Indie Brand Interview: Ick by Industrialkitty

I've had the pleasure of interviewing the designer of the charming indie brand "Ick by Industrialkitty"! A huge thank you to the sweet ms. Emma for taking the time to answer my questions!

I hope you will enjoy this fascinating ride behind the scenes as much as I did!

Northern Star: ”Ick by Industrialkitty” is a very interesting name for such a cute brand! Why did you choose it? 
Ick by Industrialkitty: I originally sold bloomers under the livejournal username "Industrialkitty" which became my sort of calling card at meetups. Shortened, it would be "IK" which for me sounds like "Ick." The brand concept, which we hope to go into more next fall, is to use the ideas of "Lolita" fashion as a sort of framework for the more grotesque, the less cute. I discovered lolita fashion through the film, Kamikaze Girls (Shimotsuma Monogatari), and one of my favorite scenes is when Momoko steps in poop on her way out of her country home. I like the juxtaposition of this sugary sticky sweetness with realistic absurdity. That was the inspiration for the logo, and where we hope to be going.

Above pictured is Ick by Industrialkitty's adorable, pleated Piano Key skirt!
See below for the blue colorway.

NS: It says on your page that you started sewing as a way to make Lolita clothes for yourself. What inspired you to start sewing clothes for other people, and ultimately, start your own brand?
Ick: When I first entered lolita, Metamorphose had just started to send clothing overseas. Ordering from them was a huge expensive process, just beginning to become more economical. The only way to go was a shopping service. I was in high school, I didn't yet have a job, so I couldn't buy anything, I could only make it. I had very basic sewing skills then, but took a number of classes, and began to make bloomers on commission, in addition to clothes for myself and my friends. We were made fun of very very regularly. At first, like many people who hand make lolita, I didn't understand their criticisms. I was very hurt by them. But over time it spurred me forward to analyze what these items are really made from and what determines quality. Sewing then became a point of pride for me. I ended up going to school for Fashion Design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and learning about patternmaking and the design process. It was a very stressful path to take, preparing us for internships at major high fashion houses. I came out of it unsure of what to do with myself, but realizing that I am still very inspired by the softness and whimsy found in lolita. That made me decide to start my own brand. It will be very rough for awhile, but I am hoping that I will be able to do something wonderful with it. 

NS: I understood that you are apparently two people sharing the workload! What do each of you do to keep the brand going?
Ick: Yes, I do all the designing, sewing, patternmaking, business decisions, and photography. My wonderful best friend, who went with me to meetups in our early days, Tori Sturm, has amazing graphic design skills and works on the website. Without her, I would only have nice clothes! It is really really difficult to try to do these things by yourself, to not get discouraged. I am very lucky to have such a wonderful friend to help me and grace me with her great ideas!

The blue colorway of the Piano Key print radiates an Alice in Wonderland-like sense of  the cute, curious and whimsical.

NS: What would you say has been the best part of starting your own Indie Brand? What has been the most difficult?
Ick: The best part has been getting my ideas out into the world, from design to completion, on a model in a photo. That whole process really pays off to something wonderful in the end. I really enjoy creating something and watching it walk down a runway. I haven't yet had the pleasure of really making that real for Ick, but I look forward to it. The two most difficult things about this, and I really think it is a tie, is between working the business aspect of things and staying current. I made a very big point of legitimizing this as a business in the state of Illinois, which made my start-up costs more expensive. I also wrote a business plan, to help mark out the steps that were important to this business. I had a small amount of capital to start with, but the costs for something like this (when I'm not buying fabric by the piece, I'm buying by the bolt, and I had to travel to meet some of our suppliers) have really racked up. Making the decisions about what we get, who we deal with, and all that, is really really difficult. We aren't a huge fashion house, so many of these fabric companies have scoffed at dealing with us. It has been hard, but with all that bearing down on me, I haven't been paying as much attention to current trends in fashion. We are just now taking the steps to shoot with Fall collection (and it's already November!). I'm very behind schedule. I have watched other companies I've worked for have similar troubles, but you really have to stick to it in order for it to work out! Hopefully we will persevere. 

