A Wardrobe Challenge: Blue (da-bo-dee-da-bo-di)

Another day, another wardrobe and man, the universe is really wanting me to embrace navy these days! Though this wardrobe, belonging to a girl I'm going to nickname Karen for ease of reference, is really more "lots of blue" than actually navy but still, it all counts.

Above is what she already has, and she mentioned that as she is tall she tends to rely on off-brand or custom blouses for sleeve lengths, and that she is interested in working in some red. She also has an underskirt, but I haven't included that because underskirts feel more like a necessary but personal thing to me, if that makes sense - it's something that in the case of a tall lolita is something that is purchased and used based on need, not style. I will also mention that the white blouse with detachable sleeves is not the correct one, just one I grabbed for the purposes of this post.

And here we have the items I suggest adding - mostly these work towards bringing in more colour options to give a greater range of looks. The IW bolero would probably be too short in the sleeves, but places like Lady Sloth or Glitter Tale could no doubt make something very similar. As a somewhat tall-ish loltia myself (and also fat-ish, which does affect this) I've found both IW and Meta OTKs to be very forgiving in terms of stretch so I think the ones I've suggested would work, They are also kind of generic patterns that would still look nice if stretched height wise beyond what was originally intended. Even fancy tights in these colours would be good options - as always my suggestions are for types of items, not necessarily the exact ones I used.

This first run of outfits are pretty straightforward, but all rather nice. I adore unberbust cuts - they really allow you to show of blouse details. And of course, this is a print-less JSK and I really don't need to repeat how much I love solids.

This JSK image is photoshopped from the OP from the same series and in real life does not have the wait bow and does have more substantial straps. With the understated print and muted colours it's an easy piece to style from casual to almost OTT.

I fell in love with this JSK, even though it's not something I'd ever really wear myself. The print just makes it so much fun to work with! I have to say, out of the outfits about the centre one is my absolute favourite.

This JSK I was already in love with. The lace! The colour! The overall gorgeousness!

I'll admit that I had a little trouble with this JSK. It's the odd one out in this wardrobe so I didn't want to add pieces that only match it but that left me in a position where I'm not 100% sure about the outfits I came up with. The centre on definitely works, but the other two may be too classic for such a sweet dress. Honestly, unless Karen is intending to add more sweet to their wardrobe or particularly loves this dress I'd perhaps suggest selling it.

Another piece that I fell head-over-heels for! I've really got to get myself a stained glass piece someday - due to all the colours in the print they are always very easy to coordinate in a number of different ways.

I encountered this OP in two previous wardrobes, and as always it's not my favourite piece to coord. However, Karen's existing wardrobe pieces yielded some nice outfits possibilities as did my new additions in the centre coord.

I found this OP to be ridiculously adorable! And also easy to coord. Not much else to say, really.

And lastly we have this OP, another bane of my Wardrobe Challenge existence. I've found when having to work with this before, and found again here, that this dress is utterly gorgeous on it's own but surprising hard to do anything interesting with. But I did try, and honestly Karen's blue shoes are the most awesome match to this OP I've ever seen.

So that concludes my most recent wardrobe analysis and round of suggestions. As I said in my last Wardrobe Challenge post I am quite happy to take a look at wardrobes with less than 20 main pieces again, just due to now being gainfully employed it may take me a while to actually post about it. So if you'd like to me to take a look at your wardrobe, please comment below or message me on my facebook page.

A Wardrobe Challenge: Not enough socks, never enough socks

Well, "never enough socks" is just ym opinion... says the girls whose OTK storage box is overflowing despite very rarely wearing any of them. I never said that my posts in this series would be devoid of my personal fashion bias.

Anyway, enough rambling (isn't this blog aptly named?). As you can see, after a very long time of not doing this, I'm returning to the Wardrobe Challenge series, this time with the wardrobe of fellow lolita blogger, the lady being Adventures of a Drop Bear Lolita. As usual, lets start with the pieces she showed me she already has.

