2020 wardrobe additions and summary

Phew, we made it people, it's 2021! I wish everyone all the best for this new year, I'm sure we'll still be all affected by the effects of Covid-19 but at least there is an end to it in sight. So have a healthy and happy 2021.

I didn't post a lot after October, though I kept my Risu Rose blog updated with things I had made and the wardrobe page here . I think it might be time for a 2020 lolita summary.

Wardrobe additions

35 weeks pregnant here, so no petti!

Main pieces - 4 dresses, 1 skirt. As you already know I made a jsk back in January and also bought a brand new one from Axes Femme in October, however, I never mentioned here that I also bought a one-piece 2nd hand (from someone in Canada, and it took a loooong while before it was here, probably because of covid-19 delays). It's from the (I assume Chinese) brand Imagine & Spectacle. I love the print and cut and I bought this in a bigger size so I could fit in it while being pregnant and/or after pregnancy but the bust still is quite big and unfortunately the lacing in the back doesn't change that because the bust is fixed on the front to the lace border under it (sigh, maybe I'll just sell it again when I'm back to my normal figure).

Then last summer I purchased a nice navy velvety fabric with a flower-print and a month ago I finally sew a dress with it. Not super-lolita but I'll add it to the list anyway. Then in December somebody from our Dutch community was clearing their wardrobe and I caught a bodyline skirt for cheap, it has a tiny spot somewhere that couldn't be washed out I think but you don't see it from far probably, for 5 euro I just couldn't let it go and I hope to coord this somewhere this coming year if I can.

  

  

Tops

I bought three blouses and one cardigan! Two blouses were second-hand, and two of them are from western brands. The new one I bought though is not fitting me so well and I don't really like the cut, so I'll have to sell it again. It's one from H&M even (yes I know, I felt bad about buying it, but I thought I didn't fit in any of my other black blouses anymore while being pregnant and I was looking at Lacemarket for months but to no avail. Turned out it wasn't that much of a problem after all (until november that is..), so yeah. The pink one I found at a thrift-shop closeby and the one with princess sleeves was a gain from a fellow Dutchie. The light-green cardigan I bought from my dear friend Charlotte, also known as Hobbitkei on insta. It's from Baby The Stars Shine Bright and it fits so comfy, I love it!

Socks/tights

This year I actually bought more socks than I thought, this might be because I browsed way too long on AliExpress on some days because I was a bit bored (?). It's a bit hard though to remember what was exactly bought this year. The ones I do remember were the Infanta steampunk-ish tights I bought to go with the Isabella JSK. I also tried my best to look for white otks with gold details on Lacemarket, to go with that new navy jsk (which also has gold details), but I couldn't find anything and bought some from the Chinese brand Reina. It has a print with fancy angels on them! By the way, I'm also still looking for otks in black with gold details, so if you see any, let me know (I know I have tights, but sometimes otks are just easier...)

Shoes

If you would have asked me years ago: I disliked shoes with glitter on them, but this year I felt fancy and wanted a pair of gold shoes to go with dresses that have gold details, so I bought them. They are a bit too small though, so I won't be walking in them for long, haha. Next to that I saw a really pretty and cute but also cool pair of shoes in black/burgundy from Axes Femme on Closet Child in November, they were only 880 yen, can you believe it? They still look brand-new too and fit great and I love the details on it, I'm so happy.

  

Headwear

This year I took the effort again to make some headwear, clips and bows myself, so here they are:

 

 

The bow-clips were made to go with the new dresses. The star clips aren't very original, I know, but I found these velveteen-ish stars in different colors on AliExpress and immediately thought I could use them to make some clips with them. I do like the dangly starclips but all I did have were in pastel colors, so I wanted some in colors I actually wear. Still have to use them though.

I also purchased a range of new berets (except for the pink one I already had), but didn't wear them yet a lot because I didn't dress up as much because of pregnancy-low-energy.

Accessories

 

A pair of wristcuffs for the navy OP that I made ... And I bought a black skirt-overlay from Charlotte, it's originally from Summer Tales Boutique.

Bags

In despite of sitting at home a lot, I actually bought some bags, they are off-brand (or random Chinese stores I mean..non lolita-brands). It's too bad though that both bags were a bit of a disappointment. One had a different color blue than shown and the heart-shaped bag was folded on all sides to fit in a package that was too small for it, I got part of my money back for that. Too bad, because the bag itself is nice but now not so flat anymore. Well.. that'll teach me to buy cheap stuff from China, eh.

 

Jewelry

 

All hand-made! Actually I'm pretty happy with how the rings and necklace turned out, I used UV resin to make them. Besides these I made some simple bracelets.

Hmm, so after all I still gained quite some additions to my wardrobe, even though I did not wear lolita fashion a lot. I hope I can still coord them after pregnancy though!

2020 development in lolita fashion

This year I feel like I more and more turned towards classic-like coordinations. I did wear some sweet but seeing those coords last months I felt like it didn't really suit my taste that much anymore even though I think it's adorable on others. I think country lolita might be the closest I'll go with it.

I think it is interesting that this year the sweet trend a la 2010 became popular again. Even as much as that some prices on the 2nd hand market doubled. I still didn't really like a lot of new releases though. I thought the cut of Lovely Poodle from Angelic Pretty was really nice, but not into the print even when it has dogs, and sorry but the colors are desaturated and I don't like that. I thought the Little Witch series was adorable though, but the print itself was desaturated a bit again? Otherwise I would have loved either the wine or black colorway. AP's Rose Tea Garden interested me a bit, but I thought the border print was just a little bit too repititive  (and colorblocked background colors), plus the ruffles on the bust are not my thing. 

One that I loved was the British Bear casual OP, if only they would have made the waist a bit lower. AP, please, most of us western people aren't flat-chasted or that small 😞. I'm still sad because gosh, I would have really bought it if the waste was 5-10 cm lower. Gives some inspiration for handmade things though, to make with a hoodie/cutsew top.

Somehow I didn't really follow BTSSB/AatP or Meta a lot this year. Except for the big Magical Artefact sale that went big because of bigger sizes. I've considered it but wasn't too sure if I would wear lolita after pregnancy anymore so didn't buy it. Kumya's Christmas Market was adorable, but I don't wear sweet like that anymore. 

And yeah actually I feel fine with looking at second hand things, as it is more affordable for me and seeing as I don't know how much I'll wear it coming years, I think I have something else coming up to invest in :P. We'll see what 2021 brings!