NS: Your previous works includes historical costumes and cosplay, right? Are you planning for your brand to expand into those or other areas?
Ick: Yes, I was for a number of years, a Star Wars costumer. My father was once considered to be the best Obi Wan Kenobi (Old Ben) in the entire country, and was featured in the Rose Bowl parade. I learned quite a bit of stuff from those years, from accuracy and authenticity to textiles. With the release of Episode III we sort of lost interest in that whole aspect of things, and I went off to college, which put a serious damper on costuming. I had done some anime cosplay as well, but I didn't enjoy that as much because people didn't really know who you were all the time, and it's much easier to make something that's already established, even if the process of making it is really time consuming. Around my Junior year of college, I went to a World War II reenactment at a local car museum with my father for Father's Day. I have always been really interested in this point in history (along with my dad, who was born in 1942, so he has always been very interested in WWII) but speaking with one of the reenactors really struck a cord. It is very perplexing to me that someone would want to dress up as a soldier from that time period, given how horrible so many of the situations they found themselves in were! I left the reenactment without thinking too much about it, but the person I had been talking to managed to get in touch with me, and we continued our conversations and began to date! He's now my boyfriend, but we also do World War II reenacting together. I have learned alot about his history, and how much of a struggle his people have had to bring him where he is today. It's really amazing. Through this, I've noticed quite a few loop-holes in what are made for reenactors and I've started making many of the clothing items myself. I'm hoping to soon open a small other site with that information on it, although they don't need as much of a direct point of sale. I do take inspiration from this research, though, and it finds itself very often in my work, although in less obvious ways.

Ick by Industrialkitty's Cream Ribbon Salopette, coordinated with their fluffy Marshmallow Half-Jacket

NS: Do you have any big plans for the future? Drop us some hints!
Ick: We have a bunch of photoshoots planned, with some of our summer collection and some really cool stuff for fall. I've been working with an illustrator who has provided us with some really awesome stuff, and we will be debuting that collection soon as well! Hopefully by January we will also be making raincoats! I'm very excited for that.

NS: Do you have any words of advice for other Lolitas looking to start their own Indie Brand?
Ick: Don't get discouraged! The economy is very rough right now, and it is very hard to keep people interested. Do not lose hope! Make plans, short term and long term, for how you will be doing things. Having a business plan is a very important step to running a successful business. Draft your own patterns, if you can't do that, you can't move forward as a designer, you'll just keep making the same dress! Most of all, have fun! 

Thank you again to Emma from Ick by Industrialkitty for taking the time to give us all a quick backstage glance into the busy life behind the brand!

Ick by Industrialkitty can be found on their Facebook page and their own Website!

Why Lolitas are Tougher than your Average Jane

Original picture from gothic.stir.ac.uk

"Thus, the maiden fights. After all, to live is to fight, and to become beautiful is to become stronger." 

-Arika Takarano of Ali Project, "Gothic and Lolita Bible", Winter 2009 

This post is gonna be a small tribute to how we Lolitas fight to be fabulous and how difficult it can be to be us. We have so many crazy things that we go through, or risk going through, that "ordinary" people will probably never understand why we stick around with this fashion!

I have compiled a list of annoying Lolita problems and pet-peeves that we will all just have to deal with if we want to stay Lolitas.
These are the reasons Lolitas are tougher than the average girl!

Ill-fitting Clothes and Uncomfortable Shoes
Where ordinary people can just walk into a store and try on most pieces of clothing before they buy them, Lolitas have to send off their measurements to some company in far-away Asia and trust that they can figure it out. The only other alternative is to rely on the (not always accurate) measurements provided by the seller, and sometimes when a Lolita finally receives her item (after a long, long period of anxious waiting), well, the Lolita may just discover that that particular shade of pink is not her color at all, that the skirt is too short, or that she should never, ever consider buying something with a sweetheart neckline again. The same thing goes for shoes. Especially Bodyline has horribly inaccurate sizing at times, and lets face it, Lolita shoes were just not made for long Shopping Meet-ups with hours of walking. 
But as they say, if you wanna be beautiful, you'll have to suffer!

Obnoxious Cameras

When Lolitas are out and about, they often have to deal with paparazzis. Not actual professional ones, but curious people who just won't take "no" or an icy glance for an answer. You can try to escape, you can try to hide, but some people are creepily persistent and are not gonna give up until they get that perfect snapshot of the strange girl in the pink wig so that they can giggle with their friends about it later, or whatever else people use those pictures for. 
Some people may find the hunt to be very flattering, but to me, that is definetely up for discussion.

Getting Stuck and Knocking Everything Over
Petticoats that get stuck in car doors, ribbon bows getting stuck on doorhandles (this happens to me all the time in a particular skirt of mine), trying to leave a fancy restaurant but knocking over a candle and setting the tablecloth on fire, or knocking over a cup of hot cocoa and staining your friends new skirt. 
All of the above are very real risks to even the least clumsy of Lolitas!


