Zodiac Lolita- The Water Signs

Time for another Zodiac Lolita post! Today's post is about the water signs.

Cancer

My star sign! Cancers are soft and put on a hard shell to protect themselves from the big bad world. I feel a bonnet would be a good hair accessory to act as Cancer's shell, as well as long, flowing hair. Cancers tend to have a hard time parting from their favourite items and will hang on to them for ages and wear them lots. With this in mind, vintage pieces and pieces passed down the family are good choices for Cancer Lolitas. They are likely to love pearls or silver jewellery. Seafoam green is a colour often associated with Cancer, so I feel this Pina Sweet Collection dress was a suitable choice, with its soft, feminine layers.

Pisces

Pisces loves to daydream and love romantic touches, such as chiffon and shimmer. They are incredibly affected by water, and tend to be very laid-back and go with the flow. So I decided for my Pisces outfit to go a bit more casual, but with a few bright, glittery pieces. People born under Pisces can be quite secretive and like to keep the dark inside, so they tend to go for pastel colours. Greenish blue and pastel colours tend to be favoured. Pisces is also a big jewellery fan and they can sometimes wear a bit too much. For some bizarre reason, Pisces rules the feet, so they usually love footwear. They are likely to have many different pairs of shoes and will go for bold shoe choices.

Scorpio

Scorpio is a very sexy sign but at the same time, they like to leave something to the imagination. Who knows what lurks underneath Scorpio's clothing? Scorpio is enticing and mysterious. It was a bit difficult to balance the sexiness with the typical lolita aesthetic, so I decided to go for some slight ero elements, rather than full-on ero. Scorpios love lace and the colour black. They would perhaps like burgandy as well, but I decided to go for all-black here. Sexy high heels and boots are popular Scorpio choices. They are also more likely to go for solid coloured pieces which make a statement over prints.

So those are today's zodiac outfits. Please do remember that zodiac signs are not always so clearly defined. These outfit choices could be the complete opposite of your own wardrobe. I had no idea just how difficult it would be to do my own star sign. I kept wanting to pick pieces I liked over what a typical Cancer would pick! Although I admit there are parts of my Cancer outfit that I would definitely wear, so I don't think it was a complete disaster!

Zodiac Lolita- The Air Signs

Today's zodiac lolita post will be focusing on the air signs. I hope people have been liking my choices so far. I have really enjoyed putting these zodiac collages together.

Aquarius

Out of all 12 outfit collages, this one was by far the most difficult! Aquarians tend to be individuals and are very difficult to define. So this collage may not represent the typical Aquarius lolita at all. Aquarius hates boredom and likes to be original and break the rules. They will wear what they want and believe their clothing is a statement as to who they really are. I felt light grey would be an interesting choice for Aquarius, as it is a colour that is not often seen in lolita. So by my reasoning, for lolita this is a colour that makes a statement! Aquarius has a passion for history, so they are likely to go for classic lolita. Remember, Aquarius is the water-bearer with a very close association with water. Just like water, Aquarius is ever-moving and ever-evolving.

Gemini

Gemini is very child-like and love styles that are funky and youth-orientated. With their dual personalities, they tend to favour more than one style and are likely to have closets brimming with clothing for any occasion. Colour and frivolity are good words to describe the Gemini wardrobe. To me, Gemini is about sweet lolita, but they could also possibly be in to fairy-kei. I kept my Gemini choices bright and eye-catching. If they can fit neon elements in to their outfits, they will. The part of the body that gemini rules is the hands. Bracelets, wrist cuffs and pretty rings are good choices for Gemini.

Libra

Libras are fashion-conscious and always strive to look their best. So whilst they like the big brand names, they are also looking for the perfect fit and good quality. Libra is a very romantic sign and Libra is drawn to lace and texture. I felt AP's Katrina OP with its lovely lacy texture would appeal to Libra! Libra is another sign that loves accessories and jewellery, but would never look over-done. Elegance and luxury is very important. Libra doesn't tend to be a flashy or gaudy dresser. They tend to get noticed because their wardrobe has real style.

So despite the problems I had with the air signs, I finally managed to finish them! Be aware, that these outfits may be completely different to your usual style. Zodiac fashion is not always easy to define!

