1 Dress 4 Looks Take 12

For the longest time I’ve been on the fence whether to do an outfit post with this Bodyline L380 skirt or not. I purchased it to use it for layering, which it’s great for, but at the same time it is a main piece that could be used on its own. In the end I decided to give it a go – even if I don’t ever end up wearing any of these, it’s good practice for your coording skills. Though truth be told, this skirt proved more of a challenge than I thought (matching ivories is a nightmare and anything with colour needs some careful balancing).

Look 1: Gold

| AP Twinkle Glitter Knit Cardigan | Resailan Jewelry Boxtights | AP Elegant Doll boots | AatP Circus Tent bag |
Imperial Fiddlesticks ivory headbow | offbrand gold bow |

Matching ivories may be a nightmare, but gold goes with everything. I like how versatile this outfit is, it could be dressed up or down, OTT or casual, depending on accessories. The skirt with the cardigan as the base work very nicely and from them on I could be changing socks (don’t judge, I’ve an obsession with ivory x gold socks), bags, shoes, headwear, jewellery… Although part of me feels like this isn’t a look for people with a pale complexion like myself, so without lots of blush I could end up looking a bit washed out.

Look 2: English Rose

| vintage blouse | IW Diamond Rose OTKs | offbrand
heels and hair clips | Enchantlic Enchantilly neckace |
handmade bracelets |

Simple, yet very classic (in both meanings of that word), this is something that I’ more likely to wear. Ivory and dusty tones go so well together and the rose theme is simply timeless. All that’s missing is a romantic, curly hairstyle and maybe an elegant matching handbag (the only thing that I’m missing here), and this could be perfect for either a casual catch up over tea with a friend, for visiting relatives or if you want your significant other’s parents to like you.

Look 3: Larme

All items are offbrand. (Rose Marie Seoir Lolitachoker and Axes Femme earrings)

I wanted to experiment a little bit and mix the two fashions. Whilst this is certainly a work in progress, it’s not the worst attempt. The black version of this skirt would probably add more of that Larme feel and the socks aren’t a perfect match, but the playfulness of the outfit appeals to me. Minimise the poof and you’d almost blend when out in town shopping. I’ll keep this on the cards.

Look 4: Autumn

| Axes Femme cardigan | Putomayo Celestial Light OTKs |
offbrand beret and boots |

The skirt is made out of an interesting kind of polyester: it’s closer to cotton than your flimsy chiffons and stuff, making it a great piece if you want to be a bit warmer. And when it’s cold sometimes you do want that one warmer piece instead of putting on dozens of layers to keep yourself toasty. What this outfit need are some accessories, a brooch or some rings, but I like it. Again, it’s more on the casual side, though there is still enough going on there to keep it interesting. Although the photos don’t give that justice, both the cardigan and the skirt have great textures, which you certainly do want to accentuate.

In the end, when working with a plain skirt like this, you could make infinite coords just by following the rule of “match the skirt on the head and in shoes, and have the rest be one colour”, which I realise is what I’ve done here. In the future I would love to get more items where instead of the skirt being the layering piece, I could layer things with the skirt for greater variety. If done well, I think the skirt could carry layers such as under- and overskirt, blouses going over the high waist part, fancy waist belts, even obis for Wa Lolita looks. It’s a little sad that I don’t have enough of these pieces to give such coords justice, but it is something to keep at the back of my mind. For the time being, I will keep this skirt under other garments, and maybe use it sometimes in other fashions (wouldn’t this look great with mori-kei?), but hopefully when/if I revisit this post in the future I’ll be able to add more variety and spice.