Boxing Yourself Into One Style

I have noticed, and gotten a number of questions about it, that a lot of Lolitas, especially beginner ones, try to box themselves in to one specific style. I'm sure you've heard it before "Oh! I love that dress so much! I wish I could get it, but I'm a Sweet Lolita :(" Some Lolita's just love to limit themselves to one particular style, sub-style, or even color! While there are some good reasons to limit yourself to such things (ease of coordination, to stick to a budget, because you don't have the space) there's really no reason why such limitations are required. There's really no law that says that Gothic Lolitas have to wear black and blue for all eternity, that Sweet Lolitas can never own anything with raw asymmetrical hems, or that Classic Lolitas can never own a skirt with any print other than flowers on it.

I feel like this "You must be X-Lolita forever, and if you want to be Y-Lolita you have to sell your X wardrobe off completely to fund your new Y wardrobe" attitude is just another misconception some Lolitas have about their own fashion, maybe brought on by taking some advice about wardrobe coordination a little too far, or because they feel like they need to present themselves as more dedicated than anyone else. While I can understand the appeal of utter dedication to one specific style, I think that it sucks some of the fun out of the fashion. Even if you fall in love with OTT Sweet, it's okay to have a few black pieces in your wardrobe if you absolutely love the pieces.

My own wardrobe is all over the place when it comes to style! I have a lot of Gothic, a bunch of Sweet, a growing amount of Classic, and a little bit of Punk, Country, and Aristocrat. While I have had years to nurture my closet, I have found it to be relatively easy and cheap to add small, workable, sections of various different Lolita styles to my wardrobe. It just takes some creativity and a little bit of patience.

Tips for making the most (styles!) out of your wardrobe:

• Stick to simple pieces. Especially if you're just starting out! Avoid prints that are obviously meant to work with one specific style (gothic castles, sparkly unicorns, that kind of thing) and try to build a base wardrobe of solid colors, neutral tartans, stripes, dots, or even florals. I really believe in the versatility of floral prints!
  
• Don't be afraid to snag a good deal every now and then. Try not to go crazy, but if you do happen to see a dress or skirt that's not your normal style, but you really like it and it's got a great price, grab it! Worry about coordinating it when you get it. Try making coordinates with it with what you already have on hand. Don't think that a Punk Lolita skirt is only going to match a Punk Lolita top, pair it with some Sweet Lolita if you have to! This leads me to the next tip:
  
• Experiment with your current wardrobe. Don't be afraid to Experiment! Try to make different styles with what you already have, with a little bit of creativity, you'll be surprised at the different looks you can create with basic pieces.
  
• Accessorize. Accessories are a great way to add some different styles to your wardrobe for much cheaper than buying all new pieces, and are usually just the thing to turn that one lone black skirt in your closet into an unquestionably Gothic Lolita outfit.
• Don't worry so much about specific styles. If you want to wear a tartan Putumayo, safety pin covered skirt with a pink Angelic Pretty bow-splosion blouse, try it out! Don't worry about your outfits not fitting perfectly into one style. It's perfectly OK to have an outfit that is a little bit of several different styles. So long as the outfit looks balanced and the colors don't clash horribly, it shouldn't matter what styles you mash together.
  

If you want some more ideas for stretching your style choices with a minimal wardrobe, check out these older posts of mine. One Dress- Five Different Looks is about how versatile a simple print dress can be and Gothic Lolita Starter Coordinates is about all the different styles you can play with in a relatively small Gothic Lolita wardrobe.

What are your opinions on the various Lolita styles? Do you find yourself going down the list of them each time you dress up, pastel explosion Sweet one day, stark black and white Aristocrat the next, and refined muted mossy green Classic sometime next week? Or do you prefer a closet comprised completely of one style? Has your opinion on styles changed over your life as a Lolita? I've always pretty much felt the way I do about it, when I first started I wanted to try all of the styles I possibly could. I felt it wasn't right saying "I'm a Gothic Lolita!" until I had also spent a little bit of time in Sweet Lolita. While I didn't exactly go about this in the most efficient way (I would buy one outfit in one style, save up for a long time, and then buy another outfit in another style), sampling as many styles as I could really helped me find my own style.

