January Style Tips 2011!

Monthly Style Tips, ever popular, is actually a feature running into 2011 - begun back in 2009! I can't wait to celebrate Lolita Charm's 3rd birthday this year in August as well! Oh God I feel the years upon me!  So this year I am trying something new - instead of an ordinary image (meant to be seasonable and touching, etc) I decided to make a small collage of the fashion, feel or motif for each month's style tips. This collage is composed of shop images from the Etsy boutique Which Goose, Spank!, and vintage clothing. I think it really characterizes the soft, fresh feeling I have for January this year

• Drink white tea this month! January is about fresh starts and nothing can be so light, energizing or cleansing as white tea. My favorite is a perrenial jasmine or this Strawberry Misaki blooming tea, which you can get at your local Teavana. After being seeped in hot water you'll find a beautiful tiger lily in your teapot or cup!
• Eat fresh fruit - I had new strawberries for the first time in ages a few weeks ago and was astounded! They were even USA-grown from Florida, I was so surprised! Tiny and sweet. You can often find cherries on sale this time of year as well.
• Take photos in the snow before it's gone! I still haven't done this, but I keep hoping it will snow when I am visiting my boyfriend, so we can take photos at the abandoned train station in his town. Snowy photos, whether braving it in just a dress, or showing off your winter coat, have a beautiful fantasy quality that captures your 2010/2011 winter.
• Halfway through your winter, take your coat to be cleaned! They smudge up against cars, get mud-flecked, snowy, or in my case, ashy from Christmas fireworks! Getting your coat cleaned around this time of year is must to keep you looking fresh and well-turned out until spring. 
• Roses add a wonderful melancholy for this time of year. Choose white or dark roses for a whimsical hairpiece - and make a beautiful coronet with this rose hairband tutorial! Or if you're all-thumbs, you can purchase delicate floral haircombs and crowns from Which Goose.
• Reorganize your computer experience - file away that mound of miscellaneous photos, put all your blog reader into a feed like Google Reader, and turn your bookmarks from a huge mess into categories (am I lecturing to myself here or what?!) 
• Spruce up your usual blouses with unique add-on collars or tippets. Knitters or crocheters can find patterns for lace collars, or simply use this vintage Butterick pattern for huge lacey bows, or delicate Peter Pan collars with broach centers.
  
• Want smooth, glowing skin? I'm in love with Tarina Tarantino's Pearl Glow Primer. Besides having an adorable bottle, its light, sheer makeup glides on smooth and gives you a skin a faint candle light, similar to the effect of wearing pearls. I'm also wearing it as the pink-haired Marie Antoinette at the Toyland Ball, for that spun-sugar complexion.

Labels: style tips, winter

posted by Victoria Suzanne @ 12:11 AM 0 Comments

Merry Christmas!

First, let me play Santa and announce that Kara is the winner of the Asian iCandy giveaway! Please send an email to lolita.charm@gmail.com with your address and preferred colorway (pink, black or almond). Congratulations Kara!


Thank you so much for sending in your Christmas wishes this year. I often read them while I'm waiting in the car - at the gas station, outside of the movie theatre, or waiting for my boyfriend after work. I'm alone, while the snow begins to fall... connected to the heart of a person explaining to me that what they really want for Christmas is their dream dress... or their boyfriend home from the war, or to see a lost grandparent... or any other million secret whispers. I understand how Santa feels now. It was a really beautiful and refreshing experience... so thank you for everyone who entered the giveaway.


Have a wonderful, magical, safe holiday, where ever you are, and I hope Christmas finds you all well & truly happy. 

Labels: giveaway, holiday, winter

posted by Victoria Suzanne @ 8:00 PM 3 Comments

Asian iCandy x Lolita Charm Holiday Giveaway!

Are you ready?! There are only 9 days left until Christmas! But there will be plenty of snowy weather to follow after that!  Whether you're looking for a present for that special someone, or perhaps giving yourself a few presents this year... Asian iCandy & Lolita Charm have you covered! 