Zodiac Lolita- the Earth Signs

Today I am back with another zodiac lolita post! This time I will be focusing on the Earth signs. So let's see what I can come up with today.

Capricorn

Traditional would be a good word to describe Capricorn. They choose to follow all the established rules to the letter. Capricorns like attention but tend to stay away from flashy fashions. So a Capricorn is more likely to go for understated elegance. Capricorns are the most likely to be in to old-school lolita and white/pale pink seemed a good colour choice for this sign. Capricorns desire quality and see brand names as status symbols. However, they are unlikely to go for head-to-toe brand and will choose some good quality off-brand to go with their brand. Capricorns are massive bag fans, and their bags tend to be big status symbols. They would probably go for well-known bags, such as the Milk heart bag (Yes, I know I used a replica in the collage, but I couldn't find a decent picture of the Milk one at the time). 

Taurus

Taurus tends to be lazy and relaxed. They are all about being pretty, but also comfortable. They are likely to go for pieces that are soft and are pleasing to touch. Chiffon seemed a good choice for this Taurus lolita outfit. Taurus is quite nostalgic and tends to favour styles that made them feel comfortable in the past. So they will usually try to build upon the already discovered. Perhaps they have favourite pieces that appear frequently in their outfits. Taureans prefer a softer colour palette, so I went for a sage green and ivory colour scheme. The part of the body that Taurus represents is the neck, so I chose a blouse with an interesting neckline. Scarves and neck ties are also good choices for the Taurus lolita.

Virgo

Observant, reliable and precise are good words to describe Virgo. The Virgo lolita needs to be neat, polished and perfectly "put together". Virgo loves brand, but don't feel the need to plaster themselves with brand logos. They choose pieces where the good quality does the talking. They like tradition, so like pieces that they know are going to last. Virgos pick timeless over trends. They don't need to go too OTT to be noticed. I would say Virgo is definitely likely to go for classic and Innocent World seems a good choice. Virgo is the most likely to choose deep browns and prefer ivory over pure white.

It will be interesting to see what people think of my Earth sign outfits. I already know one or two lolitas who are not going to agree with my choices for their signs! But this is all meant to be a bit of fun. I tried to base it on typical zodiac personalities rather than actual lolitas I know anyway!

Zodiac Lolita- Starting With the Fire Signs!

So today I am pulling another post out of the archives that I created ages ago and never got around to publishing. Hope it is okay and not cringey!

I was going through some of the old lolita blogs I used to read and I remembered a post about zodiac lolitas, where the blog author created lolita outfits based on the personalities of the 12 Western zodiac signs. I thought this was a really fun idea, so I decided to give it a go myself. First up today is my take on the fire signs!

Disclaimer- There isn't a great deal of "zodiac fashion" information out there so there may be similarities to other zodiac fashion style posts. I tried to keep things as original as possible though. Also, I am not a great believer that everybody can be so clearly defined by 12 zodiac signs, so if you are not a fan of the outfit created for your star sign please try not to take it personally!

Aries

Aries tend to be go-getter leaders. They are independent, bold and courageous. Rules are made to be broken (Gasp! No blouse!) and the Aries lolita is not afraid to stand out from the crowd. The Aries lolita is one that is likely to divide opinions and will get loads of supportive comments, but is just as likely to get posted on cgl. They love bold colours, especially red. The part of the body that Aries rules is the head, so I went for a bonnet, as this is a hair accessory that usually stands out. I felt a red and gold palette was a good option for the bold Aries lolita.

Leo

Leo the lion is energetic and loves attention. They tend to go for bright colours, OTT and are likely to love sweet lolita. Leo lolitas love their brand names and if I were to pink a brand, it would definitely have to be Angelic Pretty. They love to have the latest prints and like having an audience. Just like a lion, Leos are very proud of their 'mane' of hair. Expect big hair styles, full of volume. Although Leos like to stand out, they also like praise, so they tend to stick to the rules. Leos are also big lovers of jewellery. Gold tones are a must-have for Leos, so I made sure to include plenty of gold in this outfit.