Taking a Cue from the Victorians

Many people cite the Rococo era as their inspiration for Lolita, but personally, for me it's all about the Victorians. The rest of you can have your powdered wigs and pinks and blues because I love the deep jewel tones, the bustles, the pointy shoes, and the big feather covered hats of the Victorian era and these are what most often inspire me and my wardrobe. There is really so much about this whole era that I love, and that I find incredibly inspiring when it comes to the Lolita fashion, that I couldn't possibly cover it all in one post, so instead, think of this post as a crash course in adding some Victoriana to your frills, and maybe expect a few more posts about specific things in the future.

So you want to add some Victoriana to your Lolita outfits?

• Wear a corset, or an outfit with corset lacing. True, Vicotorian ladies did not wear their corsets on the outside any more than girls nowadays wear their underwear over their jeans, but the corset is iconic of the Victorian era. In Lolita, you can either wear a fully steel boned corset in an historically accurate shape, or you can simply wear something with cute criss-crossed ribbons on it, reminiscent of an actual corset. For a happy middle ground, try a non-boned faux-corset or cincher, like the ones Antique Beast and Black Peace Now sell.
• Wear gloves. A proper Victorian lady would never be seen without her gloves! A pair of opera length gloves with a short sleeved top is an incredibly elegant way to wear gloves, but even a pair of cute lacy gloves work to add a touch of Victoriana to your outfit.
• Wear granny boots. Nix your cutesy flats and rounded mary janes and switch them for a dainty pair of pointy toed granny boots. What are granny boots? They're a common name (or at least what I've always seen them referred to as!) for Victorian styled boots. They often are mid-calf length, but can be ankle or knee high, lace-up boots with a Victorian style to them. They usually have a fancy cut to the top of them, instead of just being flat, and embroidered details.
• Find a dress or skirt with a bustle. Bustles are another icon of the Victorian age, and they are certainly no stranger to Lolita. Within the Lolita fashion you can find a variety of different bustle styles, but personally I find the most Victorian style, in Lolita, to be the swag bustle (I have no idea if this is a historical term, I just often see it used online). An example would be this skirt, with relative ease you can turn any Lolita skirt with proper poof into a swag bustle over-skirt, just gather it up in 2 places and carefully pin, or even stitch, it into place.
• Wear decadent fabrics. Taffeta, silk, velvet, chiffon, and pretty much any fabric other than plain cotton is a great way to add some Victorian elegance to your outfit. If you're looking to wear a print, look for something with large clusters of florals, and maybe even floral vertical stripes.
  
• Wear antique styled jewelry. The Victorian era is known for it's elegant and opulent jewelry, and luckily, this jewelry style has been replicated by costume jewelry makers ever since, so you're not going to bust the bank to wear something Victorian styled. Goth shops, trendy shops, and ebay are filled with incredibly reasonably priced Victorian costume jewelry. The chokers are my favorite! If you are looking for something much more simple than an elaborate choker, look for a pretty cameo brooch.

Some historical inspiration

One of my favorite things about Victorian fashion is the fashion plates that were used to show ladies what the popular styles were at the time. Luckily the internet has several sites dedicated to the Victorian age. If you're interested in more fashion plates and photographs, check out the Victorian Flickr pool. These are a few of my favorite fashion plates.

I really am a fan of the bustles! But I also love the shorter girls skirts and the couple of deep red dresses. The Victorian era spanned from 1837-1901, so there was a really wide range of different styles but my favorites are the later Victorian styles.

Keeping the Victorian aesthetics in mine I've created a couple of Polyvore coordinates. Of course, these are not meant to be historically accurate in any sense, nor are they meant to simply be knee-length Victorian outfits, just Lolita outfits with some Victorian elements.

First up is a Gothic Lolita coordinate inspired by Victorian mourning fashions. It features a big black bonnet, a dress with detailing that is reminiscent of a bustle, opera length gloves, a lacy shawl, and black jewelry.

I've also made a coordinate on the opposite side of the loli-spectrum, a sweeter Classic Lolita coordinate. A dainty pair of lace gloves and a simple hair corsage make this a much less severe outfit but the fancy jewelry keeps it looking, well, fancy.

What brands release Victorian inspired Lolita pieces?

Well, most brands are bound to release something that can be worked into a Victorian inspired coordinate. Even Angelic Pretty releases delicate lace gloves and plain colored dresses with corset lacing, but your best bet is to look towards the Classic or even Gothic Lolita brands. A few that are known for having Victorian inspired pieces are:

Mary Magdalene


Victorian Maiden


Juliette et Justine


Milky Ange


Excentrique


Millefleurs

While some of the brands listed above are either very tricky to buy from, or are known for making one very small size, the pieces they sell are great for inspiration!

