Half of 2021 in Coords

Now that I have full six months of worn coords behind me, it’s time for a bit of nerding out with graphs and stuff. You know I love a bit of that! I’m especially curious to see whether now, in its third year of doing these posts, I will spot any trends linking to any of the previous ones or whether these half-yearly reviews will prove to be a snapshot of what each year is like. Because it’s hard to say whether 2020 with, you know, everything was the anomaly or the start of something new. And to be honest, we probably won’t know that for sure until the world settles enough for us to know what is the current long-term normal.

COORDS

Just the one mega-collage. This is enough photos as is.
Click to enlarge.

If breaking records were my goal, then I’d be smashing that! These past six months have brought 73 documented lolita and ouji outfits, more than ever before in such a period of time. These are absolutely mad numbers, ones that in the past I’d never even dream could be achievable for me. Yet here we are… With this, the average per month jumped up to 12 coords per month, up by 3 from last year when it was 9 coord per month. And while last year, when so much was still up in the air, I wasn’t confident to say that this was a sign of me being a lifestyle lolita, this year I have no such hesitations. At this point I genuinely can’t imagine myself not wearing lolita. My focus is actually on finding ways to maintain a balance between wanting to wear lolita regularly, the desire to document the outfits I wear and not letting myself give in to pressure that absolutely every single lolita coord or even every single daily outfit has to be documented and “aesthetic”. My mental health could spiral in a flash if I don’t stay mindful of that, as these things are so easily exacerbated by the very nature of social media, and knowing the sort of things I’m prone to means that I absolutely have to remain mindful of that at risk of crashing and burning out.

SUBSTYLE

This is exactly what I had anticipated to see here. In terms of raw numbers, we are looking at 45 classic coordinates, 27 sweet ones and a singular gothic one (the white ouji one, in case you were wondering). Arguably there were more that I could’ve categorised as gothic, but to me the scales ended up tipping ever so slightly more towards classic with some of the stylings here. And hair and makeup aside, unless I get a couple of more gothic accessories, this is likely where things will remain. Until then, let’s compare this against the mega-collage of the coords this pie chart represents and marvel at the sheer variety of types of classic that I’ve been able to shove under that one umbrella term. This is for all those who think that classic lolita can only be one thing.

Given some slight wardrobe shifts so far this year I had to make sure that I had updated that section. Though in the grand scheme of things it hasn’t changed much. The substyles I wear are still a direct reflection of the sort of pieces that I own. Last year these two charts also mirrored each other practically perfectly, so I really shouldn’t have expected the wardrobe shifts to change anything too much.

Speaking of last year, would you look at this beautiful mirror image! If I had my doubts as to whether 2020 was an anomaly or a start of a trend, this would be the proof that I was looking for. The gains in classic coords at the cost of gothic ones also go to show what I said earlier about my darker coords still leaning classic rather than gothic. Sweet seems to be at a constant there, not quite stagnating, but definitely secure in its position as my secondary substyle of choice.

MAIN PIECE TYPE

I am nothing if not consistent. A lot of this comes down to the fact that I am using another spreadsheet to track when was the last time I’ve worn something when planning what to wear next. This means that everything gets used pretty evenly across the board and…

… once again is a direct reflection of what I own. The differences between the two charts are statistically negligible and in practice come down to the fact that some of my new additions are very recent and very currently unseasonal. Sure, summer in the UK is unpredictable and sometimes it does get quite nippy, but so far it’s not been a ‘let’s wear velvet shorts’ kind of nippy, you know? So I fully anticipate these two to even out by the time I do this again in December.

Though at least it seems that what’s above is pretty much the same situation as I was in last year. It’s interesting to see that despite me getting a few more pairs of trousers, some of which I haven’t yet been able to wear, it’s the OPs and pants that are fighting each other out for those percentages. Skirts and JSKs are clearly comfortable with their places in my style. This could be because they are both the most versatile options for me. Between OPs preventing most layering and ouji being still very much a work-in-progress capsule within what I own, I guess there isn’t that much that either of those main piece types could wrench out of skirts and JSKs.