Overall, she has a very cohesive collection, especially in terms of colour scheme. The first thing I notice is that the legwear section needed bulking up with a few more options (hence the title of this post). There is also a lack of short-sleeved blouses but being a follower of her blog I know she is aware of this so rather than adding in some short-sleeved options I made the assumption that getting Australian-weather appropriate options was already on her to-do list so instead, as usual, I focused on plugging the noticeable gaps instead.

I didn't feel like there was much "missing" from her wardrobe, but what was missing I felt was very important - the black items in particular, though the bolero, additional socks and gold shoes also add a lot of versatility. I feel like a few more leg- and head-wear alternatives further to what I've suggested above would also be good, but this is enough.

As usual I've put together three outfits for each main piece to show the different ways they can be coorded with the existing and additional wardrobe options.

First up, one of BTSSB's classic solid pieces. This was naturally super-easy to coord in a variety of different ways.

Next up is one of two reasons I added in the black pieces to my suggestions. This JSK is far sweeter than the rest of the wardrobe, but while only adding a few smaller pieces it can now be worn is several different ways.

This dress is gorgeous, and having the matching bonnet made for easy coording of headwear. However, there wasn't really much legwear that match so both the tights and OTKs used here are my additions.

I fell in love while coording this dress. Navy isn't usually my thing but navy and brown is apparently something I am really keen on!

With the print on this JSK being in only a single colour it basically counts as a solid coloured piece and thus lends itself well to vairety.

And this OP is the other reason I had to suggest adding some black. I'm not sure how well the outfit with navy would work out IRL but I think it should be nice with the colours in the print.

I used to really love Chess Chocolate when I was getting into lolita. It's just so damn cute! The socks in the middle coord don't match 100% as they have the subtle pink floral pattern, but that could be solved by adding a pink floral clip to the headbow.

This is an overdress, not a full dress, but she does have a simple underdress and I feel it may also be great over the first BTSSB JSK as well for a different look. It's a lovely and versatile dress and that's really all I have to say about it.

Lastly, we have the lone (and adorable) skirt. Like with Chess Chocolate, in the centre coord the socks again aren't a 100% match due to the floral motif but as I explained above, you can fix that easily.

This wardrobe is a perfect example of how sticking to a colour scheme can really make coording easy. Though I did feel a few more additions were needed, by and large the big building blocks of the wardrobe were already in place and just a little fine-tuning was needed. It was really fun to do this again, after nearly a year since the last one, ad I am once again happy to take requests to analyse and make suggestions on wardrobe of less than twenty main pieces.

A Wardrobe Challenge: How to find and fill the gaps in a larger lolita wardrobe

This post is going to be a little different from my usual wardrobe challenges. On one of my previous posts Shannie Bee from Lace a la Mode asked if I could take a look at her wardrobe and, big fan of her and her blog that I am, I instantly said yes even though her wardrobe contains than the twenty main pieces that is where I normally cap these types of posts. To be honest, it's really not feasible to approach a wardrobe like hers in the way I normally do so instead I am sharing, with examples, my method for finding and filling gaps in a large lolita wardrobe.

The problem with larger wardrobes is that you can't look at it all at once and see patterns in that way; due to sheer volume it's impossible to take in everything at the same time. So instead I find you need to accumulate data and see patterns from there. This may sound daunting and not very fun, but I love doing this! The first step in gathering data is to look at every main piece in the wardrobe and determine what colours each one can match with, and taking notes about it. As an example I'm using a random sampling of dresses from Shannie's wardrobe, and have numbered them for quick reference.

So, starting from the top, I'm going to list the colours each dress would match well with. To do this first I draw from the colours in the print, if there is a print, and then I consider what colours would also go well with it that may not be present.
1. Red, white, chocolate brown, ivory, sax blue, pink and burgundy.
2. White, ivory, red, chocolate brown, peach and burgundy.
3. Pink, sax blue, white, lavender and jade green.
4. Ivory, chocolate brown, burgundy, pink and lavender.
5. Black, white, burgundy and royal blue.
6. Sax blue, pink, white and red.
7. Literally any colour would work but white, pink, sax blue, peach and lavender are the ones I think are best.
8. Peach, ivory, pink, chocolate brown and burgundy.

