Cupcake Kamisama's Lolita World: 2026

6 Feb 2026

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.

30 Jan 2026

January Coords Roundup

Happy first month of 2026! It certainly felt like a long one. And a long month means more chances to dress up.

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Coord 1: Board Games Day

An attempt at some sort of a curl was made. Reasons remain unclear.

I find it funny that this pin landed with me as I don't consider myself a gatekeepy person.

I didn't have kicking off 2026 with a gothic adjacent coord on my bingo card either (and I do think that the styling on this just about tips the balance to dark classic instead of gothic). I felt great in this coord, I felt like from its simplicity to the elegance, it complemented me in all the right ways? Really messed with my head a little too as it got me thinking if maybe I should get more dark and black pieces – not the sort of doubts that one needs right at the start of a six month low-to-no-buy! Still, loved the coord and I had a great day playing board games with our friends. And all around winner.

~~~
Coord 2: Casual Green

| Wonderland Ukiyoe Lilith’s Wonderland skirt | Axes Femme cutsew | offbrand jumper and socks |

A trip capsule wardrobe starts with the day of the travel, which for me included some online meetings in the morning. The bare nature of this coord means that it’s so barely lolita, even casual, that it probably shouldn’t be here, but eh, let’s have it. For posterity.

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Coord 3: Pre-snow

An extremely rare not-selfie! Bf tried to catch me off-guard looking goofy after taking my coord pics, but he underestimated the speed of someone who routinely takes about 50 photos of themselves. It was taken so early on in the year and it's probably one of my favourite pictures of me ever already.

I know it's daft to say, but I forgot just how detailed this brooch is. It's so nice to appreciate the details in an up-close photo.

For my birthday this year we went down to Wales, to the world’s first book town: Hay-on-Wye. Whilst we stayed in a little pod/cabin up a mountain, hence the extremely gorgeous background, the weather promised to be wet with a snow warning that almost meant we changed our booking (and fatefully, we didn’t). So I had to balance being practical (warm, comfortable for hours of walking, and appropriate wet weather conditions) with being aesthetic and cute (with my goal being something vaguely academia-inspired). Thanks to this skirt being so long, it really didn’t matter much that I wore my Docs and once I threw my coat on as well, the whole thing really distracted the lovely locals from my chonky boots. And obviously, I am very glad that I wore them because that same day we did get mildly stuck on the way back up said mountain in a proper blizzard. All was good, in the end, we truly exuded main character energy on that day as rescue happened incredibly quickly, didn’t even have time to start panicking!

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Coord 4: Post-snow

Getting mildly blinded and with hair flapping about everywhere sure made for a challenging selfie.

The freebie pin from last year's Love Stories etc. finally getting some use. It was only appropriate after a trip to a bona fide book town.

When I packed this look for the way back, all that I anticipated to do was spend three hours in the car on the drive back and to stop off at the Trafford Centre to buy a couple of blind boxes. As it was, our departure was delayed by around three hours, which, with the uncertainty, meant that we were mostly just on our phones in the cabin – once we took those pictures, of course. The adventure, if anything, added to the vibes on my birthday and I feel like I’ve made sufficient impact into my arrival to the mid-30s preamble.

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Coord 5: Just For Pictures

One of the things I bought under the 'It's your birthday, treat yourself' excuse was a Caudalie tinted lip balm and I am still obsessed. It photographs as so much more opaque than it actually is?

Undisputably my best bargain of 2025.

My original plan was to dress up on the Saturday after my birthday to just chill at home. However, our later than planned return meant that all the little chores that would’ve been done on Friday got postponed. By the time I could dress up, it was much later in the day and I didn’t have as much energy. But I still dressed up, given that I wouldn’t have an occasion for this coord anytime soon, then took everything off immediately after the photos were done. I’m pretty pleased with how this came out. This coord may just about edge its way towards gothic rather than classic and if so, it’s the kind of gothic that I felt very comfortable in: very elegant and textural, not relying on being super dark or gloomy. Hopefully there will be an opportunity to wear this out properly, to a meet or something, maybe with some minor changes (I feel like the legs could use something for a touch more interest, just can’t put my finger on what), but if not, then at least I wore it.

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Coord 6: Virtual Twinning

I'd like to practice thin, non-winged eyeliner a bit more this year. It's the right kind of enhancing eye makeup that works well with classic.

One day I will wear Charlotte and not take a closeup picture of this charm. But it is not this day!

