Old School Sweet Lolita: Angelically Sweet

While browsing through some Gothic & Lolita Bibles I noticed that the earlier ones have much more white or off-white coordinates than any of the newer volumes. These pale colored coordinates have such an angelic and innocent aesthetic and it's definitely more elegant than the modern pastel rainbow Sweet Lolita, which tends to focus on cuteness as opposed to elegance. I really love this style of old school Sweet Lolita but it's hardly ever seen any more unless it's someone deliberately dressing in Shiro Lolita, and then the focus is more about dressing mainly in all white, not maintaining an angelic air.



These are some of my favorites from the early volumes. One of the things I really love about some of these coordinates is that they are not afraid to combine off-white with white. White/off-white combos are often seen as an instant Lolita faux pas to some, but I think this is something of an unfair statement that people heard once and take a little too much to heart. True, if you are wearing a white dress and socks a pair of off-white shoes are going to look out of place, and a white blouse with off-white lace paired with a pink and white skirt is going to look strange, but that's not to say that all white and off-white combos should be written off. If you balance the two colors nicely, such as matching a white blouse and socks with an off-white JSK and socks, the result is lovely.

Another detail often seen in these early angelic Sweet Lolita coordinates are ruffly sleeves. Either wide, lace covered bell sleeves, or a long sleeve with a wide ruffle at the end. All in all the designs were much more detailed, lots of ruffles, lots of lace, and lots of bows and other sweet details. The ruffles didn't stop at the dress either! Socks had a lacy ruffle around the top, frilly bloomers peeked out from under skirts, and headdress were extra lacy or they even wore a decadent white bonnet. These old school angelic outfits were definitely over-the-top in their own way and could definitely hold their own against a modern OTT Sweet Lolita outfit.

Updating this old school style
This style is easily updated for the Lolita who loves the style, but wants a few more up-to-date details. The result, I think, ends up a little bit more Classic Lolita than Sweet Lolita, but then again, old school Sweet was often very similar to Classic Lolita.


I've picked a BtSSB staple for the JSK, a pale cream colored empire waisted JSK and paired it with a white blouse with some wristcuffs for an extra lacy ruffle. To update the look a bit I switched the knee socks for a pair of over-the-knees and instead of an old school ruffly headdress I've picked one of Innocent World's rose covered headbands. To complete the look, and to further the angelic theme, I've added a few pieces of antique gold jewelry, a couple of which feature crosses and cherubs.

This is a gorgeous style, and while people still certainly do wear Shiro Lolita, I would really love to see more white coordinates with an elegant and angelic aesthetic to them. These old school sweet coordinates have a certain look to them that many modern Sweet Lolita coordinates just don't have, despite how OTT both are. What do you think? Would you like to see the next big Angelic Pretty piece be a lace covered dress like one of these, or do you prefer cute over elegant Sweet Lolita styles?

19 comments:

  1. I love white x off-white. And, old school sweet is so pretty... I wish that more people dressed like that.

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  2. I've heard of some girls poking fun at mismatching whites. I wanted to be do an elegant shiro coordination with white x off white. Now with this entry, maybe I can aim for it to be "angelic" looking.

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  3. I love this look so much, and I really wish it would come back. It's so frustrating when you're trying to explain to people that lolita is about elegance and then they point to some rainbow-splattered Angelic Pretty outfit and are like, "So, what's that then?" :| Not that some of AP's pieces can't be worn so that they're elegant... but wearing a neon stuffed cake on your head is kind of pushing it... >_>

    Anyway, I can somewhat see this look coming back because of the growing popularity of mori-girl, which uses a lot of pale colors and sometimes aims for that angelic look.

