My Favourite Motifs in Lolita Fashion

Throughout the years of building my wardrobe I was adamant that I didn’t have recurring themes. The mentality of not buying pieces that are too similar to one another can sometimes blind you to the detail. Because whilst I do indeed make conscious effort to avoid buying main pieces that are too similar, that isn’t actually true for the smaller bits that I buy. Oops!

In objective terms, these probably aren’t quite as numerous as it might seem. There are people out there who really love certain motifs and themes, and have hoarder-like collections. Nonetheless these ones have grown big enough within my own wardrobe to not be ignored anymore.

Post

More specifically things shaped like letter envelopes, but anything related to post or correspondence works for me. From the irresistible Royal Mail’s branding of red and gold with vintage vibes to the elegance of wax seals on parchment, this is a great family of motifs. I like how it can range from the more cutesy things perfect for sweet lolita all the way to the historical and royal vibes that fit classic, with plenty of overlap between the two.

The Violet Fane brooch is a recent addition that I had to jump on as soon as the preorder went up!

Looking at what I already have, it seems that an envelope-shaped ring would be a good addition (cue the “I could make that” phrase, when I ultimately won’t), but also some post-themed legwear. Sadly whilst I got Secret AIR MAIL from Sweet Kitty together with the headbow, I could not get the matching socks. If you ever spot them somewhere, feel free to enable me. Though at the same time, it’d be cool if a brand like Violet Fane did tights themed around that. The Antiquite ones that I own have some letters on them, but not quite enough for my liking.

I've always loved wax seals. I remember trying to make them when I was a kid and am seriously tempted every time I see them now. I'm just not the letter writing type anymore.

With almost all of my favourite motifs, I’m not fussed about having main pieces that incorporate those themes. It’s nice to have them, but given the size of my wardrobe right now, I’m not missing out by not having any or by not having more than I do. Of course, this doesn’t stop me from looking and admiring some of the ones that are out there, of which Romantic Rose Letter is probably my favourite, followed by Victorian Letter which I kind of wanted since its release. Bunnies aren’t my thing, which excludes the other notable post-themed print, IW’s Rabbit Letter, and for all my love for Meta, Girlie Stuff just doesn’t do it for me overall. Though, of course, I had to check Lolibrary and find AatP’s Love Air Mail Applique which has now piqued my interest.

However small, an envelope motif is bound to attract me.

Snowflakes

Maybe I’m just showing how much of a winter baby I am, but I genuinely love winter. And by winter I mean proper, cold, dry winter full of snow and temperatures way below freezing. Keep that mild, damp, zero-to-minus-five-at-most crap away from me. I mean no offence to winter wherever you are, I’m saying this out of frustration at winter in the UK and disgust at how this nation turns into a bunch of bumbling idiots the moment a tiny bit of snow falls and they forget that they’re on the same latitude as southern Canada and had centuries to learn how to handle snow responsibly.

The moment Lady Sloth released snowflake lace, my wallet felt very attacked.

In other words, winter is great and snowflakes are a beautiful symbol of it, simultaneously dainty, elegant, and cute. Luckily for me it’s also a motif that’s very common in fashion in general, so I can count on at least finding jewellery with it easily. Again, a snowflake ring would go nicely with what I have already, but then I usually wear gloves in winter and forget rings entirely.

Can't go wrong with snowflake-patterned socks.

As for main pieces with that motif, there are actually zero in my wardrobe right now. Part of this is my dislike of having overly seasonal prints as I want my wardrobe to work all-year round. The rest is due to the fact that snowflakes usually are a secondary or even tertiary motif on general winter and/or Christmas themed prints. The few releases that I know of that were giving snowflakes centre stage would either not be flattering on me (that was a very hard thing to come to terms with because I genuinely love everything about AP’s Jewelry Snow JSK - everything but the cut) or are not my cup of tea design-wise. The one I like the most (besides Jewelry Snow) is BtSSB’s Twinkle Snow Crystal, but I feel like the overall design is very much of its time, which now reads as quite oldschool, and that’s simply not something I wear.

I'm so glad I caved in and bought that vintage brooch. The Sweet Dolly House one is gorgeous, but quite small and can disappear in a coord a little.

