.the princess portal.

Contest Entry by Payette

I know you are just going to love this. I’ve finally finished putting together a gallery of all your amazingly cute Princess Style Contest entries and seeing them all on one page has once again, overwhelmed me. There is enough inspiration here to fill several Princess wardrobes with, go have a look!

I’ve recently been very fortunate to have the Portal featured on some beautiful blogs and even did a little interview for the Lovely Lisa of Pink World. I thought you might be interested in seeing how our Princess message is being spread across the internet, and both of these sites are worth exploring in their own right too!

How to be a Princess, Interview at Pink World

“….If you’ve read the Think Pink manifesto you’ll know that, at the very top, it states; “…Don’t wait for others to treat you like the princess that you are…” that’s because both Lola and I know that being a princess is quite possibly the most fabulous-o thing in the world….”

Princess Style with Skye at The Disney Blog

“….Are you a Disney Princess in your heart? If so you might want to check out Princess Skye’s Princess Portal. Skye draws inspiration from Disney’s many Princesses including The Princess Diaries. She recently discussed how to write your own Princess Code and attended a play called “The Snow White Conspiracy” (sounds interesting!)….”

Thank you once again to everyone who participated in the contest, it was a big success and we’ll definitely hold more in the future!

As a part of fashion week we recently ran a Princess Style competition here at the portal and I have been surprised and overwhelmed by the amazing response! We received over 70 creative and beautiful entries! Thank you so much to all of you who sent in a Polyvore set displaying your own unique Princess style. All of the entries were very special because they showed me what your tastes are and what kind of fashion makes you feel like a Princess and I am in awe of how classy you girls are!

Mousse, Sab and I had a very hard time choosing a winner. After emailing each other back and forth and narrowing down out favourites (which were a big list to begin with!) we finall decided on one we all loved equally. The winning entry is:

Princess of the Printed Word by Casi Leigh

Congratulations to Casi Leigh! We all adored your Princess of the Printed Word, its sweet and classic and just what I would love to wear on a trip to the library or sitting beneath an apple tree reading fairy tales. If you would like to email me your address I will ship out your prizes shortly and put you in contact with Mousse to arrange your custom scarf.

We also had two runner ups that we felt deserved a mention here.

La Fée Verte Princess Set by -Sàya-

Pirate Princess by meander

I’m sure you can see just by these few examples how very hard it was for us to choose! Now I’ve had a lot of requests to upload a gallery of all the Princess Style contest entries. I am currently working on this so please be patient, It will hopefully be up soon!

Once again, thank you to everyone who entered, I never imagined we’d have such a wonderful response!

Last weekend I visited the studio of a local photographer to collaborate on a photoshoot. Will has a lot of experience in model photography and used to be a professional photographer, so he had a wealth of advice and helpful tips to give me and I had a lot of fun shooting with him.

I styled the outfits and hair myself, and tried to achieve a contrasting theme with something innocent and feminine and then gothic and mysterious. I made the choker in the gothic set myself, it was a fun little craft project and helped pull together the look I had in mind.

Thanks to Will for the great shoot, I’m really happy with how the images turned out!

photo by Cris Mod

Dear Skye,
Hello! I was just wondering if you had to have long hair to be a princess or loli. My hair is extremely short, cropped like a boy’s, and in every picture I’ve seen all the Lolitas have long hair. Hairstyles and hair accessories also seem to be a big part of the ensembles. I like my hair this short, but just wonder if it fits with the style or is considered too “out there.” Thank you very much for your time and consideration!

Sincerely,
Kerm

While our traditional image of a fairy tale Princess may include long flowing locks, I definitely don’t consider this a rule! In fact I think short hair can be adorable and really bring out the femininity in one’s facial features. I had very short hair for a year in high school, and my friends used to tell me I looked like an elf. For some historical heroines, wearing their hair short was a sign of strength, including Joan of Arc.

photo by pwbaker

Lolita fashion does have a very well defined image, and usually this includes long curly hair. However if you want to adopt the fashion I don’t think this should stop you. I have seen many lolitas with shorter hair who look adorable in hair bows and ribbons. If your hair is just long enough to curl a little you can also go for an adorable Shirley Temple style!

