Basically what I am trying to say is that so much of us Lolitas funnel money into our hobby that it makes sense that we would try to capitalize on this and also cut corners where we need to!
However if you are anything like me it might seem like a daunting task to try and form a wardrobe of lolita clothing that you can wear as often as you want. The daunting part being that you are not used to actually forming a wardrobe out of nothing. You (like me) usually buy what ever muggle clothing you like and it kinda all goes together anyway. But we look at lolita and we see that it will not be this easy, mostly because of the cost of everything.
So this "small article" will be a continue of my past Tips and Tricks and will go smoothly with new Tips and tricks that will come out later.
I know that some of you will think this a lot like my past Tips and Tricks, and that's okay! I will admit that it is, since I will be saying most of the same thing, stick to your colors and accessories are your best friends!
At this moment I will be using me as an example!
It was Easter time and I wanted to wear a special outfit of course! And I started to put it together, and while I think I have a pretty okay closet I started to feel constricted. The outfit I had in my head was completely different than the one I could actually come up with. I was lacking accessories and I had an epiphany!
SO HERE IS THE SECRET THAT FINALLY HIT ME IN THE HEAD AND I WILL SHARE WITH YOU
Buy tons and tons of accessories, invest in socks and shoes and necklaces and different head wear or head wear you can mix and match.
I don't know about you... but myself, I love the dresses and the JSK's that come out, so those are the things I buy mostly, that is where 90% of all my lolita money goes.
AND THAT IS ONE OF MY ISSUES IN LOLITA (my personal issue that is, let me just vent for one sec and we will be back to scheduled helping) THAT I ONLY EVER BUY THE DRESSES SO THAT WHEN I WANT TO MAKE A COORD ALL I HAVE IS IS IS STINKIN' DRESSES! YOU CAN'T FEED PUDGE TUNA CAUSE HE IS A FISH!!! oh wait! hahaha wrong vent....
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| Sorry I had to add it in here! |
No really if you have one dress you could have at least enough accessories to coord it two completly different ways, so it might be the same dress but a whole new look each time you wear it!
One more time, the more accessories you have the more outfits you will be able to make with limited clothing, the easier it would be to be a lolita on a budget. Accessories can completly change the look and feel of the dress, so it feels like you have two dresses instead of the one!
This is what I am learning now! Though I am still having a hard time not buying my jsk's, seems I am working backwards, buys all the dresses and then goes to buy all the accessories so that I never actually wear my clothes until I get the accessories! Trust me that is just a sad feeling looking at your clothes and then feeling like you can not wear them!!!
So here is the quick tip/ exercise:
Lets say you have your first outfit down, these are the items you have purchased besides your foundation items like your petti and bloomers (We will be talking about bloomers vs. shorts in one of the next tips and tricks articles)
Of course before buying your items (which you have to buy usually one at a time cause you are not made out money) you decided that pink and cream (or off white, near the same color family) are the two colors that you have decided to buy around. You choose these colors because you want to be a sweet and classic lolita and you figure using these two colors with help with that decision.
Here is what you have:
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| So here we have just the dress and NOT the blouse that is pictured... oh and FYI Click Here for The Dress |
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| Click Here to see this Really Really Cute Blouse |
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| I would highly suggest against getting this color way for this blouse, the lace trim is snow white while the blouse is almost a dusky yellow... it just looks a little strange. I included it here because realistically we all make mistakes, like not paying attention when buying, consider this a "mistake you made in purchasing". You didn't realize that the lace didn't match the shirt. Later you would probably buy the off white colorway of the shirt up above (which I suggest instead of this one) but here is the link anyway! |
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| You can check out these socks here! |
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| This headdress is perfect for both sweet and classic because of the color and than the lace and roses! But here in this simulation we don't usually tie it under our chin unless we are going for a innocence look! We usually tie it behind our neck under our hair. Click here for headdress! |
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| I chose these shoes for us because they are cute but are more grown up looking so would also match really well with a more classic look, it is also a lighter of the pink colors for this reason. Click here to see the shoes and stuff. |
Out of what is above think about how many different outfits you can make? Two right? One for each different color way of the blouses. Even if you take off the sleeves or put the on its still only two outfits that feel a little bit different.
So now you are getting ready to buy a new dress! I mean after all you have all the basics down right!? And this way you can have 2 different dresses with 2 outfits each... so 4 whole new outfits! But take a min and step back and think about this for one sec, yeah you could buy a new dress and have the best of both worlds I mean it is your money! But think about it you might keep buying new dresses for awhile and just that... well than you are stuck with only two ways to ever coord your dresses and that gets boring after awhile.
What I suggest is that instead of buying your second dress straight away get some more accessories!
Like....
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| Cardigan Here |
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| Socks here! |
A cardigan+socks
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| Same cardigan as above |
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| Cardigan Here! |
or Cardigan+ another cardigan
or just more knick knacks in general!
This way you than have 3 (or 4 for 2nd option) to 5 (or 8 for the 2nd option) outfits to choose from and that is just by buying a cardigan or 2!
So when you finally do buy that new dress you have so many different items to match with it that it doesn't get boring! This way you can really mix it up and it isn't limited to one pair of socks and two blouses!
At the end of the day you have to think about like one of those really annoying math problems, if Jose has 3 shirts and 3 jeans how many outfits does Jose have?
We actually have to think like this to make lolita worth the buck sometimes! We have to go if I have 3 tops and 2 caridgans and two dresses and 3 socks and two pairs of shoes how many outfits can I make?
This right here is why you stick in your color group in the begging! So that you can make the most of your dollar because EVERYTHING SHOULD MATCH!
I hope with this thinking I did today I can try to put the Jsk buying behind me and focus on getting some more accesrotries to make my outfits pop!
I hope that this has helped you too and you learn from my mistakes! And more importantly how to make the most out of your hopefully budding wardrobe!
Till next time!
Cookie~
I really enjoyed this post, although very wordy, but you are a wordy person :] This is something I've never actually thought about in detail, come to think of it. I just naturally do this. I always feel like I just buy staple after staple, and this post made me realize why. But I never do that for lolita... I am too preoccupied with getting new dresses at the moment that I always overlook blouses, and especially cardigans. I suppose I ought to spend more time looking for loli-able cardigans that I can wear everyday also, you know me, I like to use my lolita clothes for muggle outfits too. Gosh, this has inspired me.
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