Nothing to motivate you to dress up like a virtual twinning arrangement. Over on the Tea Rose Garden Discord server I connected with another owner of this exact cut and colourway, who also wanted to wear theirs more. A couple of messages later and boom!, we’d come up with this concept. It’s simple, but a stunning dress like this doesn’t need more. A typical WFH overkill, but actually, I was happy in this (up until I started knocking stuff over when trying to put the laundry up).

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Coord 7: Casual Black

Note to self: do not skimp on anti-reflective coating on future glasses. Ever.

At least here you can see some of the textures.

I wanted something that I could get dressed in quickly, since it was a hair wash day and I was expecting our landlord to drop by for some minor repairs. Long story short, from realising that I haven’t worn this skirt in any even remotely elegant way, I’ve landed on this – not fully what I originally envisioned, but fun and comfy for a WFH day nonetheless. I will be plotting more elegant vibes with this in due course. Even though the skirt itself may be a touch too sweet for anything too elegant.

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Coord 8: Hat Meet

An attempt was made at some variation of the Slavic doll makeup. I think my eyes are just too round for that straight liner shape.

Lace and florals, that's what it's all about. And a hat, of course.

Folks, I’ve been wanting to go to the Hat Museum in Stockport ever since learning about it. And since one of my 2026 goals was to organise more meetups, I sent out a call to arms and a bunch of us all went. Naturally, this required a coord centred on a hat and given the winter season – my one true winter hat. Keeping it elegant with a floral piece was the right shout, I think, as the whole look came out really nice and I like how the ivory and fur pieces managed to transform this floral JSK into something winter-appropriate. The staff at the museum loved us all rocking up decked out in our best hats so much that even though the guided tours cost extra, they gave us the introduction to the tour for free, which I am very grateful for. I learnt relatively recently that I definitely benefit from guided tours a lot more, but it’s been a while since I’ve had a solo museum trip to take advantage of that, so getting this thrown in as a bonus was fab. The whole museum is definitely worth visiting: you get to learn about the industrial history of the area, the manufacturing of hats, and see tonnes of really gorgeous hats on display, as well as get to try some on. The temptation to just swap the ones on our heads for some of the ones available to try on and leave was great, but obviously we didn’t do it.

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Coord 9: Quick and Casual

One for the 'Things you don't see in photos' series: this beret was barely hanging onto my head.

I'm still unsure if the wrist cuffs were a good shout here. If I had brown bracelets, I probably would've thrown those in. Maybe I just need daintier wrist cuffs? But matching browns is a nightmare.

Brown and red because that’s simple, easy to throw on, and somehow not at all popular. Whilst in retrospect I feel that maybe brown legwear and red shoes would’ve been better, comfort had to take precedence and these tights are much better at comfort than any OTKs. And I’m unsure about the wrist cuffs, these might just be a bit too chunky. I should invest in some brown accessories for the wrists. Aaand that’s it. That’s the outfit, WFH continues to be chill.

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Coord 10: Mook Meet

Small eyeliner wings are unfairly tricky to do well. I am extra pleased with these.

How do I not have more book-themed brooches?

January is for casual indoor meets and Mook Meet delivered. Bring a bunch of mooks, maybe some light crafts, get a hot drink, and yap? Perfect, that’s all lolitas want to do. I wanted to be comfy, yet still lightly academia-inspired or adjacent, in a sort of spirit of a lolita who’d make staying at home to browse her magazines the occasion. And few things are more comfortable than a fully shirred Meta JSK. As much as I wish I’d done something different with my hair, that is just for the photos: the weather was too windy for having your hair down and I enjoyed the comfort of having my hair out of the way. Which is to say don’t always fret over what’s ‘social media perfect’, kids. I wholeheartedly encourage every comm (and even every individual) to have a day of lolita magazine and mook browsing, it does a body good.

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Coord 11: Back to My Roots

And another one for the 'I promise I have hair accessories, they're just not visible on the selfie' folder.

Do the accessories make thematic sense with one another? Do they heck! But they make me happy and look cute, that's all that matters to me.

This JSK approached its time for wear and when browsing through my past coords, I realised that those that cover the bodice are the ones I liked best. This meant that the whole coord happened around what sort of a cardigan/bolero/jacket I wanted to wear for a January WFH day. This is a very classic retro lolita look that I’ve done time and again, so there’s not much to say about this one that I haven’t said about the many that came before it. However, it does have me pondering whether I should alter this JSK to be a skirt or maybe even sell it altogether. The less-than-flattering bodice cut aside, I do feel like I have to explain myself every time I wear it. Because genuinely, as much as I occasionally miss the taste, fuck Coca-Cola, on so many levels. But I can’t help that they’ve nailed the aesthetic all the way back in 1888!