In conclusion, you don’t have to be Rapunzel to get in touch with your Inner Princess. Dress and style your hair in a way that pleases you, and if you’re wearing a specific fashion such as Lolita find a way to work your own individuality in to the look. Whether you have a beautiful bob or pretty pixie cut you are definitely still a Princess.

Can you think of other famous Princesses with short hair?

Fashion week is nearly over here at Princess Portal, its been a lot of fun! Thank you to everyone who has entered the style contest so far, we’ve received heaps of great entries and I’m glad I have Mousse and Sab to help me judge because I know its going to be very hard to choose a winner! If you haven’t submitted yours yet you still have until next Wednesday. Details here.

I’ve been playing around on Polyvore as well, and have come up with three more Princess Styles of my own. A few people requested Gothic Princess, so I hope you like my interpretation. The Sweetheart Princess is sure to please a lot of you and the last set is from my list yesterday, wear grey and yellow together.

Gothic Princess

The Gothic Princess lives in her own dark fairy tale. Where apples taste of hemlock and the roses that grow up the castle gates catch errant knights in their thorns. With layers of jewel toned silk and satin roses to highlight the raven’s wing shades of her wardrobe, she is as mysterious as she is enchanting.

Sweetheart Princess

The Sweetheart Princess is still a girl at heart. She likes innocent pretty things, hearts and bows and kiss-me candy. You will never see her without her pearls. This Princess’s style is a little bit quirky and she loves novelty handbags and accessories. She both stands out and fits in the the trendy crowds of her favourite shopping district.

Corporate Princess

The Corporate Princess dresses in professional black and grey. While at the office she always looks elegant and modern, but throws in her own playful little touches. When she leaves at the end of the day she throws on her bright yellow coat, scoops up her matching bag and trots down the street dreaming of Paris.

1. Go beachcombing, find the prettiest shell and make a pendant of it
2. Learn to French Braid your hair
3. Improve your posture, practise by walking around with a book on your head
4. Tie ribbons around your wrists, your ankles, your neck or braid them in to your hair
5. Find your signature scent
6. Wear something with a tiara on it every day, a badge, hair clip or necklace, declare your royal self
7. Find the cutest umbrella you can and get matching gum boots
8. Start a charm bracelet, add a charm for every Princess Challenge you complete
9. Carry a monogrammed handkerchief everywhere
10. Brush your hair 100 times each night until it shines
11. Find the perfect shade of lipgloss, ruby red, pastel pink or something with sparkles
12. Match your heels to your headband
13. Find a long, wooly, handknitted scarf in your favourite colour
14. Wear fresh flowers in your hair
15. Replace the buttons on an ordinary shirt with pearls or hearts or jewels
16. Perfect your curtsey
17. Wear a full length cape in public
18. Attach cute and sparkly charms to all you gadgets, phone, DS, ipod, pretty up your technology
19. Put stickers and diamantes on everything
20. Indulge in a faux fur hood, feel like an Artic Princess
21. Paint your nails in different colours
22. Replace your shoelaces with ribbon
23. Smile at everyone you meet, even if they don’t smile back
24. If you’ve never used one, invest in a good eyelash curler
25. Sleep in an old fashioned nightgown and cap
26. Glue jewels on to your shoes
27. Wear grey and yellow together
28. Have spontaneous conversations with elderly folk, young children and birds
29. Sprinkle rose petals on your salad and bake lavender scones
30. Carry a book as an accessory, match it to your dress (you can read it too!)
31. Bow to the Sun, kiss your hand to the Moon and make wishes on the Stars
32. Wear more hats
33. Wear skirts that swirl when you walk, spin around in them!
34. Dust your eyelids with shimmering powder that makes you look like a fairy
35. Everytime you look in a mirror, smile at your reflection, for you are the fairest

I have a teeny tiny question of my own..I hope you’ll be able to answer sometime.
My question is: Are you still a lolita? The thing is, since a long time ago your sense of style changed…you stopped wearing your lolita clothes. - Rosebud

I’ve chosen this question to answer from Rosebud, partially because its fashion week and partially because I’m surprised more people haven’t questioned my gradual shift away from Lolita Fashion! If you’re new to this blog, or unsure of what ‘Lolita’ is you can read a brief explanation here.