Stains, and Prints that bleed
The frustration when someone (or your unfortunate self) spills something on your Lolita can be enormous, especially if your JSK has a print that is well-known to bleed if someone as much as dares to whispers the word "water".

Fees, Customs and Inflated Prices
There you see it. Your dream dress, up for grabs on Mbok! It is your lucky day! Well, or so you thought, until you saw the price. Resale values can sky rocket high above the original sales price, but if you want the dress, you'll just have to suck it up, knowing that shipping costs, shopping-service fees and customs are only going to add to the price in the end. 
Just don't think about how much cute stuff you could have bought on Taobao instead. It will make your wallet cry.

And these are just to name a few! 
 Being a Lolita can be delightfully sweet and horribly difficult, but we are tough and we stick around because we love our fashion enough to not worry so much about the little things above. 
But wow, can they be tiring when they happen!

What hardships do you hate to face, but deal with anyway, as a Lolita? 

New Release: BTSSB/AATP and Disney Collab!

Picture from baby-aatp.blogspot.com

Recently, Baby the Stars Shine Bright and Alice and the Pirates did a collaboration with none other than Disney and their Alice in Wonderland franchise in celebration of Disney's 110th Birthday! I know it might not exactly be news to everybody anymore, but since I love especially Alice and the Pirate's take on this collaboration, I thought I'd talk a little about it anyway! I would say this series is pretty good for people with slightly larger measurements, but the pieces are still a little on the short side. 

This collab was released exclusively in Japan, but that doesn't prevent you from keeping an eye on Mbok and Yahoo!Japan anyway, or taking contact to a Shopping Service! 

Now, onto the pieces!

Picture from babyssb.co.jp

Baby the Stars Shine Bright has released a jumperskirt, a one piece (Though only for sale at Disneystore Japan) as well as a very simple skirt for this print. The print is available in colorways appropriately named after characters from Alice in Wonderland: March Hare (ivory), Cheshire (pink), Alice (sax), Queen of Hearts (red) and Hatter (black). The little scenes of the borderprints are printed in color so they look a bit like stills from the animated movie. In a sense I think it is very appropriate for a collaboration like this, but I'm not a big fan of the look, as the colors of the print doesn't match well with every colorway, even if they have adjusted the background color a little bit. The greenish background color of the print looks especially out of place in the pink colorway! My favorite colorway is the red one. I think that the brown accents of the print contrasts compliments the deep red color, and the beautiful design of the print on the bodice and upper-skirt part is not as washed out as on the pink one. I love the striped straps on the JSK and the little charm on the satin bow! (It is though a little unfortunate how not-symmetric the waist-bow looks)
I don't have much to say about the OP. I find it to be a very classic Baby the Stars Shine Bright design, though I do love how it looks like you're wearing a blouse under the OP! The Peter Pan collar is adorable and I like the bustle at the back of the skirt-part. It is quite OTT, but in an old-school sort of way.

Picture from babyssb.co.jp

Alice and the Pirates' has released 2 JSK's and a simple skirt for this series. One of the Jumperskirts, however, can only be purchased from Disneystore Japan. Their take on the collaboration looks, though drawn in the same style as the animated movie, a bit more like storybook illustrations as they chose to leave out the colors. The crowns are a very beautiful touch, and impressively detailed, and they seem to me to be classic Alice and the Pirates',which I personally love! I think the icy-blue colorway of the JSK on AATP's own website is very interesting and contrasts well with the use of black corset-lacing and ribbon-detailing on the bottom of the JSK, though the deep navy colorway comes in as a close second. I'm not a big fan of the rounded cut of the bodice, however. I think it looks a bit awkward on some of the photos, though it might look better in person. The little striped bow is a very cute and fitting detail! For the Disneystore JSK I think the bustled skirt is very cute, though I'm not a fan of the lace on the bodice. It is a very elegant cut, though.

Picture from Disneystore.co.jp

While is doesn't look like Baby or AATP released any specifically Lolita accessories for this line, they did collaborate with Disney and a company called Crystal Ball to make a line of pouches, totes and wallets in an Alice in Wonderland style print (also only for sale at Disneystore Japan). Personally, I think they would have looked a lot better without the light-brown Crystal Ball logo and details (but I understand they have to put the logo somewhere), and of course with more frills!

