D.I.A for the Western Gal

Hi everyone :3 Lately I've been on a designing spree over at VF. On top of that, I'm pretty much working 9 days straight this week and it sucks. But enough of that. I have some projects I'm working on, on the side of this blog through VF and am supposed to get some coding help from one of the girls there, so I've desperately been trying to put some graphics together and think ahead on both design as my hobby and career. I've also been thinking a lot about my next Gyaru improvement post. In my own opinion, I think it will be difficult to top the past post with the Gilfy top and Egoist dress, but I need to find how to make the next post and improvement even better than the last, and that's a challenge in itself.

On that note, I've been racking my brain to find a decent, affordable rock-style clothing shop that has the current Gyaru trends. To say the least, I've had no success whatsoever finding one. Don't get me wrong, if I need edgy looking clothes I can go to Wet Seal or Love Culture, even Boss Wear for Girls, but it doesn't have the edge I'm looking for; it's very toned down for a decent rock look. My favorite store for such clothes was Hot Topic, but it all went to hell when the Emo and Scene Queen trend took over.

So, onto the reason I'm posting this: I'm craving D.I.A. styled clothing and will make it myself if I damn well have to.

I've been digging the tribal trend for quite some time now, to the point that most of my new accessories are in relation to it. I love the patterns, especially the darker ones because they can match so well with Rokku style. The tribal scarfs are definitely a must for the season, and probably the easiest to make. This will be my project for either this or next week, since I don't have a day off until next Saturday and I'll have more money by then. It gives me plenty of time to come up with quite a few D.I.Y tutorials that may not have been posted by anyone else yet ;D so please be on the lookout for that!

I've seen these in a more goth/punk version but never in Gyaru style. I like the adding of the gold chain and hoops to connect both extremities. My plan for this? Recycle the jeans that I don't use anymore and do this or visit the thrift stores and destroy some there. Considering the fact that they seem to be light pants, it may be better to get that style than jeans but we'll see what works! Depending on time this may take a bit longer to set up a tutorial for, but I should have something whipped up. Like I said... I need these clothing styles in my life, pronto!

If I'm not mistaken, a similar trend started last year about cutting up ones tops and adding something like a scarf bottom to it and making it something better and even different. This top reminds me a lot of that trend since it is essentially two different elements. This can definitely be done, and I have a feeling I'll have some fun doing this XD. Dark black jean fabric and something in an edgy style for the scarf fabric!

As simple as it looks, I want it and I'm almost 70% sure I'm going to butcher this one up. However, I think it's worth a shot and may even be able to make an amazing one like the ones here. I'm a sucker for the type of print that D.I.A has for this trend in particular... I can't help myself, haha XD!

Before I was into Gyaru, I was doing the street style that Tukwila, WA has which consisted of almost a Baby Shoop style. It was South Pole, Baby Phat, and Rocawear clothing and in the winter it was always girls wearing tank tops and a jacket over it. Nothing else. Over the years when I was doing the street style here, I collected a plethora of tank tops that I don't even use anymore; This is one of the ways all my tank tops will be headed into.

Throughout the years, I've also managed to collect quite a few t-shirts during the past few years, and now I know the perfect way to re-use them thanks to these pictures above. It looks almost like two separate fabrics, as the t-shirt seems to be needed to cut once the chest area starts. Pretty easy to work with except for the lining, which is what will make D.I.Y #4 difficult.

Okay, for my own safety I should probably stop there unless I want to shove a foot up my mouth with the fact that I probably won't be able to do more D.I.Y's than these few here.

Layout Technique: Vector feat. Hosts in Kabukicho

This is my new desktop background too :3

I'm really pleased with how it came out hehehe.

