As interesting a topic as this is, there really isn’t much to compare in my case. Still, I’ll try to bulk up the post somehow!
If we took the minimalistic approach, then the comparison could be summed up like this:
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| I've no talent for drawing, so enjoy this little concoction made in Miss Paint. |
As graphic and to the point as this is, it doesn’t tell the whole story though. So let’s delve into it a little and uncover some of my poor beginnings.
In 2011 my wardrobe was literally two Bodyline dresses, both of which I still own: the L262 (Wrap Ribbon Halter Neck JSK) and the L249 (Sweet Macaron JSK). My knowledge and understanding of Lolita at that point was limited to the fact that it was a fashion (my introduction came through a university sempai who was a daily Lolita wearing mostly Sweet at the time) and that you could buy it in Bodyline. I didn’t know about brands because where I tended to walk around in Osaka and Kobe, the brand shops were either hidden on upper floors which I didn’t really look at or were on a whole other street altogether. Whereas Bodyline has a big, loud shop in the middle of Shinsaibashi, which is pretty hard to miss, really. I didn’t know about ‘the rules’, I had literally nothing else but the dresses (I had some cheap petticoats thanks to being into 50’s style) and even then, with just a student budget, I thought that some pieces on Bodyline were a bit expensive (now I know they really weren’t). You can’t really call it a Lolita wardrobe, but at the same time I also wasn’t considering myself a Lolita – just someone who wore Bodyline Lolita dresses every now and then. So spare me the beating, please!
Fast forward to now – what is my Lolita wardrobe like now? In short: very full. The combination of disposable income and very few utilities etc. to pay thanks to living with my parents means that I could jump head first into this fashion and indulge various shopping sprees. On the one hand this means various storage struggles, but on the other I can create a whole variety of diverse coordinates ranging from casual to OTT and appropriate for all four seasons. Yes, there are still some bits that I feel are needed, but these are not extremely urgent. Yes, I have things that were on the frivolous side, but they haven’t gotten me in trouble financially or in any other way. I have a very thorough understanding not just of coording and ‘the rules’, but also of the fashion as a whole, including its origins, the community aspect and what being a lifestyle Lolita means, amongst other things. My Lolita wardrobe is big enough for me to enjoy being in the fashion and not have that beginner’s worry of what to wear – my ‘what to wear’ worries are on the choice overload side more than anything. And I am happy with things being this way.
While this looks like a reasonable time for one’s wardrobe to grow from two dresses to bulging, that growth was actually increasing in pace in about 2-3 year stages. The first 2-3 years of me having those Bodyline dresses there was absolutely no growth whatsoever, not in the wardrobe and not in my understanding of the fashion. Then I went to Japan for the second time and over the 2013-2015 period I both acquired some extra pieces, as well as began to learn more about the fashion, what it was about and how to actually do it right (most of which is thanks to good friends, discovering brands and plenty of good ol’ fashioned online research). And then in the last two years since starting full-time work I have just gone absolutely nuts and immersed myself in the world of Lolita fashion as much as I possibly could have. I’m sure that if I do a similar comparison in a few more years, once I reach another life milestone of moving out into a place of my own, there will be lots more changes to be anticipated.
How does your Lolita wardrobe compare now to what it was like in your first year? Have you had a questionable beginning like I have or were you one of the few who have started as they mean to go on? Did you start slow or went full force from the first chance you got? Let me know in the comments and check out these other bloggers’ stories (links might be slow to update as I’m abroad on a holiday with limited internet access):
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