Friday 3 October 2014

LBC: how my style has evolved.

This week's LBC theme will mean an absolute photoflood - apologies in advance but I did start my lolying in the earlier half of the 2000's so there's stacks and stacks of material and even so I'm only showing you the worst offenders... :D


Holy shit. Holy shit fuk! I guess the best I could say is that we all start from somewhere and that I took a while before I actually figured out how the style works. I do remember though that back when this photo was taken it was only criticized for one thing: the hem of the dress was too short. Perhaps the demands of the community were more relaxed back then...


...well, a bit more there? This skirt + vest set is actually my first lolita dress ever, and true to form I made it myself. I loved H.Naoto and Miho Matsuda above everything during my starting years and it kinda shows. Btw bloomers showing from below the hem was not yet a faux-pas at this time, but a very regular thing that you actually saw quite often. Later it became hugely unpopular in the Western lolita community, but I still don't always mind long-ish bloomers, they can look cute in a nostalgic sort of way.


Another selfmade dress from my early years. I originally aimed for aristocrat instead of lolita, thinking that as I was well past 20 years old I was too old for lolita... yeah... you know how well that worked out don't you...

Ok, but moving on. All of the above will be counted as my trial and error period, on the next stage I already prided myself (lol) for having loly skillz.


Posing with Mr Tea. Good times good times. Selfmade dress again, I couldn't really afford burando so...


Same dress, detail shot to better illustrate my, ahem, elegance. Or my habit of poking things with a vacant look. Or being a generic mouth breather, the bane of selfies before duck lips were a thing. Everything I'm wearing in this photo is selfmade - that watch too. :D


Not a very flattering photo of me but it illustrates the lolita style in the early to mid-2000's quite well: apron skirt - check, peter pan collar - check, bloomers peeking out - check, typical poof amount - check, knee socks that don't colour match - check, clunky shoes - check. 

*****

Moving on to my third stage, in other words the coords I still like looking at to this day!


I began dabbling in substyles. Hime that works surprisingly well - btw I seriously regret selling that jacket, I originally bought it at H&M and have never made another find quite like it ever after!

I had a serious crush on beige clothes back then as you may guess. Which is ok since it's a colour that suits me well, let's not talk about that one year that I loved bright turquoise above everything... also how the  hell did I used to do my fringe because I want those skills back.


Why wear band T-shirts when you can wear band lolita? Aerosmith dress represent!


AND THIS IS HOW

I'M NEVER GETTING RID OF THIS DRESS

IT'S SEEN AN AEROSMITH CONCERT TOO

THAT'S RIGHT I WEAR LOLITA TO ROCK CONCERTS ok not really just this once.


Btw I really wish maxipad headdresses would make a comeback. I love headdresses...
Everything still selfmade  except the shirt I think is Jane Marple.

*****

Moving on to the next era which was thus far my most productive one, at last going by the amount of dresses I made.



Lol idk. All dresses and skirts worn here are by me in any case.

...er. I just realized this is also the era where both my blonde period and turquoise love happened. Oh well don't hate me just cause I have no taste. :P

*****

Next up: what it means when I have a colour-era. Let's take bright red as an example and see what I made during a few months. 




It all began when I bought those red Rose Chocolat boots and had a hot crush for the colour. I added it into every coord regardless of whether it even suited the coord otherwise (just because there's nothing red in the coord doesn't mean there couldn't be something red). Oh man.


Still hadn't abandoned aristo, as you can see. Plus while digging for these old photos I came across one of Iiraliina where she's just beginning in the fashion and she was so depressingly good to begin with! Adorably so. :3 Photo not shown to preserve her sanity though... maybe if I get a permission...

Also this one time I bought velvet curtains at a flea market and -

(I still do this. If it looks like it could have been a sheet set or a curtain there's a high chance that yeah it was.)


Oooooh hayyyyy there's finally authentic loly brand items in the photo! Namely the black skirt by H.Naoto and the shirt that you cannot properly see, which is Miho Matsuda.

