Clearing out my lolita wardrobe

As I mentioned a little while ago, at the end of 2019 and start of this year I did a very significant purge of my loltia wardrobe. Because I always talk about wardrobe building on this blog, I wanted to also take this opportunity to discuss my thoughts behind wardrobe reductions.

In terms of my own process my purge was actually a series of smaller purges over the course of a couple of months, and my thoughts and feelings were different each time. My recount below is not entirely chronological, as I went through my wardrobe in sections and there were also elements of each stage in each review. But in an ideal world, where I get everything right in a smooth and predictable way, there are really three stages to the process; joy, practicality, and changes. Let’s go into those in a bit more depth.

Not a pile from the purge, but visually very similar!

On the first review of my wardrobe, I did a Marie Kondo. I touched each piece in turn and really listened to my feelings. If there wasn’t a spark of happiness, out it came. This was a pretty simple process and is a great place to start.

The second time I went through my wardrobe I added a dash of practicality to my search for joy. I asked myself if the piece fits, if I like how it makes me feel when I wear it, if my love for it is an actual love or just familiarity. This purge was a big one and saw me removing things like Anniversary Rose, a dream dress that was still new with tags that I had to honestly admit I may never lose enough weight to fit. Did I really want to hang on to it for several more years as I tried to get to a size where it would fit, or would I rather sell it and have the money to buy something more suitable? It gave me a pang to let go of items like this but it was the right decision.

Farewell beautiful!

I will admit that a couple of pieces I removed here shortly made their way back from the sales pile to my wardrobe - specifically my Flower Bottle skirt and my Icing Cookie JSK. Flower Bottle I had thought I was just keeping so it ticked the “pink skirt” box, but I realised I felt really sad at the thought of it not being in my wardrobe. Icing Cookie is not hugely flattering on me but I realised I’d still rather have it than not. Perhaps in future if I find a similar but more flattering piece I may let it go then.

I also went through my accessories at this point and as well as removing items that did not spark joy I got rid of things like bows that didn’t sit well or comfortably on my head and socks that didn’t match anything. It’s very easy to hoard accessory items since they take up so much less real estate than a dress or even a blouse, but it’s important to go through these as well.

The last stage was to look through my newly reduced wardrobe and remove any items that now didn’t make sense - like the socks I mentioned that don’t actually match anything else. It’s okay, great even, to have some oddballs or to start adding new colours to your wardrobe. But some things just aren’t right and you shouldn’t just have them taking up space.

Yes, I even sold off some socks, believe it or not.

Ultimately, these purges really made me fall right back in love with my wardrobe. I still have some items that are too small for me to wear right now, but less of them. I still have items that aren’t wholly flattering, but I’ve made a conscious decision to keep them despite it. I do have some gaps that feel a little odd but time will tell if they’re gaps I need to fill.

Overall, my wardrobe feels sleeker and cleaner - and it is! I didn’t realise that I had actually started feeling overwhelmed by it, but now I’m inspired instead. I don’t miss anything that I parted with and to be honest, my wardrobe is more than adequate for my needs - I still have 29 main pieces and I don’t wear the fashion more than a couple times a month on average. I’m intending to be a lot more mindful with purchases in future, and hope to keep my wardrobe in a position where I feel this happy about it all the time.

Japan 2020 Highlights: Love Live

So if you follow me on Facebook you will know that I am very much into Love Live. If you don’t and you didn’t, well, you totally should and now you do!

I didn’t go into the trip intending to buy quite so much LL merch. In fact, I initially swore off buying any figures at all! But well, things happened and in the end I got quite a haul and that I’m very happy with!

See, the sort of things I thought I’d mostly get was a few keychains and gachapon thingies, like this stuff!

The Dia keychain was from a gacha, as were the two thing at the bottom, but I picked out all the other keychains. The Rin ones were just too cute (and big!) to resist, and I’ve cosplayed that Eli. Technically we did get the Eli for James’s camera bag, but he changed his mind and put her on my handbag instead, so she’s mine now! I got these all around the place - some in Tokyo, some in Kyoto, some in Hiroshima.

In Tokyo, specifically in a store in Akihabara on the fourth floor with the steepest and most deadly stairs I’ve ever encountered, I discovered a new type of collectible - towels. At about $10AUD I couldn’t pass this up! It’s the perfect size for a gym towel, and I love making that part of my life nerdy. James and I spent the rest of the trip looking for other suitably sized weeb towels. He found a BNHA one and I found…

...yep! Another LL one! James has already taken this one to the gym, where he was already the cutest person in attendance but is now even more cute!

I was pretty well behaved in Tokyo aka the first half of the trip, but when we got to Kyoto there was an anime goods store quite near our hotel which we visited more than once. And James is a fabulous enabler which meant that after quite a long time of me saying “no” to a lot of pretty and reasonably priced figures, I finally said yes to this Hanayo and Rin pair.

I am actually selling a Love Wing Bell Rin that I bought last year in Japan - I love her but she was kind of annoying on my desk and I was trying to minimise stuff. But since by this point it was obvious that we were going home with a bit of a figure collection (James kept finding amazing cheap things!) when I saw these two I finally gave in. They are so cute and honestly this is one of my favourite moments from the original LL series, so no regrets.

