Candy Bottle Unboxing!

So, last Friday and today have been kind of special for me: I ordered a new dress from Metamorphose! Not only is this the first thing I've bought for my Lolita wardrobe in more than a year, but it's also the first new-straight-from-the-brand dress I've ever purchased! I can't say first order ever, because I once bought a parasol from Baby SF, but this felt different.

Remember how I said in this post that I was in love with the Candy Bottle print? Well, guess what's on sale?

I ordered it, the dress shipped out on Monday, and I can't tell you how pleasantly surprised I was to find that it arrived yesterday! I was expecting a far longer wait.

Meta sent me a bunch of little things along with the dress, too!

In addition to the obligatory shopping bag, there's also a nice little sticker, and fabric swatches from their Matryoshka Doll print!

There are also two spreads of the Cherry Berry Song series, and Crown Label's Bakery Cafe.

... and two sets of design sketches! One for the Dim Light series, and the other for Bakery Cafe! That bear is so cute.

Alright, of course, now for the main event:

The JSK! I went with off-white because it just seems like I can coordinate it with more things. It's a nice, soft cotton, and it's super girly, even though construction-wise, it's almost the same as my more Classic Wheel of Time JSK. The fabric almost has a pink hue to it!

I'm in love with these buttons down the front! No, they aren't functional, sadly!

The little, pink satin bows are a great addition, and the lace on the hem has the Meta Swan Logo!

Here's a shot of it from the back - and the only thing about this dress that's off are the waist ties. This is my second-shortest dress, yet it has the _longest_ waist ties I've ever seen. But it's not a big deal in the slightest.

Have any of you gotten anything in mail recently? Let me know or link me to more unboxing videos in the comments below!

Keeping it Together - How to Prepare for Wardrobe Cohesion

You've fallen into the Lolita Pit of Hell: all you've bought are main pieces. Sure, maybe you have a blouse or two that match your first couple of dresses and nothing else, and the same might go for headwear. You look around; do you even own any other accessories?

Or, maybe you've suddenly found yourself with a complete 180 degree change. Your closet used to be sweet and pink and full of cupcakes, and never stopped to remember that when you just started buying up Moitie pieces.

Maybe you bought this bag and have no idea
what to wear it with. The eyes are just too cute!

How do you claw your way out?

Note: I'm only speaking for my own wardrobe. You do whatever works for you.

1. Reorganize Your Closet

This might not seem like an intuitive Step One, but this is actually where I've started from. I finally decided to buy a free-standing closet (not a wardrobe) with the express intention of having somewhere to bring all of my Lolita out of storage, and going through how it has to be organized has really made me take a look at everything - both individually, and how it all looks together.

Reorganization gives you the opportunity to think about a few things: do you even still like some of your pieces? Where did these socks come from? What will work with multiple main pieces, and are there things that you want that will make a nearly-complete outfit with what you already have?

2. Make a List

Well, I made two lists: things that are going to get sold, and things that I'd like to have to make a more complete coordinate with each piece.

I made a list of each main piece I own, complete with what colorway it was, and then added a bullet-pointed list of bits and bobs that would look really nice with them - I absolutely wrote down duplicates. Like, if I had more than one dress that would look nice with brown shoes, I wrote down "brown shoes" for each one. It's going to look really long at the end of it all, and that's okay! We'll take care of that in the next step.

Have a snippet of my list:

I used my wardrobe post from last year to make the list, and simply deleted the things that I had sold or am now planning on selling. It was helpful because I could look at images of my clothing without having to either pull them all out of their storage space or looking them up individually on Lolibrary.

3. Condense the List

Once you figure out everything - what shoes you need, what purses or blouses you're missing, all that stuff - now you can start deleting duplicates.

First, take out the names of all of your dresses. Then, as tedious as it sounds, start going through and taking out the doubles, triples... quadruples, even. You'll find that your pages-long list will quickly trim down to far less!

4. Put Everything Into a Category by Item



This one's only necessary if you're like me and you really thrive on putting things into categories or labels. Re-sort your list by:

Shoes
Blouses
Headwear
Socks
Accessories
Purses
[Insert Other Categories Here!}

5. You Have Your Shopping List!

Behold! You now have a pretty clear shopping plan to put together, and maybe some things you can sell off to contribute to the fund, as well. I've been having some very strong urges to reorganize everything - this was simply a side-effect! And I like having a clear-cut idea of what I have to do in order to make more wearable coordinates out of what I have already, and I'm excited to start rounding it all out again.

I hope this has been as helpful for you as it has for me! What are some of your favorite methods for organizing or figuring out how to reach better wardrobe cohesion? Let me know in the comments below!