~~~

Eleven coords in January (technically twelve, but tomorrow’s one will land in next month’s post) is a pretty strong start to the year. There have been a few ‘missed’ opportunities, mainly because of my workload, mood or weather. Frills are great for layering, but not all layers are actually that warm or comfortable to wear for just being at home. I’m still pretty happy with having dressed up this frequently. The small bout of gothic-leaning coords at the beginning really shook all that I thought I knew about my style, but now that I’ve settled into 2026 a little bit more, I think it really was mainly because that’s the one I’ve explored the least and I am absolutely drawn to novelty.

How have you been? Hopefully the extreme weather (cold or hot) hasn’t prevented you from having at least frilly time.

16 Jan 2026

2026 Wish/Need/Replace List

2026 has announced itself early as the Year of Many Trips. They all mean that my fashion spending has to take a back seat and I’ve pondered whether to even bother updating my wish/need/replace lists. But the truth is that fashion spending will happen no matter what and these lists will help keep me accountable to myself to stick to reasonable limits. So whilst the changes from last year to this are once again small, they are all the more significant for setting the direction I want my wardrobe to go.

REPLACE

Last year I had not identified any strict replacements at the start of the year. I considered my wardrobe to be in a great place and any replacements could happen ad hoc. So ad hoc I replaced my brown Sosic Shop shoes with brown Modos and the Vivienne Westwood Anglomanias with Elf Armorie’s Cupid’s Hearts. There were more things that I simply got rid of without replacing, as there’s no longer any need for them (mainly because of my reducing how much blue and how much sweet my wardrobe contains).

The replacements that did happen.

These changes also led me to realise that actually, there are a few more bits that I’d like to replace because of changes in style preferences and/or size. This Bodyline skirt, excellent as it is, wasn’t serving me anymore. But a neutral ivory skirt in some more structured fabric has been great for my style overall. I have by now sold the Bodyline one, so it is time to invest in finding something in its stead.

Then there’s the broader long-term replacements goal that I’ve tried to achieve for a while of replacing my old and cheap jewellery bits with better versions of the same item. I’m especially thinking here about things like pearl earrings or the various gold-coloured rings that I own or even my gold x pearl brooch. Items like this can be replaced inexpensively with real semi-precious stones and real gold through very diligent antiquing, though it also involves a lot of luck. I’m not in a rush, but it is prime time to solidify that replacement as something that I want to take seriously.

Going to be more focused on finding those jewellery gems this year.

NEED

The need list is the core of these lists. The items that aren’t just nice-to-have, but that fill in gaps that I struggled with previously. I didn’t do much with last year’s needs: the brown shoes, whilst both a need and a replacement, happened later, the underskirt never materialised, and the boots I once more decided weren’t actually a need, despite the influx of cute winter coords with lolita boots making me want some again.

