AYWi30C #3 - Something OTT

Ahh, I feel much more at home with something OTT than something casual. At least when it comes to simply putting together the outfit. I love having a theme to stick to or a concept to realise – having that extra limitation helps me focus and often leads me to trying things outside the box. Truth be told, I could probably do something OTT with any of my main pieces, since I love prints and these lend themselves better to such styling. So back in the early days of my mapping this challenge out, I actually assigned a piece to all the other prompts to see what I’d be left with (and to ensure that I didn’t prematurely use something that would be better suited to another prompt). Although I guess I could’ve predicted that I’d end up using Crystal Dream Carnival, one of the most OTT dresses I own.

|Angelic Pretty Crystal Dream Carnival Tiered JSK | Lady Sloth Glitter Mesh blouse | Angelic Pretty Musee du Chocolat OTKs | Irregular Choice Total Freedom heels | Haruhi Clover headbow | Chocomint hair clip | Boguta underskirt | H&M earrings | Innocent World Moon and Star Pearl necklace | Angelic Pretty Crystal Dream Carnival ring | 3 offbrand rings | vintage brooch | Peacockalorum wrist cuffs | offbrand Venetian mask |

I’m not sure if I ever mentioned this (apologies if I have), but when I first got this dress I wanted to wear it in an OTT way with this exact Venetian mask I got in TK Maxx ages before that. A version of this had almost happened for my first meetup, which was due to be a photoshoot, but due to a cancellation, it never did. And maybe that’s for the better because this version is much closer to what my imagination tried to show me back then. In 2015 I lacked in the right pieces to truly realise this idea in a way I’d be happy with. Now not only I managed to put together a coord that I truly love and adore, I actually can’t wait to wear it somewhere!

The antennas have real bells at the end, which make this lovely, gentle ringing sound whenever you move.

It’s surprising how well this mask matches the dress! Although I guess since almost all my best colour matches are with offbrand things, maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised. Still, despite my camera’s best attempts at lightening the pictures, CDC’s shade of navy is more of a dark royal blue – which is precisely why my camera lightens it up to a royal blue sort of shade.

This is probably a much truer representation of the colour. See what I mean about it not really being navy?

Those pearls and crystals really add that OTT touch.

Here you can see the dress colour a little bit more accurately. There is so much going on just on this one part of the dress that it compels me to wear it in OTT ways. Gold braid? Check. Pearls? Check. Crystals? Check. Bits of metallic gold from the print itself? Check!

This is one of my absolute favourite blouses: it's soft, it's light and sparkly to bits!

Not only is this one of my favourite blouses, it really compliments this coordinate well. The lightness of the mesh fabric reflects the lightness of the organza overlay and the chiffon epaulettes. With pegasi being the print’s main theme, this blouse solidifies this outfit’s concept as stars twinkling from behind the clouds on a dark sky. A theme which becomes a little bit more apparent in the accessories, but we’ll get to that in a second.

Definitely make sure to check out the video to see how this actually sits with the blouse off shoulder!

What you can’t see on the flatlay is that the epaulettes, on top of being another bit of extra, are also there to tick off the lolita rules. As you’ll see in the lookbook video, this would actually be worn with the blouse off shoulders. Since lolita rules talk about covering the shoulders, the epaulettes would do exactly that. So technically this coord is also by the rules – even though it bends them heavily in that respect.

By virtue of being a more beige shade, these socks match the blouse a little better.

I still haven't actually worn these anywhere, so they're clean and pristine. 

Normally my formula for legs is match the socks to the blouse and match the shoes to the main piece. Having said this, none of my navy OTKs worked with this JSK and I love these shoes way too much to swap them for my navy heels, so it stays like this. And how little this actually bothers me speaks volumes about my own growth in this fashion. The strive for perfectionism is real (why do you think it’s taken me so long to get on with actually doing this challenge in the first place?), yet somehow I genuinely like how these socks and shoes work both together and with the rest of the outfit.

The stars are so lovely and their shade almost matches that of the blouse.

And I only just noticed that the dress lace has not only ponies, but little stars as well. That ties the theme together even more!

