Cupcake Kamisama's Lolita World: 2026

3 Apr 2026

Reassessment Post 2026.01

It’s been a very interesting first quarter of the year, coloured quite heavily by the no buy. Let’s not talk about how successful that no buy was… Oh wait. That’s a big point of the post.

New additions

This is the first real test of that low buy of mine that’s my 2026 goal. And on paper, it doesn’t look too great on the main piece front.

1 JSK (classic in pink*)
1 classic capelet
2 pair of legwear (1 classic in pink*, 1 classic in green)
1 pair of shoes (sweet in black)
and 3 sets of accessories (1 classic headpiece in pink*, 2 sweet hair clips in gold)

You can click to enlarge, but this is one of the clearest pictures of a quarterly haul I ever got.

Hear me out! The JSK and headdress were a set and technically I bought that before finalising the rules of my low buy. I know that this sounds like excuses, but I hand on heart would’ve bought it before 2025 ended if I wasn’t so torn on the colourway. The capelet is the real point against my sticking to the low buy because that was purchased long after the rules were in place and it’s entirely an item outside of any of my lists, bought to satisfy the needs of one event coord. My saving grace is that it was on sale for a mere tenner and that since establishing the low buy rules, some of my travel plans have changed. This hasn’t exactly given me more money through the girl math of not having to save as much, but certainly eased the pressure a little bit. The rest were a good balance of gifted things and less one-coord-only buys that I hope to make more use of, so let’s hope that works out.

Possible new looks

Well, of course, there was the capelet coord, that’s what I bought it for. I’ll have to find reasons to coord it again so that it doesn’t just wither away as a one-coord-only purchase. Everything else sort of has to wait its turn because they’re not quite items that I’d lean towards as immediately. Kind of ironic that it’s the two black items from my haul that got worn.

From March 2026.

From February 2026.

Need and Replace list progress

No progress has been recorded here. Whilst I know that Me Likes Tea did a big preorder on overskirts, ultimately the price (and the lack of anything resembling gold) put me off from getting even one to get the wine one. Similarly, although I know that I could have gone antiquing or to certain indie brands for some of the bits on these lists, I really tried hard to stick to the no buy (and ended up buying other random shit, don’t judge, please). So the fewer little bits I bought, even if they were something that I was allowed to purchase, the less the door opened to other temptations.

Replace list

Need list

Current wishlist

The same goes for the wishlist items. There was one moment that was both a jumpscare and that gave me some hope when the exact cut of the BtSSB Antoinette Bouquet JSK that I’m after popped up, but in the wrong colourway. Hopefully that will open the gates to the correct colourway coming around. My top priority is still very much a pink Millefeuille bolero, though I continue to stalk through the various second hand sales places for everything. That being said, over the last three months I certainly felt the absence of more solids in my wardrobe and have heard the siren call of Physical Drop just that little bit more loudly.

Wishlist - main pieces

Wishlist - non-main pieces

New Year’s goals: progress summary

You know what? This may be the most measurable set of goals that I’ve had in a while, maybe even since I started doing these posts.

Did I adhere to my wish/need/replace list more strictly? That depends on how you look at it. On the one hand, I wasn’t buying much in terms of clothes. (Let’s ignore other spending for the sake of this blog.) That part was great. On the other hand, out of the two purchases I made, both weren’t strictly a part of any list. Which is a 100% fail rate. So yeah. Not ideal. But it certainly could’ve been much worse (and I know because I started a visual list of everything I nearly bought, which at some point will become a blog post).
Have I gotten back into meet organising? Managed to kick the year off strong with Hat Meet right back in January, so that’s one out of my minimum of four down. I really wanted to do a pancake meet too, but it was disgusting how packed my February was, bleurgh.
Wear Every Lolita-Specific Pair of Legwear Challenge progress? That’s 22 out of 78 worn in the first three months of the year, which is just under a third. What I noticed was that especially on WFH days, I tended to seek out more comfort, which usually meant tights over OTKs. So far that’s nothing to worry about just yet, but I definitely could do with going through my legwear a bit more. And probably should before the weather gets to the point where both OTKs and tights are uncomfortable to wear.

My wish at this point is that I can keep things roughly the same over the next three months. Yes, that doesn’t make for a very interesting post to read in July if it’s pretty much the same except that more socks got worn, but it’d be exceptionally good for my wallet. The seasonal wardrobe swap is happening today, which will give me those fake feelings of novelty as pieces come out of storage. Maybe I can sell a couple of bits whilst I’m at it to give myself a little fun fund for something new in my wardrobe because I’m really craving a more meaningful change within my available options.