Sagittarius

Sagittarius lolitas love freedom. They love to explore and hate boredom. Nature is especially appealing to them, so the Sagittarius lolita is probably the most likely to be inspired by mori girl. I originally considered doing an explorer themed pirate lolita for Sagittarius, but in the end nature won out! Purple is the colour associated with Sagittarius, so I knew right away which dress to choose. They also love layers, but they should be soft and comfortable. I felt the soft bustle on the front of the dress and the chiffon blouse would reflect this. Brown is another colour favoured by Sagittarius and I feel these boots were the perfect choice.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the first installment. I will try to get the other 3 installments out as quickly as possible. Although I don't follow horoscopes, I do find the zodiac signs fascinating. I really hope I captured the fire signs well.

Artist Inspired Outfits

So this post is actually a couple of months old, but I completely forgot to post it at the time. I hope you all enjoy it!

Taobao brands love to throw the odd curve ball now and then. It usually gets given a lot of 'ha ha' reactions when it gets posted to Lolita Updates on Facebook and you will get a few who love it enough to actually go ahead and buy it.

My initial reaction to seeing Vincent Van Goat by Cherry Bomb was to laugh. The idea of an artist depicted as a goat seemed like such a bizarre thing to put on a lolita dress! And yet, I find it weirdly endearing. It could certainly be worked in to a serious lolita outfit without looking too comical. It also reminded me of the Juliette et Justine painting dresses, but this dress is a much different take on art inspired lolita.

As I saw this dapper goat dressed as Vincent van Gogh I wondered to myself how various different artists would look if they were to wear lolita. So just for fun I have created outfit collages inspired by different artists. This is how I imagine the artists themselves would want to wear lolita.

Degas

I couldn't do this post without including my absolute favourite artist (there is a new exhibition in London on his work soon and I am very excited!). As he painted a lot of ballerinas, that was the obvious direction to go in here. I initially was going to do an outfit with the Emily Temple Cute Toe Shoes JSK, but I didn't feel the available colours truly reflected Degas. His colours are more soft and muted. So I decided to choose a dress that is soft and floaty with a lot of movement to represent the dancers. Therefore, I went with this Juliette et Justine chiffon dress. The rest was relatively simple. A lot of the ballerinas in his works feature floral hair pieces, but nothing too big (they have to be suitable for dancing in, after all). The tights may not be very practical, but I thought plain tights were a bit too bare.

Klimt

I will be honest here- I have never been a fan of Klimt, but I happened to stumble across the dress in this collage at random. When I saw it I instantly thought of the backgrounds of a lot of Klimt pieces. His work features a lot of black and gold. There is also a lot of swirls and trees. I tried to imagine what his muse from The Kiss would wear. For a Klimt outfit I think an up do is best for the hair and maybe some coral lipstick.

Roy Lichtenstein

The first of two Pop Art artists I am looking at today. Lichtenstein's works feature loads of polka dots. Dolly Dot felt like the most obvious dress choice. I tried to keep the retro and kitsch vibe going throughout the outfit. I think the key thing here is bold, yet simple. And lots and lots of dots!

L. S. Lowry

I included Lowry because I studied him when I was in primary school! For those of you who don't know his work, he is from Manchester and he painted a lot of industrial scenes. The figures in his paintings were also known for wearing clogs, hence the inclusion of them. He used a lot of muted, neutral tones and browns. As business men in suits feature a fair bit, it seemed fitting to include a bowler hat and bow tie! I was going to include a briefcase as well, but I was unable to find one that matched well enough. Hopefully you get the general gist of what I was aiming for!

Monet

I remember when Baby's Labyrinth print first came out that I instantly thought of Monet when I saw it. It features a scene by water and the details are a little bit blurry ( which I feel reflected his short-sightedness in later life). This outfit was inspired by what I felt a young maiden walking through his paintings would be likely to wear. I imagined a massive floppy bergere hat, a parasol to protect them from the sun and extravagant sleeves. Also, I finally found a pair of sax blue shoes which are not tea parties, so that was a personal achievement as well!

