Lavender Kawaii Two-Piece 'Usufuji'

The white bow blouse over a long lavender skirt laced at the waist, lace below

Lavender is the colour this set was drawn for. The blouse is white, with a rounded collar, short puffed sleeves, pintucks down the front and a lilac ribbon tied in a bow at the neck. The skirt is long and lavender, gathered into a high waistband laced with two ribbons like a corset, its hem scalloped, with a layer of cream lace showing beneath. White above, purple below, lace at the bottom.

It is the sweetest of the laced-skirt sets and the one that reads most like the Harajuku street it comes from, where a lavender skirt with a lace hem is not a costume but a Tuesday.

The name, Usufuji, is pale wisteria, the lilac of the flower in May and the traditional name for this shade.

The lace is a separate layer sewn into the skirt. The cloth is a polyester-cotton blend, light in the blouse and fuller in the skirt. Both wash cold and hang, and the lavender keeps its colour out of the sun.

Wear the blouse tucked into the laced waistband with the bow at the neck matching the ribbons at the waist, and white trainers. It is the set for a spring afternoon and a camera.

From across a street it is white over lavender with cream at the hem. From close the pintucks are stitched, the lacing runs through eyelets, and the scallops of the hem are each a curve.

It goes with white socks, a cardigan in a paler purple, and nothing sharp. It is the set to buy for someone who has a favourite colour and it is this one.

The blouse alone goes with everything below the waist, and the skirt alone goes with a white T-shirt and a pair of trainers on a hot day. As a set they are the look; apart they are two pieces of one.

The waistband is wide and lightly boned at the front, so the lacing pulls it in without folding, and the two ribbons tie in a bow over the blouse. The blouse buttons down the front behind the pintucks. The lace at the hem is cream and cut longer than the scallops so it always shows.

Lavender in this cloth is a soft, slightly greyed purple, not a bright one, and it sits with the cream lace the way the flower sits with its leaves. It is the set to wear to a spring festival, or to a park that is having one.

Sizes run from S to XL. It is cut to Asian sizing and runs small, so take one size up from your usual. Between two sizes, take the larger.