What is your favorite time period that Lolita takes inspiration from? Do you love the pastels and powders of the Rococo era? The fancy finery of the Victorian era? The kitschy cuteness of the mid-20th century? Or are you one of the 1980's obsessed Fairy Kei x Lolita mash-up enthusiasts?

As an unrelated side note, at the end of next week, on Friday and Saturday, I'm going to be vending at U-con. U-con is a free local convention held at the Uconn campus. I went last year, which was their first year,and it ended up being much bigger than expected, hopefully this year is even better! On the Friday of the convention, local loli Rebecca will be hosting a panel about being a university student and a Lolita. A few other local lolis will be there too, so if you're in the area you should definitely stop for a visit, it's freeeeeee.

Ask Miss Caro-chan: Lolitas Without Bangs

As always, I've been neglecting my Ask Miss Caro-chan feature. I've been answering questions over on my formspring, but I haven't really be going into in dept blog posts about some of the questions, even though I've been getting a lot of really good ones that have made me want to blog about them! Well, maybe one day I'll go through my backlog of questions and make really awesome blog posts answering them, but until then, here's a pretty relevant question from E. Etherington who asks:

Dear Miss Caro-chan,

I refuse to wear bangs! I have have hand bangs my entire young life, and by highschool I was sick of them. I now have a head of beautiful, long, unlayered hair. I love my hair, and it is probably my favorite part of me. :)

However, I have been searching endlessly for Lolita hairstyles for people without bangs. I am well-versed in historical hair coiffures, which is where I draw a lot of my inspiration, but I was wondering if you knew any photos, tutorials, or looks that give a Lolita look to someone without bangs.
Plus, I feel that bang-less hairstyles are much more elegant, and give a more mature look to Lolita that some people may desire. I am interested on your opinion of this!

I have to admit, I was bangless for a very long time! When I was really little I used to have bangs and I used to hate them. Well, not actually the bangs themselves, it was the hair cutting that I used to hate! I was quite little and I was pretty terrified of the big pair of scissors my mom used to use to cut my bangs, the cold feel of them against my forehead as she tried to get my bangs nice and straight, and the awful sssshhhhhhhhnip noise as she cut them. After a few times of that I would only let my hair be cut at a salon by a trained professional with teeny tiny scissors. Sometime in second grade I put my foot down and decided "No more bangs! Ever!", well, until about 4 years ago.

But, the question from E wasn't "Dear Caro-chan: How completely afraid of certain hairstyles are you? What's the scariest hair style?" so I wont go into more blood-curdling details about the irrational fear of bangs I had when I was 5 and instead just say that there are indeed different ways of styling bangless hair in the Lolita world! It sometimes take some digging around but you can often find pictures of girls without bangs among the various Lolita mooks out there.

The braided bangs

A cute little french braid along your hair line is a good style choice for the bangless, either in a longer length to almost create faux bangs, or tight against your head to just add some interest to your hair. The braided bang creates a very elegant look that is quite suited for Classic Lolita. There are tons of tutorials for this hairstyle on youtube, search around and pick the one that you think will suit you best and try it out!

Side swept-bangs and the side part.

Definitely the most popular bangless Lolita hairstyle! Simply part your hair a little to the left or the right and either pin it, tuck it, or just leave it free. Some of these pictures might actually be side-swept bangs, instead of long straight hair, because it's sometimes nearly impossible to tell the difference between perfect side-swept bangs and a nice side part. This is an elegant looking hair style that can be used with any of the Lolita styles, as the pictures above show, Gothic, Classic, and Sweet Lolita all go great with the side part.

Fake bangs

And I don't mean a pair of clip on bangs! I'm talking about the extreme side part. Where you take a chunk of hair from one side of your head and basically just pin it to the opposite side so that it gives a bangs-esque shape to your face. I think this is a cute look, like a grownup version of bangs, and is good for when you want the shape of bangs, but you're not going to cut your hair just for them, but I imagine that it's a bit difficult to get this style to stay in place for a long period of time.

The plain old down the middle part

A very natural looking and girly way to part your hair. It's a little younger and a little less formal looking than the side part, but is cute just the same and goes very nicely with just about any Lolita style.

