1 Dress 8 Looks Take 3

Somewhere along the way I decided that since the first two posts were with my very first two Lolita dresses, I should at least try to continue in this fashion and keep doing those posts in the order in which I acquired my dresses. Also, since this JSK proved so versatile, I couldn't limit myself to just four styles – instead I decided to go wild and keep creating coords until I ran out of options. As you can see, I managed to double up, but if I had more accessories, especially socks and headwear, I know I’d keep going!

Since I sold the actual third dress, and I'm in the process of selling the skirt (which I didn't even include in my wardrobe post), we can move straight onto brand, yay! AP's Fantasy Theater Gilet JSK was my first ever dream dress. I stumbled upon it totally by accident, when I was on a year abroad study in Kanazawa, Ishikawa-ken, during one of my many wonders to Animate, where the Lolita brand shops are... and fell in love at first sight. Luckily, I spotted it early enough to be able to save up from the various part-time jobs I did at the time, and was also lucky in that the ivory colourway kept being in stock all that time. Very lucky indeed. I’m still incredibly happy every time I wear it, it's a dress which keeps on giving. As you’re about to see:

Look 1: Classic Circus

| vintage blouse | BtSSB Border OTKs | Innocent World Merry-Go-Round bag
| An*tai*na Party Glitter replica heels | offbrand hat | vintage necklace |

Come on, it's a circus print! I know this is a bit obvious, but you have to start somewhere. This is an improvement on the first time I wore this JSK, as well as an almost exact switch with the circus coord from the first 1 Dress 4 Styles post. I could switch the gold heels for the red Bodyline ones, but I wanted to break up the red a little bit. A pair of short boots would really amp the circus feel up here, maybe I should have a look.

Look 2: Sax

| Infanta Moon's Elegy blouse | AP Ladder Ribbon OTKs | Bodyline S522 tea parties | AP Fantasy
Theater bow (removed from the JSK) | Etsy bow clips (Celestial Castle) | Etsy necklace |

At first this one isn’t that much different from the previous coord, yet the sax colourway significantly softens the look, giving it quite a Sweet Lolita feel. Whilst the carousel pony necklace continues with the overall theme of merriment, the bow overload (bows on shoes, bows on the head, bows on the socks) adds another element which can take away some of the attention away from the print, whilst still keeping it on centre stage.

Look 3: Bordeaux

| Miss Point Earl Grey blouse | AP Toy March OTKs | Secret Shop tea parties | AP Fantasy
Theater bow (removed from the JSK) | Etsy headbow (Peacockalorum) | Chocomint star clip |

By swapping the reds for a darker shade like bordeaux and adding a few more gold touches the dress is transformed. It’s still undeniably a circus-themed look, but a lot more toned down than the first one, possibly reserved for the evening. Looking at it now, I’m thinking it should have some more dramatic make-up (maybe something Pierrot-like?), maybe throw in a matching Venetian mask, and you’ve got yourself something more noir?

Look 4: Sweetly Classic in pink

| vintage blouse | Innocent World Wendy OTKs | offbrand flower crown and heels (Primark) |

This one is fairly close to a casual look (as casual as you could have with such a busy print), however, it does that whilst retaining an air of Sweet-Classic Lolita. Again, the lighter colours tone down the JSK a bit, but since the only other focus point is the flower crown, the dress isn’t any less of a main piece than it was.

Look 5: OTT (?) Navy Princess

| Soufflesong Ice Prism blouse | AP Twinkle Carnival OTKs | Soufflesong Mermaid Songbonnet | AP Fantasy Theater bow (removed from the JSK) | Loris star bag | Deary Cabriolereplica heels | AP Crystal Dream Carnival pegasus ring | offbrand unicorn pendant |

That one I went a bit wild with. Again, there’s a distinct lack of navy OTKs in my Lolidrobe, although since the heels are navy and the OTKs have a carousel pony on them it doesn’t feel as this much of a miss. That blouse really transforms the JSK, this time definitely taking away some of the attention and placing it on everything else that’s going on: the princess sleeves, the bonnet, the gold touches… I like how with all this even such a happy and almost childish dress can feel very elegant.

Look 6: Gold

| AP Twinkle Glitter Knit cardigan | AatP Arabesque Lame OTKs | AP Fantasy Theater bow
(removed from the JSK) | Chocomint star clip | Loris star bag | An*tai*na Party Glitter heels replica |

Although I have seen some very good all-ivory coords, it’d be difficult to do this here because of the print – I didn’t feel any of the all-ivory looks I tried with this. However, once I swapped the ivory for gold… Now that’s a different story! It stopped blending so much into one, and although the gold doesn’t necessarily stand out against the JSK, it doesn’t blend with it either. Plus, depending on the needs, this coord could be dressed up or down, be as elegant or casual as you need it to be, whilst still keeping it fun. I must admit, the more I look at it, the more I like it, it grows on me.

Look 7: Marine

| Offbrand nautical cardigan (Hellbunny) | Etsy wrist cuffs (Peacockalorum) | Etsy barette
(The Naked Lace Company) | offbrand socks and heels |

Total, total experiment, and I’ll be the first to say that this is the coord which needs most work put into it. The colours work (very hard to find colours that don’t work with this JSK), but whilst the bottom half feels ok, I need to rethink the top half. The necklines don’t go together as nicely as they could’ve, although at least it’s possible, whereas, for example, a sailor blouse or cutsew wouldn’t work underneath a halterneck. Maybe there aren’t enough marine themes in there to blend this better with the circus print, which still stands out here and is probably why the marine elements feel a bit out of place. Or maybe, if I’m very lucky, this just needs to be seen worn on a person… Overall, not the worst look ever, but compared to the others here it’s the one which needs the most work. Any ideas?

Look 8: Bordeaux royal

| Innocent World Rose Millefeuille bolero | Putumayo Celestian Light OTKs | Etsy head bow
(Peacockalorum) | An*tai*na Party Glitter replica heels |

Yes, we’ve already had a bordeaux coord – but this one toned down the circus theme, replacing it with a royal one and a Classic feel. The two aren’t entirely incompatible, from afar the socks could easily appear as just another take on the noir-ish circus, and I like how the bolero works here. I admit, a more Classic Lolita headbow in this colour would’ve gone with the rest a lot better, but at the same time this one adds the extra gold bits, justifying the choice of shoes that little bit more.

So yes, overall the circus feel of the print shines through pretty much all of those coords, and at first glance they may feel like simply variations of one another. But then you look closer to find the all-important details which actually make a whole load of difference. Some of them could do with upgrades or do-overs, however, I’m sure you can see where the idea came from and, hopefully, don’t think that they were too outrageous to never be possible in practice.

Do you have a dress that you could pair up with seemingly anything and it’d work? Let me know in the comments!