What Kind of Ouji Do I Want to Be?

There’s no escaping the fact that if we treat ouji as a substyle of lolita rather than sister fashion, then this is definitely my tertiary style after classic lolita and sweet lolita. Last year I wore it all of five times, twice more than gothic lolita, which is very telling. Despite a personal preference for looking feminine rather than masculine, I am still more likely to choose ouji over gothic lolita. Some of it is down to the fact that what I own lends itself better to one than the other, if only by virtue of colour palette and cuts. Nonetheless, when I stop to think about it, I do feel more excited at the prospect of trying out and expanding more into ouji than gothic lolita. It’s long overdue that I take the time to properly organise my thoughts on the matter, so let’s talk ouji fashion for a moment.

The Research

Or rather: the search for inspiration. I know what ouji fashion is and know the basics of it. (If you need some info on that, why not check out this video by Lou Graves explaining the style?) Moreover, for a while now I’ve felt drawn to the more historical looks and themes, particularly masculine Tudor-era fashions, and that this was the road I wanted to go down. But what does that actually involve? What exactly is it that’s drawing me to those looks and what things I may need to get myself?

My search was split into Instagram and Pinterest. Whereas the former involved me scrolling through the #OujiFashion tag and a few accounts that I already liked, on Pinterest I went on a deep dive into historical portraiture and paintings. Whilst my intention isn’t to make my ouji looks historically accurate, understanding what would have been worn by men in the 1500s and how that style inspires ouji today would help me determine what I might require and where I may stray from the historical.

A glimpse into my gathering of inspiration materials, Pinterest on the left and Instagram on the right.

An interesting commonality between both those research routes is that I am most drawn to rich textures. Brocades, gobelins, velvets, embroidery, quilting, bedazzling with precious stones, contrasts between the different fabrics… Whether looking at my Pinterest board or the collection of saved posts on Instagram, both of those scream textures to me. That and volume, particularly at the sleeves, but also in trousers as well. This one is less of a surprise, as I love a voluminous sleeve in lolita too, big sleeves are where it’s at for me, so this probably would’ve been incorporated into my ouji regardless.

Overall, doing this exercise gave me plenty of food for thought. Compiling these moodboards of sorts allowed me to pinpoint the silhouette that I enjoy the most, confirm the colour palette I’d like to pursue, and identify the areas which I will have to give some more thought to before deciding on what I want for myself.

What I Already Have?

Since I’m not starting in ouji fashion as a complete and utter noob, I do have some items that I can build on. That and I already have my lolita wardrobe to dip into, but for the sake of brevity I’ll focus on the things that are specific to ouji either by nature or because of how I use them.

This leaves me with two pairs of shorts and six jackets. Of those, only one pair of shorts and only three jackets work with the look that I’ve identified as what I want to pursue. Now, up to this point I have done other ouji looks, usually more casual ones, that I enjoyed wearing, so this isn’t to say that I will immediately get rid of things that don’t match this vibe that I decided on. Moreover, some of those other things, especially the jackets, work great with lolita in feminine-meets-masculine kinds of looks.

A snapshot of my ouji-specific pieces

However, what it does mean is that I am a bit further away from having a working Tudor ouji wardrobe than I thought I was. And to my own surprise, looking at both the silhouette and the colour palette I’d like to go for, I may actually… need?... more blouses? ...wait, what? How did that happen?! Ah, yes, it’s the curse of wanting something very specific. Well, maybe let’s see first what I genuinely need before deciding on where I can make do, at least for now.

What Do I Need Then?

Priority would be expanding my selection of shorts. Here’s where we get to the first point of contention though: the length of the shorts. I was pleased to find some paintings depicting longer ones because the prevalence of mid-thigh shorts is filling me with a bit of discomfort. As nice as it is to live in times when thicc thighs (a scientific term, I believe) aren’t as shunned as they used to be, I personally haven’t yet reached the stage of being comfortable showing this much leg. That and between the typical offering of ouji clothing and its sizing, I feel like I may struggle to find readily available pumpkin shorts that would fit a larger thigh. So for the time being I will likely stick to longer trouser legs, preferably knee-length. If I could find a pair cut out of contrasting fabric strips a’la actual Tudor trousers, that would please me immensely, but in the absence of those I will happily take single-fabric styles as long as the fabric has a great texture, is the right colour and has enough volume.

These are the best approximations to what I want that I could find. In reality, money allowing, I would consider getting something custom made from an indie brand like maybe Fidel David.

