A Look Back at 2018 in Coords

This blog will be taking a look back at all my old school coords from 2018, the good and the not so good. Just a warning that this is of course going to be a veeeery image heavy blog post.

3 Coords: Black & White December

Coords: A+Lidel and Putumyo Hoodie

2 Coords: Striped Socks, Sweet Tartan

How to Dress in Old School Lolita ∣ Pt.1

This blog post is hopefully going to be a comprehensive guide to how to most accurately and authentically dress in old school lolita. It's all tips and tidbits that I've picked up myself over the years of wearing and admiring old school, mostly just from observing things in photos. Perhaps you will find these points helpful, or perhaps you'd prefer to ignore it and just do your own thing~! I thought I might give some tips that I feel might help you wear the style in as authentically of-the-time a way as possible, and bring light to possibly forgotten features, without being too prescriptive.

Coord: Black Socks

This is a coord I wore the other day to hang out with my friend Joshua and catch up. We had some tea at a cafe and then headed to a arts & crafts/vintage market. Then afterwards I got some coord photos. On the way to the market I noticed this graffiti'd phone box, and since I wanted to get photos in a juxtaposed environment in this coord, it worked out perfectly.

Coord: Helsinki Adventures (2 coords)

Although I didn't get a ticket to the Sunday tea party, I still had time in Helsinki. So, I took a ferry over to Suomenlinna, a sea fortress which is made up of 6 islands, where I spent most of the day.

Looking At The Roots Of Lolita - Pre-Oldschool

When I first discovered that lolita fashion had its roots in the 1970s and 80s, I was quite surprised to hear it, seeing as the oldest lolita photos we tend to see are from the late 1990s. I was about a year into wearing the fashion, and was reading fyeahlolita's blog post talking about lolita in the 70s, 80s & 90s. I recommend you check it out. However, her post doesn't include many photos to demonstrate the earlier years, most of the ones included are from the 90s. I have been very interested to learn more about lolita's roots, and expand upon the revelations made by fyeahlolita. 

I had come across a small handful of earlier pre-lolita looks, but last night I decided to dig deeper and find more information, and I ended up doing a deep dive until nearly 3am. Now, I will be including some information that is in fyeahlolita's blog, just so that I'm not missing any information, but I'm not trying to step on any toes or anything.

Just a warning that this post is going to be very image heavy, but I'm sure that's what you're here for anyway~

Eternal Twilight

Last week I made a trip to Helsinki for the lolita fashion event Eternal Twilight. Naturally, since Mana-Sama and the brand Moi Meme Moitie were guests at the event, I wore my (currently) only Moitie piece, a 2000 JSK with the most beautiful bustle lace. I absolutely adore the clean cut of this jumper skirt and the intricate cross and rose lace on the bustle. 

Of course with such a beautiful clean Moitie dress, I had to coord it in a very EGL way. I didn't even realise I would be wearing so many offbrand items until later- if anything I'd want to wear as much burando as possible at an event like this to assert my dominance (lol), but I really wanted to have the streamlined leggy look. Of course it doesn't actually matter how much brand I'm wearing as long as the finished result looks good

JSK - Moi Meme Moitie

Blouse - Baby, the Stars shine Bright

Shoes - Antaina

Bag - Vintage

Everything else - Offbrand

Preserved on Film

The other day I got the film developed from my old 2002 camera and I have some old school pics in there. I find it so fun to take photos in old school lolita with this camera since it's actually from the time, so it just fits perfectly~! Personally I much prefer film, although digital cameras certainly have their uses and are generally more practical and cheaper. But film has a certain quality to it that is so much more pleasant, nicer colours and texture. 

I got this taken of myself and my good friend Josh during my comm's December meet up. I don't have much to say other than we look pretty damn cute. And uh... the flash is really exposing my neck blend lmao. I'm not even ashamed of the total flashback Mary moment I'm having because tbh I look better with the flash than without ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Coord: Creepy Toys & Imitating Brand Ads

Cutsew: Metamorphose Temps De Fille
Skirt: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright
Socks: Metamorphose Temps De Fille
Shoes: Antaina
Bag: Vintage
Bloomers: Metamorphose Temps De Fille (borrowed from a friend)
Hair accessory: Bodyline

Coord: Comfy Gobelin For a Picnic

Dress: MAM Maxicimam Gobelin OP (2001)

Socks: Innocent World

Bag: Metamorphose Temps De Fille

Headdress: Baby, the stars Shine Bright

Parasol: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Shoes: Antaina

Accessories: vintage & offbrand

Mimicking Old School Photos

It's no secret I basically want to embody old school. This usually means I try to get a coord shot that at lease vaguely looks like a street snap, as this is pretty easy. But if for some reason I can't get a photo outside, or I just feel like being a bit more adventurous, I like to mimic and take inspiration from old school photos.

This first photo, I actually got taken inside a shopping mall, and I felt like the photo lacked something as it was. I'd been thinking a lot about this one girl who would always photoshop herself onto backgrounds of stately homes and nice gardens in her coord photos, and really wanted to try it out sometime. I decided that this was as good an opportunity as any, and so I gave it a go.

Traditional Lolita Vs Old School Lolita

Ever since we moved away from the era in which old school lolita was simply 'lolita', there has been a fairly stereotyped idea of what old school lolita was. Since the style has become more popular in recent years, this has become particularly clear. And as an ~evil old school purist~, this bothers me a little bit. Not because I hate these coords, because I don't, they're cute and always well put together, I just feel like they aren't old school.

It occurred to me that it might actually be quite beneficial to make the distinction between Old School Lolita and what I call 'Traditional Lolita'. I came across the term in this video where Misako wears a very modern interpretation of old school, but she calls it 'Traditional Lolita'. With this differentiation, people can wear the cute pseudo old school style without diluting or stretching the meaning of Old School Lolita.

Traditional Lolita

I would describe Traditional Lolita as a refined idea of oldschool. As if you have a vague memory of the most obvious features of Old School Lolita, that also fits the current rules and standards. It could even be described as the most typical idea of lolita, it's sort of what a basic and timeless lolita coord looks like. A neatened up idea of oldschool, using more accessible things and modern makeup styling.

A Little Introduction

I thought it would be best to write a little introductory post before anything else, so here we are. Hello there. I'm Ophelia, and I love pretty much everything about Old School Lolita. And so that's what this blog will be about for the most part. I hope to write about my own views on Old School as an oldschooler in 2018, focus on certain aspects of the style/era, as well as post my own coords and perhaps even blog about the occasional non-oldschool thing.

I have a little list of blogs I plan to write and I'm quite excited! I'm also a little bit nervous because I'm not super confident in my writing skills, but perhaps by keeping this blog, I'll improve