Now that I have a list of what colours will work with what it's a matter of distilling those colours into accompanying items for the wardrobe. Here I use an idea that I outlined in my post about different methods you can use to start a lolita wardrobe; creating "base sets" of items in a singular colour consisting of a pair of shoes, legwear, headwear and a top. I would aim to have two or preferably three sets that would work with each main piece, and would prioritise sets that will work with a majority of pieces. So for this sample of Shannie's wardrobe the colours I would choose for the base sets are:
1. White
2. Ivory
3. Pink
4. Burgundy
5. Sax blue

After having figured out what colours to get a base set in, the next set is to look at your wardrobe and see what you have already in those colours. Shannie had most of the items needed for each of the base sets in these colours. The pieces that she would have to buy are indicated with the a red dot in the picture below.

As you can see, she already had many of the necessary pieces... she even had a pink blouse, but it was a very different shade of pink to the shoes, socks and headbow that I felt it better to replace it. The main things she needs to get are the burgundy pieces but if you refer back to the list of what colours each piece matches with she could have chosen to run with chocolate brown instead and the only piece that would really suffer from that is the Juliette et Justine dress, number five.

To make this post a bit more like my regular wardrobe challenges, I've put together three outfits for each of the eight main pieces I selected using the items from the base sets, which I think shows quite well how effective this method of wardrobe building can be.

With all the colours in the print this JSK was very easy to come up with different looks for, and I could have easily done more as well!

Conversely, despite having several colours to work with as well, this JSK was a bit harder to coord with its peachy colouring. However, mixing and matching still allowed me to come up with three very different looks.

I don't have too much to say about these coords; this JSK has quite an elegant cut so I tried not to go to casual.

Chocolate with no extra brown... shocking! I actually really liked not incorporating more brown into these outfits.

This JSK has the most limited options with the base sets I chose but by using the complete burgundy set, the complete white set and then mixing the two I still came up with some very different looks.

Dresses like this remind me of why I love sweet lolita; it's so easy to coord!

This white JSK is a good example of how versatile plain pieces can be as I think each of these outfits have a very different feel to them.

Lastly, this JSK was also fairly easy to play around with, though I'm not 100% sure if the pinks will match, but given Innocent World's knack for inaccurate stock photos I wasn't worrying too much about that!

So there's a small example of analysing a wardrobe [or part thereof, in this case] and selecting base sets of items to complement it. It's a good method, I find, but not one that needs to be followed to the letter as far as what goes into the base sets. You may find that you only need some of the pieces, for example perhaps only the burgundy shoes and bolero, rather than the full set. Alternatively, if you had these eight main pieces and knew you wanted to buy more black dresses perhaps you'd look into getting a set in black as well. You may want several legwear options in each colour, or a few different tops. My point is that after figuring what base colours work well with your wardrobe and seeing what you have and what you potentially need you can refine the list of things to get to complete your wardrobe from there. You may not feel the need for matchy-matchy shoes, for example, which would simplify your base sets if you didn't need shoes for each one. You may always buy and like to wear the matching legwear and headwear to a set, and thus only need to look for tops and shoes. These base sets are just that; a base, and one that you can modify to suit your tastes.

It's also worth mentioning that base sets do not need to be worn together and in isolation, nor do you need to have an entire set in each colour. The point is that analysing what colours would go with each piece in your wardrobe, then figuring out which of those colours would go with the most things while still giving you several options for each main piece is a logical way to go about bringing cohesiveness and variety to you wardrobe without running into problems where you have dresses with hardly anything that matches. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't buy awesome accessories that go with only one thing in your wardrobe, and I swear a jade green bolero would be the coolest thing ever with dress number three above, but this is the method I think is best for getting the most possibilities for each of your dresses and skirt out of the least accompanying pieces.

I've tried to be as clear as possible here but I know I can be a bit rambly at times so if you have any questions feel free to drop me a comment.

A Wardrobe Challenge: Tights, berets and bright colours, oh yeah!