COLOUR

So, last year I had to make this entire separate category for tricolour only for this year for it to be completely useless. Full honesty, when I started on doing the charts, I had zero tricolour outfits and ended up having another look at the mega-collage to see if this was really the case. The two that I ended up changing were both at a loss for red coords, which explains a bit about what has happened these last six months.

Despite not having that separate tricolour category when categorising my main pieces, pretty much all of them are blue with a print that includes both red and white. So if we combine the blues and the tricolour coords, we will get an accurate reflection of what I own. However, the discrepancy between the other colours isn’t because I’ve suddenly gotten more pieces that aren’t blue, red or white. It’s because when categorising coords by colour I pick the one that is the dominant in the whole outfit - which isn’t always the same as the colour of the main piece. I’ve had plenty of coords where green or pink dominated, even though the main piece may have been white or brown, for example.

The rise in other coloured coords is certainly something that I have noticed even without these comparisons. Both green and pink have become much more prominent in my wardrobe as I’ve gotten more pieces in those colours to coordinate what I own with (like boleros or shoes). Moreover, I think that my drive to wear a main piece in a different way than I have before is pushing me towards fewer tricolour and more other coloured outfits. It’s not that I’m falling out of love with the tricolour look, far from it. It’s more so that I am being excited by those other colours which I wasn’t able to use previously because they weren’t a prominent enough feature in my wardrobe. So I feel like this trend is likely to continue, at least for the time being.

OCCASION

I’m still not going anywhere, so what else was this pie chart supposed to show? For as long as I continue to work from home, this will be the easiest way for me to keep wearing lolita regularly. And whilst it sometimes feels like a missed opportunity, like my head has all of these more elaborate outfit ideas that I’m not executing because they require too much time and effort than I am willing to put in during work hours, I do feel like I’ve been managing to work around that challenge. From both ends too, as in both pushing my work outfit a bit further sometimes and exploring the previously untouched more casual ideas.

This time last year we had only just started to realise that the pandemic wasn’t just going to blow over like that. We’ve had at least two months with some change when life carried on as if nothing had happened. This is where the differences between these two charts come from. Overall they’re representing a roughly same trend, but with the last six months having none of that to change things up, the stay at home coords ended up dominating. That and there were a lot more of them. Both because by now I’ve grown used to wearing lolita regularly and because I feel like early on in the pandemic we all made a bit more of an effort to capitalise on the novelty of online meetups and remote twinning. The hype for both of those has significantly subsided by now, so I feel that what the 2021 chart shows is a more accurate reflection of my life, though the proportions of 2020 may prove to be more sustainable long term.

SUMMARY

All of these charts above show that if at least for now 2020 has been the start of a trend rather than an anomaly. It looks like the trends that I first noticed in 2019 have had an opportunity to grow and develop. Hopefully, this goes hand-in-hand with my creativity spreading its wings too, allowing me to find my comfort zone with some opportunities to explore things I otherwise wouldn’t have done for a long time to come.

Predictions for the second half of this year? This can only go two ways, both determined by what happens in the world. If extended working from home continues, travel remains restricted and meetups stay largely confined to the virtual spaces, then we’ll probably see a repeat of that and of the second half of 2020. On the other hand, if even some semblance of life from the Before Days ends up returning, however late, then that could start some interesting shifts. Because for all the will and want in the world, I genuinely cannot predict how the habits built over the last 18 months will transfer onto non-homebound life. Will my need to dress up overcome my laziness and the daily walking commute? Will there be a possibility to attend something genuinely fancy even more than once? These are questions that right now no-one has the answers to and on which rests pretty much everything about how my wearing lolita fashion will continue.

So for now, I am wrapping this post up with the satisfaction of having seen some pleasing graphs depicting the ways in which I’ve worn lolita so far this year. That and confident in the knowledge that whatever happens next, I have been able to wear something fun and different so often. I genuinely never expected that I’d get to this stage, I never really planned on doing so, but it’s incredibly satisfying nonetheless.