How do you know that lolita is your nature now? Because even after so many outfits, both last year and last month, even after the general madness that is Christmas, I was still itching to dress up fairly early on in January. Would I now even be able to last a week without wearing lolita? That seems like the most foreign idea!
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Coord 1: OP x JSK
| Dear Celine Magic Book OP | Angelic Pretty Royal Unicorn Switching JSK | Angelic Pretty Toy March OTKs | offbrand shoes | vintage hat | Innocent World Original Crown Tassel 2-way clip | Fluffy Tori pin | cuffs from Meta’s Classical Sister OP |
Not a speck of makeup, but I did wear my half wig to get some actual volume to these braids.
You know, I struggle so much with this OP, but maybe using it as an under-layer is the way forward?
So Noke kind of started this trend of wearing a JSK over and OP with her AP Paris tea party look. And you know what? It’s January, it’s cold, the extra layer seemed sensible, so I decided to give it a go. I actually have another coord that’s an OP with a JSK, but that one is definitely more of a warm weather look, so will have to wait. I really like how the two dress prints worked together. This could’ve ended up looking really busy, but turned out really well. The cuffs were really needed to balance out the collar, I’m glad that I have them since the original OP design went with cuffs out of matching fabric. All in all this was a comfortable and cute look, I might try doing layering like this more.
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Coord 2: Birthday Coord
| Angelic Pretty Diner Doll JSK | Dear Celine Polka Dot Waltz blouse | Angelic Pretty Ice Cream Parlor OTKs | Irregular Choice High Score shoes | offbrand headband and jacket | brooches and pins from Fluffy Tori, Milkribbon, Madillustration and Jule et Lily | rings from Angelic Pretty and Star Glazed Delights | earrings from Big Pink Boutique |
Excuse me being obsessed, but this may legit be one of my favourite outfits so far.
I also have a tonne of daft selfies, which is usually a sign of how much I'm feeling myself in a particular outfit.
A detail clip in lieu of a detail shot.
I’ve been dressing in lolita on my birthday every year since 2016, when I started being serious about the fashion. Not even a lockdown birthday was going to stop me from keeping that going - if anything, it only encouraged me. And you know what? I fucking loved this outfit, every single element of it! On that day the 21st Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates post went live, which was an outfit made around your favourite shoes - but honestly, this is far better and was also made around my (new) favourite shoes! These beauties were a birthday present from my parents and they’re so ridiculous I can’t help but loving them. Walking in them is still something I’m getting used to, but since I was indoors all day it didn’t matter. I’m not sure whether I was trying to go more 80s or more 50s with this coord, probably a bit of both (80s-does-50s maybe?), and I don’t care, I literally spent the entire day in it, loving how I felt. Even though I didn’t do much, I spent the day mostly offline, chilling, watching films and indulging in only my favourite foods. Being dressed in a way that made happy, giddy even, was as much of a present to myself as the random bits were or as the self-care day was. Heck, I am genuinely itching to wear this coord again and get more photos taken, preferably somewhere sufficiently Aesthetic®.
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Coord 3: Chill Hangout
| Innocent World Revival Sweet Teddybear JSK | offbrand blouse and necklace | Innocent World Rose Lace Millefeuille bolero | Angelic Pretty Odekake Ribbon OTKs | Sosic Shop heels | Cutie Creator headbow | Latte Galaxy brooch |
That was such an incredibly good photo day, both selfie-wise and full body shot-wise.
I sometimes forget how much I love this daft bear, she's the cutest.
I spent most of that day on a very chill, very lovely call with @lena_golita which was honestly so good! It’s been a while since I was on video call with just one other person and I forgot how nice that is to just forget the time passing by while you have fun. The birthday coord from the day before took out a fair share of my energy, so I wanted to prioritise being comfortable and landed on this dress. And since not so long ago I complained about not doing too many different things with it, I went with brown instead of red or white, like my first instinct was. Lolita gods have been kind on me that day because not only the coord came out really nicely, but I seem to have had a good makeup AND a good photo day because I liked pretty much every single one I took. I don’t know what I did differently, but hopefully I’ll be able to replicate that in the future.