I will not explain this photo.


Have a close-up of the hat though because holy shit shamp I think this was your fault.

Once I got this far I moved out of the country and dyed my hair. I'm not saying it has anything to do with the above coord.

*****

Iceland era. Since nothing about these photos is so new or groundbreaking I'll just make a quick collage of small images, but they can all be clicked larger in case of interest.


Yeah I got, like, one pose. That's a fact. :P


From a series of Icelandic mythological creatures - the troll.


The elf.

I'm already clogging this entry with photos so to wrap things up, here's where I am now, style-wise. You're free to scroll back to the beginning to see what's changed on the way. :D

Aristo


Lolita.


Other blogs partaking in this theme:




10 comments:

  1. Wow, it's kinda astonishing to realize that I _still_ think that just because there's no red (or any other colour) in a coord, it couldn't be there! I'm stuck at that phase! One day I just decided that always matching was boring and oh so limiting and I still think that way. Is this good or bad? Remains to be seen, I guess... XD

    Great post, I had forgotten your blond era but may I say that I'm glad you're back to brunette, suits you so much better. Always nice to see how much someone has evolved! You were very brave to start from the very beginning - I couldn't because I don't have the photos of those days (thank Goddes). :')

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    1. It's ok. You're one of those people who can be trusted with red. :D

      Lol everyone always forgets my blond era which is a blessing I guess! They do say that the brain overwrites negative experiences and only remembers the positive, HMMMM. As for brave... uh... anything to entertain? I certainly took wayyyyy too many photos during my early days, selecting the worst was a task I'm not looking forward to repeatingin a hurry. :DDD

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    2. Yep, writing this LBC post was a huuuuge job for me, too - and I only started from 2009! u_u' It took me at least 3 hours to search trough all the blogposts I ever made... Yep, I'll never do this again. Or if I will, I'll start from year 2014 onwards and just link to this earlier post for older references. XD

      We (lolita) bloggers are crazy, obviously.

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    3. I think every lolita blogger is just going to read that last line and nod sagely. It's the great truth of the lolita blogosphere.

      If I ever had to do the same I'd probably just do the same as you, start from 2014 and then include a link to this post. XD One another note: OH MY BOB I JUST REALIZED I MADE THAT BLACK BUCKLE DRESS IN 2004. TEN YEARS ANNIVERSARY IN LOLITA. COVER ME IN WHIPPED CREAM AND TOSS ME IN A WELL I'M BEYOND SALVATION.

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  2. Ohh the old days! no brand shipped overseas and G&L Bibles were much-coveted for their valuable information. It was near impossible to get proper shoes for the look and there was a weird trend for huge clunky buckle shoes. When I think there are some photos of me around 2002 or so in some horribly sewn horrible clothes, the idea of a electromagnetic pulse wiping out all data is rather appealing...

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    1. Oh man those buckle shoes, I'm guilty of those too. Then again going by the fashion of the day lolita shoes were supposed to be bulky and even my Dinsko heels looked slightly too flimsy for the style... even so, my huge Demonia platform boots were probably a little bit overkill.

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    2. Who knows, perhaps the super clunky shoes will again start to look good. Fashion cycles...
      But anyways, I really adore your long dresses, you look so elegant even in the ones made from grandma's curtains. Something about your face just agrees with long dresses most charmingly.

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    3. Curtains: best source for weathered-looking velvet. :D

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  3. I love your blog! These photos were super neat...I can't wait to look back on my current Loli style in a few years and see how I evolve!

    Please check out my blog... xchubby-chanx.blogspot.com ^-^

    Thanks!

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    1. Hahah it was actually five kinds of painful to go through my old folders! :D Thankfully I've managed to learn a few things about the style since then. Can't say I didn't wish to immediately DELETE EVERYTHING and pretend it never happened but hey, it's a journey.

      Good luck and great times with blogging! :)

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