Crimson Reflections

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Lolita Fashion History

52 Week Lolita Topic Challenge : Trends I Thought I Would Never Get Into, But I Now Love

Today’s post from the 52 Week Lolita Topic Challenge is #18. Trends I thought I would never get into, but I now love.

I started this challenge several years ago, but never really finished it because, when do I finish anything? But also because some of the topics, like this one, were difficult for me to answer because my tastes hadn’t changed that much yet.

Now, having been wearing lolita for over 10 years, there are some things that I’ve come around on.

#1 Rectangle Headdresses

When I first started wearing lolita, rectangle headdresses were… frankly out of style. Angelic Pretty’s border-print sweet was on the rise, and with it, matching print headbows.

Rectangle headdresses were a symbol of everything I didn’t want out of lolita: In sweet, they were usually in washed out pastels or fruit or floral prints that looked like they belonged in a quilt with corset lacing and frumpy lace. They were worn by people who weren’t following the change in trends, or by people who were so new that they didn’t know that the terrible quality rectangle headdress they had picked up at an anime convention was tacky and ugly. Plus, they tied under the chin in a way that was frumpy and added an extra chin. I was not interested.

I did own a couple over the years, I had a pink x white AP one that… I just wasn’t thrilled with when it was worn and sold later. I also had a couple classic styled ones that didn’t have the ribbon ties, and these, these I didn’t hate.

The Kid’s YoYo Headdress on the left I bought when I was still pretty new in 2011 or 2012, while the Innocent World one came later around 2016.

The Innocent World one was bought around the time I started to get into old school lolita in earnest. I had collected some older Innocent World pieces, particularly embroidered ones, but I had always styled them more modernly. As Old School lolita started to gain real momentum and popularity in the community again, I started to loose a lot of those earlier negative feelings I had towards rectangle headdresses.

I’m not the same size I was when I first got into lolita more than 10 years ago, so I’d outgrown a lot of my cotton blouses. With bodyline having changed ownership, I figured I just buy a bunch of larger cotton-look blouses from bodyline to see if I liked any of them with my old school JSKs (and if I hated them, it wasn’t a big deal because they were super cheap) and while I was putting in my blouse order, I ordered a few headdresses as well.

They weren’t great… I mean, I wasn’t expecting them to be. I paid like $7 each, I think? maybe less? But they also weren’t unbearably bad. They were a little small and the lace wasn’t the best, and the ribbon wasn’t the best, but it was passable. They were wearable. And… I didn’t hate how they looked on me (though, I do tie them in the back under my hair sometimes).

And, so, I bought a bunch of brand ones second hand.

And I love them. I don’t think I could have worn them and been happy with them back when I was a new lolita because my style at the time wasn’t really refined yet and sticking with what was in style made me happy, but as time has passed, and I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to really enjoy a gentler, simpler style.

#2 Ankle Socks

When I was new to lolita, knee socks were where things were at, and as these gave way to OTKs which were way more elegant and gave so much better of a line to the leg, I fully and totally embraced the OTKs/tights revolution. It just made for such a clean look! So I was pretty apprehensive about ankle socks, which totally break up that nice leg line. Especially because I have fairly small ankles, so I feel like things that are bulky in the ankle tend to be less flattering on me? But my girlfriend was really into them, and they look super cute on her, so I tried it out (I actually wore some that I have literally had since I was a pre-teen), and honestly? I didn’t hate it. I don’t have many right now, but, I think I will start to collect some basic ones.

#3 Full Shirring / Frumpy Things

When I was new to lolita, I really didn’t like fully shirred pieces because they tend to be a little less flattering than fitted pieces. I used to be really adamant about covering things that have full shirring with a bolero or corset vest. But as time has gone on, I’ve started to be more comfortable with some things being frumpy. I don’t adore the look, but, I really like the comfort of baggy things / full shirring. I’m tired and I’m in pain a lot of the time, and sometimes it’s just nice to wear something that doesn’t fight back.

How about you? Are there anythings you never thought you would be in to? Let me know in the comments!

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