Warhol

Finally, I decided to do an outfit for Andy Warhol. I think Warhol would have leaned more towards Otome. You can't really have a Warhol outfit without a cool beret and thin turtleneck. The look is very 60's art scene. Whilst fruit-wise Warhol is probably better connected to bananas, alas this is not a theme which appears in Japanese fashion very much! So I took the safer option of going for cherries. The dress features fruit cans, which is a small nod to Warhol's famous soup can work.

So that is what I came up with. I tried to do artists which were a bit different to the typical painting dresses we are used to seeing in the fashion. My favourite is the Warhol outfit (I bet you all thought I was going to pick Degas!). Maybe it is because the Warhol outfit could be worn casually and I could see myself actually browsing a gallery whilst wearing it. From time to time you will see smaller indie brands release dresses with famous paintings on them. I purposely didn't go a Van Gogh outfit because a dress with his Starry Starry Night already exists. These are a bit different from your typical Juliette et Justine painting dresses too. But at least there are many different options out there if you wish to pay homage to your favourite artist.

Co-ordinating Difficult Colours

A thought occurred to me as I was discussing the recent Angelic Pretty print Peacefully Sleeping Toys. My thinking was that if I were to get this series, my top colour choice would have been the navy blue. That is not because the navy blue colour was necessarily my favourite, but because I found the idea of trying to make an outfit with the grey colour incredibly daunting. I have noticed that there are certain colours which over the years I have gone out of my way to avoid. This is partly because I already have loads of different colours in my wardrobe and don't want to add even more, but also because I think I would find them a challenge to add successfully to my wardrobe. Brown, for example, is a colour which has never really made it in to my wardrobe. Outside of chocolate prints, I don't think I would have much of a clue how to wear that colour. I know I am not the only one who struggles with these difficult colours that pop up from time to time. But colours such as grey are popping up more frequently as of late, and in a lot of instances it has become the most popular colour. The trouble is, a lot of the brands have not extended their wardrobe basics to this colour, which means finding stuff to go with our dresses is very hard! So I tried to come up with a few ideas on how to combat this issue. 

Firstly, it is not exactly very original, but where possible it is worth trying to get the matching set rather than just the dress. If you were to aim to get another item, such as the head bow, then at least it is almost guaranteed that you are going to have at least one item in your wardrobe which is the exact same colour. 

Another idea would be to focus on other main colours on the dress. Is there a particular colour which stands out? Sometimes I find you are able to build an outfit just by using this other colour. This doesn't tend to work as well if you have opted for a skirt rather than a dress, as there is less distribution of the main colour. Keeping your colours balanced is always a goal to aim for.

If that fails, then the next way to go is attempting to find accessories in the same colour, possibly from non-lolita brands. But when doing this, try to think about what accessories would be easiest to find in that colour. For example, you will probably have more success finding a hair accessory in many different colours compared to shoes, which can be a real pain to find in a particular shade. If an accessory from a non-lolita brand is the right shade, but not exactly very 'lolita' looking, is there a way you can customise it? I did a post recently on shoe customising which featured little clips you can add on. Simple things like that can turn a basic item in to something more cute and appropriate to the fashion.

Sadly, that was about as far as I got with ideas. So here is a random outfit I chucked together using the grey Peaceful Sleeping Toys OP! Just so you are aware, on my monitor the shoe colour looks similar to the print close up in the corner. If it looks like different shades to you, then I apologise! I was really trying hard to find matching grey shoes to try and challenge myself. I think the lesson here is to wait until you have the dress in person so you can clearly see what colour it is before attempting to add in accessories from non-lolita brands. However, the majority of this outfit is from brands. The only exception are the shoes and the bag, which I think is from DreamV (don't quote me on that...). 

But as frustrating as these different colours can be, I am actually really glad to see colours like grey become more common. I really do feel that Peaceful Sleeping Toys works the best in the grey version. Today I have just focused on grey, but try considering other difficult or rarely seen colours. Orange, non-lavender purples, olive green, teal and turquoise are colours which are not overly common, but they do pop up from time to time. How could you go about adding those to your wardrobe? Or would you be like me, and play it safe with a safer colour choice, even if it is not your favourite? I had fun creating this outfit, but whether I would be brave enough to actually buy a grey coloured dress remains to be seen!

