Lolidrobe Reassessment Post 2022.03

FINALLY, it’s autumn! And not just that, it’s finally autumn that I can enjoy. If you love autumn and want to be that person who gets immersed in all the seasonal goodies, do yourself a favour and do not start working in the education sector. Nothing kills the joy of September quite like that and I honestly cannot emphasise how much Green Day’s Wake Me Up When September Ends resonates with my soul. But we’re not here to talk about my seasonal plights - we’re here to have a look at how my wardrobe has changed/evolved/whatever over the course of the summer.

New additions

This was definitely a quarter of ups and downs. At the beginning of summer I slowed down with purchases quite noticeably. Then I worked out what I was missing and got a bit more stuck in with sales, which led to trying to make a few newly realised replacements. Lastly, having felt the crunch, I tightened down on my spending once again, promising myself no more after those and imposing some strict rules upon myself.

• 3 blouses (sweet in ivory, classic in green, sweet in mint*)
• 3 cardigans (sweet in white, classic in navy, classic in wine)
• 1 apron (sweet in white)
• 2 pairs of shoes (1 gothic in black and 1 sweet in navy*)
• and 3 sets of accessories (1 gothic headdress in red*, 1 gothic hat in white, 1 pair of classic faux fur boot toppers in brown)

Of course I forgot to include the apron. But it's ok, you've seen it already.

There were more than enough opportunities for this quarter to go more pear shaped. Whilst it is a fair bunch of items, except for three they are either replacements or filling in some gaps, which makes this one of my most sensible hauls, probably ever. Going into the last quarter of the year on the back of this, the bar is set pretty high to stay good to those rules. And with a lolita event at the end of this month, with a bloody stellar lineup of Japanese indie brands vending there, I feel like trying to emerge unscathed will be equivalent to fighting a dragon. Pray for me, it may be the only thing that will help.

Possible new looks

Once again, the additions made here aren’t introducing novelty so much as rounding up the looks that I already had on the cards. Once those blue shoes arrive, they will fill in the biggest gap of them all, but for now (who’d have thought) the blouses and cardigans are working hard to keep my wardrobe interesting to me.

August 2022.

August 2022.

September 2022.

Replacement and need list progress

Thanks to finally working out what I want out of my classic wardrobe, this list has grown with a few things. As I haven’t talked about the individual pieces in that post, let me add a few notes here as to why these items and what do I want to replace them with:

• AatP’s Rosier Fleur JSK - it’s a gorgeous piece that I still love, as well as one of the most versatile in my entire wardrobe. However, the fit is far from ideal and it’s time to stop putting up with that. What I want is an ivory JSK that’s a bit longer and can fit me at my current waist and bust measurements. It needs to have enough frill/detail to allow me to dress it up for fancier occasions, but not too much so that it couldn’t be toned down or where that would prevent it from applying other themes to it. Ideally this would be in the same or a very similar shade of ivory, so a tiny bit warm, but not so much so that it falls into yellow, just perfectly neutral. Right now my bets are that this would be provided by either Atelier Pierrot or Physical Drop, they have definitely had styles that fit what I have in mind, but I’m not restricting myself to specific brands. I’ll know it’s right when I see it and until then I am keeping Rosier Fleur because a solid ivory JSK is as versatile as one can get.
• BtSSB’s Forever Enchanted Midnight Spell bolero - this actually falls into the ‘replace pink bolero’ category. It’s just that now is really the time to get a move on with this. I am not wearing this one because I don’t like this cut on myself and having a pink bolero that I am using would open up my possibilities so much.
• Irregular Choice Total Freedom shoes - this was my first pair of Irregular Choice shoes, so they’ll always be a bit special to me. But fit aside (which could be a bit more comfortable, though I could also have done more to work on that), these shoes are just a bit too cutesy whereas I need more classic gold shoes. Right now I’m gravitating towards a pair of Elf Armorie shoes, because they really are that good, but once again, I’m open to other options.
• Magic Tea Party mint blouse - the good part of this one is that I have already sold it. It went to a good new home, to a brand new lolita who bought it from me at Doki Doki. The tricky part now will be sourcing a mint blouse that will fit my current size, will be sweet-appropriate whilst fitting with my preferences (not too high a neckline, a smaller collar, some detail around the sleeve, breathable fabric). My best chances are probably offbrand or vintage reproduction places, or maybe an indie brand like Lady Sloth, so I will have to keep my eyes open and be ready to jump at one if I see one.