Layout Technique: Choppy feat. Re:No

I'll admit, I'm biased towards her. Her pictures are so easy to manipulate :3

VampireFreaks

After reading more and more about OraOra Kei and the tough kind of style, I decided to check back on one of the websites I loved the most five years ago: VampireFreaks. I know I mentioned it in my last post but I wanted to talk about it now. I decided to make an account there again, and though there are not many interesting people to talk to, I did join some cults (their version of groups/forums). The first one is called metrotrash. I actually really like it and am glad I got invited because it's a group for designers and not just for regular HTML codes but there's contests on making the graphics, a ton of variety, and advanced and innovative design tutorials. Actually, now that I think about it, there are no HTML codes on this group at all. I have felt more and more inspired to continue my work as a graphic designer, so every tutorial and contest I go into, I'll post on here as well for everyone. I want to spread Gyaru, and VF is how I knew about Japan fashion in the first place, ironically enough.

The other cult I joined is called Hogwarts_. Holy fucking shit was I ecstatic, haha! I love Harry Potter and have scoured the internet in search for a type of RP/Site that you can do the same thing as the movies. This cult offers "assignments" as well as sorts you into classes. Unfortunately, I got in to Hufflepuff, but whatever.... The design for these cults are amazing as well, by the way. Now that I mention it, at work I had a guest who was telling me that his father made an actual Quidditch (sp?) team and it's one of the official ones. I'm jealous XD. Well, this is my update for now. I'm on the search to find my "dark" side again and merge it with my Gyaru fashion and lifestyle. Hope everyone is having a good day so far!

Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill

Alright! *cough* Consider me on board with the recent OraOra Kei trend rising up in Gyaru lately :3 Everyone that's been blogging about the recent Soul Sister magazine is making me regret the fact that I didn't buy the damn thing when I had the chance D:
I started reading Mitsu's post about OraOra Kei in Soul Sister and EGG, and I'm just in awe that this is the style I love :3 I mean, I looooove DIA with a passion, and if I could forever stick with one brand, I would always pick DIA over any other brand. With my ...background, I think OraOra Kei is more appealing in that sense. The whole 'Yankii' thing was my life for many years, to be honest. While I miss those days terribly, I'm glad I got out of it, but the interest is there nonetheless. As for everything else, Rokku has always been the style I go for, and Tsuyome is my makeup for the most part, no matter what I try it turns out that way, haha. Better than to avoid it, I may as well embrace it for what it is.
So all in all, I think these are the styles I've been going for. I always knew I was into Rokku, since the definition is plain and simple to translate, but always felt it was more than that. Now that I actually know the terms for what was missing, I can research it more and adapt to it better. I think that the other thing that sold me to loving OraOra is the use of the lady fauxhawk. I did this once on a weekend and loved it, but never saw any other Rokku gal use it, so while I loved it, I never bothered to perfect it. I'm dying to try it again, now that I see Gals in magazines wear it.

The only other style I would love to see in Gyaru is the Psychobilly look. I loooove it! That's why I couldn't stop squealing when I saw Happie Nuts' May cover *w* I've always been into Psychobilly since 10th grade in High School when a guy friend showed me a band called The Horrorpops. I love Patricia Day's style and the band's music, which made me appreciate the Rockabilly/Psychobilly style even more. Who knows, maybe one day a Western Gal perfects the Psychobilly Gyaru look if there is one or I create it XD bahaha, I'm wishing here! Oh well. Have a great day, every one =]

La Quinta & Alki Beach Park

Today was the famous La Quinta training for Front Desk in Tacoma. I hate waking up so early, especially on my day off... I ended up waking up at 5am, tried to go back to sleep only to hear my alarm go off in what felt like 15 minutes (it was 6:30 by then). Anyway, the training was really dumb, there were five other branches there and we all had to share our information as well as do many group activities. I wanted to share one thing from the training today, since I didn't look Gyaru today... I'm so not a morning person lol, and I tried but the falsies weren't cooperating, and neither was the hair. Here's a video from the La Quinta corporate office; they made a parody off of Black Eyed Peas' "I've Got a Feeling".





