August Theme: Ita to Lolita
I started my journey in lolita fashion in 2012. Although I've not been in it very long, I feel like I've come a long way.
I thought it would be fun to share my progress!
Please click on the pictures to view a bigger version. :)
My humble beginnings. I'd been loosely following lolita for a long time (since the old school days) but it didn't really start appealing to me until a the late 2000's, about the time when prints started becoming a thing and OTT sweet was picking up as a trend. But I didn't want to be "the fat girl in a cake dress" so I just watched from afar. In 2012, I was getting bored with cosplay but still wanted something to wear to conventions. A girl had a replica (didn't really know the community's feelings about them at the time) and some shoes at a convention swap meet, and bought them from her for really cheap. And... then I began to slide down the slippery slippery slope.
I started wearing lolita in June of 2012 after putting together my first coord. Back in those first 4-5 months, I was a total bodyline and replica-chan. I attended babby's first meetup and met all the people from my local community. When fall came around, I began purchasing my first indie brand and brand. I also started working on losing weight and by winter, I'd given up
replicas entirely and relied on bodyline just for basics (blouses, shoes, etc)
In 2013, I really started building my wardrobe. I was super into OTT sweet, which I know was dying at this point but eh. I also made my first big direct from brand purchases and got some of my big wishlist items: Milky Planet, Dream Sky (got the re-release) and Sugar Hearts! I also started building a small classic wardrobe, but I barely had enough to coordinate decently with it, so I chose to focus on my sweet outfits here since they are a lot nicer. :D I had the opportunity to meet a lot of awesome lolitas from all over at different conventions and made a lot of new friends! Overall, 2013 was a good year for me lolita-wise!
In 2014, I started being a little more creative with my coordinates somewhat. I also started experimenting more with OTT classic. I was added as a mod for my community and obtained my biggest dream dress (finally)! Lastly, I was able to attend the tea party at Otakon this year, which was my first big fancy lolita event and was just amazed by all the beautiful coordinates there. That was a huge inspiration! (2nd from right photo credit)
I still have a ways to go, I feel like I need to work a bit better with color matching and I really need to take one accessory off before leaving the house, but I've come a really long way since my humble beginnings! Also, I've lost 35lbs since the first picture and 70 total since my highest weight.