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Coord 4: Cosy Snowflake
| Metamorphose Classical Sister OP | Axes Femme Snow Embroidery and Pearl cardigan | Metamorphose Snow Crystal OTKs | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss heels | Cutie Creator headbow | vintage brooch | Sweet Dolly House brooch |
It seems to have been a bright light kind of day adding an extra paleness filter.
This brooch is everything. I keep going back to the shop to admire the matching ring and necklace, and earrings, and just... not doing anything about that.
One half of why I do the 1 Dress 4 Looks posts is to show how each main piece can be versatile - the other half is to have outfits in the bank to wear later, when I’m uninspired but want to be frilly. That was precisely that kind of day and the outfit is pretty much exactly the same as it was in the 40th instalment of that series. The only difference is that then I had a necklace, which I swapped out for another snowflake pin.
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Coord 5: Fancy WfH Friday
| Haenuli Whipped Cream Kitty JSK | Angelic Pretty Logo Embroidered Turtleneck cutsew | BtSSB Heart Marble Chocolate and Sugar Coated Cookies bolero | Angelic Pretty Lovely Ribbon OTKs | Angelic Pretty Twinkle Star socks | Bodyline shoes | Innocent World Art Nouveau headbow | Two Days Slow hair clip | offbrand beret and ring| Rose Marie Seoir necklace | Patisserie Pink Lock and Key brooch |
A rogue hair escaped, but it's fine, sometimes things be that way.
This brooch was a present from my Secret Santa and they nailed me down perfectly. I do remember considering getting this one and eventually not doing so, as I was already getting two other brooches from Patisserie Pink.
The mood for dressing up was there, so I picked something that would be comfortable and warm. I could’ve tried to experiment more with other colours, but honestly, I just didn’t want to. What I did want, however, is to wear fewer layers. I seem to be cursed with wanting to wear massively unseasonal outfits all throughout the year. I resisted that this time because my flat is actually very cold and doesn’t hold heat pretty much at all, plus I can either work or have the heating on because of the flat layout, so this was the only way. But next time I might actually put myself through the discomfort for the aesthetic…
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Coord 6: Early Valentine
| Bodyline L262 JSK | Angelic Pretty Logo Embroidered Turtleneck cutsew | Angelic Pretty Rose Lace Pattern OTKs | Metamorphose shoes | offbrand hair ties | Lockshop Daisy wig | Rose Marie Seoir necklace | Star Glazed Delights Brand Whore ring | Twinkle Kitty Boutique ring | Bibelot Rose badge | handmade bracelets |
I keep meaning to trim the fringe on this wig, but I wear it so infrequently that it evades me. I've left it out now, so maybe that will guilt me into action.
This badge is actually part of something very exciting I was asked to do. The video preview is up on Patreon now for the $2/month tier, if you want to find out sooner!
I was filming the next All Frills Baking that day and since it’s going to be themed around Valentine’s Day, I needed my coord to match. Something more like what I wore in November with this dress may have been a bit more Valentine’s Day-appropriate, but I didn’t feel like rehashing the idea. Besides, all red with pops of pink is surely seasonal enough, right? I don’t want to use up too much of my creative energy before I even get to what will inevitably be the virtual February meetup. Not when the coord spends the majority of the time hidden under an apron.
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Coord 7: Pop Again
| Bodyline Sweet Macaron JSK | Lazy Oaf top | Irregular Choice High Scores shoes | offbrand tights, beret and earrings | Bibelot Rose badge | Bubblegum Emporium necklace | Dear Celine badge | Fluffy Tori pin |
You know you're feeling your coord when you do funky poses and like it, then add a Meitu edit on top of that.
Being an extra level of kawaii by casualy posing with this pack of Orion jelly worms that I got in a Japanese snacks lucky pack (even though these ones are clearly Korean).
