Casual Lolita

Today I'm going to talk about the eternal discussion inside lolita fashion; "Casual Lolita".
If you think about it, it's not an "actual" style, it's more of a tone down outfit from any lolita style, it's something to wear every day when you can't wear all your super puff, your big bows and 'look-at-me' prints.
Buuut sometimes IT IS a style on its own since some of the clothes you wear for casual, will never fit in your sweet / gothic / whatever style..
See why it creates discussion..? For me it's simple; casual it's my style, I'm casual..

You can wear a casual piece with non-lolita clothes and look nothing like lolita, or you can wear it with lolita clothes and be casual lolita.
The problem comes when a girl wants to wear it. I've already written about the mistake between girly and casual, and mistakes about comfy&lazy and casual, too; so I won't talk about it again.

Casual = Girly
Girly ≠ Casual

Casual = Comfy
Comfy & Lazy ≠ Casual

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Now onto the characteristics of a casual outfit:

♥ First of all your make-up doesn't have to be too elaborate, you can wear a very natural style for more comfort and convenience if you're slow like me when it comes to apply make-up.. xDD

♥ Your hair.., being casual doesn't mean you don't have to comb your hair, and not to mention to be clean!

How many times have you read: "Excuse my hair, but I was going for a casual look!"
You like pony-tails? Try one with a twist; low at one side; up at a side (very '80s).
An up-do would look lovely if you have long hair and it bothers you while working or doing your chores.
The possibilities are infinite, but you might want to avoid candy-coloured wigs with crazy hair.
All this with a lovely touch of your favourite hair accessory, be creative!


♥ People tend to think while wearing casual you automatically have to discard your petticoat. Well, you can wear one if it's not too puffy, there are some light pettis that gives shape to your skirt while not giving puff, and some even have delightful touches around the hem that can peek under your skirt.


♥ Regarding the top part, you can perfectly wear a blouse if it's not too crazy and decorated, but you can wear pretty cut-sews with little touches here and there.
What you please, try to avoid, are t-shirts without the body shape or big sleeves, they give you a careless look even if they have a cute Hello Kitty in it.


♥ About the shoes, something like tea party shoes, rocking horse shoes, boots or even shoes with a little heel look good.
Try to avoid big platforms or chunky shoes as they don't look casual at all or flat shoes since they look odd with socks.


♥ Socks are the most fun part about a casual outfit since you can wear almost every kind of socks or tights.
With prints, with lace, in any colour or pattern, but not leggings. Leggings take away the lolita look of the outfit no matter if they look good or not.


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Since there are not casual lolita brands that sells casual cothes ready to wear, you have to take a little bit from here and there to create the look based on your common sense.
Lots of people if not everyone, say they are casual when they are not wearing a full coordinate from a brand, and I must disagree, the coordinate must have and homogenous tone down look to make it casual that not everyone achieves..

A great brand to found casual clothes is Metamorphose temps de fille since they are pretty much the only one who try different styles, heart E is also a good source.
You can find great 'loliable' casual clothes at Emily Temple cute / Shirley Temple, MILK and JaneMarple. And I say 'loliable' because no matter what some people say they are NOT lolita brands, you can wear them, adapt them or even call them lolita brands, but they are not.

These 4 brands don't consider themselves lolita, then why should we? Let's see..:

MILK's concept is: "Dream Girl", they create a romantic and girly line with a mix of adult, a casual lady-like style.

Emily Temple cute / Shirley Temple's concept is: "Girly Style" they proposed a completely new style, incorporating innovative designs and antique western style. They propose a unique twist style as a fashion accent with distinctive colours, ruffled lace and prints.

JaneMarple concept is: "Restriction of social stereotypes that suggest fantastic creative nature of art history based on the theme of eternal agnostic free-thinking" (anything else.., is out of the question.. xDDD).

So.., it's great that some of these brands clothes can be adapted for lolita, especially for casual.., I do it all the time, but they are not lolita.
And I love Emikyu, it has been my most favourite brand for almost 6 years, I dream of it, my husband is tired to hear the name everytime, if I had a daughter I'd probably called her Emily after the brand name, and I wouldn't change it for any other brand in the world, but that doesn't mean is lolita.