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  4. I love old school sweet lolita. I think the beautiful elegance and angelic aesthetic carried over to classic lolita. I see it in the coord you created, a lot of things I see in classic if just done in white, rather than sweet.
    But thats just what I see :)

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  5. I do really love this combinations. While I tend to avoid white, I really love it in lolita, I find it really soothing.
    And thank god for some of the coments, I was starting to think I was the only one disliking such extreme combinations of neon colors that seem to be so popular lately >.< God sometimes feel to the lolita equivalent of a victorian headmisstress compared to that >.<

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  6. I like both to be honest. But I do tend to lean more to the old school sweet styles that blend into Classic. I just never post to Daily Lolita due to some bad treatment early on in my Lolita life. But four years later I'm a strong happy Lolita with a lot to say and share ^_^

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  7. I wouldn't wear all white because I'd feel like I was in a wedding. D:

    I like both old school sweet and newer sweet. Sometimes both can get a little waoh @______@ for me (I draw the line at cakes on my head and at ruffled bell sleeves!), but I like to dress somewhere in between. I'd love to dress in a newer sweet style, but it's really not for me (aka my budget, haha).

    I actually feel somewhat angelic in my outfit today, even though it has some newer sweet elements. Pale yellow dress with pink, white, and mint tulle flower details (it looks very light and airy), white turtleneck, white tights, white clunky shoes, pearl bracelets and headband, white rose ring, big ruffley scarf tied in a bow.

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  8. I don't want to be rude, but do you have any other photos? While I am a "beginner" (I've know the fashion for years, but I just have started to build my wardrobe), I just LOVE old school lolita... Is less "little girl dress" and more... "Scary little vitorian doll" *o*
    Someday, I'll comission the perfect old school shiro loli, and then a kuro one *o*

    This is so freaking amazing:
    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_D6bdv2JFr-4/TKEV9S89vTI/AAAAAAAAC44/Y-Shp6YBmd4/s1600/33egl3.jpg

    *o*

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  9. This is one of my favourite styles too! In fact I only just posted on dailylolita with an oldschool sweet outfit I wore last week.
    http://community.livejournal.com/daily_lolita/3942347.html

    Cool little co-incidence :)

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  10. Oh man, I remember my obsession with shiro and kuro lolita, and now I remembered why I was obsessed with it in the first place! Ah, I wish that I've seen this post sooner because I honestly felt a little out of place wearing shiro lolita for a convention while mixing off white and stark white (dang you Baby! Why are your whites so hard to match or compliment?).

    I don't know if I'll be able to put hyperlinks in comments, but I'd like to share my favorite off white w/white coordinate (and yes, this is a deadmau5 head!)

    http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e223/KawaiiRini/acen2010_01-1.jpg

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  11. I really lolve shiro lolita, and I'm always in love when I see old exemplars of G&L Bibble. Old School is amazing!

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  12. this is just the kind of lolita i still love the most ♥ gorgeous pictures ♥

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  13. I really love off-white+white outfit, but it's seems I'm attracting paint and mud when I wear light color!

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  14. I definitely like the old school elegant style better. It's just more what I see in Lolita - I just can't get the whole pastel-80s-unicorn-drowned-in-ice cream-print thing.
    Thank you once more for this wonderful inspiration, I think there's another style to consider when I start sewing for Lolita again.

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  15. That's lovely. I definitely prefer old school Sweet Lolita over this newer sugary stuff.

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  16. While I do like the newer, OTT sweet lolita, the old school sweet lolita, like these pictures in your post, will always have a special place in my heart. It's looks like these that drew me into lolita. It would be great to see a revival of the old styles..

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  17. it isn't "old school lolita" thats shiro lolita!

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  18. I prefer elegant coordinates to OTT sweet, but frankly I don't agree with you on most of these specific coords. They're not really bad or anything, I just don't think they're that great. I can /imagine/ a really nice kind of angelic all-white coord, but most of these seem overdone - they're drowning in the lace-drenched ruffly long sleeves, furry capelets and bits, excessive sock-toppers and giant headgear.

    I don't mean to rain on your parade or anything, I just think that an elegant coord would be a bit more balanced...like, for example, the one you polyvored.

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  19. "Old School Sweet Lolita: Angelically Sweet" is a charming collection that blends nostalgic elements with contemporary aesthetics, featuring pastel hues and intricate lace details. It pays homage to timeless elegance and romanticism, capturing the hearts of Lolita enthusiasts. Cheap Divorce New York

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