Prints I would love to see

A topic that you see from time to time on lolita blogs is prints the writer would love to see done. It's something I rarely think about, but I'm feeling the urge to blog a bit more so why not give it a try myself? 

A camellia print that focuses on the flower, and that isn’t distinctly wa-lolita. I know Meta has included camellias in many of their wa-lolita series (including the one I own!) but honestly I would love to see Innocent World or BTSSB do this. My dad used to have beautiful Chinese watercolour style paintings of camellias in his house and I’d love to see something like that as a print. Not cartoony, simplified camellias but lovely delicate ones.

Sourced from the Victoria and Albert Museum website.

A watercolour style kitten print with relatively realistic kittens playing together. I love cats, but don’t tend to love to many cat prints – the cats often look cartoony or kind of uncanny, or it’s something that I like but wouldn’t wear. But something where the illustration is a bit Beatrix Potter is style would be gorgeous, perhaps in soft muted pastel colourways. This would totally be an Innocent World thing (I know they’ve done a print like this – Kitten Embroidery, I believe – but those kittens were a bit on the creepy side for me!) or I feel like it could be done really nicely by an indie brand.

Cute...but I want it less deranged looking.

A Celtic knotwork print, which I feel would be done best by Meta or Alice and the Pirates if it was done by one of the big brands because I wouldn’t want it done in a particularly gothic way (though if it was gothic, Atelier Pierrot might do a great job of it). Something classic, maybe with vines twining around the knotwork shapes, would be gorgeous, especially if it kept to earthier colourways and had a slight historical influence to the cuts as well. This could so easily be super tacky though, but I think if done well it would be stunning.

Doesn't have to be crosses, but I just liked this shot from Pixabay.

A Little House on the Prairie print is something else that I think would be really lovely. I would want this to be a print like how brands do classical painting prints – it wraps all the way around the skirt, or perhaps duplicated front and back. There would be the little wooden house in an endless field of grass and flowers, with three little girls playing nearby. The different colourways could be indicative of different times of day, kind of like BTSSB has done with some of their landscape style prints. I’d love to see Baby do this, actually, but only if they kept the cuts retrained and somewhat Victorian – the image would not suit an elegant frilly and lacy affair.

One of Garth Williams' gorgeous illustrations

A print of a landscape of autumn trees, particularly maple trees, or an all-over pattern of falling leaves. Totally a Meta thing, I think, but it would be gorgeous if Baby did this. I would so wear this, and love it forever. Autumn trees are just so gorgeous and the rich colours I think would really suit lolita quite well.

Okay, so you can't see it too well, but basically it's this kimono pattern that I want.

Overall, I think I’d just mostly love to see more plant, flower and landscape prints in a detailed and classic way. Even though I don’t garden much, I am a plant lover, and there’s just so much natural beauty all around that it would be great to see lolita brands branch out more in that direction.

Are there any particular things you’d like to see as a lolita print?

Not really a wardrobe post

Readers, I will be honest. I cannot be arsed doing a wardrobe post this year. In god news, that's mostly because there hasn't been much change - just a few arrivals and several departures. So I'm not missing out by not doing one ^__^

However, I thought it would be nice to do a little review of those changes in a wardrobe post of sorts.

New Arrivals

My most notable addition in 2021 was Meta's Camellia ~ at hide and seek~ which I absolutely adore. I've already worn it twice, and it's such a gorgeous piece that even my minimal-effort outfits look good.

I also posted a YouTube video unboxing this, so have a watch below if that's your thing ^__^

2021 also saw me finally acquire some blouses that fit from Glitter Tale, yay! I've worn the white one a lot, but the others...not so much. Oh well. It's still nice to have some comfortably fitting blouses even though I'm kind of "meh" on Glitter Tale.

Lastly, my black tea parties died and I bought a similar pair from Aliexpress. Not very exciting, but there you go.

Oh, and I nabbed a couple of classic-suitable necklaces from our model wardrobe. There are probably a few other bibs and bobs I'm forgetting but that's most of it! 

Fond Farewells

As I said at the start, last year saw a fair few departures. I did another wardrobe purge, and finally parted ways with things that don't feel "me" and things that will take a lot of weight loss to fit into. Again, I have a video on this on YouTube, embedded here for your viewing pleasure. Though be warned...it is long, rambly, and includes as much cosplay stuff as lolita stuff.

Another item I let go later on in the year was Bodyline L003 and a couple of pairs of socks. A friend James and I reconnected with expressed an interest in lolita and a lack of funds to get into it. We decided she and James would do a photoshoot where I dressed her in lolita.