This gorgeous winter pochette will be just the thing for your Christmas lolita outfit! Your choice of pink, red, or almond style~
This red and almond style reminds me of Chinese New Year - the bright red and almond-bow looks like a crispy delicious almond cookie to me!

How to enter: just drop a comment describing your dream holiday present this year! The winner will be chosen randomly and announced on Christmas Eve [December 24th]! Earn 1 extra point each for joining Asian iCandy's twitter or Facebook fanpage! This means your name will be entered additionally for each point you earn. Good luck everyone!

Labels: giveaway, holiday, winter

posted by Victoria Suzanne @ 8:36 AM 18 Comments

Blooming Bloomers!

I'm an all-thumbs lolita - while I can make a few simple accessories or deco items, I'm terrible with a sewing machine. I'm really hoping to learn this winter, and if I can get better, maybe even get a new sewing machine! (Psst... I love the Hello Kitty  sewing machine! It looks like something from a little dollhouse!)

Labels: crafty loli, tutorial, winter

posted by Victoria Suzanne @ 8:05 AM 7 Comments

Winter Style: 2010's Coat Line Up!

I gotta say, I love coats. I can't get enough coats. Whether it's because I'm a snowbunny at heart or because coats always seem to have a more fairy-tale-feel than anything else, they're my absolute favorite lolita item. Each brand has their own interpretation, and each season brings something a little different. This season seems to especially be following that mori-girl style princess - the lost-in-the-snow-with-satin-ribbons feel.

Feel and quality are prominent this year - both Innocent World and Victorian Maiden have added angora to their wool coats. Even for classical brands, their styles are very much geared toward the mori and dolly crowds - there are no all-over bunny prints this year. A mature and mysterious black gobelin with fur will appeal perfectly to the dolly-kei crowd, perhaps with some slightly gothic little red boots and lacy tights.

Innocent World keeps its even keel of looking both innocent and elegant with this year's winter style. For those who have to venture into the real world, they offer a classy double button design in the Rose and Little Bird coat, which can be purchased with a matching romantic cape - lined with fur and tied with a satin ribbon.

A cutesier feel is found in their Night Bear Coat series, which exchanges the usual fur for a nubbly fleece, soft and snuggly (Called by the website 'sheep boa'. Your guess is as good as mine). This coat has simpler lines than the usual corsetted-and-bell-shaped style lolita coats are designed for; perhaps for more casual wear or to cater to the mori girl crowd, who would love the tactile attraction of the fleece. This coat is also offered in S, M, and L, a sign that they may be considering their international audience for the first winter that they ship overseas.

This year's Angelic Pretty coats are heartsinkingly typical, unfortunately. They've released an applique coat, like previous years' Angel Pony, Royal Poodle, etc - this year with a fluffy white kitten (if you're a fan of the Aristocats' Marie however, this could be your year!) This kitten is also suspiciously similar to Baby the Stars Shine Bright 'Aristo Kitten'... I wonder why that is? ;) They've also included a short winterweight jacket model this year - in several prints and even one with a Wonder Cookie detail. In pervious seasons Angelic Pretty has been known to design beautiful, sumptuous coats with layers of tweedy ruffles and bows, perfect for OTT sweet and hime, but this year they seem to have dropped the ball and look more similar to BABY's usual winter style to be honest. They did do one coat I was fond of - the lilac ribbon jaquard, with scallops down the buttons - but as this is autumn/spring weight, it won't be lasting the season out.


Baby the Stars Shine Bright is, to the best of my knowledge, slow in releasing this year's coats - I haven't seen hide nor hair of them as of yet. Metamorphose, well-known for their bear-eared, fuzzy-hooded coats, has produced another comforting set of them. And a slightly more unusual style - pink, fairly minimalist with clean lines, but a sweeping boat neck of faux fur. The design doesn't appeal to me particularly, but I am sure it would look darling in some punk-meets-sweet style, perhaps covered with badges and broaches throughout the fur. Their other coats are quite secretive, considering they're up for reserve - a sketch with a few fabric samples which hint at woven wool and leopard printed fur. It will be interesting to see those coats hit the scene - and even moreso, how people will where them! Seeing a coat on a dress form is one thing - the magic and unique flair is really in the coordination and style of the wearer. There's nothing like a good street snap or photoshoot to reveal the hidden potential in an outfit or clothing item. So now matter which coat you'll donning as you face the snowy days, I'm sure your style will make it your own!



