End of 2017 Lolidrobe Reassessment Post

What? It can’t be the end of 2017 already! The whole year absolutely raced past, it was quite packed, both in my private life and in Lolita. As far as Lolita is concerned, if every year is as good as this one, then I’d be happy, although obviously I hope that things will keep getting better!

This is more of a recap of the whole year, an outlook on how things have gone. But it will also be the first step towards evaluating what could have been improved and what sort of things I should cut out or change.

Overview of Purchases

This is everything I bought in 2017, with things in brackets being the latest additions between the previous reassessment post and now:

• 12 main pieces (1 Sweet-Classic JSK in ivory* and 1 Sweet sailor-style skirt in cream)
• 5 tops (1 Classic cutsew in ivory, 1 Classic cutsew in white, 1 Sweet cutsew in sax and 1 Sweet cutsew in pink)
• 5 cardigans/boleros (1 Classic bolero in pink)
• 1 coat in off-white*
• 14 pairs of socks/tights (1 pair Sweet-Classic OTKs in off-white x brown, 1 pair of Sweet-Classic OTKs in off-white x mint, 1 pair of Classic off-white lace tights and 1 pair of Classic OTKs in off-white x wine)
• 6 pairs of shoes (1 pair of Classic heels in wine, 1 pair of Classic boots in ivory* and 1 pair of Classic heels in sax*)
• 4 bags
• 2 wig (1 wavy Classic in a mixed brownish tone)
• 2 undergarments
• and around 78 sets of accessories (1 Sweet pastel macaron necklace, 1 Classic book ring, 1 Sweet-Classic brooch in sax, 1 Classic brooch in ivory, 1 Sweet pair of wristcuffs in brown, 1 Classic brooch in brown, 1 Sweet brooch in brown, 1 Classic brooch in ivory, 1 Classic flower crown in white, 1 Classic flower headband in wine, 1 Gothic necklace, 1 pair of Sweet-Classic hair clips, 1 Sweet ring in red, 1 Sweet ring in lavender-ish, 1 Sweet multicolour necklace, 1 Sweet brooch in sax x white, 1 pair of Sweet hairpins in beige and 1 Sweet hair tie in brown)

Honestly? As I was buying things and doing the more regular wardrobe evaluation posts it seemed like I was getting tonnes of stuff. And it is more compared to last year’s End of Year Lolidrobe Reassessment post, yet simultaneously feels like less. Along the way I have sold a couple of main pieces, including some that I had only just gotten that didn’t fit my style or size, and despite buying more main pieces this year than last, I had also purchased more of all the builder and complimenting pieces, which means that my wardrobe is now more cohesive. And as I tend to buy stuff second hand or even offbrand, I don’t feel too bad about it.

The Year of Being Social

In 2017 I had attended some sort of a comm meet, whether big or small, pretty much every month. Well, if you want to be pedantic, then I didn’t do anything in May and no strictly comm meet in October, but as there were also months where I went to more than one meet, it balances it out. Meets are my favourite part of being a Lolita and they are a major part of my social life, so I always look forward to them and thoroughly enjoy planning the outfits.

This, of course, means that I wore Lolita more this year than last – a lot more than is actually documented here. Having obtained a couple of pieces that I’m comfortable wearing as my daily wear, I wore some Lolita pieces casually, to work or just going about. It wasn’t always a proper Lolita outfit (no petti), but still made me feel more connected with the fashion, as well as more chic in my day to day life.

And the more you wear, the more you improve your coording skills. Whilst I’m not sure if there’s as visible a difference between 2016 and 2017 as there was between 2015 and 2016, I feel more confident in putting pieces together and there are far fewer outfits that I look back at and see things to improve instead of pride or satisfaction at how I’ve done. That in itself is a great step forward and hopefully I’ll only keep getting better at this.

First vs most recent coord with Haenuli's Sweet Cream Kitty:
May 2016 vs March 2017.

The Year of Online Presence

The WunderWelt Libre articles in wrote in 2017.

Now this is an odd subheading, but I couldn’t think of a better one, so let me explain. What I mean is simply that what I do online that’s related to Lolita fashion has expanded and diversified. From things as small as setting up an Instagram account (which was meant to be Lolita and Lolita aesthetic-only, but I need to work on sticking to that) to as big as contributing to Lolita publications like The Love Letters online zine and Wunderwelt Libre. Whilst not my priority or forte, I have also gained confidence when doing videos for my YouTube channel and am thinking of what sort of improvements are within my means and capabilities at the moment. Last but not least, I was able to stick to my goal of publishing something on this blog twice a week for almost all year without having to compromise on quality. Well, you’ll be the judge of that, but I meant that I haven’t had to force myself to think of something to write about for the sake of publishing something. That’s a tremendous achievement in and of itself and I hope to keep this up not just next year, but in the years to come. Of course, quality always comes first – I’d rather publish less often than publish something that I don’t believe is good – but it’d still be great if I could keep up the pace.

I will talk more about actual plans for my online presence more when I get to New Year goals, but I intend all of this to be just the beginning of something great. Lolita fashion is what inspires me and if I could grow my online content to something more than just a hobby then I’ll be extremely happy! But even if it doesn’t get anywhere near that, I still want to improve how my content looks and what it is, so that it reflects my Lolita life as best as it can.

One of the Love Letters articles I wrote in 2017.

Review of 2017 Goals

Quite early on in the year, I’ve had to change my original goals, which you can see here. This was because I was expecting to go to Japan with my boyfriend, which ended up not happening as he couldn’t get the time off and I was bound to school holidays at the time. So the list of goals was quickly reduced and then last time I’ve had to add new things to it as I’ve done better than expected and had fewer things to work on. There was only one goal I decided to drop, which, all things considered, still isn’t that bad!

1. Did I have the agreed amount of money in my account at all times: Yes – and by now I’ve purchased pretty much all the dream dresses (bar one), so I’m considering revising that number for next year.
2. Did I try Wa Lolita: No. That’s the only one I’ve dropped. Maybe one day it will happen.
3. Have I gone to the Summer ILD: Yes and now I can say that I’ve done both (and done both of this year’s ones). This will become a permanent fixture in my calendar.
4. Did I apply to model in a Lolita fashion show: Yes, I got accepted and worked that runway! Such a great experience!
5. Did all my coords between end of September and end of December use the pieces from the original list (see here): Yes, although I haven’t posted the Meta Shirring Tiered Ribbon JSK outfit here, there’s a photo on my Instagram. But that whole thing went so well that even dresses from outside the list which I haven’t worn in a while have been worn and coorded.
6. Did I make a non-haul Lolita video: Yes and you can watch it here (it was a little bit last minute, but nonetheless it happened).
7. Did I craft a brooch display and blog about it: Yes and you can find it here if you haven’t seen it already.

And that’s about it as far as 2017 is concerned. Like I said, it was a good year for Lolita and I have my fingers tightly crossed that 2018 will be as good or better. Just like last year, I will leave out New Year’s goals and 2018 wishlist for separate posts to be published after the New Year.

What was your 2017 like? Have you enjoyed it, bought a lot, fell in love with a dress or got to go somewhere exciting? Do you still remember your Lolita New Year’s goals/resolutions? Did you do ok with those? I hope so.

Have a Happy New Year everyone!