Coord WIP Ideas
Surely there are others like me who have found that lockdown, the lack of meetups and things to do that resemble the excitement of pre-pandemic life get them thinking about coords they’d love to do eventually. In my case those exciting coord ideas tended to be for events, where the theme gave me a clear idea to execute, as well as a deadline of when it had to be ready by. Without an event to aim for, my mind simply wanders, creating aspirational coords and filing them “for later”.
Usually, I’m on the secretive side regarding the coords that I spend a long time planning. I’m not suspicious of everyone trying to “steal” my ideas nor claim that any of my ideas are incredibly original in the first place. It just sort of happens: I’ll happily divulge the general theme or what main piece I’m using, but only share my WIP with handful of friends whose opinion I trust. But since there are no events and I’m low on outlets for that creative energy to go somewhere beyond my own flat, now’s as good a time as any to ditch that attitude and share. Because I’ve no idea if these coords will happen or when - but by writing about them I will at least have a record of what my thought processes were.
This coord started off as a potential one for the 16th Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates post, the prompt for which is breaking the rules. However, I don’t have any of the necessary supporting pieces and as this is the one prompt that I had to record in advance, I didn’t want to rush-buy just anything that might work. The fewer items you have in a coord, the more noticeable any quality issues become. It is better for this coord if instead I take the time to find the right pair of gloves and the right hat, some that I could also use with other things that I own (notably Cinema Doll). A coord like this would be great for a hot summer ILD or a summer lolita event in Europe (where hot weather is more of a guarantee than in the UK). Despite being all black and those long gloves, there is enough breeze to make existing in lolita bearable in such an outfit.
From the moment I decided to get this dress (whenever that actually was), I had wanted to do something medieval inspired with it. Back then I really didn’t know what that would look like, I merely took inspiration from the bodice details and allowed myself to rediscover my past obsession with Arthurian myths. Now, literal years later, my vision has slowly crystallised into this roughly XVth century inspired coord. The obvious obstacle is that bringing this to life will involve a lot of time, materials and crafting/sewing skills that I might not quite have - which in turn means either trying anyway at the risk of botching a job or saving up extra for a commission. Whilst I have not gone as far as to plan out what the bottom half would be, it’ll most likely bring the coord back into the realm of lolita fashion rather than further into historical/historybounding. After all, if I wanted a medieval gown, I could probably source a decent one online without all the hassle of making the idea come true with this particular JSK.
After successfully becoming a walking milkshake for Dream Masquerade Carnival, I felt that so many of my other coords with Diner Doll weren’t particularly interesting. A while back when I tried to come up with some new ideas for it, I remembered my attempts at picking up on those tiny bits of light brown in the print, as well as all the various cute popcorn themed things that I could use. Few brain stretches later it said “Why not become a walking box of popcorn now”, which immediately became a project to aspire to. The biggest obstacle here is that I’ve no idea how I could make 3D popcorn for my head and for a boa type thing. This was initially going to be a bolero, but then I fell down the rabbit hole of stripey cardigans. So this is very much a work in progress with a lot still to be figured out - as well as next to no use for said popcorn headpiece or shawl beyond this coord. And those will be much harder to discard than a cardboard tube giant straw.
The thing with this dress is that I seem to be on a constant mission to progressively up my levels of Polishness with it. Virtually every coord idea I have for it is something big event-worthy, forgetting that casual coords are also valid. Nonetheless, exploring my culture and heritage is very fun and after some research I decided that if I start now, I have time to practice making traditional Easter pisanki using wax. Let me tell you, blown eggs are much more time consuming than you think they would be, but having started in May, even if I do only one each time I need an egg, I’ll still have enough to practice on, make my Easter egg crown AND have some for next year’s Easter decorations. Christmas will have to step up its game once this beauty comes to life!
Those are all my current bigger WIP ideas. Some are genuinely and actually in progress, like the Easter Queen one, whilst others I keep putting off. Of course, I also have plenty of other, non-OTT coord WIP ideas - I know, that is an actual revelation that I have things that aren’t OTT in the works! However, as those don’t necessarily require any new things to be made or obtained, but merely an occasion to wear them, sharing these too would make this post way too long.
Do you have any work in progress outfits right now? Any ideas floating around your head or that you may have already started fleshing out, maybe even creating? Have you been good and actually made those things you were thinking about for a while now?