How I Would Wear it Now- Bodyline Carousel Edition

I figured it had been a while since my last 'How I would Wear it Now' post, where I take a look back at my past poor outfit choices and consider how I would wear it if I were to co-ordinate it today. So today I am revisiting that Bodyline carousel print that almost every Bodyline fan from around 2010 seemed to own. I find that when I usually do these posts, I get a little bit nostalgic and there have been a few times where I wonder if I was too hasty selling things. But in all honesty, I feel no such sentimental feelings towards this particular skirt I used to own. As time has gone on, I find more that I dislike about it. Present day me is wondering what 2010 me was thinking! I guess I just find the print a bit too cartoonish now, but back in the day I absolutely loved this skirt. It probably didn't help that the skirt sold out so quickly, that I had to get the T2L length, which was super long but did not have the volume to make a decent sweet lolita shape. The separately sold head bow was your typical Bodyline 'helicopter' style head bow, which looked ridiculous when worn. I came very close to buying the tote bag and making my own head bow.

I only properly wore the carousel skirt once, and I looked a total mess. This was back in the days where I was still trying to build my wardrobe up and I hadn't really been prepared for the massive amount of snow we had that Winter. So I had to wear it with black boots, as they were the only ones I had that could withstand the few feet of snow. I learnt a valuable lesson about building up my wardrobe basics that day. Typically, the meet got cancelled as I was walking to the train station!

So this is how I would wear this skirt now in 2016. For a more Winter (or snowstorm) appropriate look, I would probably switch to pink legwear and wear white boots and put on a nice, fluffy white coat. As I never really properly wore my skirt out before I sold it, I decided to go have a look at how other people had co-ordinated this print. I found that there were quite a few common themes that appeared, especially twin tail wigs. Seeing as twin tail wigs were a big thing around 2010 but have fallen out of favour a bit now, I felt that I should really do an outfit that didn't rely on twin tails to make it feel a bit more up to date. So out comes the beret, my trusted go-to hair accessory! I would pin the pink Chocomint star to the bow on the beret, just to spread the pink out a bit. I wanted to make the most of the pinks, yellows and purples that appear in the print. Fortunately the BTSSB necklace has all 3 of those colours covered, as does the Maniaq tights. Sometimes when making collages online it is hard to get a grasp of how an outfit will look like when worn, which is why I couldn't quite decide between the yellow or pink ring. The Red Maria cuffs could also be switched out for sax blue ones, although I did wonder if maybe that was a bit too much sax blue. I didn't want to add any more pony details, as I felt the star theme was strong enough by itself.

I think my new outfit looks reasonably well thought out, or at least it does compared to the outfit I came up with in 2010! Back in the day, I relied to much on the colour black, when I should have been buying more white coloured items. I suppose it is because black clothing is generally easier to get hold of. Thankfully, I have gotten over that as time has gone on. I just hope this new outfit redeems me a little bit. 

Making Kuro and Shiro More Interesting

I've often felt that kuro and shiro lolita are very under-appreciated. There is this kind of misconception about these 2 sub-styles that sticking to all-black or all-white outfits can perhaps be a bit... boring. Adding colours can be one way of adding a bit of excitement to a lolita outfit so to stick rigidly to one colour can be a bit stifling. I think that this is a real shame. There are some absolutely beautiful solid black and white dresses out there. Some dresses by Atelier Pierrot and Alice and the Pirates come instantly to my mind, although there are lots of budget options out there too which are also really pretty. But I think a lot of misconceptions about these 2 sub-styles come from how they are typically styled. Usually, kuro lolita gets lumped in with gothic lolita, and it is easy to see why. When you think of gothic fashion, the first thing that comes to mind is the colour black. Similarly, shiro is usually styled in a sweet or classic 'bridal' sort of way. But when you break it down, the only real 'rule' about these 2 sub-styles is to stick to that one colour. So I decided to attempt to put together a few outfit collages to see what I could come up with.

