Hey everyone! I'm getting some good vibes from this year already, and this is reflected in the surge of creativity I've had these past couple of weeks. I find myself writing lists and coming up with new designs and concepts for my business, as well as beginning to work towards some more personal goals already. The year is so young but... so far so good!
One way in which my creativity has come back full force is where putting together outfits and taking proper outfit pictures is concerned, so I thought I'd share a couple with you!
This first outfit was for running some errands and being my mum's personal chauffeur to her hairdresser's appointment. She can't drive, so it's really nice to be able to take her places after all those years in which she accompanied me via public transport or on foot when I needed moral support. It was a grey, rainy day, so I wanted to wear something dark, but with a little whimsy to cheer me up. I've also started to do my makeup differently, which has been a fun experiment as in the past I've mainly gone without makeup at all, or put on the absolute minimum. Hopefully I will get better at photographing it as time goes on!
No glasses-- what a rarity! I'm not actually used to seeing myself without glasses as they've been such a staple part of my look for a long time now, but it's been a nice change! I'm tempted to get different styles of glasses for different outfits, though.
The skirt was an absolute bargain on eBay. It caught my eye because it reminded me of a Meta print I own. I figured it would be cool to own a miniskirt with a very sweet lolita-esque print and I was right. I teamed things up with a Fall Out Boy t-shirt which matched the print, and some lolita flats.
The slogan really tickles me, and only adds to the charm. I'm so into monochrome with splashes of colour recently.
Cardigan: Lazy Oaf
Top: Blue Banana
Skirt: Lazy Oaf
Shoes: Bodyline
Next up, a lolita coordinate. I had more errands to run, including posting out shop orders, which always puts me in a good mood. I feel so much like myself again for the first time in a long time, back to those days where I can just throw on a lolita dress for a mundane outing. I think that's my favourite time to wear lolita, though, with no pressure or expectation from anyone else, and the freedom to enjoy the clothes entirely on my own terms. I'm definitely a lone lolita at heart!
This is one of those jumperskirts that I somehow forget to wear. I'm glad I remembered about it on this occasion, though! I find it so cute and old school, and I like the retro feel of the polka-dots.
I went for another item that gets less air time than it deserves: my Teddy Ribbon coat!
It is such a warm, heavy piece, and with appropriate layering underneath, absolutely conquers those chilly days we've been having here in the UK recently. This coat is quite long on me, and covers up the entirety of whichever dress I have on underneath. I like this as it keeps me warmer, but also means I can use my coat as an outfit in its own right!
Jumperskirt: Bodyline
Coat: Baby, The Stars Shine Bright
Bag: Angelic Pretty
Shoes: Bodyline
That's all my outfit pictures for now, but I'm sure I will be posting many more this year now that I've discovered a nice corner of my bedroom that's convenient for outfit shots, and realised that the flash on my camera is actually quite nice! As well as correcting poor or uneven lighting and making up for the short daylight hours of winter, it seems to have eliminated the grainy, blurry look a lot of my other indoor pictures have had. Result!
I hope you've all had a great start to the new year, and that you enjoyed this post! A question I'll leave you with is: do you prefer to wear lolita as part of a group or by yourself? Maybe you like both? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!
Thanks for reading and looking, and I'll see you next time ❤
I hope you've all had a great start to the new year, and that you enjoyed this post! A question I'll leave you with is: do you prefer to wear lolita as part of a group or by yourself? Maybe you like both? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!
Thanks for reading and looking, and I'll see you next time ❤
I thought that may have been a Bodyline JSK, but I wasn't sure - their simpler esigns are sometimes indistinguishable from brand ones, especially on other people's photos (BL's awful stock ones give away everything). It looks amazing on you!
ReplyDeleteI totally get what you mean about not being used to seeing yourself without glasses. I've been wearing mine since I was about 14 (and I always wanted to wear glasses), so the only times where I'm without them and don't think I look odd is when I'm wearing massive circle lenses. :P Having different styles of glasses for different looks sounds so nice, but it could get expensive pretty quickly with all the prescription lenses and stuff.
My 2017 so far has been mostly meh, verging onto disappointing sometimes. I'm trying to combat this as best I can and Lolita fashion is certainly helping. I think I like wearing it both ways, although if I'm going out then I'd only wear it if I'm going to a meet or with someone else. Where I live I don't feel comfortable in Lolita in public on my own. Plus, as I work in a college, I'd rather not have my students spot me and then ask all kinds of questions. It's easier to just avoid teenager judgement than to face all the "Miss, was it you in that weird flashy dress I saw last weekend?" stuff. :P
I have been pleasantly surprised by so many Bodyline pieces over the years! The quality of that jumperskirt is so lovely, and at the time I bought it, it was one of the cheapest dresses on the site! Thanks for the compliment ^_^
DeleteI've been wearing glasses since I was 13! Honestly, I would be happy to have just one back up pair at this point (I've been considering trying clear frames as they seem to go with anything). I know there's some discount online glasses retailers but I've not been able to find anything that interests me yet. I hope I do soon though because like you said, glasses are so expensive on the high street!
