Choosing Your Style

Another little expert from that wonderful website, very interesting. Enjoy:
Lolita is an interesting fashion, in that there is and incredible variety of styles within it: so much so that is very easy for a newbie to become overwhelmed. Normal questions of this nature are: Can I be Lolita is I don't like too much lace? Am I a 'real' Lolita if I only like Punk Lolita? Do I have to choose only one style and stick with it forever? Can I wear Sweet and Gothic style together?
First off, because there are many styles of Lolita, no style is 'more Lolita' than another. Sweet may be more popular than Classic, but there is no rule that says Sweet Lolitas are the end-all of Lolita Land.
There is also no rule which says you can't wear any or all of the styles to your heart's content. Most Lolitas do dabble in at least two styles. And of course, there is no hard-and-fast line between what defines something as Sweet and what defines it as Gothic, when both can come in black and both can have the same silhouette. The problem is (and this is why you will find that most Lolits stay close to their favorite style) the cost. Most Lolita styles have a basic color scheme. Sweet, for example, barelt deviates from the black/white/pink/blue color wheel. Lolita also looks best when it works with only two or three colors in a single outfit, and so that pink Angelic Pretty skirt you just bought will probably need entirely pink and white accessories. Consider how much you will have to buy to match with that skirt: headdress, blouse, petticoat, bloomers, socks, shoes, maybe a jacker, maybe a purse, maybe so jewelry. This is just one outfit.
Now, if you buy another pink skirt, you have all the same components to put into your outfit. You don't have yo run out and buy anything new to match it.
But now you've gone out and bought a black and blue Moitie blouse: Does the blouse go with your skirt? No, not at all. So what do you do? You buy a whole new outfit just for that blouse. You've now doubled the cost of your entire wardrobe.
Even if you had a large budget, chances are that you will end up with fewer potential coordinates that you would if you stayed close you your color and style of choice. You also have less room to mix and match. A lolita with one blouse, two skirts, two headdresses, and two pairs of socks which all match has more options than a Lolita with two complete, but entirely different, outfits.
Deciding on your style is the difficult part, especially when you can't simply walk into a store and try it on yourself. The important thing to ask is where it will look good on you, and whether you will feel good weaing it. Would you look silly in Sweet? Is Gothic too dark? Punk not girly enough? Classic too muted/old fashioned for your taste? It never hurts to experiment, but just don't let you wallet suffer for it.
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Yep, that's about it. See you next time.
You Lord[ess] and Master,
Alice