Are you up for elegance or a cozy teddy bear feel? Fur or fleece? Gobelin or tweed? Which coats are you drawn to this winter?

Labels: fashion, winter

posted by Victoria Suzanne @ 5:26 PM 6 Comments

Season of the Lolita

Be the pink froth at business school and lend cuteness to briefcases - a black lesson bag embossed with a crest of swans. Hang your royalty from everything and dangle crown-shaped charms from the bag handle. Inside: a pink Netbook, a rose-encrusted cellphone, an ever-growing collection of gold-topped Sanrio pens, a laquer bento box with moon rabbits on it and full of fruit and healthy starch.

Labels: fashion, guide, inspirational, winter

posted by Victoria Suzanne @ 12:16 PM 15 Comments

Lolita In Snow: Winter Boots & Socks

Recently I discussed the topic of buying a winter coat - which coat you'll need and why, and how to choose something that works well for you. Now that the lines have filled out for the season, I'd like to talk about your next important winter accessory: lolita boots.

Lolita boots are typically only seen in winter months - adorable as they are, it's hard to feel enthusiastic about sporting a pair in 90 degree Fahrenheit spring weather. Most lolita boots are tall, to the knee, and made of man-made materials (though some can be made in leather for additional cost). Some models an also be found in ankle-boot style and mid-shin style, though this is rarer. The lace all the way up and can be decorated with bows, faux fur, pom-poms, cut-out 'lace', you name it. The look is supposed to inspire a 'lolita from the North Pole/at Christmastime' feel, and assume you will be peering into Victorian December window displays or wheeling through a field of life-size candy canes.

Lolita boots are much less practical than lolita coats. A lolita coat is usually moderately warm; and that can be helped with the matter of layers. The lolita boot is, after all, a lolita shoe designed for more a winter style, and therefore has all the necessary issues of a lolita shoe (which aren't really the best footwear on the planet). So if you would like to go tromp through the snow and cut down your own Christmas tree in them, it ain't happening - you'll probably kill yourself or get a chilblain or somesuch mishap. I've worn even Mudd brand granny boots for winters that wouldn't have stood up to such treatment. If you really need to do something intrepid, be smart and opt for real, snow-trekking boots.

The good things about boots are that they do have an extra layer against the cold, for one; for another, they stop your socks (mostly) from getting wet due to snow or rain. If, however, you're a puddle jumper and your winter mostly entails rain, I'd get a pair of cute rain boots instead. If you'd like to clatter around town and on the occasional dusting of snow through the woods, then you've come to the right place.


Brand and offbrand styles are available when it comes to buying lolita winter boots. I have yet to buy brand boots, but according to testimonials, brand and non-brand shoes are usually of similar quality and are sometimes even made in the same factory. I'm assuming that you're reading this article with the interest of perhaps never having bought lolita boots before or that you are most interested in bang for your buck, so I will be focusing mostly on the offbrand selection of boots in this article.

My favorite recommendation would be Qutieland. I've used their service before and liked it; they're very helpful and professional. So far they have a range of winter boots, such as these:



The pink pair is by Secret Shop, the prime dealer for offbrand lolita shoes (makers of replicas, most famously Angelic Pretty's Tea Party shoes).


You may have noticed a difference in the styles of the boots. A boot designed for a sweet lolita is usually heavier, rounded, and with more ornamentation - like additional bows, hearts on the shoe strings, and removable fur cuffs. I personally remove any 'removable' thing on footwear, as it typically means I am going to lose it as soon as I take a step outside my front door. Sweet styles are usually 'rounder' by having a rounder toe and a heavier, clunkier heel, also usually with round edges instead of square. A large base on a lolita shoe, as I may have mentioned previously, makes the wearer look more dollish and childlike. These are the kinds of shoes you'll often see replicated for ball-jointed dolls like the Super Dollfie or the Pullip.

