My EGL Evolution - Part 3

 After the great memeflu of 2020 and things started to return to normal... so my fashion also returned to something a bit more normal. Spending 3+ hours getting ready with a face full of impractical clown makeup, outlandish lewks and every minute detail finagled with until absolute perfection (lul) was achieved... This was not quite conducive to regular everyday life. So I toned things down a bit. Or a lot XD

At this point I guess you could say I had become a 'lifestyler', that is a person who wears the fashion practically daily, or at least most of the week and absolutely every time I would leave the house. Of course, egl now becoming daily wear I wanted to wear things that weren't so heavily detailed or attention grabby like pastel boarder print sweet lolita. Sometimes I just want to go through my daily activities a bit less noticed. So I started to gravitate towards more solid non-printed dresses like those from the old school and gothic styles. My go-to brands became Moi Meme Moitie and Baby the Stars Shine Bright. 

Moitie is nice because a lot of the pieces are quite simple and not over designed or over detailed, it really leaves the amount of detail in the coord up to how it is styled and the items used to coord with it. Perfect for toned downed daily wear while still embodying the 'essence of lolita'. Also I can get my gothic fix without looking like a total 2000s Hot Topic freak, Robert Smith-looking club kid or resorting to cringey Killstar nu-goth satancore fits. Lovely, victorian inspired elegance with timeless classic beauty. Especially if I'm feeling lazy or don't have much time to put a coord together Moitie is quite nice as it is very easy to style and the simplicity can be very practical. The color palettes mainly consisting of black or black plus another solid color like white or Moitie-blue make it rather fool proof to put pieces together. Most times you can blindy choose things and the end result won't be completely ita. Of course, a top tier coord will probably have a bit more thought put into it. 

In my efforts to steer away from the pure obnoxiousness of AP sweet as daily wear it seems as though Baby tends to cater a lot to sweet as well. However, they also carry many pieces that are releases of older designs. Solid pieces with simpler designs, but in more diverse colors for when I want extend my color palette beyond the realms of black. Along with the neo-old school or old school revival pieces that can be purchased new from their website there are also tons of actual old pieces that can be found on secondhand sites. And they are quite inexpensive on the Japanese secondhand sites! Now along with solid old school pieces I also found that floral prints could be quite appropriate for most daily situations without getting into the territory of obnoxiousness. As well some of the older piece that do have prints can be more toned down, such as prints consisting of a single color screen printed border. This also seen in the typical Moitie dress that has a border print.   

Now just because nu-AP is very sweet, colorful, over designed and generally tacky and eye catching, it doesn't negate the brand all together. A lot of old AP is super practical and fits my current style quite nicely. Their older pieces are very much the same vibe as old Baby. And every now and then they will release pieces in solid colors that don't look too terrible and also fit my style. And old AP released a lot of floral and tartan as well.

And of course, one of my favorite old school releases that I wear quite often is Miranda from Alice and the Pirates. I love this particular dress so much so that I own it in a menagerie of colorways. The nice thing about this design is that AATP actually does rereleases very often, just about every year. And they always have new and gorgeous colorways like the purple and the greens ones. Another great thing about this particular design is you can usually find it fairly inexpensive and rather plentiful on the second hand markets. Pretty much at any point in time if you look for it there will be at least one or two listings available.  

I've also sprinkled in some pieces from brands that fit my overall gothic and old school aesthetic such as Metamorphose, Innocent World, Victorian Maiden, Sheglit, Atelier Boz (now called Alpstola) and Heart E (an old brand which hasn't been in business for years). And some other brands as well. I'm very pleased with my current wardrobe and aesthetic. I feel very comfortable with the egl style I've settled on. One thing I really love about lolita fashion is the diversity and versatility. If I get bored of a style, feel like a style no longer suits me or just want to try something new and different there is so much to choose from and infinite ways to change things up.

Will my style change or go in a different direction in the future? I can't say for certain, but with the current amount of pieces that I own and diversity as far as color and styles available to work with I don't see myself getting bored anytime in the near future. I feel very confident in my looks and overall satisfied with my current style. Maybe I will revisit 'My EGL Evolution' in a couple years and see where things are and how my style and wardrobe have changed... Though there are a couple things I could see myself changing.... I do see myself adding a few more hats to my lewks! And maybe experimenting with hairstyles a bit more to change things up!