In case you didn't know, all Irregular Choice shoes have printed soles. The box these came in is also printed with that same design.
I’ve no clue what to call this kind of sweet lolita: it’s kind of retro, kind of pop, kind of something else I can’t quite put my finger on… but I love it! Again, it’s all because of these shoes and trying to find more pieces to wear them with. It’s a shame that you can’t quite make out that I was wearing white fishnets over solid pink tights, but then again, legwear is the only thing I would change about this anyway. This coord made me realise that I don’t have that many sweet-appropriate tights. Then again, it’s not like I have that many pieces of legwear to match this kind of look to begin with. Oh Lord, don’t tempt me with reasons to buy even more legwear, I did so well in 2020 having bought only two pairs...!
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Coord 8: Early Spring
| Angelic Pretty Flower Garden JSK | Dear Celine Polka Dot Waltz blouse | Fi.n.t. cardigan | AatP Lace-Up Ribbon OTKs | offbrand shoes | Angelic Pretty Classical Petit Rose headbow | Peppermint Fox brooch | Dentelles brooch | Le Petit Four ring |
My colleague asked if my headband matched my dress (they can only see me about chest up in work meetings) and I responded "of course" in such a way that I must've solidified my reputation for being obsessed with how I look.
So pleased that I found the right coord for this brooch. It is much more saturated than the rest of the outfit, and yet works really well with it all.
For a while until this point I’ve been very strongly vibing with green x pink. Don’t ask me why, I just was. And since actual winter kept deciding to avoid me, I might as well channel some spring, right? I can’t say how pleased I am with this look, it came exactly like I thought it would. Even though I had another flower clip that I forgot to add, it was still just like I wanted it. I even got a surprise flower delivery that day, a present from a friend to cheer me up after I had a low moment earlier that week over missing friends and feeling alone a bit more acutely than usual.
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Coord 9: Awkward Meet
| BtSSB Soirée of the Beginning of My Memories JSK I | L’Esprit de la Noblesse Le Nuage blouse | Red Maria tights | Cutie Creator headbow | offbrand shoes, hair clip, earrings and necklace | Le Petit Four Emerald Palace ring | Peppermint Fox brooch |
Would you even believe me if I said that I set out to do minimal makeup, just a touch of eyeshadow, the false lashes and lipsticks, and then it all ended up in the usual full face?
A little lace and mesh appreciation corner.
The name of the meet comes from the game I made us play, my lolita-themed rip-off of The Awkward Storyteller, but it makes for a very catchy meetup name, doesn’t it? Carrying on with the green and pink moment, it was time to wear my newest wardrobe addition: Soirée of the Beginning of My Memories. This dress and I have had such an on-again-off-again relationship all the way since I first lusted after it in 2014 in BtSSB Kanazawa - although admittedly, I was lusting after the green one. Then I saw the ivory pop up on Wunderwelt and after some encouragement from my friends, it waited for me just long enough to get one of those 10% off codes and I treated myself using the store points I had. Best decision of the end of 2020, honestly. Not much more to say about the coord besides that I really liked it and that the JSK is really comfortable. The meet was fun too, it seems that everyone has enjoyed the game and it’s always lovely to see people you’ve not seen in a while. The game is kind of like Cards Against Humanity without forcing you to be rude (though there is potential for that), and I did try to make the scenarios work for both lolita and non-lolita situations. I’ll make sure to keep that spreadsheet safe somewhere, so that we can dip into it in the future if we need some games to play.
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Coord 10: Business Casual
| Innocent World Georges Rose JSK | Axes Femme blouse and earrings | vintage jacket | Innocent World Origa OTKs | offbrand shoes and flower clip | Bibelot Rose rosette |
That was a manic day, so I did everything as quickly as possible, from getting dressed to makeup, to taking the photos.
Highly satisfying pleats!
Is it business casual? It is for lolita, not necessarily by actual business casual standards. But I did feel like a cute mayor of some frilly cartoon town who got invited to open up a new supermarket or something. If you’d like me to open your local supermarket, let me know - once the pandemic is over, of course. This certainly isn’t a coord that I would’ve come up with under normal circumstances and I would like a different headpiece for it, but in general I am pretty happy with it.