Aw, I'm sorry to hear that, and hope things will steadily improve for you.
I'm lucky that I can safely and comfortably wear lolita alone in my area, and I think that's a contributing factor to me enjoying doing so! That, and I'm simply used to doing a lot of things by myself. At first it was out of necessity, but over time I've become very comfortable in my own company. I do love a good tea party in lolita, though, and that's definitely not something I would want to do alone!
Hm, well maybe if you look different enough in lolita from your day to day work look, it'll act as a disguise!
I have worn glasses in more years than without. I feel like I am not me without them, luckily I do look good with them. I think I need a new pair, because the paint is flaking, but on a nonvisible spot.
ReplyDeleteThe coat looks like something Jaqueline Kennedy would have worn, it is beautiful, but somehow taken out of a era.
I know exactly what you mean! It actually feels a little odd when I'm not wearing mine. Another thing I would like to try is prescription sunglasses, to protect my eyes in the summer. When I was younger I would wear sunglasses on top of my regular glasses but I'd like to think I'm past that stage now, haha.
DeleteI'm glad you like it. Oh, that's an interesting observation. I had to google her as I knew nothing about her. I didn't know she was considered something of a fashion icon during that era, so that was fun to find out.
It’s great that you’re feeling positive and creative. I think January can have that healing effect where you look towards the year as a whole and you are able to set goals. I’m sure you’ll be able to achieve a lot this year and stay motivated throughout 2017. You’ve achieved so much already – your mum must be very proud of you passing your driving test, and it’s so nice that you can take her out to places now.
ReplyDeleteI love these new looks! It’s really refreshing to see lolita influences mixed in with more street styles; it’s inspiring to see co-ords that look wearable for every day, and different enough to reflect your personality. Your outfits remind me of styled looks in Kera magazine. I’m still trying to get the concept in my own head/wardrobe that lolita doesn’t have to be saved for the weekend with OTT accessories, so it’s helpful to see other people make it a more daily style. The first outfit is my favourite, it looks comfy and I like how you’ve mixed in a lot of different things that are meaningful to you (bonus points for the Fall Out Boy tee btw).
When I started wearing lolita, even though I tend to feel nervous in a group of people, I preferred the camaraderie of wearing it with others, as I felt like less of a target to Joe Public; but now that I have been wearing the style for a few years, I realise that a group draws more attention, and wearing it by myself means I don’t worry too much about the coord being “perfect” or spending too long on hair and makeup – if I don’t look great, no one has to see, after all! I still go to meet ups as I like talking to other people about the fashion, and the midlands group in particular is very relaxed.
I think social media has made me more aware of other lolitas’ opinions and expectations, for example someone I am Facebook friends with says that Taobao/Bodyline shoes are “cheap knockoffs […] people don’t have imagination with footwear and should wear things like Vivienne Westwood”. I actually really like Bodyline shoes – they’re inexpensive, really comfy, and suit most co-ords – so I’m not going to stop wearing them, but I now feel apprehensive about wearing them to a meet if I know that person will be there, which is a shame. I have to remind myself that they probably don’t really care what I wear, and that there are plenty of people who are positive and fun to be around.
Absolutely-- it's so much easier to feel you can "start again" when it's the beginning of the year, as it feels like the start of a new cycle. Aw, thank you! She commented on the fact I seemed a lot more confident driving around on this occasion which was great to hear.
DeleteYay, I'm glad you enjoyed the looks I put together! I think it's easy to get into a mindset of believing that you can't create outfits that are both comfy and alternative/expressive, but it's definitely possible! Haha, I love Fall Out Boy way too much!
I think it's nice to have lolita pieces that are very much throw-it-on-and-go-out in terms of ease of coordinating. I think I'm always going to treat lolita like a street fashion, although I do own a couple of special occasion pieces. It stops me from feeling daunted or intimidated, and puts all my clothing into that daily wear headspace.
