

 I suggest a splash of the house colours, in my case silver and green, utilization of the houses emblem, in my case the often misunderstood snakes, and  adding some unique things to reflect your style. 

In this case as pointed above I used Slytherin colours and emblem and decided to add a really snobbish umbrella to a relatively casual outfit to make it bit fancier. I was also rather liberal with jewelery because I feel it would suit the Slytherin spirit.

Evil comes in.... Pink tweed packages?

Yes this was inspired by Dolores Umbridge. Yes she is a nasty piece of work and possibly the most hated character in the entire series. But... I have to admit that she had a pretty epic style. Especially in the movies. Now I am not a very pink person but her look has this iconic flavor I just can't resist.

To create this Umbridge inspired coordinate I combined her movie colour palette with her book description. Everything is pink and covered in cat jewelery but she is wearing the cardigan and the head bow mentioned in Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix. I wanted to make her outfit sort of businessy and bossy by using a very tailored type of jumper skirt.

 Fandom is fun

Last of the outfits is the most simple. A basic coordinate with some fandom inspired jewelery. I do like these kinds of subtle nods to things I like. It feels so nice to know that there is a special little detail in your outfit that reminds you of something you love. Personally I do this sort of outfits constantly. It's fun.

Other ideas

• Add a house scarf or tie to you outfit. Scarfs are a darling addition to an outfit especially if it's a bit cooler.  Just make sure everything matches nicely. 
• A witch hat is also a nice addition especially around Halloween. It is a more costumey element and should be used on more OTT- looks. 
• Wear something robe like, maybe a bolero or  capelet with deep hood to feel like a proper witch. 
• Draw inspiration from the other schools mentioned in the series. Beuxbatons already has some very loliable uniforms for ladies. 
• Become a ghost by wearing something white. Ghosts are after all very important in Harry Potter. 

So these are my ideas about Harry Potter. What kind of fandom related outfits have you worn, dear reader? And also what is your house in Hogwarts?

Madame Parapluie 

Lolita blog carnival: What would I like in future prints?

To be completely honest I am super tired of prints and wish there were more interesting cuts, lace, ruffles, embroidery, appliques and epicly nice fabrics but let's still play along.

Less

Less by mimielizabetha featuring dresses

Less crazy Angelic pretty prints with crazy buying wars. I mean How many chocolate prints is going to be enough? Or cutesy carousel pony prints? These things have been around for years and years and years... Could we move on? Or at least get some new ideas? I did like Milky cross after all. 

Less random clip art prints. Juliette & Justine I am looking at you. I love Juliette & Justine but am so done with randomly placed images over randomly placed images. Even Atelier Pierrot is doing it now. Could we have some sense of design again? Please?

Less of the same old themes unless there is an interesting twist included. No more carousel ponies or endless hordes of teddy bears or crowns upon crowns or piles and piles of chocolate dresses. It seems like some themes just come up again and again and again. 

More

More by mimielizabetha featuring punk rock shirts

More interesting printing techniques like velvet flocking or metal embossing. As Juliette & Justine so aptly proves these techniques are just as interesting and intricate as colourful drawn prints. 

More prints combined to an interesting cut. I'd love to see more dresses that have something more tha print making them special. Maybe the dress has edwardianesque cut combined to a print of Mucha's art.  

More interesting goth prints. I do love crosses, tomb stones and cathedrals as much as the next girl but could we have something else as well. I'd love a realistic bat print, or print with realistically drawn skulls of different animals, or macabre or somber art prints. There are so many options that have yet to been tried out.

More prints in other items that dresses and skirts. As in the example set the blouse with the printed shoulders is interesting and new. More of this please. 

More abstract prints covering the entire dress. Stripes? Yes please. Geometric patters? Why not? 

To summarize I'd like to see new things tried and less of the same old same old things that  have dominated the lolita print dress for a long long time. New themes, techniques and even garments to make this lovely fashion more interesting than ever.

Lolita blog carnival group: Here

Participants

Kawaii no Hawaii

Daily Fuckery

Pepins de Pom & co

New vogue Children

Alice in lolitaland

The Bloody teaparty

Beyond kawaii

What would you, my dear reader see in the future of lolita prints? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Madame Parapluie

PS. I just realized that an absinthe themed print would be totally epic as well. The antique glasses and fountains and spoons would make a perfect gothic print and would add a new theme to lolita. 

