Ask Miss Caro-chan: Purple Lolita

In today's Ask Miss Caro-chan, we're going to take a little peek at a color that is often considered unusual within the Lolita fashion! I recently found the following question on my formspring:

Do you have an example of a lolita wearing purple coloured coordinates? And I mean dark, jewel tone purple, not pastels which are easy to find for sweet and classic styles.

Even when you're talking about pastel lavender, purple is a sometimes hard to find color within Lolita, with even Sweet Lolita brands making a rare lavender colorway option. But, there are still a few pieces that are indeed made in darker purples. Your best bet, if you're looking for purple in your Lolita wardrobe, is to try to expand your idea of what range of colors purple encompasses, or to wear it as an accent color because purple, in the world of designer Lolita clothes, is not always the same color as the crayola crayon! It's usually quite a bit less saturated and is either a bit more on the red or blue side, instead of sitting comfortably in the middle.

Finding coordinates that feature bolder and more jewel-toned outfits in the Bibles, Keras, and various other Lolita mooks is actually really difficult! You can find a lot of J-Punk coordinates featuring purple tartan, but when it comes to Lolita, all I managed to find were these three coordinates!

Purple dresses for sale, on the other hand, are a little easier to find! It's a rare color for a brand to release, but not unheard of! It seems like, more and more, purple is becoming a more common colorway to find Lolita dresses in.

 Top row: Emily Temple Cute, Metamorphose. Middle row: Baby, Atelier Pierrot. Bottom: Innocent World, Juliette et Justine.

If you want to add some purple to your wardrobe, but don't mind making it an accent color instead of the main color, there are a growing number of pieces that use purple as an accent color! Very recently it seems like purple has become to favored accent color of black colorways.

 

 

   

Top row: Baby, Putumayo. Middle row: Angelic Pretty, Putumayo. Bottom row: Baby, Metamorphose.

Bold purples do tend to get sort of a bad rap in the world of Lolita, and that's probably because they are often one of the favorite color choices of generic anime "Lolita" cosplays and questionable online shop alike. So, very often, when you come across a purple dress in Lolita, it's usually similar to one of the below dresses.

 

Not exactly the first thing you want to think of when you think "Purple Lolita"! But, of course, these kinds of dresses are more and more becoming an exception, and not the rule. As you can see at the top of this post, purple is sort of an underrated color in the world of Lolita but there are really a whole bunch of, somewhat hidden, gorgeous pieces that feature this color.

Coordinating purple

Purple can be coordinated just as easily as any other color in Lolita, my favorite color to combine with purple is good old fashioned black, as it usually really makes the purple pop and stand out more. If your purple is of one of the more desaturated varieties, then consider trying to coordinate it with cream. Personally, I am not a fan of purple and white coordinates, as I feel the colors look too primary together and sort of flat, especially if the purple is closer to a bright, jewel toned purple. Because of all the different shades of purple found within Lolita, I feel like purple is not meant for just one style of Lolita, I think it works very well with just about any of them! From the common purple tartan for punk, to deep jewel toned purples and blacks for Gothic, to a dusty amethyst and cream combo for Classic, and a bright magenta toned purple and black for Sweet Lolita.


Purple, as well as it's sister color, lavender, are relatively recent additions to the Lolita color spectrum (I remember when even a green dress would pop up it would make me do a double-take!) so who knows what future releases will bring in this sometimes odd color.

What are your favorite "odd" Lolita colors? Ones that aren't commonly fond in coordinates on in brand catalogs but you just can't help but fall in love with whenever you happen to see something made in it? I am a big fan of really deep forest green, but very few brands ever release anything in this color! I know that Baby has released a few gorgeous deep forest green velvet dresses in the past, but really, that's about the only brand I can think of off the top of my head that has even tried to give deep forest green a chance!

The Versatility of Lace Tights

One of my all-time favorite accessories, something I always feel like I can never have enough of in my wardrobe, is lace tights. I probably have over a dozen of them in a few different colors, I really just can't get enough of them! And they can also be found really cheaply in mainstream shops. Being able to change up an outfit completely and add a little something extra to it for $4? Yes please! Any excuse not to find two matching socks? Oh, Hell yes.

Mana, proving sometimes socks over tights is perfectly okay!

When I first got into Lolita one of my big Lolita inspirations was Mana, who is quite famous for wearing lace tights under thigh-high socks. At the time, I was finding it near impossible to find even knee highs in mainstream shops but I was finding a ton of lace tights, so I figured, if Mana does it... I can too! (of course, I now know that this is not always, or even mostly, the case!). So, ever since those early days have I had a fondness for lace tights paired with Lolita, and I've tried to work them in with as many outfits as possible. I think that they can really change up an outfit as simply as slipping them on. A plain Gothic Lolita outfit becomes infinitely more elegant, relatively simple Kuro Lolita gets a hint of Gothic, they give Sweet Lolita a princess-like touch, and they turn the notch up on Classic Lolita coordinates.

To me, this is my ideal Gothic Lolita- A Victorian styled black dress, heels, a few Gothic accessories, and lace. Personally, I am a fan of mixing several different lace pieces in one outfit, in this one it has lace tights, gloves, and a purse with a lace overlay. They might all be separate lace patterns, but, with the exception of the tights, they're such small pieces it doesn't look too overly cluttered. On the other hand, I find that an outfit where all the lace is matched looks much too matchy-matchy. I definitely prefer the sort of rag-tag elegance of many different kinds of lace!

Knee socks and over-the-knees are usually the trademark of a Sweet Lolita outfit, so I find that taking a very traditionally Sweet Lolita outfit and adding lace tights instantly changes its tune. It somehow manages to be even more girly, but a little more grown up, and almost Hime. While I think this works best with more toned down Sweet Lolita, I think that if you found a pair of lace tights in a pale pastel color (pale pink is not too hard to find!) and layered them over a different pale pastel colored pair of opaque tights you could really make an interesting Fairy Kei inspired Sweet Lolita outfit.

Lace tights are swiftly becoming the legwear to wear with Classic Lolita, and I'm perfectly fine with that! Lace tights in Classic Lolita instantly add texture and opulence to a style that is often considered the most toned down of the Lolita styles. Cream, tan, and even black can easily be worn with a Classic Lolita coordinate. In Classic Lolita I absolutely love them paired up with Victorian styled boots, I think they practically define Classic Lolita this way!

One of the things I love about lace tights is the variety they come in. You can find tights with delicate little flowers scattered throughout, you can find them with huge ornate paisley designs, and you can find gorgeous vertical stripes made with lace! You can wear them alone, you can layer them over opaque tights, or you can wear them under over-the-knee socks. They're breezy enough to wear in warm weather, and paired with another pair of tights or socks they can easily be warm enough for cold weather. And best of all, you're never going to end up with a drawer full of half a pair of lace tights, or constantly have to adjust them into staying up.

What are your favorite ways to wear lace tights? Or perhaps, do you hate the look of even sort-of bare legs in Lolita? I guess this is understandable, since lace tights sometimes lend an air of eroticism to a Lolita coordinate, which I know is not everyone's cup of tea. Myself I love to wear them on days where I feel like dressing up fancily but don't actually feel like doing much else besides slipping on a black skirt and an h.NAOTO cutsew.

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!