Gothic and Kuro Have Taken Over My Life Recently

 

In the winter of 2021, I bought my first 'gothic' wardrobe piece. 

It was the Cross Ribbon OP by Sheglit. A simple long-sleeved, cotton OP with a dozen or so covered buttons down the front. I thought it was a perfect piece to start experimenting with.

At the time, I was a huge fan of blogger and YouTuber RoseNocturnalia; A Canadian goth and lolita who made content about EGL and her local goth scene in Toronto (?) I adored her dry and slightly morbid sense of humor. I also loved that she was a black girl in the fashion sharing tips and giving advice, watching her felt empowering. To this day, she's still a huge inspiration.

 Even though I knew dividing what little money I had at the time amongst two substyles was probably a mistake...I bought the OP anyway. 

I wore two darker looks for the first time in the spring of 2021

I bought my first Moitie items too; a choker, logo beret, and the Silent Moon OTKs

They're simple coordinates, and barely what you could consider real gothic lolita but I felt proud of them and posted them to CoF! The comments were really kind and I received compliments from my peers.

From there, I sporadically included more kuro into rotation alongside my typical sweet looks. I still wasn't sure if I should be investing in another substyle, so I continued to mostly wear and buy sweet items for the remainder of 2021.

In November of 2022, I made another big non-sweet purchase. 

The Coquelicot OP by Atelier's Pierrot's sister brand Vallée Lys, it was a ridiculously indulgent purchase but it was a dress I had been eyeing for a long time. The OP was sold out on the AtePie website, so I purchased the last available one at Harajuku Hearts.

I wore it for the first time in 2023 (yikes)

Halloween 2023

I actually hate this coordinate, like DESPISE it. 

It's severely lacking in my opinion...

You can see that I'm still trying to get a grasp of coordinating gothic lolita. During this time I began to watch the shopping streams and old chatting lives from Atelier Pierrot. I lurked on the brand page daily and started following shop staff whose coordinates caught my eye.

I don't think I seriously attempted gothic again for quite a while, in general, I didn't really have the time to wear lolita much. I was in the process of moving into my partner's house and transitioning from part-time to a full-time supervisor role at my job. 

I spent most of my time just looking at and learning from my more experienced friends and mutuals within the community. It felt like I was in middle school again, quietly lurking and doing research.

When I was gathering inspiration, I began to realize that I liked softer, more romantic looks. 

Atelier Pierrot, Vallée Lys, and Sheglit were the brands I began to pay the most attention to.

Fast forward to March 2024 and I made another purchase!

Atelier Pierrot's Midnight Reverie JSK in ivory. Black was my preferred colorway, but as usual, I waited too long and it sold out. It wasn't until I saw international brand and marketing manager, Connie, wearing the ivory that I really warmed up to it!

He coordinated it in a very simple, yet elegant way and I wanted to try something similar.

I like this coord, and JSK a lot! 

This year I noticed that when I would get dressed for a day out, a date, or a meet I wasn't reaching for my pastels as much. I really wanted to start buying and investing in kuro and gothic pieces for my wardrobe. It's not that I don't like sweet or plan to phase it out, but for the last year, none of the sweet brands have been releasing anything truly eye-catching to me. 

I was in the mood to try out something new, and life had begun to settle down! 

I had the time and the budget to start investing in another substyle.

By April I had been completely obsessed with gothic and kuro! My closest lolita friend only wears gothic and has admittedly been a huge influence on me; it felt good to have a veteran lolita compliment my coords! It fueled a fire in me to really get better and start building a capsule wardrobe.

Photos from April and May of this year.

I much prefer this look with my Coquelicot OP!

Also in May, my Pierrot obsession truly began. I don't know exactly what it is, but their brand aesthetic and design choices just deeply resonate with me. 

I ordered the Mini Corset Skirt and Blossom Breeze Blouse after seeing Connie style the various colors during shopping lives. I was a little anxious about buying a lolita item that was so short, but pulled the trigger on it and ended up with one of my favorite coords this year!

 

In June and July, I purchased the Frill Short Corset and Pivoinve skirt, both in black.

I haven't had the time to wear them yet, because it's absolutely miserable outside but I did put this up on my mannequin!

I did, however, wear this kuro coordinate to host afternoon tea and crafting at my house for a friend.

It got a lot of traction on JP twitter and I was a bit shocked, but I think it's probably because it hits a nostalgic spot for people with the arm warmers, fishnets, and OTKs. Very chuuni.

Side note: I also became mutuals with a member of Pierrot's staff and shrieked like a maniac.

And Finally, August.

I received my latest order yesterday! I got the iconic Shirring Princess Sleeve Blouse in black and another Pivoine Skirt. This time in white, as I do intend to begin incorporating a bit of shiro into my closet. 

I've been having so much fun building this wardrobe. If we collage everything together this is what I have for myself so far 

(not including legwear and accessories; I'm too lazy to make more pngs)

Three skirts (two practical, one for fun)

Two OPs (one practical, one definitely for fun)

One JSK (I'm thinking about my ideal black jsk still..)

One corset (ridiculously versatile! surprised me!)

Versus the pieces still left on my little wishlist!

The Na+H bolero is definitely indulgent, but after seeing my friend in hers it's such a cool piece and I'd love to own it one day. I'm also obsessed with Coquelicot, either the mini version in the original chiffon or the newer gauze version would be fine with me ! 

The rest is pretty basic and what I would deem necessary for starting a little corner for shiro! 

Once I have my basics, I'd like to focus on legwear and accessories. I do have some nice ambiguous pieces like plain socks and rectangle headdresses that work with all substyles, though I would love to own more pieces from the indie brands Pierrot carries. Estrellas and Morun x Muuna Stoik have gorgeous tights,  I'm very curious about Boo!Do and LuxMira accessories too.

I'm also currently extremely salty about missing the latest Neant Glass drop, that's for sure on the list but I'm annoyed just thinking about it.

This brings me to the end of my ramblings about gothic and kuro. I haven't wanted to write a blog in a very long time, but today just felt like a good day to talk about what I've been up to in lolita and my current goals within the fashion.

Stay cool out there!

* blog separators by dollywons