Personally, I like Alice and the Pirate's version of the print better, and will definetely be keeping an eye out to see if I can find it on the second hand market! The crowns kind of sold it to me.

So, what are your thoughts on this collaboration? Are you gonna try and see if you can snatch a piece up somewhere too or is it not worth the trouble? 

Prints I'd Buy in a Heartbeat

Original picture from bdbphotos.com

I've seen posts like these on multiple blogs I've been following, and have for a long time been dying to do a post where I could share my own "Dream Prints"! 

It's no secret that prints are the "It"-thing for Lolita fashion right now, but there are certain print themes that I feel have been unfairly overlooked, and that need to be made so they can end up in my closet right now!

Picture from Glogster.com

1. A Leonardo da Vinci-Print

A passion of mine that goes hand in hand with my love for Lolita fashion, is my passion for History, and especially this genius inventor! I would love to see a Renaissance-fashion style OP or JSK for this, and the skirt should be printed with sketches of Leonardo da Vinci's brilliant inventions and maybe some of his funny, quirky poetry, short stories or wordplays! I'm not sure which brand I would imagine making something like this, though. Maybe a cool Indie Brand could pull it off!

Picture from Wikipedia.org

2. A new "Beauty and the Beast"-Print

I know this has actually been done before (Beauty and the Rose Promise by AATP) but I wasn't that fond of the way they executed it. I'm imagining something more elaborate for this print, with beautiful illustrations of scenes from the story! A design a little more like a mixture of BTSSB's Snow Queen series and their Rapunzel-themed print. I'm dying to see how they would portray the beast!

Picture from Wikimedia.org

3. An "Interview with the Vampire"-Print
This is probably a lot less likely to happen than even my Leonardo da Vinci idea, but I would love and cherish this forever! I'm a huge fan of the "Interview with the Vampire"-book, and I feel like especially the 1900-century parts of the book, in New Orleans, has got many great scenes to offer a print. ("The Vampire Lestat" would actually be just as good!) 

I imagine the dresses for this print to be very detailed and aristocratic, with gold buttons and jewels, a vest-like bodice and embroidery, or inspired by the doll-like, frilly dresses worn by Claudia! I could see Alice and the Pirates work magic with this idea! Oh, a girl can dream..

So, these would be my 3 most wished-for prints! Which prints would you love to see made, if you had your way?

Fairytale Lessons: The Little Mermaid

First I'd like to say that I'm very sorry for my late post today! The last couple of days I've been kept very busy, especially with my Once in a Lifetime American Halloween! For those of you who don't know, I'm currently spending 4 months in the US, and Halloween is The Event for me while I'm here! Of course I'm now a hundred percent sure it's a tradition I'll be bringing with me back to Denmark!
 Enough about that. I've decided I'm gonna start a new series of posts, focusing on traditional fairytales that have been turned into Disney movies! 
This post is gonna be about The Little Mermaid, a fairytale that I've been incredibly curious about, since it's danish and I've pretty much grown up with it, but for some reason never read it before!

If you wanna read it yourself, I suggest you do so before reading this post! It contains spoilers!

The Little Mermaid by H.C. Andersen is a very interesting piece of litterature, especially if you have watched the disney movie and compare the two. I feel like whereas the Disney movie is your traditional "Love Conquers All" animated childrens movie, and even though the fairytale and the disney movie are very similar in many ways, the fairytale is so much more than a love story.

Our sea-dwelling heroine has always been fascinated by the world above, but as she is the youngest of her siblings, she also has to wait the longest before she can go and take a look at it herself. She is fascinated by the tales that her older sisters has to tell when they come back from their trips to the surface, but she is especially touched by what her grandmother tells her one day: People have souls, though mermaids do not, and when humans die, they get to live forever in a kingdom in the sky!

The little Mermaid's wish to gain a soul and that wish, and her sudden infatuation with a young prince that she saves from drowning, is the final push for her that makes her go see the witch and strike a horrible deal that gives her legs and a chance to win the heart of the prince, but ends up costing her her life in the end. 

It may not sound like it, but in my opinion this story is about so much more than just a rebellious teenage girl running away from home for the sake of some young boy she doesn't even know. Before she even met the guy, she had a strong passion and longing for the world above the ocean. He is just the thing that gives her the courage to follow her dream! Had she never met the prince, she would probably have stayed in the ocean with the rest of her family, safe and sound, but always wondering what her life could have been like if she just had the courage to go. He is the one who shows her the world above, and that actually makes her happy!