I'm still sad about missing out on that specific underskirt. Little Dipper created something great and I totally slept on it, thinking I had time.

So for this year it’s time to reshuffle that once more, bring focus back on where it’s needed. I am going to be much stricter with myself as to what ‘need’ actually means. It isn’t just about items that plug in some gaps – by that definition, a fair few of my non-main piece wishlist items could find themselves here. My need list items for 2026 must:

be a piece that I am genuinely missing (i.e. without it my coords are/have been short of reaching their full potential)
serve multiple coords and not just one or two dresses (i.e. be a versatile builder piece)
and fit with the overall direction that I want my wardrobe to go to (i.e. classic, warm tones, elegant, and comfortable).

After that rigorous selection, the following are the ones that made it onto the list:

Wine underskirt, preferably in a stiffer fabric than chiffon
Black x gold OTKs or tights with a symmetrical classic-themed neutral/versatile pattern (e.g. crowns, fleur-de-lys, florals, all variations of swirls/filigrees/arabesques etc.)
A simple, elegant, gothic all-black headdress that’s neither a headbow nor a pair of horns (a canotier maybe? Keeping my options open here)
A white cotton or cotton-lace detachable collar
An elegant, more dressy light green brooch and ring (ideally the colour would come from a sparkly stone in this colour, but I’m open to options, especially vintage ones)
A sheer, short-ish gold overskirt and an underskirt to match, not too yellow-toned, but not entirely cool-toned either
An ivory lace capelet or shawl
A pair of ivory lace arm warmers
A gold short corset
A Vallee Lys Fishtail Lace Gilet in bordeaux, but one that’d actually fit me (or similar – what I’m after here is the sleeveless look, the fishtail, and the lace/sheer effect)
A brown, preferably leather, mid-size, classic bag, shoulder or cross-body preferred, probably a messenger bag, but open to other styles

Forgive me my many photo manipulations. The need for a visual is great, yet the supply of what I'm after is thin.

If this isn’t a representation of my wardrobe shifting much closer to full-time classic and a more-than-just-an-occasional gothic dipper, then I don’t know what is. Yes, I still can and have been making do with my Grove Deer OP working as a stand-in for that wine underskirt, but I really think that a piece made for that job would be better. The remaining bits are, quite fortunately, mainly accessories that I hope to be able to find locally and/or second hand to reduce the cost. Also, excuse the many photos that are obviously tampered with. Unfortunately, not everything that I’m after had a picture of anything similar to what I want that I could find, so I reached for the next best course of action.

WISH

I am very grateful that 2025 has brought me some of the wishlist items, especially the Millfeuille boleros. To only have one, and not even a lace-specific one, left to track down is incredibly helpful. That will be my priority for 2026 so that I can finally call my collection truly complete. Moreover, scoring a few of the more versatile main pieces has satisfied a couple of gaps in my wardrobe to the point where I feel comfortable removing a few bits from the main pieces list. Over the last few months I’ve also stumbled upon a few other main pieces that I hadn’t considered previously, which have clarified for me what it is that I actually want, e.g. do I want a specific wine-based floral dress or do I want a wine-based floral dress with specific elements.

As my taste has shifted and my wants turned towards things that aren’t just versatile, but also pretty wearable and comfortable, I am moving things around, not just in terms of the items on these lists, but also their priority score. As much as I may not want to, I have to take the current market into account. What used to be my ‘dream dress at any cost’ now has to be adjusted for what is reasonable for me to spend on a single piece, both in terms of my personal finances and in terms of what I think is a fair asking price, especially for second hand items. I’m still keeping the split of fanciful wishes (as in, I just like that specific piece and want it), permitted seasonal wishes (as in, I know that I might not get to wear these as often, but would still like to own them), and daily wishes (as in, pieces that I can imagine myself wearing more frequently and on a more regular and casual basis). However, whilst red-amber-green still indicates priority in descending order, I’m changing their meanings to:

red = up to 400 GBP at an absolute push;
amber = up to 150 GBP;
and green = as cheaply as possible, preferably under 100 GBP.