Pulled back

Another simple look for the bangless. I think that this is quite possibly one of the youngest bangless looks you can do and is very nicely suited for Sweet Lolita.

Headwear Without Bangs

The biggest downside to not having bangs is always being afraid that your particular choice of headwear just isn't appropriate without bangs. I really do think that anything that works with bangs can work without bangs, but sometimes hair needs to be styled a certain way to make it work. As you can see from the examples above there is a wide variety of different Lolita head pieces being worn, from bonnets, to big bows, to tiny bows, to mini hats, to crowns, to flower corsages, and they all look very nice. Because of all the different ways to style bangless hair, you might want to experiment a bit to decide which one works for you.

For me, it's hard to say that bangless hair styles are always more mature and elegant than hair styles with bangs, but they definitely can be much more mature and elegant than plain old blunt, eyeball length bangs. But, on the flipside, there are ways to style your hair that can look just as youthful, and even more so, than bangs.

I do definitely think that bangless hair styles are often overlooked or taken for granted in Lolita and should definitely not be mandatory for the style. With bangs, you pretty much decide on what look you want and cut your bangs to suit that, then they're going to be that way for at least a couple months until they grow out long enough to cut them again, but without bangs, you can change your look day by day. One day pulling them back into perfectly curled pig tails for a sweet and girlish look, the next parting them on the side with a gentle wave for a natural and mature look.

What about the rest of you? Bangs or no bangs with Lolita? Did you decide to take the plunge one way or another specifically for Lolita? Do you have any bangless Lolita hairstyles of your own to share? Personally, I did get bangs specifically for Lolita. For a while I was nervous about getting them because I was afraid it would make my face look too wide (And, I was determined to stick to the "Never again!" promise I made with I was 7) so I had lots of layers around my face in a sort of half-bang for a year before I finally took the plunge and just got regular blunt bangs. Now that I have bangs though, I really do love them, except for when I'm too lazy to trim them and they grow too long and they drive me crazy.

Lolita in Aliceland: Wonderland Inspired Coordinates

Art by Imai Kira

As Lolitas we are constantly trying to dispel the myth that Lolita is a costume, and yet, at the same time, we sort of love to dress up as other characters, Alice being one of them. Luckily, most of us tend to save our character coordinates for themed meetups and Halloween!

If you're looking for inspiration for all-out Alice Lolita outfits browse around the Bibles because there are a few volumes with Alice in Wonderland photoshoots. As you can see from some of the pictures below the photoshoots range from baby blue outfits with white frilly aprons, looking just like they pranced out of a Disney cartoon, to more toned down and romantic outfits that look more at home within the original book's illustrations.

You don't have to go all out and look like you just stepped out of a Disney cartoon to add a little bit of Wonderland to your coordinates, there are a few simple things you can wear as a nod to Wonderland.

• Wear a bow in your hair. Alice is most often depicted with a big bow in her hair, we even call big Lolita bows Alice Bows. Pick either a large and lacy head-eating bow or a cute little one worn off to the side.
  
• Wear striped socks. A pair of striped knee socks are easily picked up from just about anywhere and can give a cute Alice look to your coordinates, especially if it's a pastel Sweet Lolita coordinate.
  
• Carry a card suit shaped purse. Card suits are a symbol that is so often associated with Alice in Wonderland (even though Chess themes are just as prevalent in the books!) and a number of Lolita brands, and offbrands, have released purses featuring, or shaped like, card suits.
  
• Have Alice on your print. Lolita brands make tons of Alice in Wonderland themed prints! From Bodyline to Baby to Meta and many of the brands in between, one thing they all have in common is that they have many prints featuring Alice or other Wonderland characters in them. Look around on Hello Lace or Lolibrary with the keyword "Alice" and you're bound to find an Alice print from your favorite brand.
  
• Wear a Wonderland themed jewelry piece. If you want something a little more subtle, and affordable, than an Alice print, look for a jewelry piece to wear with your outfit. Etsy has a large number of unique pieces but you can just as easily find an Alice themed jewelry piece in mainstream stores.
  

Here are some gorgeous examples of the kind of Alice jewelry pieces you can find on Etsy. As you can see, many of these can easily be worked into even non-Lolita outfits.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland but I do really enjoy the original illustrations and the creative things people do with the themes and characters in the story, especially when combined with Lolita.