Lolita 52: 10 facts about my lolita wardrobe

This is going to be a tough one. Let's see how we go, starting with the obvious!

1. It's mostly classic, but spans all the major substyles.
Over time I've found that classic lolita is the style I like wearing the most. I adore looking at sweet lolita, and gothic is fun for a different vibe, but classic is where it's at for me. However, I never like being too limited so I have a couple more gothic pieces and some things I can wear in a more sweet style.

2. It's primarily floral.
And those things that aren't floral are fruity, simple patterns or solid colours. I didn't plan this, it just happened that way.

3. OTKs are one of my favourite things.
I simply adore lolita OTKs, and have to resist buying ones I won't wear. I hardly wear the ones I do have anyway! But they're one of my favourite things about lolita.

My glorious burando sock collection. Not pictured... everything that isn't brand.

4. I have almost the same amount of blouses and shoes.
I'll admit, after listing the first three points I started running out of facts, so I counted how many of each kind of things I had, and it turns out that at time of writing I have 15 blouses and fourteen pairs of shoes. Funny how they turned out kind of equivalent.

5. I like options more than main pieces.
This should not be a surprise if you've read many of my posts but when I did the count mentioned above I realised that with that amount of blouses and shoes I have 24 main pieces. What can I say? I like having options.

6. Berets are my favourite headwear.
I tend to feel uncomfortable in headbows most of the time, and sometime struggle to get floral clips to work right, so berets are my go-to head accessory.

7. I own lots of bows.
James was wonderful and bought me about 80 little ribbon bow clips a while back and they are great because they help me coord everything better: no matter what it is I will at least have a bow to match even if there is nothing else! They also look super cute at the end of plaits or clipped to the front of a beret.

I have little bows like these... but so, so many of them!

8. There is fawn fur.
It's not a ridiculous collection, but I definitely have a distinct fawn fur collection.

9. I don't do jewellery.
This is more a me thing than a distinctly lolita wardrobe related thing, but it had the effect that I have no lolita specific jewellery. Though, given that we have a huge model wardrobe jewellery collection that I can borrow from at will, my personal lack doesn't leave me lacking in that department when the urge for bling takes me.

10. There's very little brand. 
Of my 15 blouses and 24 main pieces there are only 4 brand items (though I have a bolero and bustier too! ...and a few more things in the mail...). Everything else is Bodyline, taobao, indie, offbrand or handmade.

Burando main pieces! And would you look at that? They're all floral...

So those are some (possibly) noteworthy facts about my lolita wardrobe. What are some facts about yours?

Sales!

Just a quick post to say that I've added a new page to this blog... my sales page! Currently I have listed three skirts, one jacket and an assortment of socks.

ETC Mermaid skirt up for sale, cute but I'd never wear it.

If I put anything particularly noteworthy up for sale I'll probably do a proper post out of it as well but for most things and general closet cleaning I'll just keep that page updated so  check back every once in a while!

Blue floral bouquet outfits

As is my norm, I get a new dress and I make outfits with it. And my newest wardrobe addition, as reviewed here, is Bodyline's L51. Overall, it is a surprising versatile dress!

As you can see, there are quite a few shades to work with other than the obvious sax blue and ivory. We have pink, darker blue and and orangey-peach as well. That's one of the reasons why I love this dress so much!

First, I wanted to take it in a casual sweet direction with simple accessories. I like outfits like this, where you work in some offbrand pieces to make a really toned down, but still very lolita, look.

And then, of course, blue! The tights seem darker than the blouse here, but once they're actually on a pair of legs I don't think the colour difference would be too much. This is a very blue look, possibly too blue for me, but I think it's really pretty.

Lastly, I wanted to play with peach and I have to say that this is my favourite outfit of the lot! It's just got a vibe that I really like.

As you can see, I didn't even do a single coord here with the obvious ivory or my usual brown. Which just goes to show how versatile this dress is, that I didn't have to resort to a single one of my usual coording staples.

Are there any dresses in your lolita wardrobe that just seem to go with nearly everything else you own?

Lolita 52: 3 things I wish I was told when I was a new lolita

There are lots of things I wish I'd realised when I started, and there were also many things that I did read online, but didn't exactly believe.

1. Buy slowly, even if you can buy quickly.
I've said similar things on this blog before, because when I started I bought a lot of things that I sold on pretty quickly due to quality and, more importantly, style issues. So even if you do have the disposable income to be able to buy lots and lots of lolita all at once, I really do think that taking your time is important. You need to learn what you like and what suits you and I found for myself, and I think it would be like this for most people, that you can only do this by having the clothes on your body, not just by looking online.

