1 Dress 4 Looks Take 2

See, I enjoyed doing this lasttime so much, that not only I did it again, but decided to share this with you. Hopefully this means that eventually I will have done this challenge with every main piece that I own, even if I won’t always share the results with you. For someone who sometimes needs a physical and visual reassurance that what imagination suggests will work in real life, like myself, this is incredibly helpful during my journey towards wardrobe versatility.

But anyway, let’s get to the dress!

This time I picked Bodyline’s L262, the very first Lolita dress I have ever bought. I recently had it altered slightly by my boyfriend’s extremely talented and lovely Mum (if you’re reading this – thank you again!). Now the dress is no longer a halterneck, which does mean that I can do a bit more with it, considering that the majority of Lolita blouses have collars, which in turn don’t necessarily go with that kind of neckline. It feels like this time the looks are a bit more distinct and different from each other than last time, which I’m pleased with – although a simple polka dot print will always be easier to transform through accessories than a themed print.

Look 1: OTT Cherry Oldschool

| BtSSB 134*405 shirring blouse (white) | Angelic Pretty
Drained Cherry OTKs (white x red) | Bodyline S274 heels
(red) | offbrand upcycled cardigan | vintage reproduction
cherry pearl necklace | handmade cherry earrings | handmade
charm bracelet | offbrand hair clips |

That was one of the first visions I had for this dress when I first started thinking about getting more wear out of the pieces I own: cherries. I prefer to eat strawberries, but I find that they’re a little bit everywhere in Sweet Lolita – so my natural desire to not follow the crowd said to me “But cherries look cool”. I actually had a dry run of this before the jewellery was ready and before the dress was altered, so I know that it looks good, but now I have more accessories to complete it (I plan on making a proper headbow for it as well – and a cherry ring would be nice, but that’s optional). The funny thing about this look though is that if you take away all the accessories and the cardi, you’re left with a coord that has a bit of an Oldschool Lolita feel to it. That’s mostly down to the dress and the blouse, but it’s still almost like a 2-in-1 outfit.

Look 2: Nautical

| BtSSB 134*405 shirring blouse (white) | Angelic Pretty
Toy March OTKs (ivory) | Hell Bunny Landlubber cardigan
(navy) | Deary Cabriole Leg heels replica (navy) | offbrand
anchor earrings | offbrand hair bow |

I thought of giving this a go some time ago, but only really tried it here. However, considering how I got the dress because of it 1950s vibe, I’m not sure how I could ever think that red-and-white polka dots wouldn’t go with navy and nautical themes. The picture doesn’t show it off very well, but there are anchors at the back of the cardigan. This is one of the times where I wish I had navy OTKs, as even non-sea themed ones would complement this look a lot better than those ones, but they’ll do for the time being. Other than that I’d only like a suitably nautical bag to carry my stuff in – keeping it simple works best here, methinks.

Look 3: Sweet

| Magic Tea Party unknown blouse (sax) | Angelic Pretty
Ribbon Ladder OTKs (sax) | Bodyline S522 tea parties
(sax) | Claire's cupcake hair clip | Naughty Cat bow hair
clip | offbrand glitter star hair clips |

This is almost as if looks 1 and 2 had a baby: there’s the red and blue combination, albeit with pastels and sax here; there’s the Sweet feel to it; there are accessories… Again, I should’ve added some of my rings to that photo, not sure why I keep forgetting them, but sax rings definitely belong here. But the more I look at this, the more I think that it somehow ended up looking pretty casual (probably because there’s less accessories on the photo). Not that there’s anything wrong with a bit more casual, would be good for a relaxed mini-meet or when having friends over. Or maybe the word I was going for was “comfortable” rather than “casual”? Either way, red and blue keep being good friends, this time in a Sweet version.

Look 4: Classic and Elegant

| Bodyline L581 blouse (white) | offbrand heels (red x white) |
vintage gloves (white) | offbrand pearl headband | offbrand/indie
rose fascinator | offbrand rose choker |

Oh yes, that turned out better than I expected! I wasn’t sure how the neckline of that blouse would go with the JSK, but it looked good laid out. Mind you, things could change once put on, though I still have faith. I was determined to use some of my gloves here, because I hardly ever wear them and that needs to change, and whilst the look feels very white with them on, it’s not a bad thing. And for once my headwear woes somehow sorted themselves out when I put that headband with that fascinator. It’s a very Classic and indeed an elegant coord – and as lovely as it is this way, I feel like an underskirt peeking out would take it to that next level. I know that I sound like I can’t get over my own genius (and I admit, I do live by the “modesty is for the weak” rule) – I simply didn’t expect this last coord to come out as nice as it did.

That’s dress number 2 done in four different ways. What do you think? Any favourites? Let me know, please, if maybe you’d like me to write another 1 Dress 4 Styles post with anything else that I own, that’d be extra motivation for me to actually do it. You’ll find my wardrobe post here, and my up to date wardrobe (minus offbrand pieces) over on Lolibrary.