27 Mar 2026

March Coords Roundup

Wrapping up the first quarter of this year with another 12 coords. March has got me back on a roll, even despite the odd crisis of confidence here or there. And it feels good to release some of those creative juices.

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Coord 1: Double Duty

Experimentation with glass skin continues.

Proof of hair accessories.

It’s so normified lolita that it almost doesn’t count – but it counts to me. For the first ever HEA Bookshop event followed by Operation Mincemeat at the theatre, i.e. a long day almost entirely on my feet, I opted for comfort. Really enjoyed how this JSK and the cardigan layered together, the effect was very elegant and classy. I probably shouldn’t be surprised, but I bought more books than I have budgeted for. That buying directly from the author high hit pretty strong. But it’s books and indie authors, so really there are far worse things to be spending money on. And Operation Mincemeat was fantastic, really loved it, it lived up to the hype, and I’m so very glad that I was able to finally see it.

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Coord 2: Coord Me Colour Challenge

I know that this looks ok in photos, but is there a trick that I'm missing with these wire headbands? Mine always slide too far back unless I pin them, they're not long enough to properly tie off, and then you get weird bits sticking out where you have tied them. Is it user error or just poor design of something that we got gaslit into believing is meant to be this way?

Lace and kitschy trinkets = best vibes.

For March the Tea Rose Garden Discord server’s event was putting together a coord using a randomly selected colour from the Lolita Colour Theory palette. Mine landed on something that was actually such a deep purple that it straddled the line between very deep charcoal, almost black, and (to me, my eyes, and on my screen) a very cool dark brown. Which is what I ran with since I don’t own purple and my selection of greys and blacks is very limited. The colour reminded me of the shade of the Shell Lace Millefeuille, which is why I picked that. And although warm and cool toned browns are a nightmare when wardrobe building, I think I managed to throw enough of the different shades at the coord for it to somehow still come together in the end. Getting your browns to work together is arguably the hardest part of being into classic, that’s the truth that no-one tells you…

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Coord 3: Powerwolf

Winking so that people know it's still me. Moody goth selfies are apparently too hard for me.

Some Joan of Arc with my Joan of Arc.

The day had finally come, after nearly a year of waiting for this gig. I got to see Powerwolf on the last day of their tour in London, supported by Wind Rose and Hammerfall. Many ideas were mulled over for what to wear, but ultimately I kept going back to this print, since Powerwolf have a song about Joan of Arc as well, so I leaned into that. Boots for being practical, mesh blouse to keep me cool in a packed arena, and the sturdy Hecate that won't budge no matter the amount of headbanging. I even got a Joan of Arc design of the merch T-shirt, which one day I will coord with this JSK. Big dream come true.

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Coord 4: The Play That Goes Wrong

The disappearing headwear act now on tour, apparently.

The quickest detail shot ever taken has the audacity of being kind of good.

Since we were already in London, we capitalised on that by going to see The Play That Goes Wrong. And in trying to be strategic about my packing, I stuck to a black x wine colour scheme to cover the Docs and the hoop skirt – which meant wearing more Haenuli. I hadn't expected to like this pretty casual styling as much as I did, it is a pretty dressy print, yet it ended up working quite well. And the show was fantastic! Wholly recommend everyone to see it if you get the chance. Since we went to a “relaxed” viewing, we had the chance to go on a brief tour of the set before the show, which wasn't really aimed at us, but which we enjoyed nonetheless.

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Coord 5: Probably the Last Chance

Ah, in retrospect, a touch of blue eyeshadow in the inner corner might've been a nice touch.

I really don't wear this necklace as much as I thought I would, but it still feels weird to consider selling it.

As in probably the last chance to wear such a heavy dress before it’s time to pack the winter layers up. Even though the forecasts have been threatening a return to colder weather, I’m in a perfect place where my autumn/winter pieces got their second wear of this time being out of storage and I’m ready to embrace the spring/summer ones. This cardigan is an awkward shade of brown, because it’s tinged with like a coral-like shade of pink, yet somehow I think it worked here quite well. Kept me comfy and cosy whilst working from home.

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Coord 6: Casual Sando

The point where my skin got too glassy (i.e. discovering that my sunscreen doesn't gel well with that look).

Confession: I don't think I ever had a fruit sando. But I really bloody crave a fruit sando right now.