The underskirt is both a fancy and a necessity here. This is one of my shortest dresses, meaning that the hoop skirt – the only thing capable of filling this tiered monster – peeks out constantly. Having that extra layer helps hide it somewhat if/when it does, but also adds a wonderful point of interest. I remember when I first saw one of these Boguta star-trimmed underskirt on the Lolita Amino and how quickly everyone else around me seemed to get one. Personally, it took me a while to warm up to the idea of getting one myself, as I needed to be sure that this would go with more than just this one dress. And whilst I’m incredibly happy with the quality of it, a word of warning for anyone considering getting one is that the elastic on this is really tight. It was a bit of a struggle to get this on and off and it was noticeably tight when on. So while it probably did wonders in keeping my hoop skirt up (since I need to hike it really high for it to hide underneath this dress), it wouldn’t be comfortable worn for long periods of time.

These Haruhi Clover headbows are so nice. They sit really well, are comfortable and despite the chain can be good for casual wear too.  

Can you really have an OTT coordinate without some iconic accessory from the height of OTT Sweet? I guess you could, but unless you're doing gothic, why would you want that?

Having said this, I’m not ashamed to say that I got this headbow specifically for this dress. I have one exactly like this in gold, but I thought that a navy one would suit it better and since it’s cheap, I indulged. To prevent the coord from being colour imbalanced, I added the Chocomint star clip – still an iconic accessory. When worn with a blonde wig, I think it manages to distribute the colours that little bit more evenly (compensating somewhat for the lack of navy on my legs, I hope).

All of the accessories from this coordinate. It may not seem like a lot laid out separately, but when layered on top of such an elaborate dress and sparkly blouse they add all the pizzaz you need.

Speaking of colour balance and golds, basically none of them in this coord match each other. The braid on the dress is very pale, that on the mask is a yellow-ish metallic, the blouse is firmly antique, shoes are true gold if there even is such a thing, the jewellery is a whole other story altogether… Basically, every piece of gold here is a new shade. Yet I feel that it works and adds to the OTT feeling of this outfit – the more shades of gold, the more gold things one must have and the more gold one has, the richer one must be, right?

These earrings were a total impulse buy in H&M in Poland when I went a few years ago. They match this print so perfectly!

I wouldn't have bought this necklace myself, despite it being perfect for my wardrobe. because of how much brand jewellery can cost. But every time I look at this gem from the lucky pack, I reconsider this mindset.

The rings in order of fanciness. I am seriously lacking in navy jewellery, I keep meaning to rectify that and then forget.

This is one of my most worn and versatile brooches. And to think that I almost didn't buy it!

To be perfectly honest, my experience with Peacockalorum's wrist cuffs has been hit and miss. These are a definite hit, the lace is gorgeous and soft, while the colour combination and the royal theme matches my wardrobe incredibly well.

Of course, it wouldn’t be OTT without a variety of accessories, wouldn’t it? We have wrist cuffs (over blouse – that’s not something I do, well, ever!), a necklace, a brooch, a bunch of rings and, very importantly, earrings! Important because I also don’t often bother wearing earrings in lolita (mostly because they tend to be hidden by my hair) and because these were also bought with CDC in mind. If you look closely at the print, you’ll notice hints of lavender, so they do work perfectly.

Those pegasi are magnificent! You know how there used to be this trend in Japan to put crystals and gems on your dresses? Every now and then I think about doing it with this print, it could be so fabulous if done right!

It was hard to photograph, but I think you can tell that it's the AP logo?

I love the overlay as much as I love the print. And the pegasi repeat themselves, so it's not like it covers up the whole print.

And whilst on the topic of the print – just look at it! It’s glorious. Pulling this dress out for photographing really reignited my love for it and I discovered some details I’d previously missed or forgot, like the Angelic Pretty logo hidden in the dials or the metallic gold on parts of the print. And while the organza overlay usually covers big chunks of it up, somehow I can’t bring myself to wear this dress without it? I’ve done it before, in an attempt to make a more casual coordinate with this piece, yet somehow I’m still not keen.

All of these outfits and still I feel that only this one, put together purely for the prompt, is actually doing the dress justice. Although I do have a soft spot for the second one from the right.
From left to right these are from: December 2015, December 2016, September 2017 and June 2018.

I genuinely don’t wear this piece as often as it deserves. I tend to keep saving it for bigger, fancier occasions, if it even makes it to that. Having a spreadsheet does sort of force me to break this out more often than I naturally would have, so there are some more toned down outfits with this too. Still, I know in my heart of hearts that OTT is where this JSK’s destiny truly lies.

This was one of the easiest lookbook videos to make, the idea literally formed itself, especially once I found the right music. So while I struggled a little with the camera tripod, I’m still very pleased with the end result.

Hope that you enjoyed this coord – and keep your fingers crossed that the right occasion to wear it will come along sooner rather than later!