The Little Black Dress: Adapting a Classic For Your Style

"When a little black dress is right, there is nothing else to wear in its place." – Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

Ah, the little black dress. Popularized by the ever-fabulous Coco Chanel and raised to style gospel in the time since, you’ve probably heard so much about the little black dress (or LBD as it is often abbreviated and will here be to cut down on length a little) that it’s as ingrained in your mind as it is in mine. It’s a classic.

The point of a little black dress is that it works as a simple staple that can be styled up, down, or any which way to suit almost any event. The ideal LBD is a quality piece that will work with a blazer for work wear, with lovely jewelry for an evening event, and in a wide variety of different ways for so many situations.

And I really think we should adapt that concept to every style.

Keep it Simple, Sweetheart: A Love Letter to Basic, Casual Pieces

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I’m a huge fan of casual Lolita and otome-kei, not just because they are very wearable (which they are) but because they are easier to throw together with mainstream pieces. It’s surprisingly simple to find cutsew-like pieces in more mainstream stores, especially if you look at stores like Modcloth that specialize in vintage-style clothing and therefore have a lot of tops with more detail to them than a plain white tee.

Because I do so much stuff that’s historically-inspired or edging on OTT here on my blog, I wanted to take a moment to pull together a series of outfits that use basic, offbrand tops with Lolita skirts to create something casual and, more importantly, office- or school-appropriate.

Most of these swing hard toward the retro look – unsurprising given the combination of full skirts and other shirts – but they’d be easy to lolify further with head eating bows, wrist cuffs, or actually Lolita shoes. My own personal style tends to skirt the line between Lolita, retro, and otome-kei, so this shouldn't surprise you.

And the best thing about these shirts is that most of them would be so simple to find in a store or DIY. And I do, of course, encourage you to DIY if you can. Then you get the opportunity to be proud of your own work and you can create something cute along the way.