Wearing Sugary Sweet Pastels With Classic Lolita

It's pretty obvious that Classic Lolita is this year's big thing. Take a look at almost any large-scale Lolita gathering where everyone dons their most impressive outfit and it's a sea of Classic Lolita as far as the eye can see!

But what is the Lolita to do who isn't ready to give up her pastels, but wants to get in on this opulent decadence that everyone is excited about and aren't exactly ready to go full Marie Antoinette or in a Sweet-Classic hybrid? Luckily nowadays Lolitas are much more open about what sort of colors different styles can wear! No longer are Classic Lolitas confined to jewel tones and mute colors, but they can dabble in sugary sweet pastels just as much as the Sweet Lolita can.

Finding Classic Lolita styled dresses in Sweet Lolita true pastels is probably the hardest part! But there are a few pieces out there, especially now with Classic Lolita on the rise and brand's spring releases already in stores. Look for traditional Classic designs, cuts, and materials, only in soft and sugary pastels.

The easiest way to make this style work is to make sure that your accessories are all unquestionably Classic Lolita inspired. Nix the tea parties for a pair of Victorian styled boots or a more grownup style of heels in white or pink. Ditch the headbow for a Victorianesque hat or a corsage of pastel roses. Loose the twin tail wig and choose either a romantic flowing hair style or an elaborate updo!

 Two fantastic Classically inspired Lolita outfits using soft and sugary pastels! Taken by Crazy Kitch at Enchanted.

Adding in a second (or even a third and fourth!) pastel color to the mix, à la the Sweet Lolita trends, is a fantastic way to make the outfit even more decadent. A pastel blue jumperskirt paired with a pink bolero, a mint green OP with a pink ribbon tied around the waist and a pink underskirt peeking out, lavender jumper skirt with a yellow blouse: these are all common Sweet Lolita pairings that can easily be translated into Classic Lolita!

Sugary sweet pastels don't have to be just for Sweet Lolitas! For those that want to get into this new trend of over-the-top Classic Lolita looks, but aren't ready to give up their pastels, this is the way to do it!

Ask Miss Caro-chan: Short Socks?

Over on my Formspring I was not-so-recently asked a little question about shorter sock-lenghs:

Hi Caro-chan ^^ I'm a newbie lolita from Hong Kong. I am wondering if it's ok for sweet lolitas to wear "short socks" (above your ankles, but way below your knees). Is it a must for sweet lolitas to wear overknees and high socks? ^^

It's definitely OK to have other options for sock length! Sock length popularity in Lolita has sort of been all over the place, way back when it was sort of anything-goes when it came to sock lengths, and then it sort of leveled out to a rather strict "knee highs, opaque tights, and over-the-knees only!" idea for a number of years, before finally returning a bit to a sense of anything-goes. That incredibly enlightening history of Lolita sock lengths aside, short socks have definitely been making a comeback in Lolita! Especially now that hotter weather is here, they're a really great way to still have some sort of leg decoration going on without the stuffiness of wearing socks or tights.

 Some crew-length socks, including a pair of the currently very popular sheer socks.

Shorter socks tend to come in two different lengths: crew (which I believe our anonymous was describing) and ankle. Crew socks hitting somewhere around the mid-calf area, while ankle socks hitting, you guessed it, at just around the ankle.

 Some ankle-length socks, in case you forgot where your ankles were located.

I'm sure you have noticed that the above socks are particularly Sweet Lolita, as that tends to be the style that works very well with this style of sock. However, it can also work well with a Classic or Country Lolita coordinate, as well as being perfectly suitable for those who are more inclined towards Otome, Dolly Kei, Mori, or even Cult Party Kei. Check out the following pictures for some inspiration, which I picked from some of the more recent volumes of Gothic & Lolita Bible and Kera. Click the picture to make them larger!

Short socks with super cute Sweet Lolita, a match made in heaven! They can make a girly frilly coordinate look even girlier and frillier!

Short socks with the not-so-extreme Sweet Lolita. Yes, you can wear them casually! I feel that they add a bit of an Otome feel to outfits sometimes.

 Short socks with some coordinates that lean towards Classic Lolita. They add a bit of girlish elegance to the more Classic Lolita inclined coordinates.

Shorter socks might not be for everyone, unfortunately, as cute as they are, if you have thicker calves, they can make your legs look stocky, because the ruffles that are almost always on them tend to hide the shape of your ankles. Many Lolitas also find them a bit too childish for their tastes, and some seem to think, because of that, they're just not supposed to be worn in the fashion, despite the overwhelming amount of ads and street snaps featuring them!