Details make the dress: printed edition

As promised to my friend here are some details from my favourite printed dresses. I've tried to pick a wide array of different brands, handmade and different printing techniques. I hope you enjoy.

Let's start with a handmade piece. 

I freely admit that I have thing for books. I am after all a librarian (now with a fancy diploma to proof it), so naturally I love book prints. Currently own two, the Biblitheque one piece and this jumperskirt I made myself. 

The details in this dress are quite simple to let the print truly shine through. I just used this chanel-ribbon in the bodice and hem and pleated the shoulder straps to give them volume. 

And yes I have worn this to go visit the library. 

This dress from Alica and the piurates was an instant must have dream dress for me. I got lucky and found it at EGL community sales and it has recided in m y wardrobe ever since. The print combines two of my favorite things, royalty and tea (though I have yet to understand how tea shows in the print..). It is lovely regardless. 

I chose this version of the two jumperskirts because I loved the bodice detail. It makes the dress a tad difficult to coordinate but I've worked around it. 

And now for the crowning glory my holy grail dress, first love, the moment the old me was slain and so on. The Juliette & Justine cross print which I have coveted since the first velvet version was on their site. Robe de l'agnleau. Where do I even start with this one...? The simple yet elegant cut Juliette & Justine is known for, the plush velvet, the opulent print... I love everything about this dress.

Just look at it. It's the most epic thing in my wardrobe and I love it. 

So what's next? I quite like these Details make the thing-posts so I'd like to continue. Maybe blouses? Coats? Shoes? Or would you my dear readers prefer to see on concentrating on a particular piece of clothing in more depth and detail? Do post your thoughts in the comments.

Madame Parapluie 

Details make the Dress

A big part of why I love lolita is all the details in the garments. The beautiful laces and dainty ruffles, pleating, pearl-like buttons, sweet little bows... All those little tiny details that  make a dress absolutely perfect. It all makes me swoon. 

So for this post I picked one dress from the four brands ( well three brands and my handmade stuff) that are mostly represented in my wardrobe.  I love these dresses because of their constructional details (lace, ruffles, etc.) so if you are interested in prints I will have to disappoint you. Though I might do a similar thing with my prints later on.

We are starting with hand made with a red velvet dress I made recently. Originally I wanted a single rosette to be on the neckline but got kind of carried away. The light made the velvet ribbon look like different shade than the velvet but rest assured this not the case. The little jewels are recycled from and old night dress. 

Other than this rosette detail the dress is very simple, which is just as planned. I wanted the dress to have a single eye catching detail and I think it turned out quite nicely. 

Next we have Juliette & Justine which is still my favorite brand. I wore this dress to my bachelorette party and haven't had an opportunity to wear it since. (Maybe hellocon this year...?) I love the lace waterfall in the front. It makes the dress look so luxurious ant detailed. 

Now this Innocent world jumper skirt is possibly my favorite dress at the moment. I want to wear it with everything to everywhere. The chiffon makes it so flowly and sweet.

 I love the ruffled hem that gives an elegant yet princessly feel. With black it's an ultimate gothic vampire dress and with cream it gives an air of old school classic cuteness.

And lastly something from Victorian maiden I have not yet worn, for purchased it quite recently and it has short sleeves and Finland + winter+ short sleeves = A massive cold = NO THANK YOU!

I fell in love with unusual cut of the bodice which you will have to wait and see and the lovely lace detail on the neckline. It almost evokes a necklace and gives this otherwise simple dress an elegant dainty feel. I can see myself wearing this one to work or at weddings.  

So here was some of the most lovely details from my wardrobe. Are you dear reader interested in a print version of this post? Do you love the details of lolita and which details are your favorites? Please share in the comments.

Madame Parapluie

Halloween teaparty at Kata's

Last saturday I took part on Halloween party at Kata's The theme was dolls and everybody had created awesome doll outfits! The food was delicious as usual and we had a lot of fun.

Kata has such cute teacups.

Kata and me

Sanni, me and Lauren

The Bonnet brigade.

And now we shall commence the epic Chili spam as Kata's little kitten Chili absolutely stole everyone's heart by being utterly adorable.

I guess she wanted some treats too. 

I wore

Bonnet, dress: Handmade by me
Blouse: Dear celine
Bonnet decorations: From here and there.

Wristcuffs: Atelier pierrot

Ring: Lahden Kultasepän talo (My wedding ring :p)
Shoes: Wonders

Thank you to Kata for hosting the teaparty! I had such nice time and hope to meet all of the girls again soon.

