Intro : How You Got Into the Fashion
It's a bit embarrassing to admit now, but despite loving cute feminine things from childhood all the way through middle school, when I started high school I became a complete tomboy! 
I refused to wear skirts or dresses, eventually cut my hair in a boyish style, and pretended I didn't like cute things. It's kind of sad looking back! Two things were at play causing this: The high school I went to made me really self conscious because being girly made you a target for teasing and bulling, blegh. I also lacked the confidence to dress in a more feminine style as I got older because I didn't feel like I was pretty enough, so at the same time I felt comfortable dressing more gender neutral/masculine and leaned into it without minding too much. But I did wish I could "pull off" wearing cuter clothes, on top of keeping the cute things I liked a secret like Sailor Moon, Sanrio/San-X, Lisa Frank, and vintage pastel toys.
I refused to wear skirts or dresses, eventually cut my hair in a boyish style, and pretended I didn't like cute things. It's kind of sad looking back! Two things were at play causing this: The high school I went to made me really self conscious because being girly made you a target for teasing and bulling, blegh. I also lacked the confidence to dress in a more feminine style as I got older because I didn't feel like I was pretty enough, so at the same time I felt comfortable dressing more gender neutral/masculine and leaned into it without minding too much. But I did wish I could "pull off" wearing cuter clothes, on top of keeping the cute things I liked a secret like Sailor Moon, Sanrio/San-X, Lisa Frank, and vintage pastel toys. I can't think the first time I saw egl fashion was around 2004. I had gotten into BJDs due to loving Chobits and coming across the Chii Super Dollfie from the VOLKS x CLAMP collaboration! As I learned more about these interesting dolls, that eventually led to me seeing a photo of the the Momoko Super Dollfie wearing Baby the Stars Shine Bright's Robe à la Française- I had no idea what kind of style it was but I thought her entire look was breathtaking! Then later on I realized it was actually by a clothing brand for people, not dolls! Over time I stumbled across more information and photos about the fashion on a few Livejournal communities and then continued to learn about it looking at the Gothic Lolita Bible and KERA magazines at my local bookshop. And the rest is history!
Source: VOLKS
The Shimotsuma Monogatari line was officially the first coordinates I ever saw and I found them so entrancing! While learning more about the fashion I thought it was very cute butI still couldn't dare to dream about wearing it at the time- I still didn't have the confidence to wear more feminine clothing and also I was a broke student! However I did start following the main Livejournal community and began keeping track of brand news which always made me really happy.
I think I first became interested in trying egl fashion around 2007. One of my friends was kind enough to let me try on one of her traditional BTSSB dresses, which I thought it was so adorable!! ...but, I felt like I looked so incredibly out of place in it haha, though I really liked wearing it and felt a little bit cute. Later on, I saw an ad in KERA for AP's Wonder Cookie Apron OP which was the first time I actually had the desire of wanting a dress, the rainbow stripes an cookie buttons captured my heart! But of course I definitely did not have the financial means to purchase it, so I just admired it from afar.
I started browsing around a little on Yahoo!Japan, just to look at different dresses that were for sale second hand. And one day I came across Angelic Pretty's Lace Up Heart Pocket JSK for a super low price, I think 60,00yen? Something about the cut, color, and all the details just absolutely captured my heart, so because of that and the low price I wound up purchasing it! It was the most feminine (and expensive!) clothing piece I ever purchased for myself, but I really liked it! My first few "coords" (I can't even really call them such a thing) were very plain and sad aha...
but I loved wearing it! I eventually bought a pink headdress with white lace to match it (made by an indie creator, it was so cute and I regret selling it now!), but other than that I didn't purchase anything else.
I started browsing around a little on Yahoo!Japan, just to look at different dresses that were for sale second hand. And one day I came across Angelic Pretty's Lace Up Heart Pocket JSK for a super low price, I think 60,00yen? Something about the cut, color, and all the details just absolutely captured my heart, so because of that and the low price I wound up purchasing it! It was the most feminine (and expensive!) clothing piece I ever purchased for myself, but I really liked it! My first few "coords" (I can't even really call them such a thing) were very plain and sad aha...
but I loved wearing it! I eventually bought a pink headdress with white lace to match it (made by an indie creator, it was so cute and I regret selling it now!), but other than that I didn't purchase anything else.Fast forward about four years...
In 2011 I saw a picture of Mary Magdalene's Claudette OP in grey floating around on tumblr and I completely adored it. I happened to find it in Pink not long after for a really good price! So I wound up having two pink dresses by this point (though they were two very different styles haha) and while I didn't really wear my Heart Pocket JSK as often because it was very over the top to me at the time, I loved wearing the Claudette OP and wore it often. I had also started experimenting with more girly styles in recent years too and eventually got into fancy fashion~ I was finally starting to embrace wearing cute things! But I still didn't really get into egl fashion much more, mainly because the price tag warded me away and I didn't really know or take the steps to learn about building a wardrobe on a budget back then. There were a few dresses that I had seen pictures of which I really, really loved though: namely Milky Planet, Dream Sky, Sugary Carnival, and still Wonder Cookie in particular... can you tell which style I liked? But I only admired them from afar~
In 2013, I met and wonderful friend who was really into egl fashion. She had a few dresses that I got to see in person and after seeing how she made the fashion her own and had so much fun with it, she completely inspired me and I decided to finally get more into it too. I started keeping an eye out on the comm sales and auctions again, learned more about the second hand sales and how to shop for pieces on a budget, and after some time I found an adorable Sugary Carnival Special Set JSK for an amazing price! I purchased it and it was love at first sight the moment I tried it on. I loved adding fun accessories to my outfit and it made me really happy! Soon after I found another dress that I also fell in love with, a Macaron Tartan Riders JSK (also thanks to tumblr... stop showing me such cute outfits!) and after a small layaway, I purchased it as well. It's still one of my favorite dresses. And then the snowball began rolling... before I knew it, I was able to find some dresses I had never dreamed of owning, such as Milky Planet and Wonder Cookie! I finally had a small and cute egl wardrobe of my very own~!
Honestly, I never thought I would get into egl fashion as much as I have, but it really means a lot to me now. Even when I am not wearing it, I love admiring the dresses I have for their construction, details, and with prints it's almost like a mini art gallery on each one! There is so much about loving the fashion that brings me such joy and happiness, I am so grateful that I can now participate in it and feel inspiration every single day~!
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