But first, I think there are a couple of things to consider when putting together a kuro or shiro wardrobe-

Materials- Different materials will have different textures, so even though 2 pieces may be the same colour, they can have very different appearances. A good example of this would be comparing chiffon and velvet. Chiffon is light and airy whilst velvet is richer and more dense, so it is possible to create some very different outfits.

Extra Details- Lace, trims, lots of ruffles... a single coloured dress does not have to hold back on the detail. The little details can make all the difference and stop a single coloured dress from looking too boring

Different styles- Going for dresses with bows, for example, would give the dress a more sweet feel. I feel a solid-coloured sweet dress can be a good choice for a classic or gothic lolita who maybe likes sweet, but doesn't feel too comfortable going all-out. Seeing as a lot of kuro dresses typically have a classic or gothic look to them, going for something sweeter can be a fresh take on somebody's typical style.

Themes- Just because you are only working with one colour, it doesn't mean that your outfit can't have a theme! As long as you stick to that one colour, I think you can introduce a lot of themes, which I hope I have shown in my collages.

And now, on to the collages! For these collages, I have tried to go for the exact same dress (Bodyline L362, in case you were wondering) to show how the same dress can look a lot different with just a bit of styling.

First up is a circus/carnival themed outfit. I feel the AP Shadow Dream Carnival tights just about get away with being okay for kuro. I tried to add carousel horses and stars to help the theme come through. I wanted to add a top hat a bit like AP's Star Night Theater one (but just in the black colour, of course) but it proved difficult to find a nice, all-black top hat that wasn't from some cheap costume! So I ended up using an Alice and the Pirates hat for this collage, although it wasn't my first choice. I think this kuro outfit has a slight sweet feel to it.

I had the most fun creating this floral kuro look! I like that this kuro look has a country feel to it. It worked out better than I was expecting it to. I thought of using the Innocent World shawl and then had a bit of a search to see if I could find matching black straw items. As you can see, I managed to find what I was looking for. What I thought was going to be the most difficult collage, ended up being my favourite.

I don't feel I was as successful with this royal themed kuro outfit. I couldn't get a picture of the crown I wanted and the accessories proved difficult too. In the end I went for a crown with velvety details to it, so I decided on using a velvet cape to make sure the crown didn't look too out of place. I feel this outfit could have been a lot better, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what I was aiming for.

So with these ideas in mind, I hope this post encourages people to take another look at kuro and shiro. They are far from boring and there are lots of possibilities! I am admittedly a bit of a print addict, but I had a lot of fun creating this collages. I have worn kuro before (I don't feel shiro would look good on me) and I don't think this is the last kuro you will be seeing from me...

How I Would Wear It Now- Bodyline Alice Edition

I decided to have yet another go at taking a piece I used to own which I didn't co-ordinate very well, and try to see how I would wear it now. Today's piece from the past is the Bodyline Alice in Wonderland print skirt. I remember when this skirt first came out and I instantly fell in love with it. Sadly, I sold it after wearing it just a few times. I didn't feel like I could do anything great with this skirt and I think the biggest problem was that in my mind I felt that as it was Alice in Wonderland themed, that meant everything had to be OTT and crazy, because that is what it is like in Wonderland! So my outfits with this skirt featured a lot of crazy ideas but my outfits were never that cohesive and I just threw things together. So for my present day outfit collage, I have decided to go against that old belief and I tried to put together an outfit that wasn't OTT and had a bit more maturity and thought put in to it.

So this is my attempt at doing a slightly more toned-down outfit with the Alice skirt. I maybe played it a bit safe with my choices, but that was one of my aims when putting it together. One thing I forgot about this skirt is that the colours are a bit strange. As it was the blue and pink skirt I used to own, I of course wanted to use that as part of this co-ordinate challenge. Again, back in the day I used to think that anything Alice in Wonderland had to be blue. I think as far as the colours go, the blue version was by far the most difficult colour to go for! Shalisa owns the skirt in red still, and when I look at it I can think of loads more ways that colour could be co-ordinated. The blue on this skirt was a lot deeper than sax blue, more of a periwinkle blue or perhaps a cornflower blue. So those were the colours I tried searching for online. Sadly, I didn't have much success finding a pair of shoes the right colour, so I ended up only adding a small touch of the blue with the nail polish. So I decided to focus on the peachy pink colour instead. After all, the pink is also very prominent in the skirt. When I owned this skirt I used to pair it with a lot of red. I decided to include a bit of red in the outfit, but I didn't want it to be over-whelming. Hopefully the colours in my collage are fairly well balanced. I am still disappointed I couldn't find the right pair of blue shoes. 