As always, unless specified the images aren't always for the exact thing pictured, but for something fitting that description.

And the text version for ease of remembering and ease of search:

Fanciful wishes

Mary Magdalene’s Arabesque Rose JSK in ivory (the original release with shirring only)
Mary Magdalene’s Farutetto JSK in wine or ivory (any release)
Angelic Pretty’s Antoinette Decoration JSK in ivory (non-bustier cut only)
AatP’s Persian Rug ~ Medallion Design that Weaves Wishes ~ JSK in green
Physical Drop’s leopard print JSK
Metamorphose’s Matryoshka Doll in beige in either the Apron JSK or the Lace Up JSK

Seasonal wishes

BtSSB’s DOKI DOKI Strawberry Magic skirt in red
A velvet JSK or OP in either wine red, emerald green, or ivory, preferably with gold or ivory accents (lace etc)

Daily wishes

A wine-based floral JSK (preference given to BtSSB’s Antoinette Bouquet 2012 Memorial Series cut, with AatP’s Reminiscence of Ornament Rose JSK II a close second)
A solid colour brown JSK (adorned preferably with tiers, pintucks, and bows, minimum lace on the bodice
A tiered chiffon JSK in either ivory, green or wine red
A few more simple solid skirts (or in simple patterns like florals) in longer length, tiered and more classic in appearance, ideally in pink, wine red, green, brown or ivory

I am still keeping an eye out for more Physical Drop main pieces generally because they are peak comfort for me and they do some really nice solids. And maybe Atelier Pierrot will do another Skirt A’La Carte thing? But for the most part, my eyes will be looking out to the second hand market and to the indie brands. As you can see from this, most of my list is firmly in the amber-to-green territory. Cost matters a lot more this year, but also, with the sorts of things that I am after, I don’t feel the need to go all out. The one piece that is marked red has a high chance of not popping up this year, as well as of being much more expensive and of being snapped up by someone else. And I am at peace with that. I’d much rather spend this year growing my collection of builder pieces if any purchases are to happen.

Which is where the non-main piece wishlist comes in. This is the one that’s had the most use in 2025 and again, I’ve had some very good luck with tracking down the Millefeuilles. Having realised that

It is satisfying ti have so many things ticked off (even if in reality, the corset/bustier all got solved by one item).

Because of that, this list has the fewest changes. The items that I’m adding could be considered replacements, but not all of them. The kinds of wants that I have grow harder to narrow down ahead of time because I’m at the stage where I have pretty much everything that I could need, so I need to see something first to decide that I want it. Some of those are entirely dumb things, while others are relatively reasonable. For a bit more accountability for future me, I will RAG rate this list as well. Let’s face it, just because these aren’t main pieces doesn’t mean that there aren’t items here that I want more or less than others.

Not saying that I want all three of the pink Millefeuilles pictured above. I simply used all three to reiterate that this is an absolute top priority item for me.

In text this wishlist reads:

A pink Innocent World Millefeuille bolero in size L and in any lace pattern (ribbon would be preferable, but I will take any)
A wine short overskirt
A wine vintage hat, either a percher or a wide brim
Angelic Pretty’s Girly Sticker pochette
A classic/neutral handbag in ivory, spacious enough to fit most day outing essentials (not exactly this one, since it peels like mad, but as it got tonnes of use with me when I owned it, something like it would be perfect)
A pair of elegant, comfortable, flat winter boots, preferably in brown, fur trims welcome but optional, though fur/fleece lining would be great (so that I'm not stuck with carrying my Docs to change into after the aesthetic pictures or with heeled boots)
Atelier Pierrot’s Neige Neko Muffler (because look at his dumb face, no thought behind those eyes, he's perfect)

THE INKLINKS

2026 kicks off without any inklings. I’ve not seen anything on any previous, be it Japanese brands or indie, that’d have me fear for my wallet and there’s no point trying to predict anything. For the sake of all those trips I have coming up, may that stay like this until the latter half of the year!