Anyway, once I got back I went to pick up Rei at Federal Way and we drove out to Alki Beach Park. The weather was incredible! It was so sunny out, not a cloud in the sky really... And for it being a supposed high of 67 degrees, it was tolerable weather even if it was a bit windy out. I decided to also take some pictures to submit into my new portfolio. It's amateur, but they're pictures that I'm honestly proud of and as a designer, would use for further works.

There were about three families of geese including two+ nests of the babies. They were so adorable!!! I think they definitely symbolize the Spring Season. The last picture was also a video. I assume that the goose that was leading was the mommy because the babies were just following it wherever it was walking to, cho cute!

Rei doesn't personally like getting her picture taken, even if I ask her nicely so I had to turn this into candids XD This is one of my favorite pictures. She's really outdoorsy, and at that point in the picture she wanted to drop off the ledge and go through the rocks to get to the sand and get some sea shells~

 Dead thing #1: Barnacles! There are so many in Alki, though I assume that's for every beach. I kind of had assumed already that they were barnacles and dried up, as with my shoe I got way too curious and decided to scrape off some of them. I was on Google searching for images of barnacles and couldn't find anything as colorful as this picture, but I really like this for some reason.

Dead thing #2: Crab! There's actually something about it that gets to me. When I first went back to the beach with Bere, we found the same crab, on the same beach area... But that was so long ago! Well, maybe mid 2010... Anyway, Rei found it today in the same area. I actually like the color of it and the clean skeleton of it, though I guess it's a bit morbid as well. Don't know.

I'm proud of myself, though maybe this is due to my not wanting to disrespect Rei with her culture but I've tried new things including Japanese food and Sushi! I've driven on the freeway more since my accidents, and I've been walking more and using less transportation. Next Monday we'll be going to one of the WA Islands, or possibly hiking, and then Sunday we'll be going to Leavenworth with my parents ^-^b Yayyy. Have a good night, all!

NEW: Layout, Ideas, Posts!

Hi everyone! Sorry about my last post, I didn't want to take long into moving into a new thing here, because if I do then I end up abandoning the project/blog I'm on and I don't want to do that to this blog! One of the biggest reasons I stopped making... good posts has been because I've been focusing on the fact that my layout wasn't as good as I could make it since the second layout. I hate to admit it and at the same time it makes me happy to say I focus so much on getting things done the right way and focusing on the design of things because I've dreamed of  putting this new layout together and now to finally see it working is totally amazing to me. I love the darkness of it and the colors :3 Reminds me of my time in Vampire Freaks, hehe.

I also wanted to get more organized in this blog as well as make sure this layout and set up showed who I am, and just gave more of a feel into my own personality. I added my inspirations; Ashley (of course), Akira, and Re:No. I'm sure as the days pass by or I learn more about Gyaru I'll have more, but these are my top three. As far as favorites, I always look for blogs that have everything, not just a certain type of thing, so Jenny and Mitsu seemed like the best options. My about me is more updated and shows one of the very few pictures I actually liked of myself (I can take 30+ pictures and only like one... not love, like!) and my projects are still being worked on. I miss my whole being into Anime and J-Dramas, as well as wanted to start my photography portfolio among other things. I think for now this blog is the only thing I'll work on but the rest are being considered for a much later date.

I'm so proud of this: I wanted to track my progress in Gyaru but didn't want to have to post it everytime, mainly to remind myself of my own improvement, so I decided to make it into a gadget on the blog. I basically followed the same meme that Lizzie made, tracking progress month by month. It's a brilliant idea, you know! ^-^

Anyway, today I'm starting with my first new idea to this post: I want to document, in a way, where I go and what I do ^-^ It may not be so interesting, but I want to improve in photography and I want to remember nice things from Seattle. Being from Mexico and moving so much, I always regret not remembering friends, places, activities from when I was younger... So this seems like a good idea ^-^. I'm also shooting for making my bosses mad, since I'm being forced to show up at some training starting as early as nine on my only actual day off.... Oh, and I believe I'm going to the beach today with Rei if the weather is still beautiful today [=