The gothic or classic boots (they tend to be lumped together, unless you'd like to get punkier, at which point my knowledge fades) are more angular and historically inspired than the sweet boots. They're a thinner design which hugs the leg more closely and is with a more delicate heel (more of a low heel than a tall or smooth platform). These are my personal preference since they fit a wider range of styles, in my opinion. However, a platform may be more comfortable for excessive walking, as there is no added force on the ball of the foot from heels.


Lolita boots don't just come in the standard colors of ordinary shoes - like most items in the lolita fashion world, they come in a dizzying array of pink, white, black, brown, red and sometimes baby blue. As you can see in the example photo, one pair of boots comes in a beautiful, pale pink; the other is a rich espresso color. Before you just slap down your cash for the cutest boots you can spot (I know, I know, they look like bubblegum!) consider:

• Does your area experience slush, snow, or mud?
• How often do you trek through the elements, versus hiking a mostly cement city street?
• Do you have time to clean them or would you prefer a wear-and-go style?

The point is that your boots are going to be taking the brunt of the weather this year, and that means that pale colors like white, pink, or soft blue are going to rack up some serious mess. If you are a sweet lolita who deals solely in these colors, you might need to suck it up and clean them as soon as you get home, or when you arrive at work - muddy boots don't fit that clean-and-pretty dollish look! If they can be fit into your wardrobe, however, brown or black boots won't show every scuff or splash. This is a personal preference and time issue, but it is something to consider.

Labels: guide, shopping, winter

posted by Victoria Suzanne @ 12:01 PM 0 Comments

Buying Your First Winter Coat

Early autumn and late summer are the time all of the brand coats start coming out for winter - be they sugary concoctions with bear-ears or subdued beauties described in colors like 'milk tea' and 'coffee'. Some lolitas will be wearing last year's coats, brushed up and newly accessorized; others, long in the game, will have sold their previous season's coats so as to purchase the newest darling. Others may never have before bought a lolita coat, either from lack of funds or simply that this will be their first winter in the frills. Buying a coat doesn't look easy, they fuss. They're as expensive as two dresses put together, and made with all sorts of requirements different than the usual shopping criteria. Besides that, you'll most likely be wearing the coat every day (especially if you can afford only the one) - it may be all people see you in from November until March.

Cost: Set yourself a budget and decide just how much you can afford to spend on a coat. You will be hard-pressed to find a lolita coat of winter quality that costs less than $150. You can buy an offbrand coat from a store like Fanplusfriend (where I got my first coat) for around $150 - 200, and there are similarly priced and slightly cheaper ones from Hong Kong stores like Rose Melody (though I can't vouch for them personally). If you must have a brand coat, be prepared to pay somewhere within $350 - 500. In case you just experienced a wave of nausea, think of it on the pay-to-play scale. If your coat originally costs $400, but you wear it every day for five months (400/[5 * 30], give or take) you've only paid $2.60 a day or per wearing, which is probably less than your morning latte (do I sound like a commercial or what?) This method can be applied to anything you purchase - if it gets enough wear, it will eventually start paying for itself. (And of course, getting a coat that makes you happiest versus compromising is, as the commercials say, priceless). So even though a coat may be substantially more costwise, you'll be wearing it more than your favorite special-occasions only dress, which actually makes it more cost-effective. You can also buy non-lolita coats (there is a very chic 60s sort of coat at H&M currently) for a price range of $100 and under, but bear in mind that they are not cut to fit in the lolita silhouette. I had a $25 pink wool coat from Marshall's at my very start, which, while cute, gave me the dreaded 'poof peen' - there was always a wobbly wen of fabric sticking out of the coat, and squashed my petticoats. If you prefer more casual lolita, then this could be useful to you. If you're definitely into the silhouette, then don't bother.

Style Needs: So now that you've decided your budget, you need to decide just what you want your coat to do for you (ask not what you can do for your coat... ). Do you want to wear your coat every day, or just to events like winter meetups? Should you coat go to the opera or the office or both? Are you a super-sweet lolita, and can you walk into class with a bunny-eared hood without getting booed out of school?

