Dressed by Fluffy Kawaii Jo

Those of you who follow lolita content on YouTube, as well as on blogs, may already know that a while back I have collaborated with Joëlle from Fluffy Kawaii Jo on a video where I put her in a coordinate out of what she owns. This was super fun to do, especially as her style is much sweeter and pastel than mine, as well as since her coordinating style is much more focused on matching than mine. And now, finally, the tables have turned and she got to dress me up!

I suggest that you watch the video before reading on, as my reflections on it may give some things away.

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All done watching? You sure? Good!

Being on the receiving end of this exercise was just as fun as putting together an outfit for her. Trying out something different whilst still within the comfort zone that is your own wardrobe is less intimidating and can open your eyes to new points of views or possibilities. If anyone else out there is interested in doing something like this or inspired by this (doesn’t have to be a YouTube collaboration, can be a blogging one), then do let me know, I am definitely interested!

Having said this, as my wardrobe is fairly diverse and there are only a few styles that I haven’t tried at all (mostly lesser ones, e.g. guro), in this particular case my aha! moments were somewhat smaller. Moreover, given that Joëlle’s style is very pastel, while mine isn’t, she did have fewer pieces to use, even more so as I had sold a couple and some of the replacements haven’t arrived at the time when we shot the video.

As such the coord that she created ended up being similar to the one I wore at Dream Masquerade Carnival. The only substantial difference were the hair accessories and hairstyle – whilst in 2017 I went for fewer bigger pieces with (mostly) my own hair, Joëlle went for lots of smaller pieces with a pink wig. The other differences – cutsew instead of the blouse or the shoes – were more stylistic touches, as the overall feel of the coord remained the same.

Here is a side by side comparison. I actually had the exact same bag at DMC as well, it's just not in the photo. The DMC photo is by Emily Valentine Photography and was taken after I had changed into more comfortable shoes.

I guess what surprised me the most was how quickly I became comfortable with that giant centre headbow atop a fairly flat wig. This is normally a look that I try to avoid – hence my obvious preference for sidebows – or would balance it out with at least a more voluminous hairstyle. However, having tonnes of smaller accessories around it did help the bow feel more balanced in the coordinate, as it then became just one piece of many instead of the dominant thing there. The rest of the head didn’t feel as empty as it otherwise would have and while it’s a sweet lolita specific trick (and a pretty OTT one at that), I will keep it in mind in the future. Also, I am impressed by how the pin helped the tail of the bow sit upright. I fully anticipated it to weigh it down, so this is another trick that I may use in the future should I go for that OTT look.

The other thing this challenge has done was to remind me that I do enjoy a pastel look. Although I have first realised this at Dream Masquerade Carnival (when it surprised me quite a lot) and while I had a reminder that I don’t actually dislike pink during the Make It Pink meet, it was good to refresh that. Granted, I probably won’t go off from here buying more pastel dresses. For one, I am no longer in a position to spend money as freely (I am finally moving out into my own place, which means utilities to prioritise before the fun stuff), but secondly, and more importantly – I am still a picky person. There simply aren’t that many pastel prints, whether pink, sax or whatever other colour, that I genuinely like enough to even consider owning – and many of those that I would are more expensive than I’m willing to pay. Combine this with my trying to move towards wearing more cuts that actually flatter my body shape (which many sweet lolita dress cuts are not) and I’ve basically limited myself to just a few brands (mostly indie) and probably some second hand Meta (because all hail Meta).

Have you ever let someone else (a fellow lolita or not) pick your coordinate? Did they nail your style or make you try something different? How did you feel in that outfit? What did you learn from the process? And if you don’t have that experience – would you want to do it? Or would you rather have a style swap with someone who wears something different than you do to try that out?