Fixing and Stressing

Hi everyone D:
Sorry for not really blogging or responding to comments. I'll get to those as soon as I can.... Not saying I have a ton to respond to but life has been hell lol. I managed to kind of break my friend's Japanese laptop and have been trying to fix it since last Monday, on top of that I'm getting more hours (though I don't want them) at my job, covering for people again, and things at home are a real pain in the ass. On top of that my free time has been monopolized by my friend, not that I mind at all... So I'm taking this time to think of better things to blog about. I think my reviews have gotten a bit shitty.. Hmmm. I still want to improve in Gyaru so this is just temporary until I can get my act together and get things sorted, which I hope is very soon ^-^ please bear with me through this small change, I'll come back better than before! And thank you all for still following, and reading my blog, even taking the time to comment <3 I appreciate it so much!

Resort Style: Cecil McBee

I've been a bit fascinated by the recent resort trend that's been going on. I think mainly because the style isn't necessarily sweet, but also not necessarily edgy; it's somewhere in the middle, and common ground in fashion is usually a very good thing.

Very short post, but I hope everyone liked this [= I'm planning on making more posts like these in the future with other brands in mind.. Btw, please ignore the last picture, still tired and I ended up confusing both maxi dresses. The left one is from Pink Ice and the right one is from Cecil McBee D: *fail*

Blenda 05.11

 Hi all [= Lately I've been racking my brain for innovative ideas to contribute to my magazine reviews. I hadn't found any inspiration so after about 5 different magazine review attempts, I would just delete them and not deal with them anymore until later. I finally figured something out though: It's difficult keeping track of the latest trends, and if your closet looks anything like mine, a little creative organization could help. I'll talk about this later on in this post. For now it's important to get this done XD!

The bohemian trend is still going strong this month, and even though I don't necessarily agree or like the prairie look, I'm completely in love with the ethnic, Moroccan-styled outfits, as pictured in the top right corner. IMO, the good thing about the bohemian trend is that it can be put into many different looks without looking too sweet. This, as a gal who's focused on more Rokku style than anything, is a huge plus.

Turns out it's not all about Navy and Red anymore! Getting into the Summer season definitely means more color in your wardrobe, so Blue, Pink, Orange, Green, and Red are key. If you're looking to glam up a plain colored top, or even want to try a color you may not really have tried before, consider these.

*Personal Note: Looking through my wardrobe, I have more monochrome clothing, and next to that it's Orange/Yellow/Beige. I tend to stay more with those colors but I'm totally a sucker for that periwinkle blue and ocean green that I may need to go shopping soon!

My love for Egoist has really turned me into an accessory junkie. It's my favorite brand and since I already have a lot of items in these colors, well, I need to resort to buying accents. Those three are my top picks for this issue's Egoist picks, even the picture, which is in my list of "love but will never be able to pull off such style and in turn look stupid" XD.

Reiko Ide has quickly turned into one of my favorite models. I'm almost 90% sure I've mentioned this before, but in case I haven't... I just love her style! ^0^

Gilfy is grabbing a lot of their inspiration from Mexico!!! I kind of had a feeling of this when I kept seeing the types of accessories and clothing that were floating around in other issues, but I figured it was my mind playing tricks on me XD. While I like the spread Gilfy has put out, I don't agree with the picks they chose at all. Especially because this isn't how Mexican people dress at all... But I like the rustic feel of it regardless.

I've never been too big on accessories. Actually, that's kind of what I needed to accent my clothes and make them a bit more into the Gyaru style. Anyway, my favorites are the simple blogger and Mexican vintage sets. I tend to have an obsession with crosses lately, and I also really like the look that the other provides.

My favorite styles are Seattle, Texas, and San Diego ^-^ What are yours?

We're moving into the 'new' clothing trends and the one that will remain a focus for gearing into summer: The boyfriend shirt, the neo-rock shirt, and the crochet knit. The following are a few picks from this spread.