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When did January go? It feels like it barely started and now, somehow, we’re at the end of it. I still haven’t decided whether that’s a good thing or a bad one. But at least some cute outfits happened during this time, not tonnes, just a reasonable amount.
Wow, listen to me, claiming 10 coords in a month to be “a reasonable amount”, when at my pre-pandemic peak 4 a month would’ve been considered a big success… This is what this pandemic has done to me, people. I also had a moment earlier this month, watching some random video along the lines of “The Strawberry Dress: Original vs Knock-Off”, listening to the women in the video call it “a ballgown” and “princessy” and literally catching myself thinking “A ballgown? But that’s quite a casual dress”. If I weren’t lazy by nature and didn’t value my sleep above pretty much all else, I would’ve by now become that person who is never seen in anything less than a 10/10 lewk. I think I need to have a moment to re-evaluate my priorities in life…
Anyhow, I’ve enjoyed every coord I’ve worn in January, which is what really matters, and am full of ideas for more. My bigger problem is finding the occasions to realise those ideas because, as I already mentioned, I’m lazy by nature and my ideas are more on the fancier end, which I don’t want to half-arse by not matching them with the right hair and makeup. So we’ll see how that develops.
On a final note, I am working on an actual wardrobe post. It’s pencilled in for February because I didn’t want to rush it and I was (naively) hoping that maybe my Puvithel order would’ve arrived by then to be included. The thought of photographing all my jewellery and then knowing that I’ll have to do it all over again when that arrives isn’t particularly motivating, but I might have to just bite the bullet. But if you want to catch me talking just about my main pieces, I decided to do an Instagram live stream this Sunday, January 31st, at 1/2pm UK time. If you’re free, pop-over to @cupcake_kamisama!
Bubble Bath is an incredible print, one of the best ones that Metamorphose has ever put out, if I dare be so bold. Yet considering how on paper it should fit into my wardrobe’s sweeter side pretty well, it turned out to be more challenging than I anticipated. I’m not sure if it’s the skirt being shorter than I thought or if it’s the sax blue being much more of a mint shade, suffice to say that I struggled to coord it in noticeably different ways. At the same time, I’m not ready to part with it, so while one day I may swap it for the JSK in hopes for the best, for now I’m determined to push through the challenge and create something fun.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way, because it’s actually a look that I haven’t worn myself yet. Precisely since it’s such an obvious one, which doesn’t make it any less valid. I’m hiding al the different shade mismatches by spacing them out as much as possible and working with white as my neutral base. It’s a very simple look and something about its simplicity makes me think of summer. Fuss-free, light fabrics, yet still cute enough for a gal on the go.
Since I already invested in some lavender blouses, I feel the urge to get the most out of them. Again, I’m hoping that by spacing the lavenders out, the shade difference wouldn’t be quite so obvious when worn, though in this case, since we’re dealing with a warm and a cool tone, it is more noticeable. The sad part is that I had the right pair of socks in my Wunderwelt cart once upon a time, but dawdled for too long and missed out. Still, whilst there isn’t really any lavender in this skirt, sticking to a pink-based lavender seems to work. Not sure how this would turn out on a body, considering the sheerness of this blouse, but I’m also unsure if or when would I wear this, so for now it lingers in limbo.
Look 3: Classy Bath
| Angelic Pretty Romantic Bright blouse | Red Maria tights | Irregular Choice Earl Grey shoes | Pink Up Fanny’s Dressing Table hair clip | vintage necklace | Madillustration brooch | handmade ring | offbrand belt |
Inspired by what my friend put together for me with this skirt and shoes back in October. The entire “bath but make it a fancy boudoir bath” take is still blowing my mind and I wanted to push that idea further into the fancy territory. I’ve also utilised the same ‘keep the blouse untucked’ trick as I did in July, but truth be told I’m not 100% sure if it’d work as well in this case. It seems fine on the flatlay, but this blouse has a tendency to sit weird on me because of how it’s constructed. Still, the theory of it is cute, so I’ll certainly reach for this look at some point.
