AYWi30C #27 - From a single brand

Would you believe it when I told you that I had not one, not two, but three options for this? I mean, you may have caught my Instagram stories poll to help decide that, but it’s true - I had three genuine coords that would work, some with more pieces than others. Thanks to everyone who voted (and it was quite a close call too) we’ve landed on the one that I may be the most partial to. And also the one that was in the middle as far as ‘completeness’ went, neither too easy nor too difficult to get it looking right.

| Georges Rose JSK | 2017 lucky pack blouse | Rose Lace Millefeuille bolero | Origa OTKs | Trump heels | Pearskin Dot Lace headbow | Moon and Star Pearl necklace |

Every single item here is from Innocent World. And I feel like minus the very slight mish-mash of themes, if you want to get very pedantic about those things, it’s also such a quintessentially Innocent World coord? And as by-the-book classic lolita as you could get. Innocent World’s style of classic has always been on the understated side, something elegant, ladylike and ageless. This outfit would equally complement a young girl and a mature woman. Which I guess is the very essence of the brand. But since I hardly ever wear coords that are predominantly one brand, let alone Innocent World, I guess I haven’t noticed that until putting this together.

Remember the times when Innocent World would make blouses just for their lucky packs? 2017 wasn't even that long ago... ToT

This coord is possible mostly thanks to the lucky pack I got back in 2017, many elements of which I still own. This blouse is one of those and while I don’t reach for it often, it’s such a great staple to have. The dobby fabric makes it a bit more interesting as the little dots catch light with movement and prevent it from looking too flat. Innocent World isn’t one for colourful blouses, their typical offering is typically white, ivory and black, so this one is perfect for those by-the-book classic lolita.

This may not be custom lace (at least as far as I know), but it is damn good lace!

One layer would be too casual, but full three would be too much. Two is just right.

The very first Millefeuille bolero that I ever bought, the one that started my collection all the way back in 2016. So good that I now own five of them and am looking for three more. It is not only absolutely worth its price to me, but it’s also one of the most iconic Innocent World items in my opinion. The cut is elegant in its simplicity and despite the cascades of lace it isn’t too flashy (though there are flashier princess sleeve versions of this out there if that’s what you want). There was no way that I’d do an all-Innocent World coord and not use this bolero.

These socks were back in stock only at the beginning of the year and I'm still a little bit salty at my sensible side that she prevented me from getting more.

In my opinion, Innocent World makes the best over the knee socks. They are very comfortable, stretch easily to reach above my knee and stay there with only a little bit of help, and of course their designs are beautiful. I do wish that Innocent World released more designs, particularly more sweeter ones, but I would very happily support them if they did more neutral designs in various colours more regularly. These ones are great for giving the illusion of Mary Jane shoes being short boots. Or for adding a slightly military touch to your look. Which is just a very long winded way of saying that I really like these socks.

Now that they have served their purpose I can finally get one with selling these. Thank you for the fun times!

Did I hold onto these shoes just for this one coordinate? Totally, guilty as charged. But let’s face it, other than accessories to make an outfit interesting, shoes are the hardest part of a single brand coord, so I wanted to give myself options. And despite the fact that I will part with these as soon as I can, now that the post is done, they are good shoes. People complain about Japanese brand shoes as being uncomfortable, but these held up well, I definitely did a fair bunch of walking in them without feeling any worse for wear. They could definitely be improved with some cushioned insoles, but that’s the only improvement they’d need. And considering that I got these for something inexpensive because of the pre-existing peeling damage, they have served me well.

Once again, simple yet amazing lace. If lace is what you love most about lolita fashion, you really have to look into Innocent World's stuff.

