Advanced Coordinating: #5 - Intentionality

This is a concept that must be so confusing to newer lolitas to grasp, especially since it’s usually mentioned in passing and not explained, e.g. “X is fine as long as it’s intentional and reads as such”. But how to even do that? How can veteran lolitas just look at two coords from two strangers and tell which one is intentionally simple or intentionally mismatched and which one is so because of a lack of coordinating experience or missing the appropriate pieces? This isn’t easy to explain, so make sure you’re sitting comfortably while I do my best.

For starters, intentionality of one’s styling can indeed get lost, even on lolitas who have been wearing the fashion for a while. And this isn’t always due to the coordinate not being clear on its intentions. Things get lost in translation and we all approach the fashion with our own set of preconceptions and look at things from our own points of view. Someone with the first-hand experience and understanding of what wearing lolita was like in 2007 will be more likely to catch the references to coords from that time than someone who only started in the fashion in 2018 and didn’t look to the past with any degree of detail. And this is just an easy, fairly universal example. There are plenty of coords out there that make deliberate choices to bend the rules or to use particular pieces - as cultural nods, character inspirations, particular personal associations etc. - which some will understand and others will not.

Having said this, there is a certain degree of intentionality that is clear to catch and differentiate from lolitas who are still building their collection and polishing their coordinates, though not exclusively. As mentioned before, a veteran lolita will usually be able to tell when a coord is lacking in accessories because the wearer chose to keep it simple and when they simply don’t have them. One of the key elements differentiating the two is that an intentionally simple coordinate will not lack depth, whereas one that’s missing the right pieces often will. I’ve covered depth in a coordinate at length, so do refer to that post for more on that.

In previous posts I aimed to avoid making ‘good vs bad’ coordinate comparisons, as this series is aimed at the intermediate lolitas who I expect to know what makes a coordinate less successful. Yet in this case, because of the nature of the topic and because I want to focus on simpler outfits, I will have to dig into some older outfits of mine to get examples that are both simple and where the intentionality is lost due to my not having the right pieces. Whilst I could recreate some past outfits or even put together new ones that I think I would’ve done when my wardrobe was smaller, using actual past coordinates feels more organic and should make the point more poignant. Even if the point is “learn from my mistakes, kids”.

Luckily, for this one I do have just the right comparison: one of my earliest actual lolita coords with Bodyline’s Sweet Macaron JSK vs the twinning coord with Roli. Even if I hadn’t told you that this left coordinate is one of my first proper lolita ones, you’d know that in an instance. The imbalance in themes is not helping that in any way, though that’s a point to make later. It’s not that the tights and blouse are necessarily bad - more so that they don’t create enough visual differentiation to make this coord any more interesting than what the dress brings to the table. The two make for fairly solid layer of cream, which combined with this JSK being on the shorter side on me, quite literally creates a blank canvas under a bright garment. Without more prominent accessories or textures to break this up, the coordinate looks flat and one loses interest in it very quickly. This is one telltale sign that the coord isn’t simple by design, but due to a lack of skill and alternative pieces. On the other hand, the twinning coord is without a doubt intentionally simple, both on its own merit and in comparison. Not only is every element consistent in substyle and theme, but despite this being a more casual outfit, it manages to create a lot more depth than the other one. The cutsew layered over the dress breaks up the block of bright blue, the layered hair accessories maintain balance and provide two different textures, the ruffles of the ankle socks together with the triple bow shoes add some textural and visual interest at the bottom. Moreover, whilst there aren’t that many accessories in the coord, they are more prominent and more carefully placed, which also fills in the gaps and adds depth to areas that could otherwise be quite flat, something which the 2016 coord doesn’t even attempt. All of this whilst still keeping the look decidedly on the simple, casual side.

Again, there's nothing wrong with simplicity. But simplicity doesn't have to equal lack of interesting things in the coord - drawing those out is what makes people do a double take instead of moving on.

On the other hand, intentionality can also manifest itself through uniformity of theme, which this time is more closely tied to substyles. This isn’t to say that every coordinate has to strictly adhere to one substyle, no mixing allowed. Instead, it’s about the overall styling remaining consistent and clear on what substyle is the dominant one in the outfit, and in case of mixing substyles - not letting one overpower the other. It is one thing to deliberately go for a sweeter gothic look (which in lolita is most common either as oldschool gothic or as bittersweet) and another when someone aims for a gothic coordinate, but through inexperience or lack of alternatives at the time uses sweeter pieces in black for that. A big part of getting that consistency right comes down to understanding the nuances of your chosen substyle such as cuts (e.g. knowing that not every black blouse is gothic), themes, colours etc. Some of the mistakes could stem from unsuccessful experimentation attempts or from being in that position where we still figure out what kind of lolita we really want to wear and what looks best on us. Which isn’t a bad thing, experimenting and trying new things is how we learn - as long as we do reflect on our attempts and extract the lessons from that.

