Ask Miss Caro-chan: Lolita Styles For Warm Weather

Today's Ask Miss Caro-chan comes from Haruko, who asks:

What would you recommend for a summer lolita look. Where I live it's hot most of the year, and a lolita coord with so many layers can be pretty uncomfortable, and even not worth the cuteness :(

Summer is often the worst season for wearing Lolita. True, it's lovely and beautiful out, but Lolita just has so many layers that it's usually just too hot to bother with. If you are hard core about dressing up in your finest frills the most you can do is just deal with the heat, but if you just don't want to bother, there are some things you can do to make a Lolita outfit a bit more bearable in the heat of summer.

• Loose some layers. Start from the inside out. It can be something as simple as just not wearing bloomers, but you can keep going from there and loose the blouse and just wear a JSK, and then loose the socks or tights. If you are scared of committing a Lolita faux pas by going blouseless under a JSK, don't worry about it! Going blouseless is usually seen as OK nowadays, and a lot of Lolita brands even make halter styled tops in the summer that are meant to be worn without a blouse under them.
  
• Use protection. From the sun that is! Carry a parasol or wear a large brimmed hat to keep a patch of nice cool shade wherever you go. Don't forget to wear some sunscreen too.
• Wear open toed shoes. If you're not wearing socks, of course. Try a pair of summery platform or heeled sandals in a matching color.
  
• Go easy on your hair. You're probably not going to want to use a whole bottle of hair spray in the heat of summer, or worse yet, a wig. Wear your hair either down and loose, with maybe a bit of a wave to it, or up in something very simple like curled pigtails. In addition to keeping your hair light and simple, wear an easy head piece. In the heat of summer you're not going to want to wear a big square headdress that just makes your head hot, instead go for a simple headband with a flower or a bow on it.
  
• Wear lightweight fabrics. Put your velvets away for a few months and start wearing lightweight cotton, the breezier the better. If you still want to wear blouses under your JSKs, it's a good idea to find some very lightweight blouses to wear in the summer. If they are a little bit see-through it's not really going to be that big of a deal because you're going to be wearing them under a JSK.
  
• Wear cutsews. If you wear skirts more than JSKs, invest in some cutsews. They are much less stuffy feeling than button-up blouses, and the fabric usually breaths better.
  
• Dress for the season. Wear a lot of light pastels, or look for prints that feel summery to you.
  

Of course, I couldn't do a post like this without an excuse to make some coordinates! So here are a couple, one Sweet and one Gothic, of summery looking Lolita coordinates.

This coordinate is a little bit Hime. At least, Summery Sweet Lolita coordinates always remind me of Hime coordinates. A pale pastel yellow Baby JSK is paired with a variety of pink accessories to match the pink in the flowers. The hair is kept long and wavy and a small sidebow is used instead of a head eating bow.

Ah! This set is more me. I hate it when people ask me, in the summer, "Aren't you hot wearing black?" when I'm clearly wearing a tank top. Seriously people, just because something is black, doesn't mean it's 100 degrees hotter than any other color. XD Enough about that! In this set I chose black with a few gold accents to match the gold in the parasol. The dress is an Innocent World one that is very minimalistic with a corset lacing on the front, which, I think, is very Gothic looking. Hair is short and straight, and instead of a traditional Lolita headdress I chose a feathery headband with a rose clipped to it.