Since there isn’t much in terms of accessories, I’m going to skip my usual ‘all accessories’ shot and go straight to the headpiece. This headbow is also one I got from the lucky pack and while in theory it should be perfect for me, I don’t wear it too often. The headband being covered entirely with the fabric makes it slide off from my head, plus the headband itself is also just a touch on the smaller side (a problem which my other Innocent World headbow doesn’t have). On the plus side, I was amazed myself when putting the coord together at how well all of the wine colours matched. Japanese brands are notorious in getting the colours in their own releases to be wildly different and whilstI can’t speak for everything that Innocent World does, this and the bolero are a near perfect match. And the shape of it is so elegant, though it requires a bit of fiddling as it’s not stiffened in any way and parts can sometimes flip or bend the way they’re not supposed to.

At least it's inconspicuous enough to not stick out too much with this celestial theme.

Innocent World doesn’t release much in terms of things like jewellery, certainly not these days. Their aesthetic is pretty minimalistic to begin with and it also lends itself well to vintage and antique jewellery, so there’s no need for them to release tonnes of novelty items. And had I not bought that lucky pack back in 2016, I wouldn’t even have this to spice the coord up with. I am a little bit on the fence with it since it introduces yet another single-element theme to the look. But I guess that from afar it looks like just a pearl necklace, so it’s not as obvious as the card suits on the shoes are, for example, which is why I kept it.

Gorgeous pleats which help the striped fabric stand out more.

Yet another example of simple, likely commercially available, but beautiful lace used just right.

And a cute bow because we all know it's not lolita without a bow.

Finally we come to the star of the show: the dress. Lolitas who allow themselves to be distracted with prints can often forget how important and impactful great construction can be when executed well. Those who appreciate solids or simpler patterns, however, are always reminded that an elegant cut and the right details or trims can make for a truly beautiful piece. And this one, by virtue of being a floral dress in a simpler cut, is wonderfully timeless and versatile. I can throw it on if I want to look nice without attracting too much attention or taking up excess space. Perfect!

Floral appreciation moment. All of these amazing shades of pinks and greens, with such a subtle hint of yellow, allow for a wide range of coordinating possibilities.

Those smaller flowers have captured my heart when I was taking photos for this post. My knowledge of flowers is poor at best, so I've no idea what they are, but I love them.

There’s also something so quintessentially Innocent World about florals. Even though plenty of other brands do florals, somehow none of them do it quite the same way as Innocent World do. Whether they go for Victorian couch floral overload or this more subtle and updated version like here, there is so much charm and beauty in how the flowers are laid out and how there are those smaller ones filling in the gaps. It may seem like “just” a floral print at a glance, but the level of detail within them is really something.

Bare minimum just so that I didn't look too dead on camera.

As the coord ended up being so strongly by-the-book lolita, I leaned into it by keeping the styling as simple as I possibly could whilst still neat enough for the camera. This is definitely something that you see on Innocent World’s models a lot, subtle and natural looking makeup with just a fringe and pulled back straight hair. Part of me was tempted to reach for one of those hair styling tutorials that Lolibrary has been sharing from Innocent World, but my hair is still a bit on the shorter side. And I was just lazy that day.

Seeing everything that I've done so far with this dress has kind of inspired me to do more. I so need to make some sort of a coord archive organised by main piece, so that I'd have these all in one place...
From left to right these are from: July 2018, April 2019, April 2020, April 2020, July 2020, September 2020, January 2021, and April 2021.

This turned out to be more than I thought it would be. Despite the colour palette not pushing anything outside the box - we have ivories, wines, pinks, greens and browns - there is quite a variety of looks here. With some of the recent additions [LINK TO LOLIDROBE REASSESSMENT POST] I could do something with dark greens now, maybe venture into the more saturated pinks next - and I haven’t even touched golds. And I feel like exploring more into the vintage vibes that this floral pattern is perfect for is something that needs to happen soon.

Just like I said, Innocent World is timeless and ageless. For this particular look I decided to take the ‘young woman pursuing her academic interests’ route. At the same time, I decided to not overthink the lookbook and really lean into Innocent World’s principle of understated elegance. Not everything has to be extremely Artistic®.