Now I have to confess to a lapse of memory. I thought I also bought Snow Halation Hanayo at that same store in Kyoto, but I think I actually put her back to get that pair. Regardless, with some encouragement from James, I spent the rest of the trip buying as many figures as I could (for under 800yen apiece though, had to be cheap!) in this Snow Halation series. I ended up with six out of nine.

I don’t even really like Snow Halation!

But with the arches and the dynamic poses these figures just look really cool, and it was really fun to track down the different girls. I can see why people get so into collecting full sets of things. My set will remain incomplete until the next time we go to Japan though, I checked out prices online and that’s a big nope from me.

I also grabbed this Mijuku Dreamer Mari. This is one of my favourite costume sets and something I want to cosplay eventually so I finally gave in and got her.

And then, the crowning achievement of my haul, the μ's →NEXT LoveLive! 2014 ~ENDLESS PARADE~ Day 2 live DVD which I found in I think the last anime store we visited in Osaka. I’d spent the trip trying to find any of the live DVDs for an affordable price and had failed up until that point, so I was really happy to find this one! I’ve already watched the first disc and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s really gotten me excited for dancing again, which I’m very happy about.

I love every single item I got in this haul, though I think I’m most happy about the DVD and oddly enough the towels. I just like useful things!

Are any of my readers fans of Love Live? If so, tell me your favourite thing about it!

Fluffy Skirts and Giant Bows — The Misunderstood Subculture of Lolita Fashion

Recently I posted a new article to my Medium profile, titled "Fluffy Skirts and Giant Bows — The Misunderstood Subculture of Lolita Fashion". While it was written for a non-lolita audience, given how on-topic it is for this blog I thought  it was worth sharing the link here as well ^__^

Photo by Little Raven Photography.

Japan 2020 Highlights: Lolita

I am back from Japan! It was a wonderful but thoroughly exhausting trip. And, to be honest, I've realised that I don't actually want to do a blow-by-blow blog series about this trip. Instead I'm going to be sharing a few highlight posts focused on some of the most noteworthy aspects and experiences of the trip. Starting with, of course, the lolita side of things!

My lolita shopping this time around was actually rather modest, especially compared to last year's Tokyo trip!  This was not entirely through lack of trying, but ultimately I just didn’t find much that suited me and my budget. Still, as you can see below I did still come home richer in lolita than I left!

In the end I bought two cutsews, a haori, a bolero, a bracelet, some hairclips and a headband. Because I’m me, here’s some ramblings about every single thing, starting with the small bits.

Smallest thing first, I bought this bracelet at Ikebukuro Closet Child. I have the same one in pink x white and red x white, so knew that I get good wear out of this colourway. Unfortunately the little ribbon bow came untied and fell off and I decided not to put it back on. Still cute though!

These Hello Kitty clips came from Don Quijote, and they had a whole bunch of other Sanrio ones as well. But I exercised restraint and only got one set. I did spend a while debating between these ones with pink bows or a set with the traditional red bows but James suggested I get these ones so I did.

When in Akihabara James and I went to the maid cafe Mai Dreaming, which was ridiculously cute and fun. They loved James’s Sailor Moon knuckle tattoos, and even put on Sailor Moon music because of us! As part of the package we picked, we got to take home a souvenir each. James picked a keychain, which started his camera bag collection, and I chose this little bear headband! When I thought we may be going to Disney Sea I was thinking of getting some Duffy ears there but hey, this is a great alternative! Not super high quality but they’re cute and I love getting wearable mementos.

Moving onto the actual clothing items, I got this cute Nile Perch bolero from Shinjuku Closet Child. A bit frivolous for sure, but it was very cheap and cute and definitely gives me a good sweet outerwear option which I was very much lacking. It’s a bit snug at the moment but oh well.

I must admit, however, that the trend of buying things that don’t really fit has continued to be a trend for me. What can I say? I see cheap things, get excited, and just buy them! Case in point, this Angelic Pretty cutsew from Osaka Closet Child. It’s super adorable but I’m 90% sure it’s going to go straight to my sales folder. Not only am I too big for it right now, I think it’s just too short in the torso and the sleeves for me no matter what.

This Axes Femme cutsew, bought at the same time, is also too small but I know that Axes Femme fits me okay when I’m a smaller dress size. It’s not an exciting piece but it is pretty so I’m glad that I snagged it from the sale rack. It’s new with tags too!

Lastly, at secondhand kimono chain Tansu-ya in Hiroshima I found this pretty haori. I love the use of haori jackets in wa lolita, and thought this one was perfect for the classic (and maybe even chocolate-y sweet) side of my wardrobe. I especially love the vibrant lining! Tansu-ya in general will be its own highlight post, because thanks to their affordable pricing I now have a massive love for kimonos and am so excited to learn more about how to wear these beautiful garments.

In terms of where I went for lolita, I actually stuck wholly to secondhand loltia stores this time around; four branches of Closet Child as well as Maiden Clothing. Though I’d have liked to have acquired some brand socks as well, I didn’t have much desire to visit any of the brand stores. Too much out of my price range at the moment and there was so much to see and do that I didn’t want to spend time window shopping.

I also wore lolita twice while in Japan, once for Harajuku and then for the Kyoto Railway Museum. I’ll write more about these outfits when I do my quarterly outfit roundup in a bit but I thought they deserved to be featured here regardless. I very nearly didn’t take any lolita with me and I’m glad I did.

So that’s the lolita side of things from this trip! Not too extensive, but certainly still a highlight of the holiday ^__^