When I was coming up with a coord for her, as she is significantly smaller than I am, I decided to just give her an Innocent World blouse and bolero from the aforementioned purge, as I'd listed them to Lacemarket and they weren't selling. Then I thought "those will goes very nicely with that Bodyline floral" and realised that the JSK would suit her colouring far better than mine, so she might as well have that to keep as well, since then she has the big parts of a coord. Eventually I'll learn not to buy beige or tan based things...

Then for that outfit I put her in some pretty Meta OTKS that I've never worn due to size, and when I saw that the pattern was a little stretched out even on her very slim legs I was like "fuck it, these are never going to work on me no matter now much weight I lose" (hearty Scandinavian types, you feel me?) so I gave her that pair, and the second pair of the same socks in a different colour that I own.

Though, to be fair, they look kind of wonky even on this mannequin leg!

And sadly, last year my gorgeous fawn fur handbag fell apart at the seams after years of near-constant use... genuinely, I was very sad about this, and still kind of am. It was a great conversation starter!

In Summary

Overall, more went out than came in to my lolita wardrobe, but those changes were all for the better. The make my wardrobe better more wearable for me... and I've freed up some space for more new additions ^__^

I mean, I'm actually really enjoying not buying very much in terms of lolita. Being more mindful, for lack of a better term, about my wardrobe has been good for me. I've also started sewing more again (I have a cutsew and a skirt in the works at the moment), and would love for my wardrobe to expand mostly with handmade or indie brand pieces. However, I'm not making any particular goals in that regard - I'll add what I like, when I like ^__^ 

Coordinates to try in 2022

Recently(ish) I posted to reflect on my coordinate goals from 2021. Even though I did forget that I'd set those goals for the majority of the year, I still liked having them. So I thought I'd do it again for 2022!

This list consists of some things that are carried over from last year, and some things that are wholly new.

Try OTT classic
I have sort of done OTT-ish classic before. A more opulent classic look is my go-to "proper lolita" style. But it's been a while and I want to see what 2022 Roli can do ^__^

A couple of my fancier classic coords.

Pair an OP with a blouse

Exactly what it says on the box. When I put together flatlays, I often pair short sleeve onepiece dresses with a blouse underneath, and I really like it. But I've never done it in real life and I think that needs to change!

Keen to wear this exact combo one day!

Make a "typical" sweet coord

I want to do a cute, pastel, fluffy kind of sweet lolita coord because I've never really done that before, and I want to! I'm thinking a bit like Princess Peachie in her heyday, or Rosalynn from Lolita Wonderland. Not exactly OTT by today's standards, but very, very sweet. Honestly, I think they thing that stops my more typically sweet coords from quite reaching this vibe is largely a matter of hair and make-up (and accessorising) so this may end up being a photoshoot look.

Wear my non-fawn fur
This is carried over from last year, because I totally failed at doing it at all ^__^

I mean, that's because it's mostly fawn fur...but still!

Coord a corset
Another 2021 goal, but this time I'm better prepared. Last year, I forgot that my only lolita-suitable corset does not match any of my currently-fitting clothes. This year, I'm either going to delve into ero with another corset, or (more likely) make myself a gobelin waist cincher, because I want one anyway. 

At least one kimono coord
Honestly, this is just a slight tweak on last year's "wear more wa lolita" but I wanted to be more specific about what I wanted - to wear a kimono in place of a blouse, with or without an obi. I may also be modifying some kimonos into lolita clothing, but as with all sewing plans I have, let's not hold our breath on that.

My favourite kimono coordinate so far.

Wear my bonnet
My last goal is also a repeat - I want to wear my lovely old-school bonnet! Probably for a photoshoot, as it's not really my everyday vibe, or maybe I'll organise an old-school meet up when it feels safe. Going to try really hard to make this one happen!

And that's it! That's the lolita coords I want to try and make happen in 2022. Do you have any "goal" coords?

2021 Coords in Review

2021 saw me wearing lolita 27 times (this number does not include the times where I just dressed from the waist-up to film a YouTube video). So a bit over twice a month on average. After my 2020 bonanza it feels like a bit of a poor showing, but given that 2021 was a year in many, many ways (most of which I haven't talked about on this blog) I'm still quite pleased with myself. 

Some of my favourite coords of the year.

So, total numbers aside, how did things look compared to 2020?

I'll admit I'm a little surprised to see that sweet dominated quite this much, but I suppose that's also because a bunch of my outfits toe the sweet-classic line. 

For example, in the four outfits above I classified two as sweet and two as classic...but they're all very similar. I guess it's just that simple sweet (which sometimes tends to read a bit classic by virtue of simplicity) is my vibe. So when I see a graph saying I wore lots of sweet part of me goes "but there are no pastels, no stuffed toys, no giant twin tails" and kind of forgets that my style of sweet exists.