When I think of sweet lolita, I inevitably think of food themes. I’ve already tested this skirt with light browns, now I wanted to do something similar in a more cookie theme that incorporates some darker tones. This may be the look that I am most happy with here, though that’s probably because it’s the most complete of the four, the least of a work in progress. It should be pretty comfy too, so depending on when I get round to wearing this skirt next, it may be this outfit that I use - unless another idea pops into my head.
As I said, despite not expecting it to, Bubble Bath ended up being part of my small handful of outlier pieces. And just like the other ones, I’m bending over backwards to make it work. I should probably commit to buying some more pieces to go with it, if I’m not going to swap it for the JSK cut. At the same time, part of me is enjoying the challenge, being forced to think outside the box each time I reach for this skirt. So whilst the four looks above might not show that off best, it’s because I’m still looking for those new angles and viewpoints with which to look at it.
And if any of you ever spot the pinafore JSK cut (the one with the fancy boatneck collar) in this colourway, do let me know, please. ;)
I imagine that by now you’ve all seen photos of this print, as it seems that it was precisely what everyone wanted. So many people I know bought it, both during the first release and when it was ready in stock later.
About the Shop
Violet Fane should need no introduction, it’s one of the most popular indie brands currently around - and this is a fact, as proven by the brand reach survey on Rufflechat! They are based in Barcelona, including vending their goods at the physical J-fashion shop there called Madame Chocolat, as well as at Atelier Pierrot shops in Japan. For everyone else you can shop directly from their website, where you will find things that are quite spooky, things that are quite quaint, and a whole bunch of unique flair.
Order Process
This was not my first time purchasing from Violet Fane, either online or in person, but the process is as easy as previously. Even easier this time as I have by now set up an account on there, knowing that I will be coming back for more in the future. However, this is not a requirement, you can check out as a guest, like on most webshops. I placed my order towards the end of the original pre-order period, on September 18th, and then waited. Notification of postage arrived to my email on December 8th - by that point I had already seen some people receive their orders, so I assumed that they were being fulfilled in the order they were placed, which reassured me that mine would be slightly later. However, once it was posted by USPS, it didn’t take long, even despite the expected Christmas post delays, as I had it in my hands only two days later, on December 10th.
What I Got
Why so late with this review then? Mostly out of laziness, but I also felt that if I thoroughly tested the skirt I received, it would add something that I obviously couldn’t mention in the unboxing.
Yes, I have purchased the skirt, after much deliberation and deciding that despite what I was trying to convince myself of, I would wear it more than the OP. I also took a chance and threw in a mask with the Charming Town print in, while a friend ordered the letter set. All of it arrived in brown paper, everything was fully recyclable, which made disposing of the packaging a whole lot easier. I’m very happy that Violet Fane is doing that, hopefully we will see more companies do the same.
The letter set is what you’d expect - since it’s not mine, I did not unpack it and can’t comment on the quality of the paper, but it is 100% adorable. Just looking at it made me want to start writing letters, though without working at the office, post office trims are too cumbersome for that. And the mask is great to have to match with my Charming Town skirt, as well as neutral enough to add a touch of cuteness to regular outfits. These are the folded square types, which I haven’t used before, so I’m very sad that this particular shape doesn’t agree with me very much. Maybe I need to give it another trip, one that doesn’t involve huffing and puffing whilst carrying heavy stuff and wearing a corset, though that shouldn’t make a difference. The fabric used for the lining is, according to the listing, medical homologated antibacterial water-repellent fabric, and I have heard from various sources that masks with double layers are better in general. So I’ll give this another go - maybe I simply put it on in too much of a hurry. If you find this shape of masks comfortable, then I do recommend them because they are well made, the medical layer is soft against the skin and the designs are cute. At €10 plus postage it may not be substantial enough if you live far away, but if you were going to buy something from Violet Fane anyway, it’s worth adding these to your order.