Madame Parapluie

Simple Houndstooth dress.

Recently I finished this simple jumperskirt. I wanted something almost ETC-like or Chanelish and decided not to add lace or frills. Just a really nicely cut dress from a cute fabric. I chose a patter with a really small sweet heart neckline and a seam at the waist and a pleated hem.

I really love this pattern. It's so cute and so elegant at the same time. 

Pleats are so pretty.

Madame Parapluie.

Cloudberry lady Bat shoes

Recently I purchased the lovely Bat shoes from Cloudberry lady and I must say they are absolutely fabulous. The shoes are leather and hand made in Finland. The design is just so wonderfully gothy and whimsical without being utterly stompy. There is this daintiness in them I like a lot. I love them. 

Madame Parapluie

Don't you ever interrupt me while I'm reading book.

Hello dears!

On monday I visited the library first time in months. I have been simply too busy to enjoy my regular visits. In honour of this I naturally dressed up a bit. And what better to wear in a library than a book print.

Hat: From Estonia
Blouse: Vintage
Dress: Handmade by me

Necklace: Juliette & Justine
Shoes: Why do I always forget this?

I really love this fabric. Leather bound books are just so elegant and otherworldly. These are examples of victorian books and the maker of the print also has an Edwardian version.

I still wear my winter shoes even if there is hardly any snow ion the ground anymore. It's  still rather cold after all.

My new Juliette & Justine necklace, purchased at Hellocon (which I will talk with more detail soon).

Madame Parapluie

Essentials of style

My Style Essentials by mimielizabetha featuring a tapestry wall hanging

Good day lords and ladies. Today I decided to talk about my style essentials. As you know I am balancing on that fine line of gothic and classic lolita and nowadays my coordinates tend to be more on the classic side, although still quite dark. 

I prefere dark colours with some light additions like the Juliette & Justine Princesse du Pays Que Vous Rectifiez one piece clearly shows. I still love all black dresses (there is nothing more versitile than a little black dress) but currently my favourite type of fabric is tartan. It just gives such a cute, elegant air to any outfit. 

When it comes to fabrics I don't go for the cotton. I prefere velvets, laces and satins and silks to give my outfits that luxurious feel. Intricate patterns like the one on my unicorn dress are good too. 

As dresses go I like the ones with a waist seem and a big poOOofy hem. I have a few princess-line ones but those tend  to get a lot less use than the waist seamed ones. The long sleeve one piece is my option when I need to get the outfit done quickly. Just throw the dress on and you can walk out the door looking faboulous. With blouses my favourites are those with a standing collar and a huge bow. They are just adorable and classy at the same time. I do prefere long sleeves over short ones for I find them more elegant.

I tend to accesorize simply. I like hats and wear a lot of them. My favourite type is the humble cloche which gives an outfit a deligthful twenties wibe. If I am not wearing  hat then it's time to utilze the massive velvet bow or something decorated with  a bird skull. 

Socks in my opinion should remain simple, lacy at most. Printed socks I can't stand.  It's either the basic black tights or something lacy and deligthful (usually in black as well). 

With shoes heels are my way to go. I am quite short so few extra centimeters does not hurt. During winter I tend to use ankle boots or boots depending on the snow situation. During summer it's pumps all around. I love my Fluevogs dearly but Minna Parikka is almost as nice.

Quality over quantity is my way to go in both shoes and bags. I tend to use only two bags in all my coordinates. Either it's the basic black wonder of space (seriously I love it) or the Innocent world crown bag.

Other accessories I love to utilize are parasols (that can douple as umbrellas, this is Finland after all!), gloves (lace on summer, leather during winter!) and fans.

So darling readers that was my style essentials! I would be glad to hear yours so please share in the comments! 

Madame Parapluie

A dress of dreams

Last week I received one of my newer dream dresses The royal teapackage from Alice and the pirates. I Absolutely fell in love with this dress when I first saw it but sadly missed the sale period. Fortunately I managed to snag it from EGl-community sales. 

I absolutely adore the print. So many references to old royal houses of Europe. 

The tromp l'oleil effect is really nice too.  And as usual for A&P the lace is very nice. 

The top has a bib with nice detail work. The buttons are a really cute touch.

The dress came with a detachable bow to go on your waist but I am probably going to use it as a headbow for that old school charm. 

Madame Parapluie.