Interestingly, the graph of main piece colours is pretty darn similar to last year. Or, I suppose it's not that interesting. I fit the same pieces as in 2020, and even though I got rid of my handmade green skirt I bought Meta's Camellia Cat so I still had the same amount of green main pieces!

In 2021 I did not have a stand-out most popular main piece. Everything that fits was worn at least once, and I had three tied "favourites" at three wears apiece - Teddy Chocolatier, Shirring Princess, and my handmade cherry skirt. I am not surprised by any of that. ^__^

And last of all...my reasons for wearing lolita. Nothing too surprising here either, really. I feel like I wore lolita a lot for comfort reasons. As in, I had to wear proper clothes for whatever reason, and lolita was more comfortable for me than normie clothes. I know I say this every year, but I really am trying to finally drop some weight, so it'll be interesting to see if I find lolita more or less comfortable as more of my clothes - lolita and not - start to fit better...or fit at all.

Overall there's nothing particularly unusual in the data from 2021. However, I still like posting these reviews to see what I was up to and now that this is done... on to 2022!

Coordinates from December 2021

Farewell 2021! You were fine, I guess. Tumultuous. Weird. But you definitely had upsides too.  

But we're not here for reflective musings, we're here for coords!

First coord of the month was worn to my work Christmas party - it's tradition, dammit. This year, we were asked to dress in Aussie colours or themes so I wore my red dress with some blue and white since the Aussie flag is red/white/blue (like lots of countries, so boring lol).

OP: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright Tartan Check

Socks: Angelic Pretty

Shoes: Bodyline

Everything else: Offbrand

I genuinely loved this look, it was not something I'd have just come up with on my own without trying to match the colour scheme but I am really happy with how it turned out. 

I next wore lolita on a WFH day because James had a photoshoot, so I couldn't stay in my PJs with a model in the house! I hadn't planned on doing lolita, but I was having trouble finding a pair of comfortable pants and realised that I'd be more comfy in lolita than my jeans!

OP: Metamorphose temps de fille Camellia Cat

Socks & Shoes: Bodyline

Everything else: Offbrand/Taobao

It was a cute coord and I was happy to wear it, unplanned as it was.

Then my next coord was once again, quite unplanned. We were visiting a friend who's back in the country for a few months (and getting to meet her cute baby girl!) and I could not find my comfy pants, so again, went with a quick lolita coord. The base of this is a combo I wore in November but like, who cares, lol.

Skirt: Handmade

Everything else: Offbrand

You could also argue this isn't really lolita, but as usual - my blog, my rules, and I say it's lolita enough.

And that was my December in lolita fashion...unexpectedly more fashionable that I would have thought. As usual I'll be posting a bit of a "year in review" post shortly, so look forward to that!

Reflecting on my coordinate goals for 2021

I am nothing if not good at forgetting things, and I only remembered at the start of December that I had begun the year with a list of "goal coords" that I wanted to wear. So how did I go, given that I spent most of the year oblivious to these goals?

Yes, I know there are a few more days left in the year but the likelihood of me wearing lolita is incredibly low...

Wear my underskirt

This did not happen. Mostly due to the forgetting, and I think a part of that is because none of my black main pieces that currently fit really suit having an underskirt. Also, I just don't like underskirts much, so I'm not really bummed that I didn't achieve this goal. 

More wa lolita

I did wear a wa lolita outfit in March. which I thought was very cute, and I did acquire my first wa lolita print from Meta, so I consider this goal achieved!

Make it blue

When I set this goal I was thinking of a sax blue, but that didn't eventuate. What did happen was a coord with some navy blue accessories (more about it and why I wore it in my upcoming December coord roundup post). I thought there was another one too...but that was last year and I'm just confused. I'm still counting this as a win though, even though it's not very dramatically blue. 

I'm also in the process of making a navy blue sailor-style skirt so blue is definitely going to be more of a thing for me in future, which I'm quite pleased with. I do like blue...it just took me almost a decade in this fashion to realise that while sax blue specifically is not my thing that doesn't mean I can't have any blue!

Wear my non-fawn fur

Ooops, no. This didn't happen. I mean, I did wear my BTSSB capelet which has a fur collar attached...but that's not what I meant here, so I'm not counting it.

Coord a corset

Ahem...another fail. Nothing more to say, except that this is also kind of circumstantial. The one corset I have that may look good with lolita doesn't work with anything that currently fits so I didn't really have any opportunity for this. 