If you're going to be wearing your coat often, you'll probably want something less distinctive or over the top. Angelic Pretty's fawn coat is made more like a dress, and if you wore it every day, might tire of it quickly. Can you imagine Day #56 straight of putting on your Bambi coat, on some raw February morning, or does the thought make your stomach turn? A coat doesn't need to match your clothes, as it should cover the majority of your outfit - but if you're the kind of person who likes to switch around styles, can you really wear a super sweet style every day if you're feeling more Gothic? Not only that, how does it fit into your everyday life? Would you need a more toned-down, standard coat, or does it not matter if you waltz in with six dozen bows on your hood?

If you'll only be wearing your coat to special events (ice skating meets, Christmas parties, etc) then you can go absolutely wild and pick out the flashiest, craziest coat with the most ruffles and frills. Ermine? Glittery leopard print? Sure!

Weight and Climate: What is winter like where you live? Do you typically get snow, ice, and wind, or simply a cold rain? Or perhaps it doesn't even get very cold where you live at all. These influence what weight of a coat you want. A heavy weight coat is usually made of wool and then lined, to stand up to freezing temperatures. A light-weight coat, sometimes called spring weight or autumn weight, is better for milder climates. Typically these are more of a brushed broadcloth. The best suggestion for knowing how a coat will stand up to weather before ordering it is to do your homework. A coat or a brand's typical coats may be reviewed on a lolita community like egl (use the search function), or you'll need to look closely at the specs of the item. Does it say what it's made out of? Can you get a good look at the inside by looking at the photos?

Bear in mind that even the winter weight lolita coats are assuming that you are wearing layers - sweaters, blouses, dresses, undershirts, the whole shebang - you generally can't sling it on over your strappiest little black dress and go. So don't be surprised if even your wool coat doesn't keep you perfectly warm at times - but you can read tips for wearing lolita in the winter here and here.

Color: When wearing a full lolita coat, it's actually cut like a large dress, and should therefore cover the entire outfit (barring shoes, socks, hair accessories, etc). So don't worry about matching your coat to your outfits - just pick whichever color you like best. My only warning is to be careful with light-colored coats - sweeping white fur against my dingy car before commuting every day was not fun! Even if your coat is a dark color, you will probably need to wash it (most likely at the cleaners') halfway through the season and then once more before packing it away for next year. Be careful with faux fur - sometimes washing will give it the texture of a used teddy bear. Check to see if your fur collars are detachable before going to your local dry cleaners'.

And that is all you need to know about selecting and purchasing your first lolita winter coat! There will be a follow-up article on winter accessorizing as well, so keep reading!

Doesn't this just make you excited for the first snowfall? I am!

Labels: guide, shopping, winter

posted by Victoria Suzanne @ 11:27 PM 10 Comments

Bored?

Are you... bored? Aimlessly trolling the Internet, rereading old egl posts, or worse yet - watching AMVs on youtube? I feel your pain. In winter, often on break from school, the days seem long. Here the temperature has dropped to 9 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, and snow is on the way. What to do?

I have some suggestions for you!

You can easily spend creative hours - well, at least an hour - playing the Queen of Dorks (Claire Belton)'s new dress-up game. Design your own Lolita with tons of motifs from unicorns to bunny ears. The image above is me, chibified from the game - blonde pigtails and brown eyes :3 I completely admit to being an addict to the game, and like to design dolls from super sweet to Gothic and spooky! :]

Another craft to take up is tatting. Tatting is a little like crochet, and is used to make lace. Today my aunt came over and showed me how to do some basic tatting. You can use tatting to make trim, bookmarks, snowflakes, little butterflies, flowers... an endless list of decorations. As for myself, I just got sick of find only chemical lace at my local craft shops. So I made my own! You can use a shuttle or just a needle. If you're interested in doing knotwork, you can use them on embroidery projects.

Coloring books may sound kiddie - but there's a lot to be said for being able to play with a big heap of colors. Use a 96 box of crayons - and old standby - or new products, like markers, watercolors, or colored pencils.

