Gothic Lolita hair & skull print dress

On Saturday night I attended a Haunted Housewarming with a dresscode that said ghouls, ghosts and old school goths.  I decided to try out the Gothic Lolita Hair Rope I bought in Marui One recently, to get that spiky goth/anime look.

Just what is gothic lolita hair rope, I hear you ask? See exhibit A, at left. It is hair attached to a central cord, which you then drape or wrap around your buns, to get that messy updo look. I also bought some that had curly hair instead of the straight, which gives a sweeter,  more wavy/curly ladylike look.

Prisila, a company which has the charming catchphrase “No wig, no life” (teehee),  offers a huge range of wigs, hairpieces, fringes, buns, hairbows and accessories for every lolita, gyaru and Japanese fashion enthusiast.  They have stores in various places in japan, but Marui One in Shinjuku is a very central one.

Check out the website as there is so much there to drool over (hint: use google translate, if, like me, you can’t read japanese).

So, back to the product. How do you use it? Basically, you put your hair into ponytails, wrap your hair around itself into buns, then take each rope and wind itself around each bun. I started off in the middle of the rope, winding both ends around the bun and crossing them over each time, securing with pins as I went. Then when finished I just teased out a bit more for an artfully messy look and hairsprayed the ‘do.

Anyway, enough of the explaining; here’s the result:

As you can see, it is a little Robert Smith/the Cure like. Great on a hot summer night when you just have to have your hair up.  Bones hairclips just add to the old-schoolness of the look. Of course, I should dye my fringe a darker blue/purple to match, which I now have 🙂

I will also include the ubiquitous cab-cam shot, showcasing the circle lenses (CircleLens2U), and cobweb fake lashes (from La Foret). The outfit shot displays the fab skull dress I snaffled at Studio Alta on my last day in Tokyo, worn with a gothic lolita skirt and Deadlygirlz corset.

Only today did I discover that Prisila have a great “how to” page with lots of helpful videos. Here’s the one using the curly rope wig with a single bun:

And the dress? It is from Aleara by JurianoJurrie, which is on level 2 of Studio Alta.  The  Aleara brand is more gothic, sexy and underground style (so they say), with lots of black, white and red. Another one I wasn’t aware of previously, although the JJ brand is well known, being featured often in Jelly and Nuts.

The dress can be purchased here, and below is the dress on a lither model. It also comes in the off-white with black print, and as you can see, looks good buttoned up so the ruffle shows.

More new brands and purchases to come!