just_radtastic's 2019 wardrobe post
I'm so glad we are still doing these on livejournal, I'm feeling super nostalgic right now! The last time I did one of these was in 2014, and in that time since then I've moved, got married, left lolita, sold off half of my wardrobe, had a baby, and finally ended up getting back into lolita after two years away only to find livejournal almost dead and the online community had migrated to facebook. It's been a crazy few years, but here I am anyways because I just love the frills too much to ever actually leave <3
My wardrobe has kind of exploded in the past year since I started wearing lolita again. Despite having sold off half of my dresses a few years ago, its now much bigger than it's ever been. I tried to keep my number of main pieces limited (wishlist tier purchases only) and focus on blouses, cardigans, hair accessories, etc instead because in the past I definitely struggled with that. And I think I've been decently successful. I finally have several gorgeous brand blouses (that fit!) instead of a pile of Bodyline and loliable normie stuff. Feels so much better!
However, I've also basically run out of space for more stuff, so until my husband and I move this spring/summer, I am basically going to limit my purchases to small accessories and maybe a couple more pairs of shoes or bags. Which is good for me anyways because I'm going to be going to Paradiso in May and need to save up for that!
Currently my wardrobe lives in a small spare bedroom downstairs that is conveniently full of large cabinets for storage. I'm pretty sure my "wardrobe" used to be a TV cabinet, but someone installed a bar for hanging clothes inside at some point. Two of the doors underneath are actually full of racks for storing VHS tapes and are completely useless for anything else, hahaha. Whatever, works for me! There's two tall cabinets as well, I use one for shoes, and the other for hair accessories, socks, jewelry, and my giant box of waist ties and random detachable dress parts.
Alright, now for the fun part, main pieces! One thing I've noticed is that I have a weakness for all-over prints, especially florals and ginghams. I have only a handful of border prints, and my only solid is a nightgown lmfao. Overall I would describe my aesthetic as oldschool, but cute. I like a lot of simple sweet styles and sweet-classic hybrid styles. I'm not a hardcore oldschooler either, I do wear modern pieces sometimes but I always end up coordinating them in a more "traditional lolita" way. Or I mix old and new pieces together a lot as well.
Left: Btssb Milky Sugar JSK (2008). This was actually a super stained piece that I restored. Only cost me $18 making it by far the best deal I've ever gotten!
Right: Btssb Wizard of Oz Applique Scallop JSK (2008)
Left: Btssb Garden Alice Babydoll JSK (2009)
Right: Btssb Thumbelina JSK (2004). This was an early dream dress and is still one of my favorite prints of all time.
Left: Meta Gingham High Waist Shirring OP (2009)
Right: Meta (2007). This is actually a set with a separate top and skirt!
I love this Meta JSK from 2006 so much I have it in two colorways. Random fact: this dress in the black colorway is the one that the lolita on that infamous episode of What Not To Wear was wearing... I've considered getting it to complete my collection but haven't yet. Check back next year and maybe I will have it!
Left: Btssb Sweet Cookies Alice JSK (2005)
Right: Btssb Rococo Bouquet Babydoll JSK (2008)
Left: My one and only foray into Taobao. Unsure about the brand, got it off of Glitzy Wonderland because it was dirt cheap. Was not impressed.
Right: Meta Vintage Poodle Shirring Short Sleeve OP (2007).
Left: Btssb Alice and Bambi and the Blue Bird of Happiness JSK (2018). This is the only main piece I've ever bought new, but its so gorgeous and I've accepted the fact that I may never get my hands on the original Alice Bambi print from 2004 at this point, so this will have to do!
Right: Btssb Rose Garden OP (2004). Another personal favorite.
Both Bodyline. I like to keep a few Bodyline pieces around for more everyday use to save wear and tear on my favorite dresses. These ones are honestly not bad for Bodyline and they get a lot of compliments from normies, lol.
Left: slightly more tacky Bodyline (the lace is sooooo bad if you look closely), but I just like it for some reason. Probably the nice bright green color and the collar.
Right: Anna House. This was my first dress!