Make a rag doll. Use an old white or pink tee-shirt for a soft body, embroider a face, and couch on some soft yarn for hair. Then make her tiny Lolita clothes to wear. If you don't want to make one, get out your old dolls. I found an old vintage doll in my closet the other day complete with a full wardrobe, including petticoats and tam-of-shanter hats. I call her Louise Camille :)

Make soup! This might sound a little silly, but it has been a stable of life at my home for the last week. We make a large vat of soup (ours uses a whole chicken but try any flavor you like - potato, beef barely, minestrone, whatever!) and then keep it in the pot in the garage. Whenever one is hungry, the pot of soup comes out of the garage (where it is very cold!) and then is heated on low over the stove. Soon there is fresh, homemade soup! Easy and very filling.

Even if all you've enjoyed was reading this post, I hope you're not bored anymore! ;)

Labels: lifestyle, winter

posted by Victoria Suzanne @ 4:31 PM 2 Comments

Winterizing Your Summer Wardrobe

Update: You can now read this post in Spanish! Translation courtesy of Ana.

So - you've bought a cute collection of spring and summer clothes in the last few months. But suddenly autumn is creeping up fast, and the outfits you wore in May aren't going to cut it. For all your careful shopping, somehow now that the colder seasons have rolled around, you've nothing to wear! Don't worry, Lolita-chan - you don't need to buy a whole new set of jumperskirts, onepieces, and skirts! You can use what you've got and still carry on through winter.

♥ Step One: Layers

You'll need some good pieces to put the winter into your wardrobe. I recommend, if you don't have them already:

♥ a light bolero or sweater, preferably in your base color or a color that matches at least 75% of your wardrobe (if your wardrobe is mostly pink or can be coordinated with pink, for example, that's ok - otherwise, white or black)
♥ a capelet, made of some wool or fleece. If you have G&LB English Vol. 1, try using that pattern from some nice fleece or wool. Again, choose a good base color.
♥ a long-sleeve or removable sleeve blouse in your base color, if you don't have one already
♥ optional/replaces the capelet: a light jacket or suit jacket, such as BABY makes, or the plaid ones released by Metamorphose this season (current as of Autumn 2008).

So, here's the theory: Each of the above pieces functions to warm up your dresses through various levels of warmth. The bolero/sweater is good for the end of September and the beginning of October (the beginning/middle of September where I live being absolutely the hottest part of the year!) The capelet is more for October/November - it's made of a sturdier fabric, but it only covers so much of you, depending on how short it is. The blouses are obvious - if you spent the summer going without them or in short-sleeves, you'll need one. The jackets are the same idea as the capelet, but they're a more tailored look. As the year gets colder you may also wear them inside, especially for smart parties, whereas a furry capelet is more outside wear.

Another note on layers: Don't be afraid to layer your layers! :P Wear the sweater and the capelet, for example - or, more traditionally, the blouse and the jacket. Or if you get a funny Indian summer like we do, try a JSK blouseless, but with a light lacey bolero.

Color is important, too. As you've chosen them in your base color, they should go with every dress, jumperskirt, and blouse/skirt combination you possess. All of your outfits should match the piece, so whereas you previously had, say, four coordinates - you now have eight, one each with and without the new piece.

♥ Step Two: Color

The main difference between Lolita seasons isn't the style - after all, one of the main features uniting Lolita fashion is the silhouette. It's the color. For spring and summer, let's say you bought into all the cute summer styles - fruits, ginghams, ice-cream cones, mermaids. They seem out of place set against snow and autumn leaves, don't they? Well, here's the trick: pull out the darker colors to accessorize with.

A list of darker colors used in winter:

♥ dark red/red
♥ white (full season)
♥ black (full season)
♥ dark blue
♥ dark green
♥ pink (all season, but in varying shades)
♥ cream (all season)

Let's use this JSK for an example.



It's very summery, isn't it? Light, pale pinks. However, the 'pulling out the colors' technique requires you to look closer. This JSK is also made with red flowers. Red is one of the darker colors acceptable for winter and autumn. So, use red and white (base color) accessories to winterize this look. Example ideas: a red rose hairpiece, a red bag, red shoes, white or red patterned socks, and one or two of the layering items above (preferably in white, base color). Other wintery items you could employ are earmuffs, gloves, mittens, or anything with furry pom-poms or snowflakes.