If you're on the lookout for a cute pair of shorter socks to wear with Lolita this summer, you can often find them in regular clothing stores, particularly in the kid's section! As they are something of a staple of traditional little girl's fashion. If you want your sock-shopping to be done in secret (because, let's face it, it's a little weird to go lurking around the kid's sock isle sometimes) sock dreams has several pairs on their site. I actually used to have this pair, until I lost them, that looked especially cute worn with a pair of Victorian styled short boots! It made it look like the boots had a pretty lace ruffle around the top of them!

The Versatility of Lace Tights

One of my all-time favorite accessories, something I always feel like I can never have enough of in my wardrobe, is lace tights. I probably have over a dozen of them in a few different colors, I really just can't get enough of them! And they can also be found really cheaply in mainstream shops. Being able to change up an outfit completely and add a little something extra to it for $4? Yes please! Any excuse not to find two matching socks? Oh, Hell yes.

Mana, proving sometimes socks over tights is perfectly okay!

When I first got into Lolita one of my big Lolita inspirations was Mana, who is quite famous for wearing lace tights under thigh-high socks. At the time, I was finding it near impossible to find even knee highs in mainstream shops but I was finding a ton of lace tights, so I figured, if Mana does it... I can too! (of course, I now know that this is not always, or even mostly, the case!). So, ever since those early days have I had a fondness for lace tights paired with Lolita, and I've tried to work them in with as many outfits as possible. I think that they can really change up an outfit as simply as slipping them on. A plain Gothic Lolita outfit becomes infinitely more elegant, relatively simple Kuro Lolita gets a hint of Gothic, they give Sweet Lolita a princess-like touch, and they turn the notch up on Classic Lolita coordinates.

To me, this is my ideal Gothic Lolita- A Victorian styled black dress, heels, a few Gothic accessories, and lace. Personally, I am a fan of mixing several different lace pieces in one outfit, in this one it has lace tights, gloves, and a purse with a lace overlay. They might all be separate lace patterns, but, with the exception of the tights, they're such small pieces it doesn't look too overly cluttered. On the other hand, I find that an outfit where all the lace is matched looks much too matchy-matchy. I definitely prefer the sort of rag-tag elegance of many different kinds of lace!

Knee socks and over-the-knees are usually the trademark of a Sweet Lolita outfit, so I find that taking a very traditionally Sweet Lolita outfit and adding lace tights instantly changes its tune. It somehow manages to be even more girly, but a little more grown up, and almost Hime. While I think this works best with more toned down Sweet Lolita, I think that if you found a pair of lace tights in a pale pastel color (pale pink is not too hard to find!) and layered them over a different pale pastel colored pair of opaque tights you could really make an interesting Fairy Kei inspired Sweet Lolita outfit.

Lace tights are swiftly becoming the legwear to wear with Classic Lolita, and I'm perfectly fine with that! Lace tights in Classic Lolita instantly add texture and opulence to a style that is often considered the most toned down of the Lolita styles. Cream, tan, and even black can easily be worn with a Classic Lolita coordinate. In Classic Lolita I absolutely love them paired up with Victorian styled boots, I think they practically define Classic Lolita this way!

One of the things I love about lace tights is the variety they come in. You can find tights with delicate little flowers scattered throughout, you can find them with huge ornate paisley designs, and you can find gorgeous vertical stripes made with lace! You can wear them alone, you can layer them over opaque tights, or you can wear them under over-the-knee socks. They're breezy enough to wear in warm weather, and paired with another pair of tights or socks they can easily be warm enough for cold weather. And best of all, you're never going to end up with a drawer full of half a pair of lace tights, or constantly have to adjust them into staying up.

What are your favorite ways to wear lace tights? Or perhaps, do you hate the look of even sort-of bare legs in Lolita? I guess this is understandable, since lace tights sometimes lend an air of eroticism to a Lolita coordinate, which I know is not everyone's cup of tea. Myself I love to wear them on days where I feel like dressing up fancily but don't actually feel like doing much else besides slipping on a black skirt and an h.NAOTO cutsew.

Sweet-Classic Lolita

"Sweet-Classic" is a phrase that I've noticed popping up in the last couple years that describes, exactly as it sounds, a style that's not quite Sweet and not quite Classic. I like to think of it as the modern Lolita's answer to Country Lolita.

Sweet-Classic is one of those "sort of" styles, it's by no means considered "official" so some people disagree that it's even a style in the first place, and will either consider it to be regular Classic Lolita, just in lighter colors and with cuter prints, or regular Sweet Lolita, with a more sophisticated design. But I feel that it's slowly becoming it's own sub-style, and while it may never be an "official" style, I think it definitely does have an aesthetic of it's own.

If you're interested in some coordinates that blur the line between Classic and Sweet Lolita, check out these scans from some various G&LBs! Click for a bigger picture.

