End of Year Lolidrobe Reassessment 2021

We all thought this year would’ve been different. We all thought that things would get back to what we knew before the pandemic hit. That is not what happened. And somehow we managed to coast along that limbo for another 12 months. Well done to us for achieving that!

Overview of Purchases

Whilst there were still no big events to save up for and to prioritise over getting new clothes or accessories, I also really don’t feel like I’ve done that poorly over the course of the 12 months. But maybe that’s because I haven’t looked at the numbers yet...

• 12 main pieces (1 sweet skirt in ivory* and 1 classic OP in red*)
• 3 tops
• 4 pieces of outerwear (1 classic faux fur capelet)
• 5 pieces of legwear
• 1 pair of shoes
• 1 bag
• 1 corset
• 1 wig
• and 48 sets of accessories (1 sweet-classic gold pendant, 1 pair of wrist cuffs in white, 1 pair of wrist cuffs in green*, 1 gothic headdress in black*, 1 classic hat in ivory, 2 classic brooches in black x ivory)

It seems like I’ve settled on a rough number of new additions I make each year, averaging somewhere around this. Even though 76 things sounds like a lot of things to get, when it’s spread over the course of a year it becomes much more reasonable. I still continue to tell myself that I don’t really need anything, that I should stop or slow down, that it’s time to focus on the other styles I want to wear… yet still come back to lolita. Part of me feels that it is time for a substantial wardrobe reshuffle, to be a bit more ruthless and decisive, but I can’t quite bring myself to do it emotionally, let alone physically. So we’re coasting along, continuing to add pieces at this pretty steady rate and hoping that, as always, things will work out in the end.

The Year of Exploring Casual

Not necessarily in the strict sense of wearing casual lolita that much more than I have in 2020, for example. This is more to say that I’ve been consciously thinking how I can carry on wearing lolita a lot more regularly without feeling the pressure of creating social media content. Because so far if I’ve worn a frilly outfit, it’s made an appearance on this blog and then eventually landed on my Instagram grid with its 3-picture format. But that does create an environment in which dressing up can start to feel like a chore, where everything has to be a photo-worthy look and takes up that mental energy which would otherwise be saved. However, I still want to have a record of the outfits that I wear, since I use this for my own sake (and finally having a proper coord archive really helps with that). As the year drew to a close and a partial return to the office had me rethink things anyway, I finally started to get to a point where I had a plan on tackling this, trying to get things such as mirror selfies for those more laid back looks, whilst leaving the space for ‘proper’ outfit shots for anything that felt like I’d put effort into it. Maybe one day I will be in a position to have my photo setup out all the time, so that all I’d need to do would be to pose and snap, but this isn’t happening anytime soon.

Working out photos during my trip to Poland was a very helpful experience in helping me balance enjoying my time with having a documentation of the outfits I've worn.

The Year of Getting Noticed

It certainly felt like I was. Between the Bibelot Rose subscription box and the free glasses from Ublins, that’s already like 200% more exposure than I ever thought I’d get. Then there’s the fantastic opportunity that I’ve had to help host the MinoRinRin Talk Show for Hyper Japan, reaching 1000 subscribers on Youtube and over 2000 followers on Instagram… In my head I may feel like I’m still the same old me, but I can no longer ignore that it’s not that simple anymore. I mean, let’s assume that the lolita fashion community is equal in size to Rufflechat (which has roughly 12k members). That means that just over 15% of the community is following me on Instagram. A gigantic oversimplification, but really puts the scale into context within our niche community. Because no, lolitas will never be influencers in the same sense of the word as someone reviewing mainstream fashion or makeup or whatever will be. But even though not everyone following me on Instagram is a lolita, that’s still a significant number of people. People, real life humans, somewhere out there across the world. Mad. Bonkers. Mental. Thank you to everyone who has noticed me like that, it’s very humbling. Scary too, but mostly humbling.

I still don't quite believe that this has happened. This email sits in my inbox and yet it feels unreal.

The Year of Slowing Down

The slowing down came in two major forms. On the one hand I have been physically slowing down with how I engage with lolita fashion. My main outlets, besides wearing it, were blogging, meetups and YouTube. But I often have to choose what I dedicate my energy to in the evenings and except for the meetups, the other two can be easily pushed off the priority list. Which isn’t bad, I remind myself of the golden rule I often give others which is to create the content that you yourself would like to see. So if I’ve nothing particular to say or show, surely it’s better to wait than to force something just for the sake of it. With YouTube there’s also the added element of watching what other people create, which I’ve also haven’t done in a while. I’ve not fallen out with any particular creators, again, I’m simply dedicating my time to other things. And it’s been much needed. Variety is the spice of life and whilst I’m sure that one day I will catch up on the lolita fashion side of Youtube, not engaging with it now in a viewer capacity is actually doing me some good.

For example, this year I've done both Camp NaNo. And I would like to do them again next year. It's obviously time away from creating lolita-focused content, but it's the sort of slowing down that was good for me this year.

The other way in which I have found myself to be slowing down is in my consumption. More specifically: in what type of things I buy rather than how much, since the overview of purchases doesn’t necessarily point to any changes in behaviour. My wardrobe is quite large, there’s no two words about that. And whilst I still don’t always know for sure what it is that I want, I am perfectly happy to wait. Wait for the right piece to appear somewhere second hand. Wait for an independent creator to make it by hand. Wait to save up for a commission. This is a wider approach to my life in general that I’ve adopted over the past few years as I tried to make my lifestyle that little bit more sustainable, so it spills over to other types of things that I might buy and lolita fashion is but one of them. And even though I may fret that I’m running out of storage space yet still buying things, overall I do find this whole slowing down thing to be beneficial to me. I think that this is something that I would like to actively expand into going forward, but as of right now my ideas haven’t clarified enough. Maybe by the time it comes to setting my goals for 2022 they will…

Review of 2021 Goals

This, on the other hand, I can confidently say that I’ve done very well at, and I am very proud of having achieved all of these goals I set out for myself.

1. Did I create 1 lookbook video for charity: yes, an almost last minute effort, but one that I am incredibly pleased with. You can see the lookbook here.
2. Did I plan my Disneybounding outfits: despite the trip no longer happening in January 2022, the outfits continued and you can find them here.
3. Have I had a loita photoshoot: yes, and as a collaboration with the incredible James the Enthusiast, which made making this goal even more special.
4. Did I overhaul my earrings collection: yes, you can read about it here.

I’ve gotten to this point of the post and feel a little underwhelmed. Normally there is something distinct about each year that I review, something that stands out one way or another. But 2021 was remarkably… even? Even though I’ve done things, hardly any of them stand out over the rest in terms of grandeur. Despite blogging regularly, for the most part it felt like the usual types of posts peppered a little with miscellaneous bits. Does anyone else feel the same? We’ve accepted that things are a bit shit and learnt to roll with that somehow. Hopefully 2022 will be better in that regard (one astrologist I half-follow tells me that it will), bringing us a few more things to be looking forward to and to do.

As usual, I will talk more about my actual plans for 2022 in more detail separately in early January. Right now my priority is to continue enjoying the chill time between Christmas and the New Year’s as much as I can. Because, you know, the world is still a bit crap, so every bit of joy or rest that we can steal is worth more than gold. Hopefully you can also enjoy some rest and chill - you deserve it.