A few people managed to pick up a Lolita vibe from my Little Red Riding Hood outfit.  It is rather unfortunate though that I’m not a personal fan of Lolita [1]fashion in most of its strands and variations (I’d refer people to La Carmina [2] for more information on gothic Lolita, a site I’ve stumbled upon that seems expert in its field... seeing as I’m ill equipped to educate people...).  Mainly because a) the aesthetic somehow looks a little wrong on my 5”7-8 body and b) I’m not really into playing into stereotypes – a girl from Hong Kong dressed in full-on Lolita costume traipsing around London giggling innocently and batting my eyelashes would just spell disaster in all aspects of daily life for me, probably more so than if my daily uniform consisted of a 1 foot high feather hat with a vintage Thierry Mugler suit and Alexander McQueen heels. 

However, if the aesthetics of Lolita are running through a collection, that certainly isn’t going to be a deterrent especially when you see the beautiful handiwork by Lamilla [3], a collaboration between Lamija Suljevic and Gabomilla Nielsen.  Braids, needlework, folds and lace and a heap of romance (dare I say DARK romance....?) make up the SS08 collection called ‘Porcelain Nightmares’.  Well, there’s no quibbles about the name of the collection relating to the clothes.  Black and white, representing the clash between beauty and brutality which the look book images convey perfectly.  Despite its immediate reminder of Lolita fashion, somehow, the craftsmanship of the dresses surpass that association.  Plus, I’m guessing Lamilla will come up with  something different from their Porcelain Nightmares of SS08 and their detailed skills will still remain. 

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Over the weekend, they have made some of their collection available to buy online [5] and if you look closely, the back cut out details are quite incredible.

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