I am, however, planning on making either a waist cincher or 18th century style bodice from some geometric gobelin style fabric I've had for years, so that may get some wear with lolita once it's actually made. If it gets made ^__^ 

Go OTT

I consider this goal kind of achieved. I wore one sweet lolita coord that was OTT by my standards... which is probably just everyday lolita for a lot of people! However, these are my goals and my standards, so I say it counts!

However, I didn't end up trying an OTT classic lolita look at all, but oh well. Something to try for in 2022!

Wear my bonnet

Guess what? It's another coord goal that didn't get achieved! And there's nothing more to say about it.

All in all, this post is a bit of a dull reflection. But oh well. I enjoyed setting coord goals that I wanted to try, and I will be doing the same thing for 2022. Provided I don't forget this year that I set goals in the first place, I'm keen to see where trying new things gets me.

A guide to steampunk lolita

I love steampunk, I really do. Just check out our recently published web serial if you doubt my passion for the genre (also because it's a good read, if I say so myself). I have so many pretty steampunk clothes in my wardrobe that are waiting for their moment to shine in front of the camera. And, obviously, I love lolita fashion!

However, oftentimes the phrase “steampunk lolita” causes a knee-jerk reaction of “ita”. Much as I love steampunk lolita I can also see why. Steampunk can very easily go tacky in style, especially if you go the route of just adding cogs, a top hat, and some goggles. And while lolita isn’t hard to get right it does have its own set of aesthetic guidelines which, when bent or broken, can look rather...not good. So I thought that I’d share a bit of a ramble about how to do steampunk lolita well. I don’t tend to wear the style much myself, but writing this gave me a new surge of inspiration, so who knows what the future holds? Probably a steampunk lolita photoshoot or three!

An oldie but still a fave.

Photo of me by The Enthusiast.

So, how can you combine these two distinct fashions into something that ticks the boxes on both styles without disrupting the sensibilities of the other?

Keep the lolita silhouette

The number one rule of lolita is silhouette, so keeping that in place is a must. In realistic term, this means the vast majority of corsets (a big thing with female steampunks!) are a big no-no as they come down too low on the torso and throw off the shape of the skirt. If you must wear a corset, keep it to an underbust cincher style.

Steampunk prints

The easiest way to channel some steampunk into your lolita is to wear a steampunk printed main piece. However there aren't very many explicitly steampunk prints, though I have featured a few below. But similar themes, like books, trains, or boats can be suitable too. And if you want to go print-less, patterns like regimental stripes or tweeds are also good. Military style details, or specifically Victorian ones, can make even solid colours read a little more steampunk.

Avoid "stick-a-cog-on-it" steampunk

I try to be fairly neutral about things, but I am really not a fan of sticking a whole bunch of cogs on things to make it steampunk. Two or three, especially if they're on an item in a way that looks quasi-functional, or as deliberately decorative items, sure. But a whole lot of haphazard cogs? That rarely looks good, and definitely won't help you make a good steampunk lolita coord.

Draw on Victorian influences
Both steampunk and lolita draw on, amongst other things, Victorian influence so, when choosing the lolita items to coord with, keep this in mind. Choose a high-collared blouse rather than one with a big peter pan collar, for example.

Consider the colour palette

Generally, if you think steampunk, you think brown. Maybe with a bit of cream and some gold/copper/brass accents, but mostly brown. If there are colours, it's generally khaki green or dark jewel tones. Personally, I adore steampunk outfits that buck this trend and explore unusual combos, especially because the Victorians loved their colours, but for a melding of steampunk and lolita, it's probably best to keep to the more "traditional" steampunk colours.

Accessorise with care
In a sense, what makes a steampunk lolita coordinate different from just a classic coord is the choice of accessories. Throw on a (decent quality) top hat, wear a pair of goggles as a necklace, add leather gloves, or wear a harness over the top of it all. There are lots of options, from subtle things like a brass octopus necklace to a very distinctive top hat with goggles in lieu of a hatband. Just remember that normal lolita rules apply so keep things balanced, proportionate, and high quality. 

Sadly, steampunk lolita is not well-loved, so no matter how well you do it some people might call your resulting coordinate tacky or costume-y or, yes, ita. But I say screw that. Life's too short to only enjoy lolita fashion in subculture-sanctioned ways. So if you want to wear steampunk lolita, then wear steampunk lolita!

Of course, it also goes without saying but I want to say it here in particular – wear what you want! If you want to glue a bunch of cogs to a corset and wear it then go for it. Always do what makes you happy in fashion. I only advise against calling things something they are not; when lolita has such as specific aesthetic to it, if your steampunk look has a knee length frilly skirt but is otherwise not very lolita, just call it steampunk and enjoy yourself. I certainly do!