Books

Oof, could not resist a good book print! Books are actual, real-life magic, you can pick one up and reading it transports you to another world or another time, lets you live someone else’s life for a while. Although my own book collection is on the smaller side (because trying to be practical and only keep books that really mean something to me, opting for e-books for the rest), they feature in the background of every single one of my outfit shots since moving. I’ve also been writing my own fiction since I was 7 years old, and while I can’t say that I’ve been writing consistently for all of those 21 years, I have never, ever stopped thinking about writing, be it planning out scenes or giving in to guilt that I’m not writing. There was never any way that books would not become a beloved motif for me!

You could argue that these prints are very similar to each other - I justified these thanks to them being different cuts.

Although unlike the other two motifs, I have three very distinctly book-themed main pieces in my collection. I almost forgot about the third one, because it hasn’t arrived yet, and going through my main pieces, I found one more less obviously book-themed. Let’s face it, if dress size and my internalised “but that’s too similar” stop-check weren’t a thing, I’d no doubt have more than that. So for once it’s the main pieces rather than accessories that dominate. One necklace and one ring suddenly don’t feel like enough… and I’ve no legwear with books either... Damn, I’m sensing self-enablement coming!

This small collection started with this necklace.

I shouldn’t really be looking at other book-themed main pieces that I could want, I’ve said “no” to enough already and it was hard enough to do. Part of me still kind of regrets not getting Lief’s Angelica Library, even though the first release was at almost the same time as Haenuli’s Librarian Lady and the indecision between the two led to my not getting either. Meta’s Magical Artefact is also at the back of my mind a lot thanks to the black cat that’s also on there, as is their Grimoire print. Yup, I really just did that to myself.

Almost forgot that Sheherazade has books all over the print.

Food (particularly sweets)

The one bit that still ties me to the realm of sweet lolita without dragging into classic. Well, mostly. For now. Sweets are such a quintessential sweet lolita motif, it’s almost guaranteed that if you’ve ever been a sweet lolita, you’ve had some sort of food-themed piece in your collection at least for a brief moment. There’s just something super fun about wearing cute foods whilst, potentially, also enjoying cute foods.

Technically you could also include the Sweet Dolly House snowflake brooch since it's supposed to be an iced cookie.

Whilst a lot of what I have in terms of food-themed pieces comes from the early days of my lolita wardrobe building, where I thought I’d wear sweet more, I won’t try to fool anyone by claiming that I stopped getting more. Because I haven’t. What has changed is that now I’m more honest with myself about what main pieces these accessories will go with (most times the answer is Diner Doll) and how will it fit with my collection overall. This doesn’t prevent my finger from slipping, but at least I stopped buying willy nilly anything and everything that’s shaped like a macaron.

I forgot to include one more macaron necklace. Which I guess shows just how many food-themed accessories I have. I purposefully skipped the biscuit bag!

Most of my rings are best with sweet lolita, actually. The true reason I wear the same four rings with my classic coords.

And this has mostly translated onto other things with that motif that I might want. The only remaining food-themed piece on my wishlist is Antoinette Decoration, which is a much more classic take on this theme and motif, which would work with my current wardrobe so much better. I also constantly pine over BB&B Deco’s jewellery, which also combine the cuteness of food motifs with elegant execution and finish. One day I will stop being so overwhelmed by the choice and will buy something, though that may be only once I obtain Antoinette Decoration. Oh wait! I almost forgot about Q-Pot and their non-sweet jewellery. Damn, they had that cheese themed collection and the one that was shaped like teabags that I still really want. Why must cute dumb food-themed jewellery be as expensive as Q-Pot?

Food prints make me very happy, actually.

Bonus pic of the mess that are my earrings. How many food-themed pairs can you spot here?

Lastly, an honourable mention goes to cats. Cats are superior, cats are valid and improve any piece of art and fashion that they grace.

The cats on prints I currently own. They are all adorable and I love them very much.

What are your favourite motifs in lolita fashion? Were you always into them or did you realise your subconscious bias only after obtaining several pieces with that motif on? Are you actively growing your collection or trying to resist it now?