52 Week: 5 pieces that every Lolita wardrobe should have, regardless of style

#1: Sensible (for Lolita, anyway) shoes

These are mine, and I LOVE them. I actually just got them recently and having them made me realize how necessary shoes like these are. These can fall under the "flat" category, since the heel is definitely under an inch, probably more around 1/4th of an inch. These are Bodyline's "SHOES251" in light pink. Before I got these, the only shoes I had were old riding boots with very little cushion, RHS', and oxford heels. None of these are very comfortable for long periods of time, and I left each meetup feeling like I wanted to do nothing more than rip my shoes off and soak my feet. Even if we went to the movies, it was just awful! I know that a lot of Lolita's, especially if you've been in the fashion for a long time, can more than handle foot pain, but, well... there's just going to be some meetup where it's not exactly a good idea. These particular shoes are also fantastic because there are snaps on the buckles, so once I figure out how big the buckles need to be, all I have to do is unsnap and snap them. Also, if you're a Lolita with swollen feet or ankles, these are really good ones. When I first put them on, the shoe hit a little too far on the top of my foot, but after breaking them in, they're just fine. 

#2: A dress that is layer-friendly.

I have Bodyline's L411, and it works just fine for this. Get a dress that can accommodate a wide variety of measurements, preferably an OP with short sleeves. This dress saved me when I wanted to wear Lolita during a particularly fierce "Arctic Blast" this winter: I put a long-sleeved blouse underneath it, and with white tights and my riding boots, it made a pretty cute country coord! This dress is also good for the summer, or for slightly chilly days where it looks just fine with a cardigan. 

#3: A good petticoat.

I got this picture from Qutieland, but (as the watermark suggests) its a Classical Puppets petticoat. I've given presentations on Lolita before at my school's anime club (we've done a lot of culture presentations in the past) and every time I gave them I said that if you hand make every single piece of your Lolita wardrobe, I still urge you to buy a good petticoat, even if its the only thing you do. It really makes all the difference!

#4: Bloomers (or shorts of some kind)

I've handmade my bloomers using the tutorial here. I really like bloomers as opposed to regular old shorts or boxers (I think that "Bloomers or No?" is a later 52 week topic so I'll save that for later) but if you don't want to fuss with making or buying bloomers when you've got a perfectly good pair of shorts that stand no chance of showing underneath your skirt, then that's just fine! Until I made mine, I just used a pair of shorts that I had bought for underneath my marching band uniform, and they worked just fine. But if you live, like me, in a particularly windy area (I go to school on an island... it's windy!) then you already know what I'm about to say: Lolita skirts are the perfect length for the wind to have an absolute blast with. Also, you don't have to look very far online to find Lolita's who suggest bloomers for reasons that have to do with people...

#5: A low-key hair accessory. 

 Now, I'm being lazy and using my picture from my EGL wardrobe post, but the kind of hair accessory I'm talking about are the two bows at the top, the white and pink ones. Whether its parents who aren't exactly thrilled about the idea of "OTT" or wearing Lolita out somewhere that isn't exactly large head accessory friendly (movie theatre, amusement park) or just a casual day, there's always going to be a time when big head-eating bows or bows on headbands or carousel hats or giant frilly bonnets aren't the way to go. These two bows were given to me by my best friend when she and her sister were cleaning out accessories, but I've seen similar ones in various stores. I usually wear them with my hair in a "half up half down" style (a small ponytail made with part of my hair and the rest of it left loose) and clip these in just above the hairband to hide it.