And I have just the right example from 2016 to use: the Magic Tea Party Bears Paradise skirt. The left picture is the first time I wore it and, bless the cotton socks of 2016 Paulina who thought that she was being intentionally sweet-classic, but it’s really clear that it was a case of not having anything better in my wardrobe back then. The coord lacks intentionality because it lacks consistency. Yes, each element - the blouse, flower clip, shoes and arguably even the socks - is classic, but they do not match each other’s fanciness levels or theme (i.e. which kind of classic lolita was I going for). The blouse is really elegant and more princessy, while the shoes are very casual, better suited to vintage/academia-inspired looks, with the hair styling and everything else sitting somewhere in between. On top of this the coord is not getting the colour balance quite right because whilst we can see that an attempt was made, the shades are significantly off, prominently so thanks to the size of those pieces, and not a single match was made. All of this makes it obvious that whilst it may have been a conscious choice at the time to pick these pieces over others, this is as far as intentionality goes and that the choice was a result of not having better alternatives and a more trained eye for what makes a coordinate sweet-classic. And in comparison to this August 2019 one it is really not faring very well, despite the fact that this isn’t even the best oldschool coordinate out there. However, not only the colours match much better (there are still several shades of cream, but each one matches at least one other), the entire coordinate is consistent in the substyle it aims at. The cuts of each piece, as well as their placement (i.e. blouse over the skirt, under the knee socks) are proof that the choices made here were deliberate and thought through. Even though this look could have been executed better with better items, such as more oldschool socks and shoes, they are not out of place combined with each other like the left one. Moreover, this coord actually uses even fewer accessories than the 2016 one - in 2016 I had a pair of earrings, a necklace and that flower clip, in here it’s just the necklace (the very same one even) and the headdress - yet thanks to the depth created by textures no part of the outfit feels empty or lacking.

Hopefully this will also serve as proof that you don't have to go out mixing every single substyle you can think of to have a nice coord. Sometimes it's better to do one thing well than to do multiple things poorly.

What results in coordinates reading as intentional is, to put it simply, paying attention to every element of it. And I do mean every one: hair and makeup, choice of cuts and accessories, placement and pairing, consistency and depth - everything! And that applies to whatever the coorda are trying to achieve, be it simplicity, a particular theme, character/cultural references or something else entirely. Depending on the intent, some other aspects will be more important than others, e.g. hair and makeup in hime coords or quality of materials when making character-inspired outfits. At the end of the day, if the outfit is supposed to be lolita, then ensuring that it has an appropriate degree of depth for its purpose and that it is consistent in themes/substyles/levels of fanciness etc. will help make it come across as deliberate and spare you unsolicited concrit from people who interpret your choices as mistakes. Like I mentioned at the beginning, this may not always happen since we all view things through the lens of our own experiences, but you should nonetheless notice a drop in comments offering concrit that show misunderstanding of your intentions.

It was hard to select just one lolita as an example for this theme. Pretty much any lolita who has been wearing the fashion for a while will have coords showing intentionality, even if not every single one will do so perfectly (without meaning to sound egocentric, my 2020 coords are the prime example here, as some were so casually thrown together for working from home that whatever intentionality there was got lost in translation). So whoever’s style you admire, you will hopefully see the elements at play in their coordinates that make them read as intentional. For me, as someone who really appreciates people who do things differently within this fashion and wants to see people pushing the boundaries to create new things, I completely adore coords put together by Ineray Niavari, a lolita I’ve seen several times on Closet of Frills, and recently found on Instagram as @1neray. Whether she is incorporating her Mexican culture and heritage into the coord, creating something themed, or recreating a non-lolita outfit through lolita fashion, her looks are always instantly recognisable as whatever theme or inspiration she picked. How deliberate her styling is comes across through the choice of pieces, their colours, patterns, cuts, placement, where the lolita rules are bent and where they are adhered to etc. Every time I come across one of her coords, I adore the creativity and even when sometimes certain elements might not be to my particular taste, this is a difference of preferences, not any kind of a fault with the coordinate itself. People like Ineray are great inspiration for anyone who wants to start incorporating more of their non-lolita personality (their interests, tastes, personal history etc.) into lolita fashion well, keeping it looking like a fashion outfit and preventing from becoming costume-y.

In other words, creating coordinates that are intentionally reading a certain way is another aspect of advanced coordinating that relies heavily on having the right kinds of pieces, as well as knowing how to use them. As such, it will naturally come easier to those who: a) know how they want to look in lolita; and b) invest the necessary time and funds to obtain those pieces. Those who are interested in only one substyle and/or in a more limited colour palette will achieve it sooner than those of us who try to have a bit of everything. It’s also why this is advanced coordinating and not novice coordinating, so the better you get at this, the more you will have noticed the improvements in your own looks and the more you will be pleased with your coords for longer. Just don’t be too hard on yourself when you do finally get to look back and see your past coords when they clearly lack that. You did the best you could with what you had at the time and wouldn’t be where you are now without going through those previous stages.