Thursday 19 February 2015

Those Hard to Co-Ordinate Pieces

Most lolitas have at least one in their wardrobe... It is not just new lolitas that suffer from this issue and I know that even after a good few years, I probably haven't seen the last of this nightmare. Every now and then you will come across a main piece in your wardrobe that you dread creating outfits for. For some reason, you feel like nothing seems to work with this troublesome main piece and even if you do manage to create an outfit, you feel like you could have created something a lot better.


For me, this picture of my Enchanted purchases from last year is very related to this topic! It was only a month ago that I finally got to wear Candy Star Rabbit, and Enchanted was the best part of a year ago now. As for my Jellyfish dress, I am yet to wear it. It took me so long to come up with an outfit for Candy Star Rabbit because the blue was so different to everything else in my wardrobe. With so many colours in the skirt, I think I was a bit overwhelmed and I didn't know what colours to use. Everybody else seemed to be using black and the matching hair accessories in their Candy Star Rabbit outfits but I don't have the matching hair accessory. In the end, I ended up adding another colour (red) to my first Candy Star Rabbit outfit. I am not saying the outfit I wore was perfect, but I felt comfortable in it and I was pleased that I was able to overcome this issue I was having with creating outfits for it. As for my jellyfish dress, that is currently a work in progress. I think my issue with this dress is that there are a lot of different themes going on and every person I have seen wearing it seems to be wearing it in the exact same way.

As you have probably gathered from this post, I am still learning how to over-come this issue. I am lucky to have a reasonable sized wardrobe, so there is always some new outfit to put together with the pieces I have. But it makes me feel sad knowing some of my pieces are being a bit neglected and pushed to the back of my wardrobe. I spent money on these items, so I should be trying to make the most of them. So I will share my thoughts and ideas to combat the issue that I have discovered so far.

Firstly, you need to make sure your wardrobe staples are well stocked. Sometimes shopping for the basics can be boring but it is worth it when it makes your wardrobe more cohesive. Make sure you have a ready supply of items in staple colours. White, ivory and black are good colours to choose for staple wardrobe colours. Most main pieces will go with at least one of these 3 colours. There are also some quite generic themes that are worth stocking up on. For example, bow themed accessories and jewellery are easy to find and go with lots of sweet pieces. For classic, pearls and flower accessories are good to stock up on. You don't have to spend a lot on stuff like this. I have a mix of bow themed jewellery from places like Chocomint, Claire's Accessories and even Primark. Yes, relying on staple colours and simple themes may not make for the most interesting of outfits, but with difficult main pieces it is usually best not to go too OTT at first. If you go too OTT too soon it can just add extra stress.

Recently I have been using a new method for getting the inspiration flowing. I will look up the main piece online and see how everybody else is wearing it. But I wont just look up good outfits, I will look up ones I don't like as much as well. I will print them off and then write a massive list of everything I like and dislike about the outfit. It is worth taking the time to really nit-pick the outfit and go over every little detail. Even if you really dislike an outfit, writing these lists will help you work out what you should and shouldn't do when you try to co-ordinate this main piece yourself. Compare the lists you have made for each individual outfit and see if there are any common remarks you have made that jump out at you. Obviously this wont work with brand new releases but it is good if you don't mind waiting a few months or are working on an older piece.

If all else fails, there is always the option of asking others to come up with their own ideas. If you don't mind the possible negative comments, cgl can actually be a very helpful place to get an outfit collage done for you. Look out for their Co-ord Help Threads or if there isn't one, create your own thread. Another option is Collage Anon on Tumblr, who can sometimes not respond right away but is quite friendly and helpful.

It was using these techniques which helped me to put together my Candy Star Rabbit outfit. I used some ideas that I found online and then added my own little touches so the outfit felt much more personal to me. Even though I needed a little help, I was eventually able to create my own outfit. Sometimes the inspiration takes a little while to get flowing. I think once you get that initial first outfit out of the way, it boosts your confidence for future outfits. I know I am not worrying about my next Candy Star Rabbit outfit. In fact, since I have worn my first CSR outfit, I have actually come up with some of my own ideas which I didn't think of before. And so, it is on to my next challenge... I am going to come up with an outfit for Krad Lanrete's Jellyfish print!

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