The next thing I think would have to be shoes. A somewhat surprising turn of events, but since I have some jackets, blouses and legwear to work with, I can’t with a hand on heart say that those are true needs. Shoes, on the other hand, are an area of my wardrobe that is very distinctly feminine and very few pairs of shoes work with this sort of 1500s look. Granted, footwear is where I’d go anachronistic with my ouji style because as comfortable as the loafers on portraits look, I don’t find them particularly attractive (though maybe?). Something leaning a little bit more XVIIth century: a low heel, some decoration like a buckle or a bow, not going higher than the ankle, would probably be best. Until I manage to expand in this area, I’d likely end up wearing those ivory heels with pretty much everything, maybe swapping them for some of the boots, since they’re the next best thing I have.

Truth be told, whilst shoes may be my second biggest need, I've not given the matter much thought, so I myself don't know yet what I want. From left to right the above examples are from Patisserie Pink, American Duchess and Fluevog.

Last though the least pressing need of these is headwear. Not having a headpiece is a very lolita worry, something which my Pinterest dive into portraiture actually confirmed. Yes, men wore hats, but equally as many didn’t. Though surprisingly, 1500s were very similar to the XXth century for men’s hairstyle, lots of simple short haircuts (compensated by facial hair which I’m unable to grow and unwilling to get into myself). Fortunately, since this is all about ouji fashion and not historical recreation, I can simply focus on styling my hair somehow, which is where I run into the exact same problem as I have in lolita: I prefer the look of curly hair to straight. What all of this means is that until I learn to accept my own straight hair in ouji, I am destined to either wear wigs or go to the lengths of curling my hair. And when faced with that prospect, getting one or two items of headwear simply seems a lot less effort.

Let's have some fancy hats from period paintings. The first one I like in particular, that might be something I could fake with a modern hat too.

What Else Would I Like?

Or the wishlist, the fun part, if you will. Because we always have more things we want, we’re conditioned to want more, and we don’t help ourselves by creating these extensive moodboards that show us all the things we’re missing.

Number one thing for me is vests. Specifically a sleeveless doublet, although very heavily inspired by @dearhyacinthus I would consider a regular vest too if it had the right look. But my heart fell in love with doublets so hard! They’d be a great alternative to jackets, since all of mine are very warm and I might want to wear ouji in warmer weather too. They’re also much better at showcasing those dramatic sleeves - and the less dramatic ones too, since the vest would likely add enough interest to compensate for a plainer sleeve.

This really should be my motivation to learn how to sew...

The second one, which actually surprised me a little, are capes. Don’t get me wrong, a cape is always a look that I’ll fully support - what surprised me is the extent to which we see capes in portraiture. Especially shorter capes, which I think work fabulously for ouji. Between practical reasons like the extra warmth and the aesthetic value or making up for a less dramatic sleeve, a cape could help vary my ouji looks. And that goes regardless of whether they feature a fest, a jacket or (the scandal) neither. This might also be the easiest item to get a hold of, either vintage or from an indie brand, so I’ll have to keep my eyes open.

Lads be all about that cape!

What Will I Not Be Going For?

As I mentioned earlier, with what I already have in my lolita wardrobe, I should be able to create other kinds of ouji looks. So as much as I enjoyed things like my sailor ouji coord or the more schoolboy look, since these are attainable with what I already have, I don’t see much point in getting more of that. Ouji may be my tertiary style that I want to expand into, but it’s still tertiary, so I’d rather limit how much more I’m getting. Especially since I’m not sure if/when will I be able to move someplace with more storage space.

Furthermore, I do want to remind myself that whilst I’m aiming for a historically inspired look, I’m not actually aiming for historical recreation. So to save on too many new additions like, ekhm, more blouses (however much I may want more blouses), I will try to not get too hung up over the high neck silhouette that was favoured by men in the 1500s. This doesn’t mean that I’ll be incorporating my Peter Pan collars, but since I have pretty square neck blouses with the right kinds of sleeves, it’d be a shame to not use those. As long as I can work them nicely into the blouse or jacket that I’m wearing with the ouji coord, the height of the neckline will be allowed to vary. Oh, and it’s highly unlikely that I’ll get into ruffs anytime soon.

Lastly, going back to my trouser predicament, for the time being I will stick to knee-length. If in the process I discover that I don’t actually enjoy that silhouette on myself, then I’ll readjust my priorities and will look for something shorter to try.

Final Words

This is all a big work in progress for me, especially while I’m trying to improve my shopping habits. So the biggest thing I need to keep in mind is to not rush. The excitement of embarking on something new, on expanding into a style that you really want to wear, always creates a temptation to get things asap. But that’s also how mistakes are made. For now I was able to clarify my vision, expanding from knowing my preferred colour palette to understanding the silhouette that I’d like. This is a big enough step and will allow me to begin the search for all those pieces I may need or want. And that way, one item at a time, I will hopefully reach that dream ouji look that I want.