In the end her adventure leads her to a difficult choice: Will she kill the prince who overlooked her as a potential match and married someone else, forget about her mistake and go home, or will she own up to what she has brought on herself and let him be happy? 
Because of the goodness of her heart, her sacrifice and her strength, she gets the chance to earn a soul, and eternal life! 
She dies, yes, but her death is obviously not supposed to be a punishment. Instead, it defies the curse of the witch and gives our heroine a new beginning.

Another small, but important, point that I think this story gets across is this:
When the prince finally again meets the woman he has loved for a long time, the Little Mermaid seems jealous, yes, but the "other woman", the princess, is obviously not supposed to be a villain in the story. She is shown as being beautiful and lovable. The little Mermaid could have had her revenge on the girl in the end, even if she didn't want to kill the prince. She does nothing to harm her or divert the prince's attention from her, but instead accepts the other girl as the one who will make the prince happy, and kisses her forehead. I think this is a wonderful lesson of acceptance. Being happy for someone else, and letting go, is a way too rare lesson in stories today! 

After reading the story, I thought about how the ending could have been changed. What if the Mermaid had gotten to know the prince first, before changing herself? What if she had stayed with him at a less crowded beach until he woke up, and told him that she was his savior? Maybe he could have loved her, and then she could have made a deal with the witch, and they could have had their shot at a "Happily ever After"! 
But would this ending really have been as effective? Maybe not.

The little mermaid goes through a personal development throughout the story that culminates in the end, and she turns into someone from whom I feel we can learn a valuable lesson:

Be yourself, be happy for other people, learn to let go. Follow your dreams, because if you don't, you will never know what your adventure could have given you! If you make mistakes along the way, own up to them! 
But please, be careful, and don't strike bad deals with sea witches!

The Always so Unreasonable Parents

Original Picture from Wearemoviegeeks.com

For some young, aspiring Lolitas, there is only one thing standing between them and full Lolita-dom: The Parents. Parents can be your biggest supporters or your biggest hindrance. They can give you confidence when you don't feel you can go outside in Lolita alone, or they can be the ones tearing your confidence down until you feel like quitting Lolita for good.
Why are your parents being so unreasonable? 

In my opinion, Lolita has many wonderful values and qualities that should make it very attractive to parents, but some parents are just not that fond of "Weird Things". They don't want their kid to be "The Weird Kid" whom nobody wants to be friends with, and who knows what kind of unsafe stuff these Lolita-people do when they're together? Well, we know, but your parents don't. They might think that Lolita is just some kind of phase that you won't even remember in a two weeks time, so why should they spend a lot of money and time figuring out how to order a dress from Japan for you? As you can see from the above, your parents probably just want what's best for you, and their beloved wallet.
And now, let's skip to what you probably wanna know: What you can do to make your parents "get it".

 Lolita is not just something strange and foreign. It is actually also relevant to our western cultures, considering that it takes it's inspiration from the Rococo period and Victorian eras. Lolitas were actually inspired by our history before we even discovered our lovely street fashion! You could show your confused parents some pictures to demonstrate this point. Ín line with especially victorian fashion comes the modesty aspect of Lolita fashion, which could also be something that some parents would appreciate (My own mom doesn't get this part.) 
You know, some dads just don't wanna see their little girl grow up and start wearing mini-skirts!

An aspect that I think parents would appreciate even more, is the community! Which parent doesn't want to see their child go out and have some good, safe fun with likeminded souls, and make new friends? If possible, you could borrow some clothes from a friend and attend a couple of meet-ups, and then let your parents know how much fun you had! Maybe they'll warm up to the idea of you becoming a fully equipped member of your local Lolita community.

Some Lolitas would disagree with me on this, but I think it's pretty much always a good idea to be honest with your parents. Don't go behind their back and buy Lolita dresses if they tell you not to! If they find out, it's not very likely that you're gonna accomplish some kind of chick-flick ending where they will magically understand your love for Lolita. It is more likely that they will see it as something that makes you rebellious and break their trust, which will only mean further limits to what your parents will allow you to participate in. What you could do to sneak some Lolita into your wardrobe, is start showing interest in nice blouses, accessories and the like, from mainstream stores! It is more likely that they will let you have frills that you can buy in your everyday clothing store. Also, you could show an interest in learning how to sew. I think very few parents would be opposed to their child learning crafts or getting a new hobby, and they would probably not be as likely to criticise or deny you wearing Lolita clothes that you have made yourself.