Comparing last year’s collages with this year’s ones is an incredibly satisfying streamlining. My wardrobe has a much more specific direction in which it is heading. Both my needs and my wishes have met on the classic side, leaving most of the sweet things out. Not because I’ve fallen out of love with sweet that much, but I really don’t have much that I’d either wish for or have need of for that substyle. Years of focusing on building up that side of my wardrobe have paid of and now it is time to give the same level of attention to my classic wardrobe. And potentially, gasp, do a bit more pruning, especially of the small items like jewellery that really aren’t seeing much use with me and I’m hoarding them purely because I’m a magpie.

And now that I have a post that I can keep constantly open on my phone and refer to, what sorts of things are you hoping to find and putting your energy to search for this year? Are you also on a journey in a slightly new direction or are you sticking to what you’ve been doing and growing that? Either way, may the odds be ever in your favour and all the best of luck finding what you’re after!

9 Jan 2026

2026 Lolita Goals

After the roaring success of 2025’s goals, and knowing what’s in store for me in 2026, I had a good, long think about what I actually want to accomplish this year. Priorities must be set firmly from the get-go if I am to make this year as pleasingly focused.

Photo by Ann H on pexels.com

1. Adhere to the wish/need/replace list more strictly

Now, the ideal would be a no buy for the first half of the year. But a strict no buy might be tempting fate to bring on failure. Having thought quite critically about what it is that I want and need in my lolita wardrobe, I know that adding those pieces would enhance my wardrobe’s overall wearability and versatility. So rather than miss out on an item that I was genuinely looking for because of being on a no buy, my 2026 goal is to stick to my list more. The same rules apply as always:

need and high priority wishlist items get a free pass;
lower priority wishlist items and replacements are subject to a 48 hour wait;
and anything outside of it should be a straight up no.

The two areas where I foresee this being put at a serious risk: new releases and jewellery.

Now, there’s little within my control as far as new releases go. If any fit within some of my more broadly described wish/need/replace list items, then they will follow the same rules as outlined above. However, if they are completely outside of anything I could have foreseen to want and I still do want them at the end of the mandatory 48 hour waiting period, then the appropriate actions, in order of priority, are:

Leave it and come to terms with missing out;
Sell something else to gather the funds for the new piece;
If I have no credit to pay off and enough available balance in cash without having to take away from anything, cautiously purchase;
Purchase on credit with the least amount of outstanding balance still to pay.

As for jewellery, because I know that I’m a sucker for Folk and Fortune and her wares (as well as a few other acrylic jewellery makers), the rule here is that if it passes the mandatory waiting period, then I can buy it only with money on my fun spending card. I put £50/month on that card for little treats (a drink, a snack, a random buy etc.), so any new jewellery can go from that pot if I still find myself wanting. But only then.

The only part of this not discussed is in-person shopping, be it at lolita events or any other times. In those cases, my standard rule of ‘one round for browsing, second round for spending’ remains in place. That should be sufficient cooldown to reduce the impulse and from experience, by the time I start the shopping round, I forget about most items I initially wanted. Right now I only plan on attending one lolita event with shopping and spending money is included in my savings budget for it. However, as I want these rules to become second nature, I would like the mentality of the four outcomes above to get really ingrained in all my spending habits, particularly the fashion ones.

All of this needs to be in place until at least mid-June 2026. After that, I can review and relax the rules if it looks like there are no new big expenses (especially more international trips). However, in principle I would like to stick to these rules for all of 2026.