Left: Btssb Snow White Skirt (2004). This is my all time favorite print, and red JSK is my holy grail dream dress. Ivory is ridiculously cute too though.
Right: Meta Rose Print Skirt (2009). My only gothic piece, for those times when there's a gothic meet and I need to be prepared! I'd like to get the bustier for this as well.
Left: Meta March of the Duck lucky pack skirt (2009)
Right: Meta Candy House lucky pack skirt (2008)
I love the Meta lp skirts because they're so comfy and easy to wear casually.
Both Bodyline, and both getting a bit old and worn. They might be retired soon.
Cutsew Ops/Roomwear. From left to right:
Ank Rouge
Btssb Strawberry OP (2002). This is my oldest piece!
AaTP Nightwear Set (2018). Totally a frivolous purchase but let me tell you, falling asleep in brand is basically the best thing ever lol. It has a bow I forgot to include in the picture.
Btssb Cutsew OP (2013). This is so cute but so short. It's more of a tunic than a dress. I have to wear it with leggings (or bloomers if I'm staying home).
My Bodyline coats.
My precioussss I mean, ahem, Btssb Crown Gobelin Coat (2006). I got this in mint condition too, the photo doesn't come close to doing it justice. It's just so gorgeous!
Blouses time! I have a weakness for cotton fabric/lace, full shirring, and detachable sleeves. I'm basically always on a quest for the ultimate oldschool blouse.
Left: Taobao (okay, I have two Taobao pieces, I forgot about this one)
Right: Bodyline
Left:Bodyline
Right: offbrand
Left: okay so I have one more Taobao blouse. I think we all have this one though lol.
Right: offbrand
Left: Baby Shirring Blouse. I think this is the 2006 version but am not sure.
Right: Bodyline (notice this is a sad copy of the Baby one next to it, lmaooooo)
Left: Baby Waist Shirring Blouse (2008 version). I love the crazy pointy lace!
Center: Baby Frill Frill Blouse (2005 version). My favorite blouse, just look at that lace!!
Right: Bodyline
Cutsews. Clockwise from Left: Meta Flower Basket Cutsew (2009), Forever21,Knit&Co, Meta (2010ish), Meta Candy House Cutsew (2008).
Left: English Charm. This didn't photograph well, but it's a nice cotton eyelet material and the sleeves are detachable.
Center: Baby
Right: offbrand
These are all the same Bodyline cardigan. I have the beige one in the mail currently as well!
Left: Bodyline
Right: Maxicimam
Head accessories and hats. I love rectangle headdresses and have more of them than anything else.
Smaller hair accessories, plus two more rectangle headdresses that showed up in the mail after I took the first picture.
Socks and tights. I only took out the more interesting ones, but I apparently have more than I thought I did. I wear plain lace top otks more often than anything else though tbh.
Bags. I've never been much of a bag girl, these are all the "lolita" bags I own (and tbh half of them are just kinda loliable normie bags anyways, lol). When these don't match or I need a bigger bag I have two nice and fairly simple designer bags (one black one beige) that I carry instead.
Shoes and boots. Not much to say here, the older I get the more I prefer to just wear simple Mary Janes with my coordinates. I would really like a nice pair of stompy oldschool platforms though, or the Baby Victoire shoes. Let's see what this year brings! Also, I highly recommend cheap a** ebay boots for nasty winter weather. That's where I got the black pair in the back from, they're decently cute (idk if you can see the fluffy bows on the sides or not) and surpsingly warm and durable and nonslip.
From left to right, back row: eBay, eBay, Baby, Demonia
center row: Bodyline, vintage Kenneth Cole, Bodyline, Bodyline, Bodyline
front row: Bodyline, BAIT, Bodyline
I think that about wraps it up! I hope you found this enjoyable and my photo quality wasn't too terrible. Putting this all together was fun and made me realize that my wardrobe is defintely bigger than I thought it was, and gave me a few new ideas for coordinating as well. This took approximately forever btw. IDK how lolitas with giant wardrobes manage tbh!
Thanks for looking :)