A very tiny capsule wardrobe

 As per usual, this capsule wardrobe post has its genesis on the capsule thread on CGL. The thread got massively derailed, so I posted some questions to get things back on track (which mostly failed, but oh well). One of the questions was "When does it stop being a capsule and start just being a small wardrobe? On the flip side, what makes it start being a capsule and not just a couple of coords?"

I still don't have a final answer for my own question, but it made me want to explore much smaller capsules than I normally do. My usual capsule is around 5 main pieces, 4 blouses, a couple pieces of outerwear, 3 pairs of shoes and about 7 pairs of socks and 7 items of headwear. If I include bags there's usually 2. I don't tend to do jewellery, as to me that more supplementary than the core of a coord

So I got to thinking - how small can I go while still having ti be a good capsule? In the end, I picked twelves items because I really enjoy Mariah Pattie's capsule wardrobe videos and she normally has twelve pieces. He wardrobes aren't lolita, so twelve goes a lot further for her, but still! It's what I somewhat arbitrarily decided to do ^__^

And here we have it!

I rather like this wardrobe! I tried to be less "boring" and ran with a wine shoes and bag (and bolero) rather than brown, which is a more standard colour choice. I'm not 100% convinced it was the right call, but I liked trying it out. The brown OP I am also aware is not the more versatile item, nor the most cohesive with the rest of the wardrobe but I felt it was a much-needed point of difference. 

If I did my maths right, this wardrobe can yield exactly 32 unique outfit combinations (without going into blouse-less or sock-less territory, or wearing a JSK over the OP which I really don't think would work). Obviously there would be a lot of similarities in them so you could alternatively think that you're going to get three main outfits with each JSK and two with the OP, with minor differences. 

Because I'm me, examples below of what I mean ^__^

Love that middle outfit!

Genuinely digging the right coord.

Left outfit is so cute with all the pink!

All in all I'm quite pleased with this. Things are quite same-y, but I think it's still pretty versatile! I found I really chafed at the limited headwear and legwear most of all, even more than having just one pair of shoes! However, if doing a capsule IRL and without arbitrary rules about the number of items, if I could add a bunch more socks, hair things and other accessories but no more main pieces, tops, or outerwear I'd be pretty happy with this as a wardrobe. 

I really enjoyed the challenge of putting this together, and think I'm going to give a twelve-item capsule another try with a different ratio of items.

Get necklace, make coord

Earlier this year an online friend sent me a necklace that she made for me, and it is absolutely stunning! It's really beautiful and wonderfully made and of course, my first impulse was to start building outfits around it. It took me a very long time to actually do it, but I finally put together a flatlay worthy of this gorgeous piece.

I ran with my wedding dress as the main piece and pulled together a pretty floral look, which I absolutely adore. I can't wait to wear this sometime!

And, because it's super gorgeous, please admire this close-up of the necklace itself.

I also tried to take a close-up of the necklace in situ but my camera decided to focus on the brooch apparently...oh well, it's still a pretty photo, just a tad blurry!

I'm so happy to have finally done this necklace justice! I also decided to use putting this flatlay together as an opportunity to film a little YouTube video about how I build a coordinate, so please check that out below if you're interested. 

Coordinates from July - August 2021

The title is kind of a lie - I didn't wear lolita in July. But I felt so uncomfortable just posting for every other month and pretending it didn't exist, so I'm lumping it in here even though nothing happened.

I mean, I could have just posted and not said that and I'm sure no-one would have cared...but I care!

And, on the top of me justifying things...my first outfit of August is only really quasi-lolita. Or, more correctly, quasi-ouji. But I'm counting it!

Overalls: Punyus

Blouse: Glitter Tale

Shoes: Bodyline

Everything else: Offbrand

I wore this outfit for no reason other than I had to leave the house and was struggling to find comfy pants. So I decided to wear my overalls, but my only matching shoes are my lolita ones, and one thing lead to another which lead to this outfit. It's cute and I felt good in it, nuff said.

Then I started the next week off determined to get back into the working from home lolita habit. At this stage, it was looking likely that lockdown will be continuing until end of October at least so I thought it would be good to get some positive habits going. And for this, I wore my newest dress!

OP: Metamorphose temps de fille Camellia Cat Hide and Seek

Capelet & Headbow: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright
OTKS: Angelic Pretty
Shoes: Bodyline

Everything else: Offbrand/Taobao

I love this dress so much! It's so different from anything else I own that it makes me really happy to wear. This outfit isn't like my "ideal coord" or anything, I just needed a warm layer, hence the capelet, and just built from there. I do like how it turned out though!

As is usual with me, my "wear lolita every day!" intentions didn't result in well, results, but I did doll up to WFH again on Friday.

JSK: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright Shirring Princess

Blouse: Glitter Tale

Everything else: Offbrand/Taobao

Aaaaand...that was it for August. I had some time off at the end of the month for our wedding anniversary (we basically cuddled and played video games for five days) and didn't do much of anything. But as the weather continues to warm up and I've gotten my lolita room 100% clean for the first time in far too long, I feel cautiously optimistic that there may be more lolita in my near future.