But unlike every other year I've made the effort into making a wardrobe post this year. My first wardrobe post was one that I am not proud of at all when I look back at it. It is lacking in quality, details and especially it doesn't represent me. It feels empty and plain. Nothing wrong with plain wardrobe posts don't get me wrong here but pairing that with the other missing factors it isn't something that I'm proud of.
Now I don't going to tell you to buy the newest camera on the market or to invest in something that makes your wardrobe post stand out a bit more. But I am going to share 5 tips on how you can make your own version of a perfect wardrobe.
Daylight is your best light source
We all know that you need some light in order to make a photo. All light sources have different colors going from a more blue tone to a more yellow tone. This shade will reflect on your actual photo. With daylight you sit right in between the blue and yellow tones which gives you the perfect representation of your actual dress without the need of adjusting your photo's through a photo editing app.
Also this light source is free and available all day, the only thing you need is a window in front of your photo spot.
Other than having daylight in your room is the placement of your photo corner also an important factor to keep in your mind. The best placement of your camera is going to be in between the window and the things you want to make photo's off. This gives the best overall lightning and no harsh shadows.
Left = facing my window
Middle = window on the side
Right = window behind me
As you can see the lighting differs in all the three photo's and they where made in the same moment with my phone.
Don't rush your photo making progress
This one is so easily to forget but please take your time when making the photo's. Make sure your dresses lay correctly, no weird folds or ribbons left untied. All these small details pay for themselves in the end. When you take your time to properly display your pieces in every photo you will enjoy working your way through it when making the actual wardrobe post. You find yourself in awe over your dresses and see all the little details just like the stock photo's of brands like Angelic Pretty or Baby, the stars shine bright.
With my own wardrobe post this year I started rushing through things when I was getting tired after multiple hours of shooting my items. And it really shows, at least I see the flaws in the photo's. Blouses that where a bit wonky, dresses not hanging straight on my dressing doll or even weird pleats in the skirts where the lining of my dress was all scrunched up underneath. I needed to redo some of these photo and still some slipped through!
It was better for me to spread the process over multiple days instead of one evening. But I wanted to finish it that night before I wanted to go to bed. This was the worst idea ever and it shows in my eyes.
Small items are even smaller on photo
Dresses show up really when on photo cause they are big and you can fill up the frame really well without skipping out on the details of a print. When it comes to smaller items like jewellery you need to take a different approach. The moment you put all your necklaces in one shot you loose a lot of detail. In my first wardrobe post I places all the same type of items in the same shot, so all headbows together, same for socks and necklaces for example. This ended in one giant mess and a wow effect on how much stuff I had instead of showing off the details of the items. For my wardrobe post this year I took the time to place for example my necklaces in pairs of 4 together for a close up shot. Same for my headbows, placed by brand or color palet with a max of 5 if I'm correct. This was aesthetically pleasing and a lot easier on the eye.
Top: Old wardrobe post on LJ
Bottom: New wardrobe post on my blog
You don't need to post in Januari
Back in the day when the lolita community was mostly active on Livejournal Januari was the month where you could post your wardrobe. This was the theme of the month! Though times changed and we aren't active on Livejournal that much, people post their wardrobes on Facebook, personal blogs, instagram or make youtube videos about their wardrobe. Some still use livejournal to show off their wardrobe but the amount is a lot less than it used to be.
With this change comes the time frame when people post their wardrobes. I wanted to add this point after seeing a video on youtube where a girl talked about the fact that she wasn't going to make a wardrobe video yet. She explained that she used the wardrobe posts to look back on the past year and to reflect on how her wardrobe has evolved over the year and what dresses she is going to let go. But this was something she does at the end of the year instead the beginning of a new one.
This made me think about the whole wardrobe month and the deadline we all put on ourselves. You don't need to finish all your photo's in January, you can start in the middle of the year if you want. You also don't need to post your wardrobe in January, there is still February of even December like the girl in the video so you can look back on the past year. Don't focus on just one month, if you can't finish it in time no one gets killed for it. Yes it is nice to expect all the wardrobe posts of your friends or the people you follow online in Januari but I also think it would be way better to have one wardrobe post in a year instead of none.
Not everything needs to go on the photo
A wardrobe post is a representation of your wardrobe but this doesn't mean that you need to put everything on the photo for the sake of making a wardrobe post. This is a rookie mistake I think and definitely something I learned along the way. Sure you can make photo's of every single item you own but do you want to show off those simple cardigans you wear on a daily base or all the non printed tights you wear with your dresses? I know I don't want to show that to other people. When I look at myself, I love looking at wardrobe posts where there are pretty items on display. Dresses, Brand socks, unique cardigans, jewellery or even special shoe designs. I'm not really interested to see a collection of forever21 blouses or plain white tights with dirty spots at the soles. I made this mistake myself with my first wardrobe post as I thought that I needed to make photo's of everything that I owned or used while wearing lolita. Going from plain tights to thrift store blouse that I didn't wear or older items that looked pretty dead in the picture. If an items doesn't look good on the photo rethink for a second if it adds something to your post or not.
This year I picked only my dresses and combined them with the blouses I wear the most, accessories, headpieces, brand socks and handbags. This selection filled up both my time as well as my wardrobe post pretty well. And I feel that I'm not missing anything this time. I look back at my photo's with a smile on my face and see how well everything is showing without showing off some older items or items that I don't really use in coords like tote bags or hats.
You have to deal with a big mess
So a little bonus tip from yours truly, be prepared for a giant mess if you are like me!
I knew I had a lot of stuff but when I pulled everything out after making the photo's I realised how much stuff I actually gathered over the years.
As I wasn't putting my items away after each photo I ended up standing in the middle of a giant pile of lolita items. Spreaded over my bed, into the corners of my room and everything was one big mess. Though putting everything away while making the photo's wasn't an option either cause it would mean that it would only take a lot longer. And if you remember I said that I was doing this in the evening a couple of hours before going to bed. Not so smart Poppy, not so smart!
Luckily my dear friend Josine would come the day after and we decluttered my room together in the afternoon. Putting everything back in place and organising my closet again. While she enjoyed taking a closer look at all the pieces in my wardrobe I enjoyed the reorganisation of my wardrobe. It was a lovely afternoon!
The battle zone of my 2018 wardrobe post
I hope to see you next time for a new post!
This post is in collaboration with the Lolita Blog Carnival
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