Would I Bring Anything Back?

 Reuse, reduce, recycle. Reuse. Recycle. Use. Cycle. Despite proposing the evil idea of simply posting the exact same post as something from your past for this BIbliotheca prompt, I decided that many of my older posts are good staying in the archive. But what is fashion if not a constant cycle of things going in and out of style, in and out of wardrobes? I’ve sold a lot last year, as well as plenty over my time in this fashion, and as my tastes change and shift, sometimes it’s fun to look back at the things I used to own. For this post I’ve picked six main pieces that have moved on from my life to see if I made the right choices or if any call to me now. And I’m deliberately excluding anything that was sold within the last year  or two. The fun is in checking if the really old stuff might have completed the cycle yet!

Angelic Pretty British Crown OP

Ah, if only AP went down the Mea route and gave us some cute, long sleeve OPs in plus sizes. That otome-leaning era of lae 2010s was so up my alley...
Photo from January 2018.

Remember the sort of mindset that we were all in back in 2017, when British Crown first came out? For me that was a time of growing admiration for Jane Marple’s crowns era and I really thought that an OP that had that Jane Marple quirk to it would be something I’d wear a lot. In retrospect, if I got the JSK, the print probably would’ve lasted with me longer because AP’s long sleeve OPs aren’t cut for Western frames. Actually, I need to stop looking at pictures of this print because I still really like it and still think that I could’ve somehow made it work. Just because I could doesn’t mean that I should!

BtSSB Full of Stars “Bright Starry Night” JSK

Baby did so well with this cut and with this fabric choice. Maybe Alice and the Pirates will take the baton? This sor of choice feels much more heir thing these days than Baby's.
Photo from September 2020.

For one of my early dream dresses, I certainly got a good run of wear out of it. What made me eventually sell it was mainly my body changing to the point where this wasn’t a comfortable fit anymore and I didn’t like it enough anymore to want to alter it. But whenever it pops up on secondhand sales, I still look. It still catches my eye. And this particular cut really was so good. But in the end, I don’t repurchase it and don’t feel like I would. I like the fabric and the gold trims, as well as the cut. I’ve not seen Baby do anything like this in a while, but Atelier Pierrot is known to use fabrics with a similar lustre and they have the benefit of being non-printed, which appeals to me more now. So I’ll pass up on that. But something similar in the future perhaps?

Juliette et Justine La Couronne Classique Robe

The pain of that night out (because yes, I went out in this) is indescribable. JetJ lied to me about being a luxury brand and I am still scarred.
Photo gtom January 2022.

Boy, I wanted to love this dress so badly when I first got it and it stung me hard! Whenever look at it, I am definitely still drawn to it. Such simplicity and effectiveness with the large screen-printed crown. And the full shirring, so unusual for JetJ, I remember that it really stretched pretty well. But oh, the betrayal of the fabric being the scratchy kind of wool blend without an ounce of lining. Whatever were they thinking?! If it wasn’t for the visceral memory of wearing it out this one singular time, I definitely would’ve wanted it back. But not for the price of that kind of discomfort, nuh-uh!

AatP Side Frill JSK

The fact that I am still practically salivaing over these structural details borders on painful tha this cut, ultimately, is not for me.
Photo from February 2020.

Ngl, I still really like the look of it. I also vividly remember how awkward it was to style because a halterneck of this depth and a larger than Japanese average chest is a look that’s just not to everyone’s taste, mine being one of them. I felt like every time I wore it, I sported the most obvious side boob. The fabric was also so prone to catching on the softest of snags that it made me paranoid whenever I wore it. But look at that jacquard! Look at the lace details and how full the skirt is. I’ve seen it crop up secondhand once or twice and it stopped me in my tracks before my memory caught up. If this were a skirt, I think I’d buy it in a heartbeat. Maybe if it pops up again for very cheap, I’ll take the plunge and have it altered to be a skirt? Hm, dangerous thinking.

BtSSB Sugar Bouquet Shirring Princess JSK

But for all my personal gripes with this JSK, it worked pretty well as a normie-adjacent formal occasion wear. If memory serves me right, I wore it to I think a christening?
Photo from November 2017.

The pre-revival one too, in this lovely sax blue. Sugar Bouquet is undoubtedly one of the best floral prints out there, Baby nailed it out of the park with this one. And I can very much confirm that Shirring Princess is one of the ultimate comfort cuts. Yet this particular one was also so very oldschool-coded that I struggled styling it. My moving away from blue could be easily remedied, since I like the ivory version of this print too. But certainly not this cut. The newer JSK or the skirt maybe? I could be tempted. It’d have to be at a very good price though, like ‘the oldschool bubble has burst’ or ‘back to 2017 prices’ or ‘the yen is in a literal crisis right now’ kind of good. Potentially all three of the above.

Angelic Pretty Sweet Cream House JSK

Proof how great brown is as a colourway. I need to remind myself that I love the brown and am not pining for this print. Though beween us, if money and storage wasn't an issue...
Photo from November 2017.

It is interesting how ever since I got into the fashion, I periodically go through phases of being absolutely enamoured with chocolate and biscuit lolita. It appears to be having some sort of a minor revival now too, which doesn’t bode well for any kind of buying. This print is still gorgeous to me, so darling and weirdly versatile. This cut, as much as I like it, would need altering for me to wear comfortably. And ultimately, I think what stops me going more towards this kind of sweet is that it isn’t what I actually want. I just want to wear things that are brown and straddling the line between cute and elegant. Which I can get through just getting more classic pieces in brown and cutefying them up. Did Sweet Cream House have any novelties released with it though? I could be tempted with a teacup or even a clear file.

So it seems that for me and for these particular pieces, the cycle isn’t quite coming close just yet. Of course, whilst tastes change, I don’t think that they change that much, so having liked these enough in the past to own them it’s natural that I’d still feel some kind of a pull towards them. One of the ‘if money and size were no issue’ kind. If anything, this exercise reaffirmed how happy I am with my wardrobe at the moment and that the direction I’ve picked for it is the right one for me. So, time to close all these Lolibrary tabs with more detailed pictures of what I no longer own, and focus on wearing what is with me now. You were good eggs, dresses. Hopefully, you continue to be good eggs to the people whom you went to.