To answer Rosebud’s question simply, yes I am still a Lolita. However it has a different place in my life these days. I first discovered lolita fashion about four years ago. I was working at a trendy little cafe and a girl walked in wearing the most amazing costume I’d ever seen. I couldn’t help but ask her about it, and she told me it was from Japan, by a brand called Putumayo and that the style was known as ‘Lolita.’ I went home that night, did some research and fell in love with the look. Things were a lot different back then, the online community was smaller and more DIY inclined because it was still hard to access brand clothing outside of Japan. Most of the people interested in the fashion were also keen on Japanese rock and Visual Kei, Mana being a hugely popular icon and the gothic substyle was by far the most popular in the west.

It wasn’t long before I found myself wearing my first lolita outfit, a black one piece dress by Metamorphose. I also had a parasol which I still own and handmade headdress. I wore this ensemble with carefully curled hair to the first Perth lolita meet up and tea party, which I helped organize with a friend. From there I taught myself to sew, started getting interested in classic and sweet styles, ran panels on japanese fashion at the local convention, made friends both local and international who shared by interests, started to write about the fashion and lifestyle, ran an online PbP RPG with a lolita theme (It was called Spilt Milk) joined a lolita photo posting group called Himitsu no Niwa and eventually created this blog! As you can see Lolita has had a huge impact on my life.

Four years is a very long time to be devoted to anything however, and as I see fashion as a form of self expression I think its natural that our style should change as we grow and develop as Princesses. This doesn’t necessarily mean that your look has to become more mature, for some people its quite the opposite, but having fun and experimenting and trying different styles is a great way to discover parts of you that you were previously unfamiliar with. For example when I put on a full length vintage dress, feel the soft folds of cotton sweep around my feet as I walk it puts me in touch with a romantic, naturalistic side. When I try something darker, or edgier it makes me feel more intense, or a little cheeky. Casual clothes allow you more freedom of movement and can be cute and playful.

So where am I headed right now? I’m developing my own style with a mixture of influences, from fairytales to the 50’s, romantic, unusual, natural, unique. I love trying new things and dressing up to suit a theme or character. Thats part of what attracted me to lolita in the first place, the novelty, its a fashion with a very distinctive personality and you feel different the moment you put it on!

Lolita still has a very special place in my heart. My wardrobe is full of Baby the stars shine bright, Angelic pretty, Mary Magdalene and I have no intention of selling them any time soon. I’m still organizing lolita meet ups and running panels and wearing it now and then to events, just for fun! I no longer wear it on a daily basis, or have it as an exclusive style though and I haven’t been keeping up with the new season’s lines or adding to my wardrobe. Who knows though, the wind may change again and I might find a resurge of interest in the style! Right now I’m just happy being me and dressing in whatever makes me feel like a Princess.

I am super excited to announce that as part of Fashion Week on Princess Portal we’re going to be running a little competition! This is the first time I have ever run a competition here, so I really hope you’ll join in and participate, we have some great prizes up for offer and I’m really excited to see what you creative and fashionable Princesses can come up with!

Your Princess Style Competition

• Instructions: To enter you need to create a set on Polyvore that displays your own ‘Princess Style’ and send the link to me by Wednesday 5th of November.
  
  Your coordinate can be anything you like, something you would wear every day or your dream outfit. It can be vintage, lolita, punk, gothic, casual or any other style you love. We will select a winner based on originality and aesthetics and it wouldn’t hurt to include something that ties it in to the Princess theme. See my last entry on Princess Style for ideas.
  

• How to Use Polyvore: You can sign up for a free account at polyvore.com and start creating! Click on ‘create a set’ and use the browser on the right to search for items. You can search by category, colour and keywords. For example if I want a blue handbag I might enter the keyword ‘hand bag’ and select a shade of blue. Once you find the items you like, just click on them and hit the ‘add to set’ link, then arrange to your hearts desire! Once you’re done hit ‘Publish’ and send me the link to your new set.
  

• Rules: You can only send me one set each. Multiple entries are not allowed. All entries must be in by Midnight November 5th, GMT. Late entries will not be accepted. This means you only have a week so hop to it!
  

• Judges: The contest will be judged by Sabrina, Mousse and Myself.
  

• Prizes: We have an adorable little hamper of goodies ready to ship off to you, it includes a collection of handmade jewelry and accessories from my label, Petit Miel. Some japanese stationary, Disney Princess products, official Princess Portal button badges (these are so cute!) and courtesy of Mousse au Chocolat, a custom Bow scarf in the colours of your choice and a $10 voucher to spend at her store!
  
