1 Dress 4 Looks

Yay, it’s another Lolita Blog Carnival, and one that I wanted to do for a while. As I’m working towards making my wardrobe as versatile as possible, to get the most wear out of what I own, this has been the perfect challenge. If I had more time I’d probably try this with a lot more of my dresses, but unfortunately I couldn’t.

As my base dress I picked Bodyline’s Sweet Macaron JSK (L249) in blue. It is one of my favourite pieces, and I think that it can come across as very classically Sweet Lolita to people, so I wanted to experiment with this. I hope I’m interpreting the “style” part of the challenge right – with such a colourful dress it was very hard to do e.g. Gothic Lolita, so while my styles may be variations of Sweet and Classic Lolita, there are definitely four looks here.

Look no 1: Sweetly Classic or Pink

| offbrand blouse (pink) | Angelic Pretty Ribbon Ladder
OTKs (sax) | offbrand heels (beige) | offbrand
purse | vintage mini-hat hair clip | offbrand rose hair clip |
offbrand macaron earrings |

I’d say it’s a sweetly Classic look, although for some it may be more of a classically Sweet one, hence an alternative name of just Pink. If anyone has delved deeper into this blog, they’ll know that I had to overcome my apprehensiveness towards pink in Lolita, which I think I’m slowly getting to (I may have gotten that blouse, but I still haven’t worn it yet). While on the simpler side, it’s an elegant coordinate that brings out the pinks in the dress without making everything too busy – the focus remains on the print, but it’s framed in complimentary colours. If I was to wear it, I’d try some Marie Antoinette-ish style hair, maybe a bouffant, something with plenty of volume to add a bit of a princess feel to it, but also to bring out the hair clips, especially that feather.

Look no 2: Classic

| Miss Point (Taobao) Earl Grey blouse (wine) | Angelic Pretty
Twinkle Carnival OTKs (ivory) | Secret Shop tea parties (wine) |

Out of the two, this is the definitely-Classic coord. I’ve been meaning to pair this JSK with that blouse and tea parties for what seems like forever, and now that I see them together I really like it. I’d actually wear it with AP’s Ladder Ribbon OTKs, but as I’ve already used them in two out of the four looks in this post, and I didn’t feel like adding any more bordeaux into the mix, I picked those; plain tights in cream would probably work just as well, but I only thought of that after I took the photo. I realise that it may feel a little empty in terms of headpieces or jewellery, however, a lot would probably depend on the hairstyle: maybe a flower crown or just a singular rose instead of the bow? Although I think this one should remain simple. When I try this one out, which will happen sooner or later, you’ll find out too.

Look no 3: OTT Sweet

| BtSSB 134-405 shirring blouse (white) | Angelic Pretty
Ribbon Ladder OTKs (sax) | Bodyline S522 tea parties
(sax) | Naughty Cat purse | Claire's cupcake hair clip |
Naughty Cat bow hair clip | offbrand glitter star hair clips |

Now we’re getting to my favourite two looks (save the best 'til last). This JSK works so well with in an OTT coord! Again, I forgot to add some jewellery to the photo, but whatever blue and/or white rings, earrings, necklace and bracelets I have, I’d throw them in as well. Maybe even some other hair things too, if the hairstyle would allow it (in my head I’m thinking a bob, but that’s probably because I recently got a short bob wig). Similarly to the first look, it feels very in time for spring, but more of a lively, get-out-in-the-sun-and-skip-a-little spring rather than a dignified-picnic-in-the-park spring.

Look no 4: Military or Circus

| Vintage military-style jacket | Sheena's Bella Bows toy
soldier mini-hat | BtSSB Border OTKs (wine) | Bodyline S274
heels (red) | vintage bow necklace |

This one was the biggest surprise for me out of all four – I had a glimpse of inspiration, a sort of “what if I tried this…” moment, which turned into this coord. And without a shred of modesty I’m saying that I love it. One because it genuinely looks good: despite the dress having absolutely no red motifs whatsoever, blue and red just go together so well, and in this case the cobination gives the JSK a totally new and exciting feel. And two, which is linked to what I just said, is that it’s not something you’d expect. With a macaron, rose and polka dots print most people’s immediate instinct is to go either Sweet or Classic, which, as you probably saw above, can get a bit limiting and samey after a while. Giving the JSK a Military/Circus makeover is very refreshing and I can’t wait for an opportunity to give this look a go, take it to a meet maybe. I probably will wear it with some plain white or ivory blouse underneath, but mostly for comfort, not the looks (the jacket's 100% polyester, so something breathable underneath will help)

These are my four looks. When preparing this post I actually put together six, but above are the ones I was most happy with. The other two may not have been necessarily bad, just felt less finished than those two, even when taking my forgetfulness that day into account. Do you have any other ideas for this JSK? Share your ideas, as well as your coords with different dresses in the comments, I’d love to see them! And don’t forget to check what the other bloggers have done:

Art du noir

more to come, hopefully...