The compromise between wanting to dress up again and being too lazy to do too much. My main gripe with this coord is that when I was putting the outfit together in Whering, I used a different cardigan (one of my retro-looking cropped mid-sleeve ones), but I forgot that those were still in storage. In the end it worked out fine because that one would’ve been too light, it was still quite cold, but it would’ve looked better. And we all know that in reality this is all about that fruit sando brooch. I’ve been feeling very Japan-nostalgic recently, which might have played some part in the coord.

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Coord 7: Home Creature

| BtSSB Snow Dot skirt | offbrand cardigan and shoes | Snag tights |

Not even pretending like there was anything more to this. I wanted comfort x cuteness + my new merch T-shirt, so a casual T-shirt lolita for a Sunday at home was what emerged. It was great, ticked all of the boxes above, ’nuff said.

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Coord 8: Cyber Neon Girl

I even did my makeup properly for this. Really wanted this debut dress look to be good.

The perfect colourway of Cyber Neon Girl for coording with rainbow coloured items. Of which I have exactly one.

Finally, a debut wearing. I specifically saved this cutsew away from the 1 Dress 4 Looks post so that I could wear it for working from home. This was a very chill coord, this dress is incredibly comfy, and as the weather had turned more spring-like too, my weeb vibes got truly amped up that day. A good time was had. Although I could’ve sworn that this dress had pockets, which it very much does not and was never advertised to have.

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Coord 9: Golden Sunshine

Been picking up that old gloss from Two faced more recently because it photographs a really nice neutral colour.

I know he looks so dapper in his jumper, but look into his golden lashed eyes and tell him that he can't have spring just yet. This boy is yearning for spring and warmth.

A slightly simplified version of a coord from the 1 Dress 4 Looks post for this skirt for working from home. The sunshine was golden and so were we (meaning Kinnosuke the Kumakumya and myself). Comfy, radiant, enjoying the incoming spring like a pair of weebs that we are.

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Coord 10: Small Outing

I think nearly every one of my Cutie Creator ribbon headbows has unglued itself on at least one side and I really need to spend some time on fixing them.

Instagram got the Librarian Bear brooch detail shot, so you shall get the Forget-me-not one.

Ahead of visiting my BF’s friends, who have a two-year-old daughter, I made it a mission of mine to get the child a book that made as many noises as possible. This, of course, meant a little outing and little outings require a suitable attire. In search for some inspiration on how to style this dress I once again reached for the Tea Rose Garden Discord server’s random colour picker, which landed me on a slightly peachy ivory – exactly the colour of this bolero. I’m surprised that I’ve not done something like this before (well, I have, but I then leaned more into country lolita rather than just classic) and it was a very lovely day to be out in frills. The bookshop staff even recognised that the dress was from Japan – always great to see educated people out in the wild.

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Coord 11: Lavender Days

My makeup turned out darker than I had planned on it because I forgot how deep (and warm-toned) my purple eyeshadow palette is.

Ah yes, the main lavender accessories I own.

Ever since February, when I almost put a lolita coord with this cutsew and socks combo, but had a bit of an outfit meltdown, I was keen to try again. And I haven’t worn Diner Doll with lavender yet (understandably, since I don’t own a lot of it). So I had a go for staying at home and doing very little. I really want a new faux fringe that’s a bit lighter, but other than that, considering the limitations I was working with, I quite like how this came out. Also, the Friday before this I hurt my feet pretty badly (by wearing those chunky black sneakers to work – turns out, they’re not that comfy after all) and I asked my BF to bring me a change of shoes for when we did our weekly shop, and rather than bring me a pair of his Crocs he’d bought me a pair of my own. And I’m annoyed with myself that I didn’t notice that the dress had flicked in the proper coord pics and now the Crocs photos are the better pics. Karma truly out there to get me.

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Coord 12: Folk gig

I took my hair out too soon and it wasn't fully dry, so it fell out by the time I even left the house, but at least I got the photos.

If only they laid so aesthetically all the time and not just for photos.

Undeterred by the sore throat that I woke up with that day, I was not going to miss going to the Nathan Evans gig that night. Getting dressed helped me feel better emotionally and I really like the layering here. This skirt is very white, but the overskirt tones that down into an overall warmer toned look. It’s both quite intricate and pretty simple at the same time – exactly what I needed. As much as it was sad to not be able to sing along at the gig for the sake of my health, it was a very good gig, excellent time was had, and I’m glad that I didn’t give in to feeling sorry for myself and stayed at home as I would’ve missed out on a wonderful experience.

