Advanced Coordinating: #4 Understanding Cuts

We’ve talked about accessories, now let’s turn our attention back to clothing. Because I can bang on about how amazing a range of headpieces and jewellery is for one’s wardrobe and lolitas will still spend all their money on dresses, then proceed to make New Year’s resolutions about buying more headpieces. Such is the reality of this fashion community. So at least let’s expand this a little into clothing in general and talk about how understanding cuts can really make a difference when taking your coordinates to the next level.

Thankfully, lolitas don’t tend to ignore the cuts of garments as much as they can end up neglecting accessories, if only on a level of taste and what they like. Be it through personal experiences with mainstream fashions or simply through trial and error, we quickly learn what cuts of dresses fit us and which ones we like ourselves in (remember that these are two different things). The same happens with blouses, although to a lesser extent and probably requires slightly more conscious examination of our outfits. Nonetheless, having a solid understanding of garment cuts informs not only our purchases, but also coordinating options and possibilities. To truly make the most of that knowledge, it’s crucial to examine the cuts of the clothing from two slightly different angles: cuts for your body shape and/or taste, and cuts for your chosen substyle.

If, like me, you’ve spent more time than is healthy reading mainstream women’s magazines, you will have come across articles about body shapes and what clothes suit them at least once. Hourglass, pear, apple, inverted triangle, whatever these are called nowadays, they were inevitably accompanied by lists of fashion do’s and don'ts. Whilst lolita fashion focuses on cuts of dresses and not body shapes of the wearers, some of that knowledge may come in useful if you are conscious about accentuating or hiding some of your features. At the same time, because for the majority of us lolita fashion shopping is confined to online-only, there is no way of avoiding some degree of trial and error before you find out which cuts you like yourself in. The fact that lolita fashion is focused on the silhouette of the outfit and less so on the body shape underneath it can free you from having to stick to arbitrary guidelines. If you like yourself in certain cuts, even though every fashion theory says that these won’t be flattering for you, then ignore the theories and wear what you like on yourself.

Moreover, just like with mainstream fashion, there are ways to fake certain shapes to your advantage and to make them fit your shape, proportions and preferences. Layering is your friend not only when creating depth, but also by cleverly adjusting how clothing fits on you. Using belts or corsets in lolita to accentuate the waist is a common thing that I’ve seen. Similarly, you can layer blouses under OPs to mask a fit that is slightly too loose or drape loose knitwear or peignoirs over the outfits to hide your shape. This can even be as simple as whether you button up your cardigan using only the top or only the bottom buttons - that’s enough to make a significant difference in shape. Whatever kind of silhouette you are aiming to achieve beyond that of lolita fashion, however fitted or loose, whatever features you like to show off or mask, understanding which cuts help create that look, as well as how to manipulate clothing to fake the silhouette that you desire, will help advance your coordinating skills and make for more unique coords.

Bottom two buttons vs top two buttons. All of 5 seconds of a difference and suddenly it's a whole new silhouette. (February 2020)

For me, what I’ve learnt over the years in this fashion, is that I am keen to keep the waistline as close to my natural waist as possible, that I prefer blouses with open necklines, and that I actually prefer myself in dresses that comfortably reach my knees or even below. This doesn’t mean that I don’t wear other cuts at all, but rather that I aim to avoid buying new things that don’t meet those criteria. Still, there are several things in my wardrobe that aren’t like this which I’m reluctant to sell - and this is where understanding how cuts work and how to manipulate things help me keep the clothing and still have a flattering coordinate.

To show that, here are three coordinates using Angelic Pretty’s Royal Unicorn JSK. When examining why certain AP cuts work for me and some don’t, I realised that despite the partial shirring, JSKs which have bodices and straps cut as one piece don’t sit very comfortably on my chest and tend to rise as a result. This dress is already on the shorter side, which the rising doesn’t help, yet I like it too much to part with it. As such, my gripes here are length and waistline. The first coordinate, Henry VIII-lita from Strike a Pose, is one where I particularly notice those things. In this case they don’t affect how much I like the outfit, because I used the disadvantages of the cut and turned them into advantages for the theme. The shorter length mimics pumpkin shorts and the higher waistline, although inadvertently accentuates my chest, creates a straighter silhouette that more closely resembles a masculine shape than my hourglass one. As such, whilst this isn’t my ideal silhouette, I was able to make it work for this specific theme of a coord inspired by a male historical figure. One way to change the silhouette to make it work for me and my preferences is to use additional pieces, which the Myths of Our Own coordinate did well. The underskirt (had I remembered to pull it up slightly for the photo for a more visually pleasing look) drops the hemline to a point that I am more comfortable with. The bolero visually extends the bodice by breaking up the dress with a contrasting colour and creating the illusion of a lower neckline. I’ve done something similar in a more casual version in April 2020, where you can see the bolero in action a bit better. Although in that instance, rather than lowering the hemline with an additional layer, I optically lengthened my legs through OTKs that reach quite high and cover up the parts that I wanted hiding. They make for a silhouette that I like on myself a lot more than that of the dress alone and until I commit to either parting with or altering this JSK, I am likely to keep reusing those to adjust the shape to my taste and body shape.

You'd be surprised how differently the same dress cut can look depending on what it's paired with and what you choose to emphasize.