In addition, if you plan your wardrobe rather than going "Buy all the things!" you can develop your wardrobe in a much more logical fashion. Not that I think deciding on a colour palette or overall theme is necessary but I must say I think it would be a nice position to be in if you could make some varied outfits with the first few pieces of your wardrobe. I tended to have a wardrobe where most things only went with one or two other things until fairly recently where I've really tried to focus on versatility.

An example of a small, planned out wardrobe from my "$500 Wardrobe" series.

2. Taobao is good and incredibly easy to buy from.
I'd always heard of taobao, of course, but it always seemed complicated. A lot of bloggers shared reviews but until I actually tried taobao I didn't realise how straightforward it really is to use. Of course, there is the language barrier and the humour that google translate creates, but with the huge online lolita community help is never far away.

My first taobao order.

3. Brand is not as elusive and expensive as you think.
When I started lolita, as I think many people do, I was struck by the expense! And yes, brand-new brand is quite pricey compared to the usual clothes most of us by, unless you're someone who normally shops designer or very high end. And especially when lolita is rarely a good choice for day-to-day, dropping $150 on a new blouse isn't the same as dropping $150 on a pair of jeans that'll get you through several years or wear.

But. Buying secondhand really is a viable option. And even though secondhand prices are not always reasonable, many are. And especially if you have patience, you can find a lot of good deals. Japanese auctions are also a good choice; though remember that fees and shipping costs do add up!

This BTSSB dress, and other things, will shortly be coming to me from Buyee...

Brand is by no means a lolita necessity, but it's hard to be involved in this fashion and not get caught up in a desire for burando. And I kind of wish that when I was starting to feel the hankering to get my hands on brand I had realised that it was a more achievable goal than I originally thought.

What kind of things did you wish you had known about as a new lolita?

Review #40: Bodyline L571

This is my 40th lolita clothing review... I have bought a lot of clothes over the last four years. Well, not so many, really, when you space it out... Right? Ahem.

Anyway, onto the review of my newest acquisition, Bodyline L571 blue floral jumperskirt!

This is probably the most accurate shot of the colour.

 On Mr Yan's Birthday Sale we made an order that was msotly things for the model wardrobe, but included one dress for me! I'd been eyeing off L571 since it was released, but since it is too small for me I didn't want to buy it and have it sit in my wardrobe until I lost enough weight to fit it. But when the price came down significantly for the sale I thought I'd take the plunge and get it.

Since we ordered in the sale we ordered on September 1st and didn't get the last of our three packages till October 8th. Normally things take about three weeks for order to delivery  here in Australia with their free air shipping but due to the sale, or perhaps general disorganisation, it took a while for our stuff to actually get sent out.

Chiffon ruffles!

It has been quite rainy and overcast lately so my photos aren't the best but I wanted to get this review up anyway, since I'm already quite late on it.

Detail of the bodice top. Excuse the loose thread I forgot to trim...

Overall, quality-wise, this is definitely one of the nicest Bodyline pieces I own. The fabric has a bit of an upholstery fabric feel, but not too bad of a bad way; it has a shiny pattern underneath the main pattern if you know what I mean? It is well made, there is no awful lace and the construction is sturdy. The skirt can bustle up at the front and back or can lay flat.

I can't comment on the fit/sizing as yet but as far as everything else goes I'd say it's definitely a good sweet-classic Bodyline option.

Blue and ivory floral outfits

As promised, I put together some outfits with my newest handmade dress. My camera wasn't really cooperating so the quality isn't the best but still, I am so excited to have a new colour in my wardrobe that I'm sharing them anyway. Until I got my new The Floral Notebook blouses and finished this dress, blue was an empty space in my lolita wardrobe.

This picture of the bodice probably shows the colours most accurately. As with many outfit shots, my phone didn't want to record the colours the same way twice. Ah well... on to the outfits!

First up the gloriously blue outfit! New blouse, new dress... lots of blue! I felt that with the blouse bringing such a big punch of blue into the equation it was best to leave everything else fairly neutral.

And, in the opposite vein, when the blouse is matching ivory I felt I could bring in blue shoes for a bit of extra colour. This outfit is the most toned-down a refined out of the three I made. I think it's actually a little too "nice" for me to actually ever wear, lol.

Lastly, an outfit I would definitely wear featuring another handmade piece of mine, the ever versatile brown bolero. Adding brown is definitely one of my favourite ways to style pretty much everything and this outfit is a bit casual, but still decidedly lolita.

Happy Halloween!

A day belated, I know, but I wanted to share the shots from the Halloween shoot James and I did. If you like these please check out James photography page on facebook and my modelling page for all our other collaborations, and also James's other Halloween shoots from this year.

I've never done a Halloween shoot before and this was so much fun! James got the pumpkins carved by a talented girl and I decorated a cheap and tacky witch hat to go with my outfit.

I hope all my readers had a fun Halloween if you celebrate it and if not, a fabulous day anyway!