Opera Goth
This coord started off as a potential one for the 16th Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates post, the prompt for which is breaking the rules. However, I don’t have any of the necessary supporting pieces and as this is the one prompt that I had to record in advance, I didn’t want to rush-buy just anything that might work. The fewer items you have in a coord, the more noticeable any quality issues become. It is better for this coord if instead I take the time to find the right pair of gloves and the right hat, some that I could also use with other things that I own (notably Cinema Doll). A coord like this would be great for a hot summer ILD or a summer lolita event in Europe (where hot weather is more of a guarantee than in the UK). Despite being all black and those long gloves, there is enough breeze to make existing in lolita bearable in such an outfit.
Medieval
From the moment I decided to get this dress (whenever that actually was), I had wanted to do something medieval inspired with it. Back then I really didn’t know what that would look like, I merely took inspiration from the bodice details and allowed myself to rediscover my past obsession with Arthurian myths. Now, literal years later, my vision has slowly crystallised into this roughly XVth century inspired coord. The obvious obstacle is that bringing this to life will involve a lot of time, materials and crafting/sewing skills that I might not quite have - which in turn means either trying anyway at the risk of botching a job or saving up extra for a commission. Whilst I have not gone as far as to plan out what the bottom half would be, it’ll most likely bring the coord back into the realm of lolita fashion rather than further into historical/historybounding. After all, if I wanted a medieval gown, I could probably source a decent one online without all the hassle of making the idea come true with this particular JSK.
Walking Popcorn
After successfully becoming a walking milkshake for Dream Masquerade Carnival, I felt that so many of my other coords with Diner Doll weren’t particularly interesting. A while back when I tried to come up with some new ideas for it, I remembered my attempts at picking up on those tiny bits of light brown in the print, as well as all the various cute popcorn themed things that I could use. Few brain stretches later it said “Why not become a walking box of popcorn now”, which immediately became a project to aspire to. The biggest obstacle here is that I’ve no idea how I could make 3D popcorn for my head and for a boa type thing. This was initially going to be a bolero, but then I fell down the rabbit hole of stripey cardigans. So this is very much a work in progress with a lot still to be figured out - as well as next to no use for said popcorn headpiece or shawl beyond this coord. And those will be much harder to discard than a cardboard tube giant straw.
Easter Queen
The thing with this dress is that I seem to be on a constant mission to progressively up my levels of Polishness with it. Virtually every coord idea I have for it is something big event-worthy, forgetting that casual coords are also valid. Nonetheless, exploring my culture and heritage is very fun and after some research I decided that if I start now, I have time to practice making traditional Easter pisanki using wax. Let me tell you, blown eggs are much more time consuming than you think they would be, but having started in May, even if I do only one each time I need an egg, I’ll still have enough to practice on, make my Easter egg crown AND have some for next year’s Easter decorations. Christmas will have to step up its game once this beauty comes to life!
Those are all my current bigger WIP ideas. Some are genuinely and actually in progress, like the Easter Queen one, whilst others I keep putting off. Of course, I also have plenty of other, non-OTT coord WIP ideas - I know, that is an actual revelation that I have things that aren’t OTT in the works! However, as those don’t necessarily require any new things to be made or obtained, but merely an occasion to wear them, sharing these too would make this post way too long.
Do you have any work in progress outfits right now? Any ideas floating around your head or that you may have already started fleshing out, maybe even creating? Have you been good and actually made those things you were thinking about for a while now?
Oh I love all of these!
ReplyDeleteOpera Goth is just smexy and the medieval one will be amazing cool, though I imagine getting everything for it really is going to be a hassle.
Walking Popcorn is my favourite but those popcorn accessories would be a challenge! I'm thinking you could carve them out of expanding foam (if you'r wanting oversized for the boa) but what for the head, that's tricky...
The Easter look is also stunning, good luck with making all the pretty eggs for it.
Oooh, you've given me an idea with that foam one. I'm also thinking those styrofoam bits that some places like Lush use for packaging. Dang, this is not the lockdown project I was envisioning myself thinking about, but if the energy stays, it may just about happen O.O Although without an actual occasion to wear it, it probably won't happen, just like the medieval one. But as soon as it's safe to host meetups, I will bloody MAKE an occasion for all of these if that's what it takes!
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