Where understanding cuts for yourself comes down to personal preferences and is a result of dedicated, conscious reflection on the looks we’ve put together, understanding cuts for your chosen substyles links more to cohesion and intentionality, which is the topic for the next Advanced Coordinating post. Maybe this is just my pet peeve, but I feel that gothic is a good substyle to use as a general example, as there is a common misconception that a gothic lolita coordinate is simply all black. However, an entirely black coordinate that uses pieces in modern sweet lolita cuts, such as a Peter Pan blouse, a high waisted JSK with lots of bows and tea party shoes, is still a sweet coordinate, regardless of colourway. Of course, styling through hair and makeup can tip the balance and make enough of a difference where cleverly used. After all, Mana modelling the more classic-leaning looks for Moi-meme-Moitie still read as gothic because of how his hair and makeup are done, but then classic sits closer to gothic in cuts than sweet does. Knowing which cuts of blouses and main pieces, which lengths and items read as which substyle will help ensure that when you do mix them, it is on purpose and that the intentionality of your choices is clear without your having to explain it.

Most people who have been into lolita fashion for more than a minute will have seen various attempts at styling the same main piece into different substyles. It isn’t always possible, a lot depends on the main piece in question, but when you do find good attempts, cuts of the pieces used play just as crucial a part as their colours. The examples below using AatP’s Sugar Plum Fairy Princess JSK, from left to right being gothic, classic, and sweet, would still be clear in substyle even if the photos were black and white. Because whilst classic can overlap with either gothic or sweet, there’s no mistaking a Peter Pan collar blouse and wrist cuffs for anything but sweet. And the combination of high neckline, billowy sleeves, fishnets, and strappy high heels is quite typically gothic. Even though some of the elements in these outfits are the same (like the velvet headbow in the classic and sweet coords), how they fit with the rest of the elements, including hair and makeup, forces them to lean into the overall styling - and that is the beauty of neutral accessories.

Cuts have just as much of a role in turning this dress into certain substyles as colours, hair and makeup, and accessories do.

Cuts of garments have an undeniable power to affect how the outfit comes across and how they make the wearer present. Ill fitting garments don’t make others admire that you can fit into something - they create a look that seems either sloppy (particularly when the garment is too big) or unflattering (particularly when the garment is too small), neither of which is what lolita fashion aims for. Whereas a coordinate that claims to be one thing, yet uses cuts of another without it being obviously intentional, simply shows how much the wearer has yet to learn about this fashion. Understanding what these cuts are and how they create a certain effect, either based on their shape alone or on how that shape sits on you, will enable you to make more informed choices when putting your coordinate together, as well as lead to making better purchasing decisions going forward. Once you learn that you look good in X, Y and Z and want to have 1, 2 and 3 in your collection, you will stop buying A, B, C and 5, 6 and 7, thus thoughtfully curating your wardrobe until you are happy with it. And having individual pieces that you are happy with generally, though not always, leads to coordinates that you are happier with.

Because of the nature of cuts, when looking at others for inspiration, be very careful about what you are actually looking at. This is the darker side of fashion where we may get pieces because the person we saw them on looks amazing, ignoring that they are built differently to us, and end up disappointing ourselves. Learning to differentiate between “I want what they have” and “I want to look like them/to be them” is a hard, but valuable lesson - recognising which one you are feeling will go a long way in avoiding purchases that won’t make you happy. In life, not just in lolita. People dress in things that fit them and their preferences, which may not always be the same as yours, even within a fashion like lolita with so many guidelines and a set look. So whilst you can pretty universally pick a lolita and see how they use cuts to achieve certain substyles, when looking at their coords in the context of silhouette, keep in mind that their body shape and preferences are not necessarily the same as yours. Even when the person looks built in a similar way to you, they may want to accentuate features that you prefer to hide and vice versa. Think of it like this: not every plus size person wants to look slimmer in the clothes they wear or to hide their shape - people are allowed to like their body shape as it is and dress in ways which they feel shows that off to their liking.

The fantasy I was sold vs the reality I got vs the reality I made for myself. I am not the same body type as the model (and had a different petticoat than she did), but was able to get the dress adjusted to what suits me.

As a result, the majority of lolitas actually won’t experiment with silhouette much. They will find one, maybe two that they know works for them, and will stick to that. Very few people feel comfortable enough in a range of silhouettes to wear them regularly, though in some cases you may witness a person’s journey through the silhouettes they’ve tried. As body shape changes over time, you will have to account for that, but it’s probably the nearest thing you will get to seeing a range of silhouettes on the same person. This is partly why here I would like to suggest @_avina_ as my lolita inspiration. Although by now they have moved to embrace a shapeless layered look that overlaps with lolita more than is strictly lolita, when I saw their posts first they were definitely into lolita and the typical lolita silhouette. Scroll far enough into their feed and you will witness all kinds of shapes: structured and loose, cupcakes and A-lines, small-poof oldschool and tea party poof monsters, waists high and low, all lengths between ankle and mid-thigh… @_avina_ understands how these silhouettes work on their body, as well as how to achieve a certain silhouette almost despite their body. They also completely get what makes something lolita and what doesn’t, and use that to push their outfits to be whatever they are in the mood for. I don’t know of that many lolitas who have mastered that skill, generally the people who do tend to be those who have studied fashion overall in a lot more depth than the average person, and it is a powerful tool to have at your disposal. But, as always, do examine your favourites to see how they use cuts in their coordinates, remembering to make the appropriate adjustments to account for body shape differences where necessary.

I mentioned intentionality here and do rest assured that this is the topic for the next Advanced Coordinating post. Since starting this series people have made some suggestions that I’m working on addressing as well, but new ideas are always welcome. This series is already longer than I initially anticipated, which warms my heart and it’s wonderful to know that these posts could be helping address the gap that I felt our community had in its resources.

If there are any other topics that you would like me to discuss as part of this series that I haven’t yet, then please, leave them in the comments. I am still mulling over one more idea to see if it crystallises enough to become a post, but if it doesn’t this series will then likely finish at five.