Looking back, there are loads of mini themes that could be used in an outfit with this skirt, which I didn't think of before. You could try to use the small hints of gold in the print, which for some reason I never spotted when I owned it! There is also the mushrooms, or you could focus on one individual character in the print. If I had owned the red version, I would definitely consider a red queen outfit.

I actually felt a bit sad writing this post, as I don't feel I really gave my Alice skirt a fair chance before I sold it. This skirt used to be one of my wishlist prints! (I didn't have a job back when it came out, so I couldn't just buy Bodyline whenever I pleased) I feel really content with my current wardrobe though, so this skirt probably wont be making its way back in to my wardrobe either. It also felt good to take a trip down memory lane and I am confident this new oufit collage looks a lot better than anything I came up with back when I was a newer lolita.

How I Would Wear It Now- Bodyline Gingham Strawberry JSK

I thought I would try doing another How I Would Wear It Now post using a piece I used to own. Today's dress is one that I sold earlier this year when I sadly had to downsize my wardrobe a little bit after the rail inside collapsed (on Christmas Day, no less!). I have since done a bit of reinforcement to the rail and added an additional rail and of all the stuff I sold, I miss this dress the most. This gingham strawberry dress was my very first Bodyline piece and I felt that I had "unfinished business" with this dress because I felt there were more outfits I could have made with it. However, I hadn't worn this dress in such a long time that I felt that it had to go. I never really wore an outfit with this dress that I thought was too bad, like I have with previous How I Would Wear It Now pieces but it doesn't stop me thinking of new outfits I could have made with it.

So this is possibly how I would consider wearing this dress if I still had it. It feels a bit weird posting a Summery outfit when we are well in to Autumn but despite being a big Fall fan, I have strangely been missing Summer! I guess being cooped up inside with poor health for the past few weeks and the darker, shorter days have made me crave a little piece of Summer. This outfit definitely reflects Summer, with no blouse and just a bolero to cover up. I couldn't decide on a pair of shoes because I couldn't remember if the pink shoes were the right shade for the dress. I love looking up strawberry accessories because berries have always been a favourite theme of mine, even if I do get a bit sick of the constant barrage of strawberry prints the brands put out each Spring! I would wear my hair in low, fluffy pigtails and use the mini pink bows to tie them to add an extra bit of pink.

Since selling this dress I have obtained 2 new strawberry prints and I still have another strawberry print, so perhaps I will be wearing something similar to this collage in the future! So I am trying not to feel too sad that I no longer have this dress. I just hope the person who brought it loves it as much as I did a few years ago.

How I Would Wear It Now- Bodyline Candy Print Edition

A month or 2 ago, you may remember I decided to take the Bodyline waffle print skirt that I used to own and made an outfit collage to show how I would wear it now, if I still owned it. I wanted to see how far my coordinating skills had come and I was surprised by how fun I found the experience. So today I have decided to take another piece that I used to own, which I felt I coordinated very poorly, to see what I would come up with. I decided on my old Bodyline candy print skirt, which I used to own in sax blue. I believe this skirt is no longer available on the Bodyline website, but I remember ordering this skirt as part of my very first Bodyline order. I only ever wore it once though, and that was to a party rather than a lolita meet, so I didn't really make a great deal of effort with my outfit that day anyway. I remember selling it not long afterwards because I was still trying to build my wardrobe and I didn't really have anything that went with this skirt.