The postcard and stickers were included as free gifts with my order. Can't wait to save them for something special and never deem anything special enough, as tends to happen with all my stickers.
Now that the extras are out of the way, let’s bring our focus back to the skirt. I ordered mine in white - or as it’s called in this series, short cake cream white. As much as I loved the red one, I felt that with such a colourful print a colourful background may end up making coordinating hard as it would involve more precise matching. Whereas the white allowed me to play with the colours of the print itself more freely. Having said this, I would say that the colour is more of an offwhite or even ivory than white, though there are purer whites within the print too.
It looks like it has a pink-ish hue, but that's mostly because so much of the print is in that tone that it catches a bit of it in natural light. But the print easily picks up other colours.
This belt buckle reminds me of bakelite jewellery.
Way back in April 2020 now I wondered whether it was possible to feel nostalgia for something that we haven’t personally experienced. Although I know that manga and anime around the 80s and a bit into the early 90s looked like what we see on this print, this isn’t the kind that I personally read or watched. Yet this print evokes exactly the feelings of nostalgia that the series name promises. Have I absorbed all that through my degree in Japanese Studies and spending so much time in Japan where I learnt what shōjo manga looked like before I came to know it? Or is there something universal, like a combination of colours and drawing styles, that evokes nostalgia in everyone? Suffice to say that I, a child of the 90s in Eastern Europe, look at this print and feel this tug at my heartstrings that creates a longing for happier, simpler times, for reclaiming the innocence of early teens when having cute lunches and notebooks was all you and your friends cared about, yet at the same time started taking an interest in subtle makeup now that your parents finally decided you’re old enough for a bit of lip gloss.
Thus print closeup is also a great closeup of the fabric texture. It's a poly-blend that feels nice to the touch. I'm curious to see how breathable it might be in summer, the Charming Town skirt does well then.
Forever lunch goals.
Although some people lament the disappearance of border prints, this series wouldn’t work in anything else but an all-over print version. It creates that impression of kitsch, cute mish-mash of your favourite things - like a young teen’s bedroom wall or journal cover. You can keep looking at it for hours and still find something new. In the time that I’ve owned this skirt already I still don’t think that I’ve truly been able to see everything there is to it! With so many elements, motifs, sources of inspiration, this will no doubt lend itself to all kinds of fantastic coords. And if you look up the #OtomeNostalgia tag on Instagram, you will see an absolutely wonderful variety and diversity of examples that will only keep growing.
In the past I did some translations for Kewpie Japan and I've never had a translation task wreck me emotionally so much. So now I love Kewpie, even though I don't really eat mayo which they're most known for.
Tell me this doesn't look like the scrapbook we either kept in our early teens or wished that we could keep?
Cute mugs, cute doodles and the OG emoji (I remember that one particularly vividly from my first year of uni).
With such a busy print, Violet Fane did right to keep the trims simple. The skirt is fully shirred, with this shirring being quite wide, so that in itself can end up being an almost ruffle above the belt. The hem is adorned with a heart-shaped lace trim, simple yet very effective, perfect for the romantic and nostalgic feminine feel of the overall design. And inside the lining is also printed, just like it was for my Charming Town skirt. Somehow I was convinced that this skirt had pockets, like those that look like two scoops on top of the skirt rather than the in-seam ones, but that must’ve been an illusion because it has none. So if this is some sort of Mandela Effect and you also thought this series had pockets - it doesn’t.
This is a stretch, but what if this heart lace is a nod to the days when we'd dot our i's and j's with hearts instead of dots?
Printed and way nicer to the touch than most other lining. I will never not hold Japanese brands to a higher standard because of this little detail that Violet Fane gave us that I never before knew I needed.
