If I had to start my wardrobe from scratch now

Given that personal style changes are once again happening for me, the current Bibliotheca theme, ‘clean slate,’ feels like the perfect excuse to play with a theoretical wardrobe. One of those ‘If I had to start lolita all over again knowing everything that I know about myself right now, what would that look like’ things. The disclaimer here is that while I will be using stock photos to illustrate my points, they are to demonstrate the sorts of cuts and fabrics that I am gravitating towards now, not that I’d go for these exact pieces. Size limitations are a real thing that one has to contend with, though they do not make for terribly fun theoretical posts.

Photo by MESSALA CIULLA on Poxels.com

Way more classic!

As much as I love my sweet pieces and still gravitate towards kitschy prints, had I been staring with a completely clean slate right now, the balance would skew way more towards classic. Probably an exact inverse ratio to what it is now. This would come with an appropriate increase of solid main pieces, as well as your typical florals, but also with a few tartans, dots and maybe even pinstripes and toiles. And a lot of lace, of course. My two most recent main piece purchases, Meta’s Charlotte JSK and The Black Ribbon’s Rococo Rose JSK, are the perfect example of this direction, as well as the kinds of items that I’d want: simple enough to just throw on and look put-together, as well as neutral enough to style up or down depending on the occasion.

All images from Lolibrary.org, featuring: Mary Magdalene, Victorian Maiden, Innocent World, Physical Drop, and Juliette et Justine.

Way more skirts

In wanting versatility, I would invest in a lot more skirts than I currently have. Maybe even aiming for a roughly even split of JSKs and skirts? This might be too idealistic, though I’m also not saying that I’d have the exact same number of JSKs as I do now and it could very well be fewer. I find skirts to be great options for travelling and more casual occasions, which works with my current lifestyle better than JSKs and certainly better than OPs. Although with this comes with an increased need for more tops that are a comfortable fit, it’s not as if that’s not a worthy goal to pursue either, so why not use one bit of change as a catalyst for another?

All images from Lolibrary.org, featuring: Dream in July, Miss Point, Victorian Maiden, Private Square, Rosina Blue, Forest Girl, and Metamorphose.

Way more layering pieces

Think bustiers, corsets, overskirts, underskirts, overblouses, aprons, collars, belts etc. Think different fabrics and therefore different textures as well as colours. I’m having so much fun figuring out how to style the Naddine Atelier bow top or changing things up with aprons, not to mention the fun around the waist area with things like belts and corsets. Layering bits like that has offered me a new outlook on many of my main pieces, breathing some much needed inspiration into the coords. And especially once if my wardrobe were to turn more classic, layering pieces is one way to add interest long term and avoid wearing the same couple of coords over and over.

All images from Lolibrary.org, featuring: Metamorphose, Private Square, Royal Princess Alice, Mighty Kingdom Couture, Victorian Maiden, R-Series, and Hoshibako Works.

Way fewer blues

My tricolour days are held together mainly by the reds and whites within that colour scheme. Blue is gradually disappearing from my wardrobe and being replaced with earth tones (greens and browns) and pinks (I know, shock and horror). Ever since realising how much more effort I have to put into styling (especially makeup) when wearing blue, I’ve really embraced the greens, browns, and pinks that do work with my natural colouring and therefore make life easier for me. Do I still catch myself staring with heart-eyes at many a sax or navy piece? Of course I do! If anything, ever since deciding that I’d like fewer blues, I’m realising how frequently my favourite colourway in a release is the blue one and then end up not buying anything from that release altogether. I guess mint may have to end up being the compromise or the bridge here, but then who’s to say that that’s a bad thing?

More cute flats

Last and certainly not least, starting with a clean slate I’d definitely invest more in flat shoes that are also cute. Sweet lolitas have it easy, just get some tea party shoes and you’re done. But not only classic lolitas tend to lean more towards things with a heel, I’m also not that big of a fan of tea party shoes personally. To make it worse, I also dislike shoes with too much of a point (for both aesthetic and comfort reasons), meaning that I am perpetually searching for that perfect in-between. One that I have found in heels and not yet in flats. Seeing as this is a purely hypothetical wardrobe, my hypothetical rich self would love to splurge on American Duchess and B.A.I.T. Footwear, but let’s face it, in an actual practical reality it would be more a case of finding the right shop on Taobao or the right way to decorate the completely offbrand flats that I currently have.

All pictures taken from American Duchess and BAIT Footwear's webshops respectively.

If memory serves me right, then I attempted the ‘How would I restart my wardrobe now if I had to’ post a few times in the past, always dropping the idea because it wasn’t that different to what I had or had done. This is the first time that what my clean slate start would be is different to where I am now. And in a nostalgic way, a fair bit closer to what I lusted after in those really early days of discovering HelloLace[dot]net (who else remembers those days?). In a few years’ time maybe revisiting this post will act like a moment of “Ah, I made it” for future me. Or maybe I’ll make another turn somewhere else. Who knows. But the point of clean slates is, well, that they’re clean and that you can do whatever you want because previous stuff doesn’t matter so much anymore. And that’s exciting. Daunting – but exciting nonetheless.