Brainstorming the Classic Side of My Wardrobe

We’re closer to the end of August than to the beginning and it really started to bother me that I have such clear direction for the sweet side of my wardrobe, yet my classic side as as much of a tangled mess as when I started the process. As I plan on getting my wardrobe seasonally split around the end of September (really banking hard on there being no late bursts of heat), should there be any other pieces lurking in my wardrobe that I am actually wanting to get rid of, then I’d rather know that now before I pack anything away.

Image by Samer Daboul on Pexels.com.

My initial idea was to go over the various forms that classic lolita can take and evaluate which ones I like on myself and which ones I prefer to admire on others. However, this quickly became very overwhelming because there are a lot of ways to be a classic lolita. The same story happened with trying to go over my coord archive, there is just too much to consider and no clear starting point.

When that route failed, I narrowed it down to coords from 2022, then supplemented that a little with some 2021 and 2020 ones. These reflect my moods and preferences now, so focusing just on the most recent classic coords and marking out favourites, as well as those that had elements I liked, got me started on identifying the common threads.

These coords are so good I gave them two green lights instead of just one.

Based on these four coords alone not all of the themes will be clear, those only emerge when looking at the last 7 months of classic looks, though the collage above provided another interesting insight for me to consider. I brainstormed, or more accurately braindumped the things that I was gravitating towards and then attempted to sort them out somehow, eventually landing on a split between vibes and tangibles (which mainly mean cuts and colours).

Three of these tangibles overarched everything and those were: longer dresses, open necklines, and A-line cuts. That’s on top of the things that aren’t restricted just to classic such as comfortable fit, comfortable fabrics etc., which I’ve been working towards with my wardrobe overall. The other tangibles corresponded pretty closely to one or more of the vibes that I have identified, so for the sake of not overexplaining here’s a rough visual representation of how they align.

Hopefully this is clear enough, I couldn't think of a better way to visualise what I arrived at.

Now this was significant progress! This is more clarity than I’ve had in a long time about where I wanted to go with the classic side of my wardrobe. More importantly, it helped avoid categories that were too narrow and where the exception always seemed to prove that my tastes were too broad to label. For example, I couldn’t go down the prints vs no prints route because as soon as I thought that solids is what I wanted, Cinema Doll emerged. Or I couldn’t say that I was going to stick strictly to tricolour because I do like greens and browns are growing on me once more as a darker neutral. However, these broad vibes enable all kinds of variation under one umbrella, allowing for some diversity whilst also keeping things somewhat more coherent.

The next logical step from that was to once again review my wardrobe post with these in mind and identify the things that I couldn’t reasonably shelve under any of these and take things from there. Do I allow them to stay on the exception rule, just like Crystal Dream Carnival for my sweet side? Is it time for them to go entirely or do they represent something that I am keen to keep, so they should therefore be a replacement? What is enough of a keeper to justify alterations and what is no longer a good fit for my current body? Given the weather, it was harder to do my check of fit through wearing an item for a day as now is not the season for wearing long sleeve blouses, though since those would have stayed in my wardrobe into autumn and winter anyway, I can leave that for later. Though even with that, with some allowances to try things later to confirm for sure, I was able to identify some bits to sell and replace, as well as some to add. Again, to save on overexplaining, here’s a visual to help.

Some of these will likely be happening very soon. The additions are very exemplary, particularly the skirt as it's to indicate that I'd simply like more classic skirts to wear casually.

The fact that there actually isn’t much from my current wardrobe that is on the chopping block is very reassuring. And inspiring because now that I know what is it that I’m gravitating towards and see that it’s things that I already own, my brain is churning over ideas on how to coord these pieces next. The changes that will be happening are minor enough that they won’t stop me in my tracks as I wait for replacements and significant enough to ensure that what is in my wardrobe will be worn and loved.

I won’t be entirely free of temptations and chances are that I will stray here or there with a shiny enough thing. As God is my witness, I know that I should stop following Chinese Lolita Updates if I want to avoid seeing pretty and available things so regularly, but we all know that I won’t. The goal is that just like having a direction with my sweet side has helped me make better decisions on what to keep/sell/get, having this bit of clarity with my classic side will do the same. No longer will those high neck Victorian-inspired pieces find their way into my cart because this is precisely the kind of thing that I am not wearing and currently trying to offload. At the same time, I won’t have to deny myself any classic pastels or earth tones because as long as the style fits into at least one of the vibes that I have identified, then this item would find a place in my wardrobe.

Honestly? Whilst this process was pretty stressful and downright frustrating at times, I do feel a massive sense of relief right now. I know where I’m standing and I know where I’m heading. The sense of excitement about classic that has dimmed somewhat, overshadowed by my enthusiasm for kitschy food-based sweet stuff, has returned like the shine on a piece of silverware that’s been polished. Here’s to whatever new coording adventures the rest of this year may still bring!