At first glance, lolita fashion can seem
like something impossible to pull off with only locally-bought* clothes, especially if there you aren't part of a lolita comm. However, after enough hoarding I'm able to put together coordinates that are almost entirely thrifted (with the exception of my petticoat and bloomers, which were bought new from Malco Modes and American Apparel, respectively, and my socks and tights.) In addition to being suitable for lolita, these
clothes also accomodate my preference for appearing flat-chested
(which is not at all related to lolita, by the way--I just don't like
my chest. And I've been able to make that work largely
because I'm small enough to fit into childrens' clothes, so if you're
bigger than that a lot of what has worked for me probably won't work
for you -__-;.)
Skirts are somewhat few and far
between, but they're out there, especially if you're looking for
A-line skirts. Black square dance skirts like the one pictured to the right can
also work well. The same applies to dresses, although finding a dress
with a decent neckline can be difficult. Loliable skirts are much
easier to find, especially in my case since I prefer to appear
flat-chested, which doesn't work so well when you've got a garment
that's made for people with noticeable breasts.
Blouses are a bit easier to find
when you don't have my above-mentioned problem with darts (I've heard
of flat-chested people just wearing things tailored for people with
curves and boobs, but even if it's just a tiny extra flap of fabric I
will notice it and it will bug me.) I've found two things to look for
in blouses to accomodate this.
The first only works if you also
happen to be some degree of tiny--I check the children's section for
cutesy blouses and jumpers, which sometimes fit me and are usually
made with the assumption that the target wearers do not have sizeable
(if any) breasts. The same also applies to the smallest sizes in
adult clothes (like the grey blouse on the left)--some manufacturers apparently assume XS = no curves,
and so there are no darts to create the annoying fabric flaps that
annoy me so much (I'm sure this practice annoys the hell out of
curvier tiny people, though -__-).
The other option (which I'm guessing could work well for larger people) is blouses that have fabric gathered in
the shoulders (top right) or at the chest (bottom right).
Most of the blouses I've found do not
look all that good by themselves--they need to be tucked in at
minimum, and preferably also be covered up by a vest, blazer (like in the first photo), or
jumperskirt. I look for nice, high collars and sleeves with a slight
poof to them in particular. Sometimes you can make regular dress shirts work if they have stripes or some other interesting/loliable feature (like the shirt in the first picture.) A blazer will be the easiest thing you can
find to accomplish this, although it also hides any poof at the
shoulders (or lack thereof, which can be a good thing). I have yet to find a nice vest without darts in the chest
(though if I ever do find one I'm sure it will come from the boys'
section), and you're also unlikely to find anything that can be worn
as a jumperskirt without darts in it (if you did, it would probably
be in the girls' section.)
Shoes are
one of the easiest things to find if you can make chunky black heels,
black knee boots, and mary janes work. Shoes in colors besides black
(or maybe white or red, if you're lucky) and platform shoes
(especially in any color but black) can be difficult.
Accessories like jewelry,
scarves, gloves and hats (if you're willing to check vintage stores
and are okay with more of a classic/50s vibe) are probably the
easiest thing you can find. I always check the jewelry section at
thrift stores. This can also be a good fall-back if you can't dress
in full lolita but still want to incorporate something cute or
elegant into your outfits.
Outerwear
in the form of coats and sometimes blazers (if that's your thing--I
love my black velvet blazer to pieces) is also easier to find,
especially in black. Just be careful that it doesn't look too plain
(look for unusual/luxurious fabric or cute details) and it won't
squish your skirt (or look awkward with it). I'm picky about this
because of the dart problem, but I think those tend to be less
noticeable in coats, and sometimes you find something that doesn't
have them, too.
As I wrote this, I
was reminded that gothic lolita is probably the easiest substyle to
thrift because of how popular and flexible black things are (and you
can get a spooky vibe from accessories alone as long as your garments
don't distract from them), followed by classic lolita (especially if
you check vintage stores and are okay with wearing outfits that use
black as a main color). Sweet lolita is probably a bit harder (white
with pink accents and tons of accessories might be the easiest way to
go about it. Pastel secretary blouses from the '80s can probably work
okay for this, but watch out for the fabric quality.)
There's also a
slim chance that you will find garments actually intended for lolita
(this happened to me once with an In the Starlight skirt, and I've
heard of at least one lolita bringing offbrand or indie garments that
won't resell for much to thrift stores.) Halloween can be one of the
best times of the year to look because a lot of thrift stores will
pull out all the clothes that they think would otherwise be too weird
to sell and stick them in the costume section even if they weren't
originally intended as costume pieces (this is how I found that In
the Starlight skirt.)
If you have any tricks or experiences with building lolita coords from thrift store goods, I'd love to hear about them in the comments =].
*And by locally I
mean within the United States. Specifically, the midwest.