The response to most purchases fr the first half of this year should be NO. And I will be holding myself accountable to that in my quarterly reviews.
Photo by Ann H from Pexels.com

2. Get back to meet organising

The complete opposite of last year! Truth is that I missed meetups. Since moving I felt like going to those in Leeds has gotten harder because of the extra public transport faff and the increase in train costs. Meanwhile, CLAM has been quiet as us old ones have been dealing with life and only a few other people stepped up to host. My goal here is a specific number of meets that I would like to hold over the course of 2026 to culminate with the annual Christmas lunch (which will be the fifth one, can you believe it!) growing into a bigger, more ILD-like celebration. I have some ideas for it already, of course.

As for other meetups, I don’t want to overexert myself and swing completely the other way around. So the key is to have a small number and mix the ideas between some that are more casual and some that might require a booking or something. Right now, minimum two and a maximum of four seems doable (Christmas lunch 2026 excluding, so three to five with that). It allows for a good spread of low effort things and those more involved, as well as gives me time in between these meets to rest.

It may be a little counter-intuitive to set myself a goal of hosting more meets again when the first six months of the year are already filled with trips and events, but the important thing is that they don’t all have to be big things that take hours. A call to get a fun drink and browse Afflecks for an afternoon or to sit at a cafe with some easy crafts is easily something that can be slotted into a normal day when I have DnD in the evening, for example. At the very least, if I’ve hosted one meetup at the point of doing my quarterly review posts, then I’d be very happy with that outcome.

I mean, a promise of a hot drink and a sweet treat is usually enough to tempt a lot of lolitas out for an afternoon. It doesn't need to be any more involved than that.
Photo by Viktoria Alipatova on Pexels.com

3. Coord Challenge: Wear Every Pair of Lolita-specific Legwear

I don’t actually remember when I set up my Last Worn spreadsheet, but needless to say, it has done its job marvellously when it comes to ensuring that I wear all of my main pieces at least once a year (and typically I average twice per year for each piece). That absolutely doesn’t mean that I wear all of my wardrobe equally and I think that it’s time to set myself a new challenge in line with what some people over on the Tea Rose Garden Discord server are already doing. Given that so many of my tops (especially the offbrand ones) get sufficient wear out of me, I decided to focus on legwear in 2026, a decidedly more uniquely lolita element of a coord and one that I know I’ve hoarded a little.

Firstly, what counts as “lolita-specific legwear”? Well, anything and everything that is explicitly made by a lolita brand: OTKs, ankle socks, and tights. I have 61 pairs of socks from lolita brands from all over and 16 pairs of lolita tights. At a pure numbers level, at least one wear in the whole year is very achievable, assuming a very doable average of two coords a week. Of course, we all know that it’s not always quite so straightforward and there will be times when the aesthetic needs of the coord will overtake the challenge, so it’s not like it won’t be a challenge at all. But that is sort of the point.

What I hope this will achieve is not just the satisfaction of stretching my creative muscles and coming up with some unique coords that I maybe wouldn’t have ever put together otherwise, but also clarity on that side of my wardrobe. It’s nice to have all these options, but do I actually need them all? Do they realistically still have a place in my wardrobe as it looks now? Have I been avoiding wearing any of these because of aesthetic or comfort reasons? Are there any that I actually have been missing and not identified yet? This is the only surefire way to find out. Time to add a whole new tab to my Last Worn spreadsheet! And who knows, if this proves as successful and fun as the me writing this down hopes it will be, then maybe I will extend the challenge to other areas of my wardrobe?

Blatantly using a legwear closeup pic when the legwear in question is not lolita-specific. But more of the lolita-specific ones in 2026! Time to get all these fun OTKs to see some light of day.

Three worked out well for me last year and given that they all will involve a fairly significant amount of mental energy, I will stop here. The point isn’t to overwhelm myself by being overly ambitious, but rather to engage in something meaningful, which all three of these goals are doing. This year I’m also setting some non-lolita goals, which will add to how I’m balancing my time and mental energy, so the key here is definitely not stretching myself too far!

How about you all? What goals are you setting for yourselves for 2026? High five if anyone else is joining me on any of the above (and variations thereof), I extend the most sincere 頑張って to you!