I think to begin with, hanging out with other lolitas was exciting because I was meeting so many people from different places. As time has gone on, I have less and less in common with the people I meet through this fashion (I blame it on the death of the actual subcultural part, honestly, and the fact I don't care about anything being released now haha) and got bored of paying money to hang out with people I'd most likely never see again, and wouldn't hang out with under any other circumstances. Indeed, if you're by yourself there's no pressure to look perfect! I also just feel very free. I know that our Kamikaze Girls protagonist is not someone to be looked up to without criticism, but I always admired her ability to be comfortable by herself, making her way through rural life in a frilly dress.
I'm glad you've found a community where you feel comfortable. All the others I've been in have been way too transient, with people joining and leaving the fashion in very brief windows. That and the fact I've met so many wankers over the years lmao. I think I'm more content with just seeking out the people I know I get on with specifically as I've been fortunate in meeting a ton of great people along the way too, and know they will still want to hang out even if it's not while wearing lolita.
Because VW is so imaginative lmao. Everyone and their gran seems to wear those three strap Melissa collab heels. These are the sort of uppity politics I roll my eyes over and don't even take seriously. People like to feel superior and will find the most bizarre ways of doing it. Don't let these people make you second-guess yourself!
That is interesting about the death of the subculture part – do you mean things like the lolita lifestyle, or about more people wearing it now? I still follow releases because I'm too curious not too, but nothing has really grabbed me in the past year. I know Momoko isn't a good role model, but I can't help but love her – I think her flaws made her more interesting, even if she was deeply unpleasant at times.
DeleteI find it strange that some people join the fashion for such a short period of time. Maybe they haven't found what they're looking for yet, or don't feel comfortable, or assumed everyone they met would have an idealistic personality and be into everything they were into? But at the end of the day, they are just other people. It has been a good way to get to know people though! And sometimes, I don't know people well enough to invite them out on their own without it sounding creepy, so a meet seems like a good opportunity to see those people again.
Haha! That comment about VW really made me laugh, and it's so true. It's the same thing as choosing bodyline tea parties, except it's a higher price point and works with classic lolita. These are the same people that would get annoyed by Irregular Choice or Dr Martens with a coord, so it is kind of funny. I wonder if they feel ashamed of being labelled a 'weeb' and try to make it more into a high-fashion high-society thing? Without realising that it's very elitist and pricing people out of potential friendship before even talking to them. It's great that you've never taken that seriously. I think coming late to the fashion made me feel a bit like I had to follow in other people's footsteps and not stand out too much, which is ironic given how strange lolita looks to most people.
Kind of a bit of both. It used to be a given that if you were at a lolita meet, you'd probably also be interested in sewing, crafts, afternoon tea, visual art, J-rock, J-pop, hanging out in picturesque places or arcades and shopping for cute things, plus the "weebier" things like anime and manga. I have never bonded with someone over talking about releases, personally, and if we have nothing to talk about at a meet other than new prints then I'm not going to have a good time lol. I think it might also be that people don't think they have to make much effort to engage others as the fact we're all wearing lolita should be enough. Nope-- gotta dig for that common ground like you would anywhere else.
DeleteI think now people hop on it like they would any other trend, and move on when they get bored. I've met people who treat meets like a photo op or a chance to hand out their business cards, as opposed to an actual social event lol.
That's a good point. I've definitely gone to meets before so that I can see specific people again and work up to a friendship that's separate from meets.
Yeah, I mean, does it somehow make it more "unique" because it's from a designer label? I don't see the point in getting hung up about trying to be one of the ~sophisticated~ ones, or ~not like those other lolitas~, haha.
That's understandable. It can often feel at times that there's a cult mentality in lolita, which is why I think it's so important to have experiences in the fashion where you're enjoying it on your own terms and not having to worry about adhering to other people's standards. It becomes a lot more fun when you're not spending time worrying about what other people might think about things that are, at the end of the day, really inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
Ah yeah, I see what you mean – I've been guilty before of assuming people will be into those things, and it can be disappointing when they don't want to associate with those aspects of the culture. I think tumblr is partly to blame, as people are introduced to it through platforms like that and see it as another alt fashion instead of getting to it via the traditional routes as it were. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it does mean there's less passionate people or crossover interests.
ReplyDeleteIt would indeed be very boring to sit at a meet and go through all of the latest releases, then just do a photo shoot! And business cards?! For what? Do people really do that? It seems beyond me. It's different to talk about maybe one new thing if you're really excited about it, and of course a photo is always nice, but that kind of meet is not what I'm about.
Maybe those people meet other likeminded lolitas and have tea at the most expensive hotel they can find, just to prove a point. There can't be many people like that, but I'm sure a few exist. I know people laugh at the elitist stereotype, but there is some truth to it. They can do their thing, and I'll do mine!