  
  Submit your entry!

How should a Princess dress? I think the answer to this is fairly simple, in whatever makes her feel beautiful, comfortable and royal! Finding your own Princess style is all about dressing in a way that expresses who you are inside. You don’t have to wear silk gowns and lace gloves every day, and in this era we have so much freedom to be creative with our fashion choices, it seems a shame not to fully enjoy that!

I’ve put together a few looks that are all very different, but still connected with the Princess ideal. There are as many different styles as there are Princesses, and they’re all beautiful and unique in their own way!

Fairytale Princess

The Fairytale Princess is a classic romantic, wearing floor length gowns that brush her embroidered silk slippers. She has the Little Mermaid’s pearl earrings, Beauty’s magic rose in her loose flowing hair, carries a gold ball purse which she may just lose down a well and wears the key to the Secret Garden around her neck. Layers of soft chiffon, antique gold filligree and silk flower petals.

Punk Princess

The Punk Princess has an edgy individual style. She mixes her tough look, stark colours and studs with a few feminine elements. Hot pink tulle and black leather, chain and ribbon, checks and polka dot hearts. Bold and not afraid to make a statement about who she is, we can imagine her zooming through Tokyo on her bright pink Vespa!

Casual Princess

Not everyone likes to dress up all the time, can you wear jeans and a T-shirt and still be a Princess? The Casual Princess knows that taste and elegance can be dressed down as easily as up. Its all in the details. She mixes cute basics with pretty accessories and subtle jewelry. A monogrammed polo, soft cardigan with ruffle detail and adorable heart motifs. Who said beautiful things weren’t meant to be comfortable?

I’d love to hear about your own personal Princess style!

photo from the Alannah Hill spring/summer collection

I’ve been receiving a lot of questions about fashion lately, where can we buy beautiful Princess style clothing online? What are the most elegant designers? Do I still wear lolita? What is Princess style? I want to answer all of these and more so I’m declaring this week Fashion week here at Princess Portal! I know I’m going to have a lot of fun sharing my favourite looks with you, and I hope you’ll enjoy this theme as well! Please feel free to send me more fashion related questions.

To start things off I want to share with you some of my favourite designers!

Alannah Hill An Australian designer who won my heart the first time I walked in to her Claremont shop. Alannah Hill creates gorgeous feminine clothes with the cutest prints, colours and motifs. Lots of florals, pastel tones, antique lace, pearls and bows on everything! She’s even used some of the same fabrics as japanese brands like Emily Temple Cute. The quality and rich textures of her fabrics are a pleasure to touch. Her website is simply charming as well, it has a secret garden theme right now!

Betsey Johnson A pretty big name in the US at the moment, she designs cute flirty feminine gowns with wide skirts and lots of ruffles! Satins and organza, velvet and silk, yards and yards of tulle! This designer has her own style with a touch of prom queen, barbie dolls and rococo ruffles. You can even buy direct from her online store!

Valentino Very often when I see a photo of an amazing gown on a red carpet or runway (or lately in Gossip Girl) a dress that takes my breath away, I’m not surprised to discover its Valentino. Synonomous with class, elegance and delicate beauty, all Valentino gowns make such a statement and look gorgeous on whoever is wearing them. Its a far off dream for this Princess, but one day I would love to own one!

Alexander McQueen Something a little darker and more mature. Alexander McQueen designs beautiful gothic faerie tales, tattered gowns of ravenswing black, elegant suits with tailcoats and braid, high collars, wide skirts, nipped waists and a beautiful array of fabrics that show just how much you can do with black. Definitely check out the video of his latest collection.

Wheels & Dollbaby I’m so happy they have a store in my city now, Sab and I went there last week and drooled over the gorgeous gowns and antique furniture (not literally!) Their look is more mature and Femme Fatale though they have some sweeter, more innocent pieces too. I adore their ballet skirts, so much tulle! Feminine and luxurious with a mix of burlesque and rocker chick. I also fell in love with their little embroidered cardigans. Take a peek at their website and online store, and do go in to one of their boutiques if you get the chance!

I would love to hear about your favourite designers, send me picture links! I’m always excited to discover something new and inspiring in the fashion world.