Near Complete Lolita Wardrobe Overhaul: Part 1

For the past several months I've had a bad case of a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. A scorching hot summer certainly didn't help this, it was too hot to even think about doing anything other than putting on a sundress and falling asleep in front of the A/C, let alone putting together interesting Lolita coordinates. This, combined with the fact that I rarely get rid of my Lolita clothes, made me think "Same old, same old" whenever I opened my closet. Don't get me wrong, I do love my Lolita wardrobe, I have so many pieces I just love, well, to pieces. But I also have so much that has just become very ho-hum to me. So, what's a Lolita to do? Out with the old, in with the new is the best solution!

First step: What do I want from a wardrobe? What kind of change to I need to see in my current wardrobe?

Well, first of all I want something that thrill me and makes me giddy with possibility when I go through it. I want something that has a lot of possibilities and different ways of coordinating. I want something that suits me, and fits me. At the moment my closet is feeling very stagnant because some pieces have simply been in there, unworn, for so long that I feel like I have to sort through so much to find what I like. I also happen to have a lot of things that only match one or two pieces in my wardrobe, and that's just no fun at all. I started adding to my Lolita wardrobe around 6 years ago, a lot can change in 6 years! Honestly, my personal style hasn't really changed a whole lot since I was in middle school and first discovered black clothes (it's simply gotten better!), I feel like my everyday Lolita style has changed a bit and it's simply time for me to refine it, instead of just making do with what I have.

Generally, my Lolita wardrobe is divided into the 3 styles I wear most of all: Gothic, Sweet, and Classic. Currently these sections are a pretty much complete hodgepodge of random things, and that is something that I really think needs to change! Let's talk about each one a little bit more in depth!

Gothic Lolita- I really think that this section needs the least work, I just think it needs a little bit of a re-imagining. Currently, when I wear Gothic Lolita it is often a lot of Kuro JSKs with Gothic accessories and styling or a whole lot of h.NAOTO at once. While I love me some Kuro, and Naoto, I have become a bit bored with them an just sort of tired of seeing the same pieces again and again. Instead, I would like to have a Gothic Lolita wardrobe that focuses on elegance and texture. Chiffon, brocade, velvet, embroidery, things like that. I would also like to be able to incorporate more of my regular, "Western" Gothic wardrobe into my Gothic Lolita wardrobe, this isn't something I really need to make a wardrobe change to do, really just something that I need to force myself to do. In regards to inspiration, I want my wardrobe to be more Antique Beast, less h.NAOTO.

Classic Lolita- I would simply like to wear this style more. I currently have a fair amount of Classic Lolita pieces, in a style I particularly like, but I have so few foundation and basic pieces that match that I get very little wear out of it. I'd like to add less main pieces to my Classic Lolita wardrobe and more things like boleros, Classic appropriate shoes, blouses. I don't really have any specific colors in mind, as I think that Classic Lolita doesn't really require a lot of matchy-matchy, but I would like to keep burgundy, cream, black, and a few dusty pastels in mind when shopping for new Classic Lolita pieces. Inspiration wise, I would like less Innocent World does Country Lolita and more Juliette et Justine meets Dolly Kei.

Sweet Lolita- I have so much of this, and it's currently my go-to wardrobe simply because I have so much of it and it's so easy, and I think it's the wardrobe that needs the most work. Right now,  it's definitely all over the place from years of being able to pick up stuff for relatively cheap. My Sweet Lolita is very black-centric and has a lot of pink and black and cutesy prints. Much to the surprise of many Lolitas I'd actually like to get rid of nearly all of my Sweet Lolita prints. Instead, I would like to focus on solid colors and old school inspired pieces, maybe a few Sweet floral prints and a couple tartan pieces. I'd like to limit my colors to mainly black & white and red & white, with a few pink pieces thrown in for variety. I'd also like to get rid of all my Peter Pan collared blouses and instead focus on square necked and high collars. I'd also like to bring in some more screen printed pieces instead of any more prints. Inspiration- more 2004 era Baby, less Metamorphose prints.

Second step: Deciding what stays, and what goes.

Quite possibly the most difficult step! Certainly harder then the upcoming tedious and annoying step of cleaning and selling everything. I decided I wanted to narrow my entire wardrobe down to 3 piles: Things I wear frequently and fit the styles I would like to have, things I rarely wear but are special or novelty pieces, and pieces I either haven't worn in a long time or pieces that just aren't what I would like my future wardrobe to look like.

Going into this task I started with a huge pile containing 25 dresses, 31 skirts, and probably between 30 and 40 tops. I managed to whittle this down to 12 skirts, 16 dresses, and 18 tops. That's half of my wardrobe!

This is my to-go pile!

I was happy to see that what I decided to whittle it down to, more or less, fit just what I was looking for. And I was even happier to find that I could actually close my armoire without jamming everything in and then closing the door really fast! 

The next step, the step I haven't gotten to yet, is to actually sell off this to-go pile, as well as a few miscellaneous accessories. Whatever I make selling off the to-go pile will go into building my wardrobe back up again. I wear Lolita on a near-daily basis, so it is a little scary cutting my wardrobe in half for a while but I've really needed to do something a bit drastic to my wardrobe like this for a while. Like I mentioned, I've been building up my Lolita wardrobe for a long time now and the thought of having some fresh pieces and fresh possibilities in my wardrobe is a really exciting idea!