Lolita Blog Carnival: Your Process For Putting A Coord Together

It's been over a year since I have done a Lolita Blog Carnival post. However, I am doing another one about how I put a coord together. I will describe my basic principles and use my first Cream Cookie Collection coord as an example.

Above: Cream Cookie Collection coord from December 2014. (original post link).

Look at the colours on the main item

First, I would look at the colours of the main item, taking into account if the colours are pastel, bright, dark etc. as well as the actual colours (i.e. black, red, pink). For example, with my Cream Cookie Collection JSK, the main colour is Sax with other featured colours being pink, brown and white/cream. As the JSK was pastel, I chose a light pink bolero to wear over it (the bolero is peeking out from the fur coat). This also affected my choice to buy the cream Shy Bear necklace as most of the JSK was pastel/light.

Consider motifs

Next, I would look at the motifs on the main item and choose the other items based on the motifs. If the print had no motifs, I would think about motifs that would work with the main item. For example, the ribbon barrette was chosen to go with the ribbon grid on the JSK and the biscuit earrings (may be hard to see on the photo) were chosen to go with the main motif of the JSK. If it was an item without motifs, I would choose one or two motifs for the other items but not overwhelm the coord with excess motifs.

Consider the venue/season

Finally, I would consider the venue as well as the season for the coord. For example, I also chose the bolero for the coord as the venue for the AP event would probably be heated (as with most places in Japan during winter). If I had more time to prepare/AP released a head accessory other than the Cream Cookie Collection barrette), I would have chosen other items in order to be better presented for the event/venue. However, I aimed to get an AP JSK for the event due to it being run by Angelic Pretty but did have a backup from an indie brand (Infanta's Creamy Cat JSK). Also, if it was spring/summer, I would have worn socks instead of tights.

The points I have mentioned above describe how I would put a coord together. I did use a similar process for my last coord, which was for a local meet up (At the moment, I am not considering posting anything from local meet ups).

Link to LBC

 

Other Blogs participating

Vanilla Bear

My Little Gothic Bubble

First Brand Event

While I was in Japan, I attended my first brand event, which was Angelic Pretty's Princess Dreamy Carnival. For the event, I wore my first piece of brand clothing, which is Angelic Pretty's Cream Cookie Collection JSK.


Above: Princess Dreamy Carnival Coord. JSK and necklace are from Angelic Pretty, hair clip is from me% (a store in La Foret), shoes are from An*tai*na and everything else is offbrand. This was taken after the event. 

Given that I wore a JSK that I bought less than a week before this event and as a result, had limited time in which to create a coord, I thought I did a pretty decent job with some new purchases as well as some items which I packed for a back up coord.

The event consisted of a five course dinner (I skipped one course as it had beef), a fashion show, free time for taking photos (was not fully aware of this but if I ever attend a brand event again, I will take advantage of this time), a raffle and prizes for the best dressers. However, I did not take pictures of the best dressed winners and of the fashion show.

The entree

The soup

The fish course

The custom dessert, which was based off Sugar Dream Dome.

The Christmas cake. Interesting how the Japanese celebrate Christmas despite being Buddhist/Shinto.

The dinner consisted of an entrée, soup, fish course, meat course (which I did not eat) and a dessert. After dessert, there was a Japanese style Christmas cake, which is a sponge cake decorated with cream and strawberries. The drinks I had were iced oolong tea and normal tea.

In between the meat course and the dessert was the fashion show, which showed the upcoming prints from the 2015 Spring/Summer collection. There were some prints that I loved and would consider buying if I had the money. After the fashion show, there was an opportunity to have a picture of yourself with the guest models. It was a very long line as everyone seemed to have wanted a photo.

A short while later, the raffle prizes were drawn and I won a Dramatic Rose skirt. I would not buy AP skirts because they seem to be too small for me and I was right as it was too small when I tried it on. But I do want to wear it some day.

Above: Stock photo of the Dramatic Rose skirt. This was the colour of the skirt which I won. Photo from Lolibrary.

Overall, this was a nice event to go to and I would like to attend a brand event in Australia (If it does happen) or in Japan, if I do go there at the right time.

All photos were from my camera except for the photo of the Dramatic Rose skirt.

Two Lolita Firsts

On the previous weekend, two Lolita related firsts happened to me.

First, I went to Sydney matsuri and wore a casual Lolita coordinate there. I enjoyed the festival and saw the Kawaii Fashion show. It was interesting seeing the Australian brands as well as the Baby outfits. Also, I liked Misako Aoki's outfit for the day. As there seems to be plenty of photos of said outfit, I am not going to place any on my blog. However, this is the link to her post about the fashion show. Unfortunately, I did not take a photo with Misako as I had no idea there would be such an opportunity. Maybe she'll come back to Australia one day. It was nice seeing her on stage and I was able to understand a lot of what she said in Japanese.

Anyway, the photo below is what I wore on the day.

Outfit Details

 

All of this except for the skirt is offbrand. The skirt is hand made. No petticoat is worn though because I do not own one at the moment.



 

Even though everything is offbrand, I think it is decent enough to pass for a casual coordinate. Wearing Lolita for the first time was an amazing experience once you get used to the attention it brings. Despite the bit of extra effort for Lolita, I really want to wear it again.

During the same weekend, I found the Angelic Pretty mook in Kinokuniya, which came with a Sugary Carnival tote bag. Due to the only way of buying brand in where I live being online and the cost, this is my very first brand piece and I love it.

 Seeing it for the first time, I was surprised at how it looked with a black background. Unfortunately, photos of Sugary Carnival don't do the black colourway justice. I wonder if this is true for other AP prints. Also, I would like to use it in the future, as part of either a Lolita or a non-Lolita outfit.