Having worn this skirt for Christmas Day, as well as the days around that, I can confirm that it is supremely comfortable and easy to take care of (did well in a cool machine wash cycle in a laundry bag). The skirt came in two sizes, XS-L and L-XXL, relying on the shirring to stretch, and having gotten the smaller size, I’d say it stretches beyond the advertised 90cm max. I’m a touch over 100cm in my hips and not only can easily put this skirt on over my hips, I could squeeze another slim person inside there with me, stretching the elastic as far as I can. The hem sits comfortably at knee length and while I’d say that the skirt is best with a daily petticoat, like my Classical Puppets one, it feels like it could handle a little bit more. I wouldn’t be surprised if it could handle something as big as the Aurora and Ariel one, though I might hold back with my hoop for now. [LINK] However, the belt doesn’t have any stretch to it, so while the skirt is plus-size friendly, the belt definitely isn’t. It also suffers from the most common problem with this belt type, that is the belt slides out of the buckle with movement, since there are no belt holes to keep it in place. This means that if you want to wear them together, you will spend a good portion of your day adjusting it or looking for discreet ways of pinning it in place.
Nothing has ever worked with this tacky vintage Christmas cardigan as well as this skirt!
If you’d like to see some first reactions, as well as moving closeups of the skirt and moving worn images, then make sure to watch the unboxing video. It was filmed upon receiving the skirt, so this post is much more in depth and comprehensive as a review, nonetheless sometimes you can’t beat seeing the items in movement.
I love a good reflective look on what I wear here on this blog. It can be enlightening to see what things you actually wear and whether those you bought with tonnes of coord ideas in mind turned out as we thought. Way back in 2018 I wrote a post about the pieces that I’ve gotten a lot of wear out of (though it appears that the pictures are all broken now, sad times). Considering that 2020 was the year when I wore lolita fashion more than in three previous years combined, this seems like an excellent time to see whether anything has changed and what were the pieces that I actually, verifiably wore the most.
You can read about a broader breakdown/analysis of what I wore last year in the 2nd Half of 2020 in Coords post. Because throughout the year my aim was to wear main pieces as equally as possible, I will not include those here. Instead this post will celebrate the builder pieces and show how versatile they can be. To make this fair, instead of competing all against each other, they will be split by type: top (blouse and/or cardigan, whichever was the most visible in a coord), legwear, shoes, and hair accessory. Jewellery was also going to be included, but because I didn’t think of this post until late in the year, going back on all of those outfits and picking out jewellery would’ve been too much. Maybe for 2021 I will find a better system of tracking what I wear to make for a more informed summary next year? I’ll certainly try!
TOP
Despite my love of a good cardigan or bolero, the winner was Lady Sloth’s Glitter Mesh blouse. I’ve worn it 6 times in 2020 and while the coords are pretty varied, they’re all classic, all jewel toned or black, and all what I’d consider the more dressed up kind. Whilst the very first one was worn to visit a local Tudor manor on a Sunday on a solo trip, it’s not exactly a casual look, certainly not against the supremely casual looks that followed since then.
The fact that half of these coords use the Boguta starry underskirt also feels like the universe is trying to tell me something.
At first I was a little surprised, but the more I thought about it, the more that feeling left. Gold is probably one of the most common accent colours in our fashion, working well with all three substyles. In that sense we can think of it as a neutral colour, just like we do with white, ivory and black. But while white/ivory/black tops are common and easy to find in a variety of cuts, gold blouses that work with lolita are rare. This is the only one that I own, so it makes sense that I pulled it out whenever I needed the coord to have that extra sparkle. Although I personally haven’t worn it with my non-jewel tone pieces much, I know that it could work. It’s one of those blouses that matches every single JSK that I own, which further explains why with the boom in outfits it also saw a boom in wear. And no doubts it will see more wear as time goes on.
LEGWEAR
To my own surprise, it’s a three-way tie! Between the ivory ankle socks from Tutuanna (kind of expected), the Violet Fane Antiquite tights (not something I expected, but I’m not surprised either) and the Enchantlic Enchantilly The Crown of the Rose Princess tights (that I was surprised to see). Each of these was worn five times across the year, though so spread around it that I wouldn’t have noticed without this post.