Before any talk of clothes or anything I have to say... wow, I'm awesome. normally it takes me a while to do these posts, a couple of days at least. I download the images of their clothes, crop and find better or alternate versions if required, figure out what they need, find suitable examples, make sure I've added enough, make collages, make example outfits, resize and save for web and then write up the post. Today, I did all that in under eight hours. Not eight hours straight, mind you, but this is the first time I've ever done one all in one day so I wanted to put a bit of self-congratulation into this post.

But enough of that, onto the main event!

Since I'm sick of calling everyone anon in these, and don't want to use real names when I do know them becuase I know some people don't want to be outed for going on cgl, I'm going to call the owner of this wardrobe Ida. Ida has a really cute wardrobe with rocking shoes and a bit of a quirky vibe. As usual, I have't included bags or jewellery. Also, the picture of the black blouse here is not the one she owns; hers has cool gold embroidery on the collar but there was no available stock picture so image it being a bit blingy. She said she mostly wears tights, and likes tights and berets and prefers boleros over blouses.

Given that Ida said she has plain tights and plain berets already, I've separated these into a collection of Schrödinger's clothes. Maybe she has them, maybe she doesn't but either way I think she should have the above pieces.

And these are the rest of my suggested editions. Even though I've included Innocent World boleros, for a cheaper option places like The Floral Notebook, Lady Sloth and Glitter Tale can custom make boleros which could be a good choice.

Another thing I'd also suggest Ida, or anyone who likes wearing berets or hats a lot, is to invest in addition in some smaller bow or flower clips to make the general head area less plain. My James bought me 80+ bow clips of eBay in over 40 colours and they're great because no matter what I'm wearing I'll have at least two bows to clip wherever to make things a bit more interesting. I'm slowly building my flower collection as well and I have to say that as a beret lover it really makes all the difference to have a little extra something when wearing a solid colour beret.

Also, I've decided to stop adding wrist-cuffs in my suggestions here, as lately I've started feeling more like they are a jewellery item. by that I mean, yes, having something on the wrists does tend to make an outfit more put-together, but what exactly that thing is [an indeed, if it's there at all] is personal. It's also a bit beyond the scope of these posts in which I intend to provide guidance on the basics of wardrobe construction. With what I suggest in these kinds of posts you have a good, solid base but personal touches have to come from the person.

Anyway, after all that rambling feast your eyes on my sample coords for Ida!

I really loved the idea of pairing the IW camisole with a bolero and I think it works rather nicely. The third coord feels a bit more otome to me with those shoes, and it's probably my favourite of the three!

Not much to say about these coords; they are all fairly simple variations on the skirt. I'd have loved to have included some purple pieces to match it but, as always, I've tried to keep things as versatile as possible. Though, having said that a plain beret and a pair of solid tights shouldn't cost more than $20 so that' an easy way to get some really catchy coords out of this skirt.

I tried to keep these coords a little different from the ones above but, naturally, they ended up a bit same-y. If Ida had more skirts and like blouses more I'd have a few more options in that regard but with only three skirts and a preference for boleros I couldn't justify adding any more than the white one.

This dress is so cute! It was fun to play with something so bright and retro feeling.

I always say plain pieces are great... but this one gave me trouble! Sailor dresses are just so hard to do much with, but I think these outfits still show how you can get some variety out of a piece like this.

Another adorable OP! This dress just made me so happy, it's such a cheerful looking print an the colours are so vibrant it's just a pleasure to come up with outfits for.

This JSK is more fitting than the sailor OP above of how nice and versatile simpler pieces can be; a dark outfit, a light one and a fun one! Pairing this with the pink beret and tights  along with the white blouse could also be really nice.

I really love chocolate prints, there's just something so rich and warm about chocolate that I feel suits the lolita aesthetic really well.

The coords for this JSK cam out a bit repetitive, but I think they're still sufficiently different to give Ida a few options.

I'm know I'm admitting to a lot of similar outfits here but I have to say it again; these outfits are somewhat same-y. Switching out the Mary Janes for a pair of boots in one would be awesome, but I couldn't justify including them in my suggestions. But I'm getting around that by suggesting them here, so there you have it.

