2022 Lolita Goals

In the same spirit as last year, things remain too volatile to set any goals that depend too much on external circumstances. On the flipside, what last year taught me is that I enjoyed goals that focused on being creative and which somehow streamlined my wardrobe. Once I committed to overhauling my earrings, I felt more of a push to do it and having done it I find myself using my various earrings more now that I can properly see what I even own. And the lookbook was just the right kind of different to get my creative juices flowing, as well as get me motivated to do all those outfits, which otherwise would’ve sat rent free in my head. Between those and my life being at a point where I really would like to dedicate more of my funds towards other things (other clothes, house things etc.), I have decided to once again focus on a small handful of slightly more challenging goals that will result in me creating something to share with the world.

Photo by Towfiqu from Pexels.com

1. Create One Themed Lookbook

It may not end up being for charity, like the 2021 was, but I would still like to create something more themed purely for fun. There is one idea sitting on my phone right now, which would be perfect, but it would have to be done by May if I am to do it properly. Which is all nice to say now that there’s plenty of time, but procrastination with the previous lookbook is still fresh in my head. However I’m hoping that by cornering myself a little bit into it with no alternative ideas will motivate me further to get this one done. And if I really don’t manage, then I will still have 7 months left of the year to come up with something else instead.

Doing this lookbook was tiring, but very fun, and it yielded some coords which I'm not sure I'd ever have thought of, particularly in this lineup.

2. Take More Mirror Selfies

This one isn’t as specific as I would’ve liked it to, but I’m not sure if I can phrase it in any more specific way. As I mentioned in the last reassessment post of 2021, I started to slow down and embrace the idea that I can wear frills without documenting them. I do enjoy having a record of what I wore for my own archive, but taking outfit photos at one point became a chore. So to combat that I would like to ease some of it by taking only mirror selfies of the coords instead of what I’d normally do. They may make it onto my Instagram grid and/or here - or they may not. That’s a decision that can be made later. The main point here is to create an alternative way of taking outfit photos that will allow me to take them quicker and more effortlessly, one that may not end up being shared with anyone unless I feel like it. I think this would also help in circulating through my wardrobe more, which might help justify all these additions I seem unable to stop myself from getting. So yes, it’s not a very specific goal and practically any number of mirror selfies I take will make it an instantly met one. Hopefully as the year progresses and as I keep reviewing how many I took it will become clearer how this one is going.

This isn't a lolita outfit, but it's a great example of what I mean with the mirror selfie thing: perfectly fine to just capture the outfit I was happy with. If I feel good enough to share it, then that's a nice bonus, but completely unnecessary.

3. Do a 2-Part Wardrobe Overhaul

Time has come to take some drastic action. This will extend beyond just my lolita clothes, but since I freely mix and match elements from my entire clothes collection, having this set as a goal here will hopefully help me ensure that I go through with this. And preferably sometime within the first quarter of the year.

The first part of this overhaul will be a pretty simple purge. Yes, I buy for keeps - but tastes and preferences change, as do bodies. The purge will most likely affect things such as blouses and cardigans rather than main pieces. It’s time to stop pretending like I don’t avoid wearing certain things due to discomfort or them being ill fitting, and instead make room for things that might work better for me right now. I would like to do this properly, meaning try individual garments on, and then decide what stays and what goes. Sadly, the selling part is usually the most bothersome, so whilst I will endeavour to sell as much as I can, I also want to let go of the pressure to do so. Whatever lingers for more than a month will go to a charity shop and whatever ‘reclaimed money’ the things could fetch be damned.

Of the 9 tops here, I already know that 2 I tend to avoid due to feeling a little small now, 1 I grin and bear through the discomfort a little, 1 I rarely reach for, and 1 I'm not so sure how I feel about now, leaving only 4 which feel like safe bets to stay. That is bound to be a sign that some changes need to take place.

The second part of the overhaul will be to divide a portion of my wardrobe into seasonal items. As I was already mulling over earlier, doing a total S/S and A/W split with everything that I own would likely be impossible, with certain pieces spanning seasons. However this doesn’t mean that I don’t have anything at all that couldn’t wait for its time. Even if I only shove a bunch of my clothes away for half a year that’s still a bunch more space freed up. I am done proving to myself that I can wear anything at any time of the year - I’ve already done that in 2020 and 2021 by wearing things like Lady Sloth’s Winter Spices during summer heatwaves. So the plan is to buy a few vacuum storage bags, select which pieces will be relegated to only live in my wardrobe during specific times of the year, and do precisely that. I need to accept that I likely won’t stop buying lolita clothes since I do wear them so regularly and that it’s ok to only wear certain items during certain seasons.

Surely enough points have been proven about versatility of my wardrobe, it's time to let some things be seasonal.

I was going to do a fourth goal, but then this final one is already a two-parter, so I’m giving myself permission to stop here. The three above cover key aspects that I would like to focus on in 2022: being more creative, making my wardrobe more manageable and wearable, and taking care of my mental health as a wearer of lolita fashion who also enjoys creating content. I hope that together they will also work to help manage my spending, if not in terms of volume/frequency then at least in terms of sources i.e. making smarter, more sustainable, more ethical, more long-term purchases. Here’s to another chapter of my life and of being frilly!