This is the outfit I came up for the skirt. I should point out here that it has been such a long time since I have owned this skirt that I kind of forgot what the shades of pink were like on this skirt. So a lot of the choices in my collage are based on my fuzzy memory of briefly owning it and desperately trying to zoom in on the skirt image as close as I could! In the end, my choices were based on the dark pink which appears on the lollipops in the print. I think the darker colour of the pink offers a nice contrast to the softer sax blue colour. The pattern on the lollipops is sort of stripy, so I decided to make stripes the main focus of the outfit. I am hoping the stripy bits on the blouse are the right shade of pink. To continue on the stripe theme I added those see-through white stripy tights that I own (and I lost the link to them, so I had to make do with a cropped photo of my legs!). I added the ankle socks because the tights are quite sheer and I didn't want the legs looking too bare. The other problem I had making this outfit is that sax blue shoes are actually quite difficult to find, without resorting to Angelic Pretty tea parties! As a lot of lolitas will know, Bodyline's "sax blue" shoes are in fact more of a duck-egg blue or aqua colour. In the end, I gave in and added the tea parties to the collage. I sort of threw the AP blue and pink lollipop ring in at the last minute because I am sure there is more than one shade of pink on that skirt. In hindsight, I should have probably left it out. I would team the hair bows with a fluffy buns hair style.

I thought I would include a picture of these Angelic Pretty candy combs which I considered putting in the outfit. They would certainly fit on with the candy theme, but because my final outfit was quite stripy, I decided against putting them in the collage. They could work pretty nicely with the skirt though.

Another omission from my collage was this bag, as I felt that it would make the dark pink look a bit unbalanced. I am also not convinced it is the right shade of pink. I hate having to rely on stock photos! Perhaps some nail polish in the same deep pink as the rest of the outfit could look cute.

I have to admit that I struggled a bit with this skirt, so my final outfit isn't too dramatic. I would probably wear this to a smaller gathering than a big event. Making this collage did show me that perhaps it was a good thing I sold the skirt because sax blue can be a bit of a tricky colour. I still enjoyed taking another trip down memory lane and believe me, this collage looks better than the outfit I actually wore years ago!

How I Would Wear It Now- Bodyline Waffle Edition

Do you ever look back at your early outfits and cringe? I am the first to admit it took me a while to figure out my style and I did make some huge mistakes with some of my outfits. I was having a little browse through my old outfits the other day when I came across what I felt was one of my worst outfits. It was with the Bodyline waffle skirt. It was a bit of a hard time for me, as I was still only just staring to build my wardrobe and due to some personal circumstances, I was not really in the best of places and probably should have taken a bit more of a break from lolita. So I turned up in my waffle skirt outfit and years later I am taking a look back at the waffle skirt to see if I can co-ordinate it any better now. It is sort of to prove to myself that I have in fact improved since that time and also, I think it is interesting to see how my style has changed. If you want to go and dig up my old waffle outfit and post it on 4chan then by all means, go ahead. I am trying to focus on the positive and hope my new waffle outfits are an improvement.

This was my first outfit attempt. It is sort of based on several recent outfits of mine. I didn't want to go too outrageous, so I stuck to the red and black colour scheme. I added white because it features on the skirt and makes a good base colour to go with the black. I love berets and the polka dot tights are the same Ebay ones I got a few months ago. I added the necklace because I felt that the waffle theme of the skirt needed to be acknowledged elsewhere in the outfit. I would probably add a red bow ring or perhaps a cherry themed ring to this outfit. There wasn't much canvas room left, so I couldn't include rings in the picture! I would probably wear my hair or wig in pigtails, so I could use the Sugar Trampoline bow clips to decorate my hair. I would probably go for the red bow to help balance out the colours!

After completing the first outfit, I decided I quite liked the slight retro feel. So for this outfit I upped the retro elements a bit more. I am not sure the shoes are quite the right colour, but I thought this style of shoe worked better for this particular outfit. This time I made the cherries a bigger theme, because cherries are quite a popular theme in lolita. I kept the waffle necklace again though.

I am not saying these outfits are perfect but I do feel this is a huge improvement. This does not mean I am now going to go and buy the waffle skirt again. I feel this post was more like "closure". When I started wearing lolita I would buy pieces without really thinking about how I would co-ordinate them and it really showed. One of my biggest newbie mistakes was getting over-excited about my new purchases and wanting to wear them straight away. But I am glad to say I am learning from my mistakes. Maybe I will re-attempt more of my past pieces in the future. It was quite fun trying to compete with my past self!