Not much to say here, except I find this print a little bit creepy.

Surprisingly,this JSK was one of my favourites to coord! I didn't like it much when it came out on the Bodyline website, but after having a virtual play with it I think it's really cute. Not something I'd wear myself, but still very cute.

Lastly, this lovely JSK. Not much to say about the outfits, so I'll take this opportunity to say I loved the music theme that was running through a lot of Ida's wardrobe. It's uncommon to see someone with a collection of music-themed items, so it was fun to get to play with a bunch of them all at once.

Though I'm not sure when I'd get around to it if you with uni and life and all, dear reader, are interested in me taking a look at your wardrobe of under twenty main pieces and suggesting how to perhaps make it more cohesive and versatile please leave me a comment and let me know ^__^

A Wardrobe Challenge: Sweet and classic

It's been a while since I've wanted to do another wardrobe challenge due to, you know, real life doing its thing, but lately I've been feeling to urge so here we have the wardrobe of someone I've nicknamed V-chan and my suggestions for how they can improve their cohesiveness and get more outfits out of their clothes.

This is what they already had, which they had saved to a pinterest board for me to download and work with. The peasant-style blouse is my approximation of a blouse they had as there was no stock picture of the black colourway. V-chan also had a few requests when it came to my suggestions; no brown, simple headwear, a more casual style and preferably taobao brands.

These are my suggested additions to make their wardrobe that bit more versatile. I didn't pick out the simplest hair pieces, but as usual my suggestions are for types of things rather than specific things so V-chan can use their best judgement on what specific piece to get... though I do like the two Infanta tops I picked out! This is also one of few wardrobes where I felt their shoe collection was ample. However, depending on the real-life shade of the red shoes they may need a brighter or darker red pair in addition. The red ones they have seem to be a perfect in-between shade that can work with both brighter and darker reds in an outfit, but they may not in real life.

Overall, their wardrobe didn't need many pieces to round it out. Ideally beyond my suggestions above a couple more blouses, maybe in bold colours for a more otome vibe, and a few more legwear and headwear options would really make their wardrobe pop, but what I have suggested will definitely help get them more variety into their outfits. And, speaking of outfits, I've conducted my usual test of ensuring I could make three fairly distinct outfits with each main piece before declaring the wardrobe "complete".

These coords are all a bit same-y, but varied enough to not look like the same thing,

This JSK is adorable! But, as the sole pink item in V-chan's wardrobe and with the colours in the print being hard to match exactly, these outfits all run with either neutral or complimentary colours.

To be honest I'm not completely sure of the far right outfit because matching black and navy can work well, or not at all.

This OP was one of my favourite pieces to work with, it's so simple yet so lovely!

At first I struggled a bit with this OP, but in the end it was easy enough to come up with three looks. The first is meant to be worn with the matching headdress in the dress picture.

I used to own this skirt too ^__^ A sax blue cardigan might be something for V-chan to look into getting eventually, since these coords are a bit same-y, but still sufficiently different, I think.

These coords are fairly similar to the ones above, but adequately different, methinks.

This skirt is so pretty! I'm not 100% sure how the middle coord would translate to real-life as the black may be too jarring against the creams but I wanted to give it a go anyway.

I really liked this skirt. Simple yet elegant and very easy to coord.

I may not have gotten the colour exactly right here, but V-chan also has an emerald green version of the red skirt above and I sing similar praises for it.

Surprisingly, I found this skirt a little tricky! I'm not sure how well adding navy works in the right coord, but I wanted to do something that wasn't monochromatic.

Lastly we have this pretty skirt! I'll confess that I wasn't sure if the cardigan in the centre outfits was navy or black, but I thought it was more likely to be black so I used it as such.

All in all V-chan's wardrobe didn't need many big additions. Mostly they needed a few more accessory options to be able to get the most options. As I said earlier I feel more legwear, headwear and a few more coloured tops would give them a lot more variety and interest but that have a fairly solid collection as-is and with my few suggested additions have a very cohesive wardrobe.