If you don't wanna learn how to sew, try and show them how commited you are to the fashion by doing work and chores around the house to earn your Lolita clothes! You could do some weeding and mow the lawn in exchange for a Bodyline skirt, and so on. You could also save up credit in exhange for good grades!

If you already have a job and are making your own money, and just need your parents' permission, show that you can be very economically responsible. Work hard and save up for your Lolita clothes! This will also show your parents that you are not just blowing your money off on a short-lived fancy, but that you're actually passionate about this and willing to wait! Also, you could spend your money so much worse. Look at how other people are burning their money away these days!

If, after all of the above, your parents are still being stubborn, there is not much you can do but wait. Wait, and throw them a couple of discreet remarks once in a while about pretty new brand releases, this dress you saw on Daily_Lolita, how pretty your friend looked in her Metamorphose dress the other day, etc. Who knows? Maybe some day, they will come around! And even if they don't, you don't have to care about your parents' opinions forever. When you move out, and that day will probably come sooner or later, you can shamelessly indulge in Lolita fashion to your heart's content, and it will be totally worth it!

Last Note: I have a feeling that being a boy who wants to be a Lolita(or if you prefer, Brolita) often comes with more parent-problems than those I've talked about above. Sadly, I do not feel qualified to talk about these problems, as I have no personal experience in that area. Sorry! I hope you still find this post a little bit useful.

Indie Brand Interview: Haenuli

For this second indie-brand interview I have had the honor of interviewing the beautiful and talented Korean indie designer, Haenuli, of the brand of the same name! Please enjoy!


Northern Star: Are you a lolita yourself? What inspired you to become a Lolita?

Haenuli: I’ve been wearing Lolita fashion about 8 years, I can’t recall what was motivate me but I knew about Lolita fashion for long times. Also I always love lace, ruffles, pretty butter cup shape skirts. 

NS: What made you decide to become an independent designer of your own lolita brand?
H: When I first knew about Lolita it was around 2000. At that time there’s some independent Lolita shops owned by armatures in Korea. Also Most of Korean lolitas prefer indies shop than Japanese brand pieces. At that time I was a student, making my own Lolita clothing for my self, I was a lone Lolita until 2004. Around 2007 other people suggest me to open a Lolita shop so I opened small armature shop. 

Haenuli's gorgeous Sleeping Beauty print. There are many different colorways, including black(pictured), purple and green!

NS: What do you most enjoy about being an independent designer so far?
H: When my new clothings are goes well with my model, when my customers love my clothing. 
When I got suggestions from Japanese brand to work with them, When national broadcast wants to filming about Lolita fashion, I’m glad I make quality Lolita clothing.

NS: What has been the hardest part of starting your own brand?
H: Haenuli Lolita shop is registered as real business in Korea. When I register my business I have to pay for tax do some paper work. When some Chinese brand copy original prints from other indie shops that gives direct damage to small indies shop. Even though I consider my business as real business still it’s armature hobby shop to most of Lolita.

Haenuli's adorable Lolita Bunny print that, jusk like the Sleeping Beauty JSK, exists in multiple colorways!

NS: How do you find inspiration for new designs?
H: Someday inspiration just hits me. Most of time I just think hard in days, weeks. 

Another one of Haenuli's gorgeous creations

NS: Do you have any idols in the Lolita community?
H: There are so many beautiful lolitas gives me inspiration at EGL, daily Lolita, tumblr, look book etc. I asked few people to scrap their coordination and post on my Korean blog. I’m always study new trend of Lolita fashion from them. 

Haenuli's "Alice" dress in the Black colorway. There is also a white version!

NS: What do you hope to accomplish with your brand? Do you have any plans for the future?
H: This year I had a chance to show my work at AWA, Otakon and several more conventions. Right now I’m preparing PMX Lolita fashion show. Next year I hope I could attend those conventions in person. Also I wish there’s Haenuli tag on EGL and daily Lolita(^^)


NS: Do you have any advice for other lolitas out there, who are looking to start their own independent brand?
H: I don’t think I’m in position of give advise… Well when you’re operating your own business there will be a lot of problems you have to solve in professional way. When you try hard enough, you will get what you want eventually.

I would like to, once again, thank Haenuli for taking time off her busy schedule to participate in this interview! 
Haenuli's shop can be found online on Facebook and they also have an online shop.

All pictures in this post are borrowed with permission from Haenuli's facebook page.