The ankle socks are the most understandable due to being the most seasonal item. As awful as 2020 was, we’ve been blessed with a few hot spells and what’s better for those days than ankle socks? In fact, they’re so good that a while back I stocked up on them and I still have a few pairs that have never been worn.
Pretty much all of those are from times of warm weather, spanning April to August. And two are twinning outfits, yay!
On the other hand, both pairs of tights were probably the most all-year-round kinds of items. What separates them, in my eyes, is that while the Violet Fane ones are more of a neutral pair, the Enchantlic Enchantilly ones were worn for more themed coords. Though I guess for someone who enjoys classic all-ivory-with-pops-of-red coords, they are also a perfect pair for that. These have proven to be a lot more versatile than I expected, so here’s to hoping that they stay in good shape for a long time to come.
And to think that I almost didn't buy these...
As for the Violet Fane ones, they somehow ended up being a more casual choice on a lot of occasions. They’re not too busy and the muted neutral colours really help keep some interest in the coordinate without overwhelming it. Thanks to that, more like the ankle socks, they got worn with a whole variety of colours and I know that I could do quite a bunch more. So I guess in the end two pairs of neutral legwear and one that works with one of my favourite colour schemes isn’t that surprising after all.
For how nice and detailed these tights are, it is surprising to see them in mostly casual(-ish) coords.
SHOES
With a whopping 11 coords (whole 2 more than the runner up pair), my blue Sosic Shop heels take the crown as the most worn shoes of 2020. Once again, although at firsts I raised my eyebrows, the more I thought about it, the more this made sense. Sax blue is notoriously awful to match and across all my sax pieces I only have two items that are an exact shade match (a cardigan and a pair of wrist cuffs). Putting sax legwear against sax dresses can end up drawing too much attention to the fact that the shades don’t match, which means that for most of my sax coords it’s better to have contrasting legwear to distract from the fact that the shoes don’t match either. Moreover, when I wear my sax pieces in sweet coords, I tend to reach for other shoes, and having worn classic more, this really is the best shoe choice. I mean, just look at the photos here - see any common threads?
Spot the dresses I struggle to match in terms of shade...
HAIR ACCESSORY
Now here is a story of how badly something was needed in my wardrobe! Ever since I made this pink headbow, it’s worked so hard that it took the top spot as the most worn head accessory of 2020, featuring in seven outfits. Granted, I have been wearing pink as a secondary colour a lot more last year - but could it be because I finally had a headwear option to balance that colour out properly? We might never know. It’s probably a little bit of both. And as you can see, although it led to some really nice sweet coords, as you’d expect from a pink headbow, it got its fair share of wear in classic too. When you factor in how cheap it was to make, both in materials and in time, just across those seven wears it paid for itself several times over!
This is exactly why you need basics within your accessory collection.
CONCLUSION
This has been a truly interesting look back at my style, a lens I haven’t thought of previously. Then again, finding most worn builder pieces has a different weight to it when you do it out of 53 coordinates (2019) than out of 132 (2020). Not everything is as I expected it to be, I thought to see more neutrals and fewer colours. If I had to guess what would’ve come out on top, my bets would have been placed on some sort of ivory blouse, ivory legwear and gold shoes. The hair accessory was the only one I really had no way of telling since I own too many, but I probably would’ve guessed one of the berets. Since this post highlighted 5 items, to have 3 be considered neutrals is technically accurate with my predictions, but they still feel off.
Will any of this influence my choices in outfits going forward? I doubt it, certainly not consciously. Of course, given what my wardrobe is like, chances are that I’ll inevitably reach for those shoes when wearing sax (particularly the pieces shown above) or for the pink headbow when coordinating with pink. It all depends on where my inspiration takes me - but this is certainly not the last that you’ll see any of these items. A more pressing question is whether I should track things similarly in 2021 to return to this post idea next year. What do you think? Because if that’s something you’d like to see, then it’s best that I start now rather than frantically try to count things retrospectively.