Prints seem to be the big defining factor of this style, both custom brand prints and more generic off-the-fabric-bolt prints. Although brand, many of the following dresses are made with relatively generic all-over floral fabric, and can easily be replicated with easy-to-find commercial fabric and offbrand dresses with similar fabrics can be found at places like Bodyline and Taobao. Keep an eye out for pale pastel colors, not necessarily the muted colors of Classic or the bold and multiple colors of Sweet, but simple pale and pretty pastels. While floral prints still abound, often in vertical or horizontal stripes, there are also prints much more reminiscent of Sweet Lolita, such as cute animals and toys. But the difference is that while most Sweet Lolita prints featuring animals and toys are very cartoony, the Sweet-Classic print features much more realistic illustrations, giving the print more of a Victorian story book look.

Innocent World's Sweet-Classic

Innocent World is probably the brand that first popularized this look, back when they started jumping on the cute border print trend that Angelic Pretty started. While AP was out making prints with toys and cuddly bunnies frolicking and having fun, IW followed shortly behind with more sophisticated versions of cute prints. They often came in more muted pastels and featured much more Victorian styled toys and cute animals, if not just florals.

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright's Sweet-Classic

While Baby didn't really help popularize the Sweet-Classic look, they have been making dresses with a similar aesthetic for a long time, and are always a nice choice if you're looking for a piece featuring pretty Classic florals with a Sweet color scheme and a sophisticated, yet cute cut.

Angelic Pretty's Sweet-Classic

While Angelic Pretty has made the occasional classical floral piece ever since the beginning, they have sort of come full circle with a couple recent custom print additions such as Vanilla Chan or Sugar Pansy, both of which are a huge step away from some of their recent prints, as they are much neater and more sophisticated looking. Even though Vanilla Chan features big headed kittens and bows, the fact that the print is much more orderly looking gives it a completely different aesthetic than some of their other recent prints.

Okay, so I think I know what kind of dresses make for a Sweet-Classic dress, but how do I coordinate it?

Well, since it's not really an "official" style, more of a descriptive phrase, it's sometimes a bit hard to pinpoint what makes something Sweet-Classic, but there are a few key points to the outfits that help define the style.

• Limited color pallet. Many Sweet-Classic prints already have all the colors an outfit can need in them already! The Lolita interested in this tends to choose not to pick out multiple colors from the print to incorporate throughout the outfit and instead lets the dress and the style be the focus of the outfit, not the color scheme.
  
• Minimal and "grown-up" accessories. The Sweet-Classic look isn't about wearing as many matching accessories as possible. In fact, many Sweet-Classic looks seem to exclude wearing any jewelry at all, at the most, possibly a ring or a simple necklace.
  
• Simply styled hair. Gone from this style are the huge teased pigtails and wigs that are usually seen in Sweet Lolita, instead the Sweet-Classic enthusiast would wear her hair in a very simple, yet elegant, hairstyle. Such as a pair of braids, buns, or loose in a very gentle curl.
  
• Heels. Flat and cute shoes, while an option in Sweet-Classic, aren't seen nearly as much as a pair of cute heels, either heeled mary janes, or a pair of Victorian boots. Matching the color of your shoe to the color of your dress is not necessary, a white or cream pair of heels does just fine.
  
• Small hair accessories. Since the Sweet-Classic Lolita's hair is styled simply, without massive amounts of volume, hair accessories are kept simple as well. A small Alice bow, a round headdress, or even simply a cute clip or small hair bow is all that is needed for this style.

Of course, I don't believe that Lolitas should worry too much about fitting the perfect label onto themselves or their outfits, and they certainly shouldn't limit themselves or even individual outfits to fitting perfectly within one style. But I do think it is nice to have a tangible name to go with a particular style, especially if you really enjoy it! What do you think of the style? Do you simply consider it to be merely Classic in softer colors, or perhaps just Sweet with flowers? Or, like me, are you enjoying watching what could possibly be a new Lolita sub-style emerge and make it's own place in the world of Lolita?

Before I end this post, I would also like to point out that in the last post of mine, some people seemed to misunderstand what I was saying. I was not necessarily predicting the rise of the Classic Lolita, so much as I was the decline of the Over-the-Top Sweet Lolita. There is more to Lolita than just OTT Sweet & Classic, and Sweet Lolita certainly isn't going anywhere! There were just as many Lolitas in cute, light pastels in this volume as there are in many of the other recent spring volumes of the G&LB, they just seemed to have ditched the clustery unicorn-and-bunnies-baking-glittery-cupcake prints for elegant florals and decided to leave gigantic pastel wigs at home. That is why I made this post, to remind some that Sweet Lolita isn't ever going to go anywhere, and that OTT Sweet Lolita isn't the only kind of Sweet Lolita out there, even though it may have seemed that way for the past few years! I did not mean to imply that Sweet Lolita is, or ever will be, dead and gone, just that it seems to be growing up a bit, at least for a little while!