To pull a color, you need at least three items of that color in your accessories, preferably one for each section of your outfit. By this, I mean:

♥ (hairbows, flower clips, headdresses, etc.)
♥ midway, neck or hands, which could be a neck ribbon, a handbag, or even a pearled/bow chain, necklace or brooch
♥ bottom, socks or shoes

So if you wanted to go the cheapest route: a hair bow or flower (I make those VMesque floral combs myself); a ribbon tied round the blouse neck or throat; socks. In that case the most expensive item is the socks, especially if brand (estimate: $5 + $3 + $24 = $32). Most expensive route: elaborate BRAND (VM, Alice and the Pirates/BABY, Angelic Pretty) floral headpieces/veils, handbag, and shoes (10,000 - 14,000 yen + 10,000 - 20,000 yen + 14,000 - 22,000 yen = 34,000 yen - 56,000 yen). Or of course feel free to spring for one major ticket item and then supplement with the less expensive ones.

Other items that can pull color: jewelry (rings, necklace, earrings, bracelets, watches); parasols; fans; gloves; hats; scarves; earmuffs.

♥ Step Three: The New Lines (And The Old)

Ok, I know this is an article on using your summer clothes for winter ones. But, let's admit it - we all drool over what the brands come out with for the winter. And let's also admit that every so often, a piece is hopeless - that bright yellow gingham skirt patterned with lemon wedges and beach balls isn't going to work - period. So, with that in mind:

♥ Buy 1 JSK or OP from the new lines, preferably something that goes both up and down on the dressy level;
♥ Buy 1 skirt from the new lines.

The JSK and OP are for Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's, whatever your winter holidays of choice are (mine is Yule :P). Not only will you like having a new piece for these, but with the tips above, it can probably carry you through most of the major holidays (another great thing is usually you don't see the exact same people for every gathering - one side of the family for Christmas, say, and the other for New Year's). If it's mostly dressy, hopefully it has some removable frills. If it's less dressy, it can be dressed up by how luxe the accessories look. Example recommendation: a tall, multi-strand pearl bracelet looks royal (mine was $7.50 at Claires).

The skirt is the same idea, but with more of an eye towards day-to-day wear. It can be put with your other blouses, your new accessories, etc. Since you're only buying the one, there's no harm in getting one of the brand's signatures prints you like - as long as the color scheme matches the rest of your wardrobe. i.e., Don't buy the black skirt if the rest of your wardrobe is meant to go with white. Or, if you're going for cheap, pick something offbrand that goes with everything. My example for this is Fanplusfriend's corduroy skirt. I bought mine ages ago, in dark red corduroy, with white trim. Ergo, it goes with everything white, dark red, or pink (pink being an accompanying color).

As to old lines: at New Year's the brands do sales. If you missed it the first time around, feel free to snatch it. It's officially cheaper, and you can still wear it for January, February, and in some areas, like mine, March. Another tip: there's nothing that says you need to buy this season's winter items. If you shop egl_comm_sales, fairy-angel.com, closet-child.com, mbok, or Yahoo!Japan, you can buy last season's winter items at a cheaper price. Especially good for coats, because, let's admit it, they're expensive and pretty much look alike from one year to the other. It may be you wanted that piece last season anyway!

And, as an added bonus, once you've bought these pieces, they will still be ok to wear next year, and you'll only need to add marginally.

♥ That's It!

So, to recap:

♥ bolero/sweater, base color;
♥ jacket/capelet, base color;
♥ long or detachable sleeve blouse (hopefully you already have this)
♥ various accessories, your choice;
♥ new JSK/OP
♥ new skirt

As you can see, this is a fairly short list of things compared to what you needed to have amassed to wear Lolita daily. Four large items (excludes blouse, because this is hopefully, I repeat, already in your closet from wardrobe building), and various accessories, which if you shop around (I love Claires!) can be fairly cheap.

Congratulations, you've winterized your wardrobe!

Labels: winter

posted by Victoria Suzanne @ 12:56 PM 2 Comments