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Even though the weather has been really toying with us, I am going to use the upcoming Easter break to swap my autumn/winter wardrobe around for the spring/summer pieces. I’ve missed them dearly and am willing to risk having to still layer a little bit more creatively just to wear those pieces again. Looking at all the March coords at a glance, it’s such a neat progression from darker to lighter coloured looks, as if in direct response to the longer, warmer days. Can’t wait for it to get warm and sunny, and to have some spring meetups, there have been a few too many coord pics taken indoors instead of outside.

20 Mar 2026

1 Dress 4 Looks Take 78

From the moment I bought Meta’s Cyber Neon Girl I knew that this would be a significant outlier in my wardrobe. I’ve accepted that and have come to terms with likely wearing this dress a lot more casually than in typically lolita ways. So whilst I’ve had like 6 months to be finding complementary pieces for it and will try, prepare yourself for a more broadly J-fashion and a little less typically lolita 1 Dress 4 Looks post.

Look 1: Blinding Lights

Hey Google, play The Weeknd. Obviously with such a neon print I had to have a go at styling it with these shoes and bag. They are simply made for it and whether in this iteration or some other one, this combo is bound to make an appearance at some point. Hopefully for some fun arcade photoshoot, if I can manage that.

Look 2: Blackpink in your area

If I had to pick a colour to pair with black, pink is one of my top choices. Maybe it’s because it’s somehow easiest, maybe it’s just overexposure to the combination, but it shines for me in more street-leaning looks. If this coord wasn’t incredibly impractical, this would totally be ready for some event afterparty. Or maybe I just need to stop being scared of these shoes because of one near-accident I had.

Look 3: Street Gal

With its very cool, streetwear vibe, I needed to put this dress with my big leg warmers. The chunky sneakers are the only thing I bought specifically for this JSK (and have since worn with other stuff) and the platform sole with the wide legwarmer is a great look. I'd rather the top half be a zip-up hoodie or something like that, but I don't own any, certainly not in white. In retrospect, I should've taken advantage of the Cyber Neon Girl jacket being reversible to have that as my black layer and pick a different white top. Oh well, next time.

Look 4: Leaning Into the Reds

For all the colours in this wild print, the organza overlays make it lean towards red tones. So I did too. Captain Chris was a very last minute addition as I was moving things from one room to the other, but his silliness fits the silliness of this print to me. And given that I have a choice of tartan flats to swap these platform heels out for, it's great to have a more wearable alternative too.

Considering how wildly outside my wardrobe’s comfort zone this series is, I’m very pleased with the looks that I was able to come up with only one new thing bought specifically to wear with this release. It makes me very excited to wear it and live out my cyber neon girl dreams. Realistically, this is going to become my Going to Gigs with the BF uniform, but given the number of gigs he takes me to, I’ll get a lot of wear out of it, which will absolutely justify the cost.

13 Mar 2026

Anything Can Be A Coord Idea

It seems an idea so obvious that it shouldn’t need stating. And yet I still pretty regularly see people (usually newer to the fashion) try to wrap their brains around coordinating around a tiny ring or some vibes.

The question of how has been answered multiple times by various people. But not many have stopped to consider the why. Why should you follow those sprouts of wild ideas and make them happen? Why should that even exist?

Since Bibliotheca’s theme for the early spring is Sprout, this post is an attempt to answer that why – whilst following some of my own slightly more unorthodox places that a coord has started out from.

Because you probably own too much stuff

Call it an attempt at assuaging guilt caused by hoarding every imaginable bit of tat you’ve acquired. But a lot of us simply own too much. Objectively. Subjectively, of course that all of it is necessary and needed in our wardrobes. But objectively, that necklace that you can only wear with this one dress, which you don’t even wear that often because it’s too fancy and your comm doesn’t throw fancy meets more than twice a year and they’re themed anyway, which this dress won’t work for every theme… You get the point.

But as creatures with free will, we can take back control of that narrative and prove to ourselves (and to the one naysayer in the immediate environment who’s just that little bit too good of a human being to cut them out of our lives just for that) that we do, in fact, use our whole wardrobes. By forcing our creative brain cells to work extra hard to come up with something different and justify our questionable spending habits to ourselves.

Not that you can even see the necklace here, but the point is that this is what it inspired. December 2025.