So the search for the replacements continues, hopefully with this new clarity of direction will come extra bit of motivation to look for these things.

The mint blouse might actually get ticked off, but I need the one I ordered to arrive before confirming.

Similarly, that post resulted in a few changes to my need list too.

For one, the lavender socks are off it. I decided to be sensible and stop adding colour after colour to my wardrobe.

Secondly, in goes a frilly bolero in sax. I have sax cardigans, but they are quite plain and better suited to my sweet looks than those romantic classic looks that I want to focus on. If Innocent World did their Millefeuille model in sax, this would be it, but since they don’t and I don’t think that dyeing will be the way here, I will have to find another way around that. The one on the picture is AP’s Romantic Ribbon, but as cute as it is, it’s pretty much the same shape as the BtSSB one I’m trying to replace, so this is just the closest picture I could find.

Given how I like my sweet to be on the retro side and many of my pieces are tricolour in scheme, a pair of sweet shoes in navy or royal blue would also go a long way. The flats I currently use are comfortable, but they certainly aren’t cute enough.

The other things identified in that post aren’t so much needs as just wants, so they will go into the next section. Other than this, as I’m still waiting on my Puvithel order to arrive and therefore can’t confirm how the jewellery situation is going, everything else remains unchanged.

These are the exact shoes I ordered, hence the certainty in ticking them off.

Current wishlist

No new wishlist items found their way into my wardrobe. With how things are going, I think I would like to give more thought and focus to that last row, which currently hosts pieces that I can see myself wearing daily or more regularly/casually. In particular having a few more skirts, especially classic ones, would really up my wardrobe’s wearability. Inspired by the success I’ve had with hand sewing my apron, I have ordered a few issues of Otome no Sewing, which I hope will have exactly the sort of skirt patterns that I would like. Whether I will end up making them is a whole other matter, but capitalising on the momentum is important.

State of the wishlist as of October 1st 2022.

On the non-dress wishlist goes a pink frilly/romantic headpiece. The reason why it’s not included in the needs list is because between the pink headbow I made in 2020 and the various flower clips I have, I should be able to piece together an appropriately romantic-feeling headpiece already. Having something else besides that would add some much needed variety to my options, but it isn’t pressing.

At one point I almost had this bolero, but it escaped me.

New Year’s goals: progress summary

1. Did I create a themed lookbook: yes. After a change of plans my theme ended up being a different kind than originally intended and the lookbook paired with a blog post. You can find them both here.
2. Did I take more mirror selfies: yes. Very much still something that I have to actively talk myself into, remind myself that I don’t owe anyone the effort of a ‘proper’ outfit shot, but there’s been at least one in every monthly coords roundup post so far, which is a great accomplishment in this category.
3. Wardrobe Overhaul
1. Have I done a wardrobe purge: At this stage this may be the closest that I’ve come to saying yes to this. Whilst there are still items in my possession that I am trying to sell, they have at least been identified and listed where appropriate. Having worked out what I want from my sweet items and what I want from my classic ones has been invaluable in this process. Even if selling these bits takes some time, I have the peace of mind of knowing that what is within my possession will get worn and cherished.
2. Have I divided my wardrobe into seasonal parts: I am about to. I know this sounds like a copout answer, but October has only just started, so this is really the best time to be doing that. At this point I think I can safely pack up my warm-weather-only items and get on with that seasonal wardrobe split. I mean, I’ll have to if I am to meet this goal for 2022 whilst still in 2022!

Even though I have a decent number of coords that hit this summer quarter, I feel like for the most part I spent it wearing other clothes and styles. Mostly due to the weather, my wardrobe overall is not made for hot summers, but lolita potentially the least of it all. Yet with the advent of autumn and winter on the horizon, my calendar is once again filling up at the speed of light with various events, activities, meetups, and all sorts that will provide more than ample opportunity for frills. There are still areas of my wardrobe overall that I am working on: gaps to fill, new styling directions that I am exploring, comfort adjustments to make, and more, which altogether are making my wardrobe a lot more exciting for me to enjoy. But despite the odd moment of feeling like I don’t have anything to wear, I do feel like I am out of the worst slump where I genuinely didn’t feel like wearing lolita and couldn’t figure out what that meant for me. So here is to the final quarter of this year (which in itself sounds super scary, how are we here already?) being the realisation of that work that I put into my style and my wardrobe, so that it once again is something that I am wholly excited to keep dipping into and creating new things with it.