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Monday, 22 July 2013

A Complete Sailor Lolita Wardrobe for [just over] $500.

I am really getting a little too into my hypothetical budget lolita wardrobes, but I suppose there’s nothing wrong with a bit of obsessive behaviour every now and again. Having completed wardrobes for sweet, classic and gothic, the three main styles, I’ve decided to branch into the sub-styles, themes maybe even colour schemes, and what better way to start that than with sailor lolita? As always, if there’s a particular lolita style you’d like to see my budget version of, please leave a comment letting me know.

As always, I’ve left out a purse and accessories from this wardrobe because of two reasons. Firstly, I think the choice of both things is personal, and I don’t want to dictate styles or amounts as some ladies like just wearing a necklace and some like a million bibs and bobs, and both choices are perfectly valid. Secondly, as this is designed with a budget in mins you could probably use your existing handbags and jewellery – maybe not perfectly loli, but definitely good enough. With that said, onto the hypothetical!


The wardrobe consists of the following items:

1 OP, 1 JSK and 1 Skirt:
Normally my mantra is one plain, two patterned. However, I haven’t yet seen a nautical themed print that I’ve liked that would fit within the budget, so all these pieces feature various striped detailing rather than any of them being of printed fabric. The OP is from Infanta [$55] and both the skirt [$32] and the JSK [$75] are from F+F.
2 Blouses:
My usual choices are to have one with detachable sleeves, and something that can provide versatility. But sticking to a style like sailor lolita doesn’t really lend itself to versatility so here we just have two F+F sailor blouses, a plainer one in white with black trim [$38] and the other in black with ivory trim [$40] is a bit fancier with ruffles and a large neckbow.
2 Outerwear:
Again I chose to conform to my mantra of having something “structured” and something “pretty”.  The “structured” is the Bodyline sailor jacket [$27] and the “pretty” is the Infanta cape [$57] which is one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen.
2 Headpieces:
A white headbow from F+F [$6] is the typically lolita headwear of choice in this wardrobe, and also from F+F I’ve chosen to run with the theme even more with the adorable little sailor hat [$15].
2 Pairs of Shoes:
If only we could all have a hundred pairs of shoes, then we could match every outfit with the perfect pair. But who has the space? I went with a pair of white boots [$47] and a pair of black shoe [$40], both from Bodyline, so there were two colour options as well as styles.
5 Items of Legwear:
You can never have too much legwear. Ever. But for the purposes of keeping versatility while limiting amounts I think you need solid colour tights and a patterned or printed pair, as well as three pairs of socks – a plain neutral knee high or over the knees pair, a more interesting pair of knees highs and a pair of ankle socks. For tights I chose a plain white pair from eBay [$4] and a fabulous screenprinted Teja Jamilla pair [$30] in black and gold. As for socks, the black OTKS [$9] and white ankle socks [$1] are both from Bodyline and the stripy ones [$3] are from eBay.
1 Petticoat:
I didn’t include a petticoat in the collage because it’s underwear and, you know, it goes under things. As petticoats vary in size, price and quality I’m factoring it into the equation as costing $50 which I think is a fair enough average.
Total Cost: $529
Okay, okay. So, like with the classic lolita wardrobe, I’ve ended up slightly over the limit. Finding bargain footwear locally rather than online or perhaps dropping the Teja Jamilla tights [though who would want to!] for something simpler would be easy ways to bring this back under budget. I could also stop including petticoat costs, but it’s such a necessary lolita item it’s really not reasonable to leave it out.

Now that you’ve read though my rambling and reasoning, here are seven sample outfits.

Basic, cute and a little bit old-school.

Protect your adorableness from the cold with this layered outfit! 

A very dramatic outfit with the stripy skirt set off by black-and-gold accents.

The little bit of blue in the socks is matched by the hat in and otherwise B&W outfit.

A very simple outfit, perfect for staying cool in the summertime.
 
Just letting the dress take focus, accented by the jaunty hat.

Alright, not really "gloomy" but I was liking my alliterative theme!

Two quick endnotes on pricing:

One; listed prices are exclusive of shipping costs, because they vary. Also, Bodyline tends to change prices for no apparent reason, so today’s cheap shoes may be tomorrow’s expensive dream. 

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