Like this pendant. Did I need the Ferrero Rocher pendant? Is being fun and from one of my favourite jewellery makers enough to justify adding to a collection of necklaces that was already at 79? I would like to defer this question to my lawyer. In the meantime, I can get on with life by putting it into a fun coord to lounge around the house in and pretend like that makes my purchase valid somehow.

Because the occasion calls for it

Probably more frequently one would find themselves in a situation where a meetup or event with a particular theme is coming up – and that theme really calls for a specific idea. From as commonplace as being a strawberry cake for the annual strawberry picnic to as niche as evoking a particular tapestry for a tea party that’s all about myths. Themed events are there precisely to get your creative juices flowing and to provide an opportunity t do something different. Sure, you can be just another person in Holy Lantern for your comm’s Halloween meet or you can let your obscure and even more niche interests show by doing a coord inspired specifically by the 1931 “Dracula” poster.

I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole, diggy diggy hole, diggy diggy hole... September 2022.

I am still really quite proud of this dwarven-inspired coord for the Fantasy Foret virtual tea party. And for the panel on coordinating around things other than main pieces the day before. People say fantasy and most immediately go to elves, maybe hobbits in more recent years, and I feel like my dwarven kind get overlooked when they’re objectively super cool. That sprout of an idea doesn’t have to be obvious to anyone, what matters is that I know where it all began and that I’m happy with it.

Because it’s a fun challenge

For those like me, who like wearing their main pieces differently each time, there quickly comes a point where you’ve exhausted the obvious ideas. It turns what should be a perfectly normal moment of trying to wear clothes into one of stress. If I’m out of ideas, do I now need to sell this dress? But I don’t want to do that! But I also don’t want to re-wear something for this incredibly arbitrary, completely made up reason that doesn’t matter in the slightest and that I’ve chosen to cling onto like a dingbat.

That’s where challenges come in. They can be about themes or abstract prompts that allow your mind to wander towards the places yet unexplored. They can be a tangible notion of starting your outfit with a smaller piece of the whole coord: socks, bag, shoes, hair accessory, whatever. They can even be entirely about relinquishing control, getting something randomly generated or handing the decision-making burden over to another person. The point is that, conversely, applying some sort of a restriction might open your mind to totally unexpected ideas that you can then follow through to completion.

An as-yet-unpublished coord! But based off the JSK x OTKs combo from December 2022.

This year one of my goals is to wear every piece of legwear (of which I own 78 that are lolita-specific). And although it’s still early days where I have alternatives to circle through and to wiggle my way out of some truly tricky items, I’m also trying to spread things out a bit better. I don’t want to get to the end of 2026 and have to magic a coord into existence with a pair of socks that I no longer have things to pair with since my many wardrobe culls. So since this JSK and OTKs combo worked really nicely in the past, I ran with that sprout of an idea and then tried to make it just that little bit different from how I’ve worn it before. Not everything needs to be groundbreaking or the best coord you’ve ever seen. That’s taking the challenge element just that little bit too far. But if that’s your cup of tea, then suit yourself.

Because no-one else will

Look, I’m not saying that you are our only hope and that you are the one to save lolita fashion from stagnation. Yet the fact is that every person is different. So even bound by the same hobby with the same general principles of what makes something lolita or not, our individual accumulation of experiences and personal style/creative/comfort wirings will result in things that nobody else would have even attempted, let alone thought of. Certain coords are more than just having the right combination of pieces – they also wouldn’t have come about without that specific person and everything that made them who they are.

ALL the tartan all AT ONCE. June 2024.

Tartan was by far the least unique thing to wear to The Queen is Dead. Look at the group photo from the event and the many red tartan wearers will blend into one. But no-one else took tartan to the same extreme that I did. For no other reason than that it amused the hell out of me to make pattern overload work and be silly with that. Similarly with Etoile Reverie where, whilst others had celestial inspiration aplenty, I was the only one to consider interpreting stars as in a celebrity and to add my own fascination with the 1920s into it. So yeah, in short, if you have an outside-the-box idea for a coord and you’re wondering whether you should follow that thread to completion – do it! Who else will make it happen if not you? And based on my experiences, you’re missing out on a tonne of genuine compliments.

In summary, whilst the how is very important when executing non-standard coord ideas and trying to make them look good (both objectively and in the context of lolita fashion), don’t let the technicalities distract you from why you’re doing it. You are given these little sprouts to take care of them. Water them until they blossom and stay patient through the making it happen. Your efforts will be rewarded. (That sounded almost ominous, but it is meant merely as positive manifestation, don’t read into it.)