If you've been a part of this fashion for a little while you may have noticed that in January every year you start seeing and hearing a lot about wardrobe posts. Youtubers may film themselves wearing each of their pieces. Your instagram feed may become clogged with photographs of closets or their contents. Old curmudgeonly bloggers may also get in on the fun of painstakingly pretending to the entire internet that their closets are clean and organzed.
Where did this tradition come from?
I started in this fashion in earnest in 2013, so I don't have firsthand knowledge of this besides what I saw on LJ when I was starting. I don't know if something like this existed in Japan before, but as far as I can tell January Wardrobe Posts became a thing in 2011 for the online Western community. On EGL Livejournal there used to be monthly themes which would help drive community engagement and entice people to contribute. January 2011's General Theme was Wardrobes, and the Aesthetic Theme was Old School. There was a fair few wardrobe theme posts on EGL LJ that month: 124, assuming I counted correctly. It became known as the "bandwagon" for a short time due to the extreme glut of wardrobe posts. After that it became a yearly tradition to document and share your wardrobe on the LJ comm, with dozens participating each year. As of the time of writing there are only 3 for 2022, but there were 16 wardrobes featured in 2021, and 20 in 2020.
What does a wardrobe post look like?
Some folks would provide a photo of the closet itself, and then photograph each item. Some people would use manequins, others would hang the items on a hanger on a wall or door, but the majority would lay the pieces on a bed or the floor to photograph them. Contributors usually grouped items by type (JSK, OP, SK, blouse, shoe, jewellery, etc), colour, and/or style. In the earlier days they weren't always perfectly curated, but as time pressed on more people used wardrbe posts as a way to curate their wardrobe each year, carefully documenting the exact name and brand of each piece. Some folks would take this opportunity to show off their room at the same time. Some participants took great care wth staging and lighting their shots, and others are nearly indistinguishably lit and taken with little concern for if the items are identifiable. I've snagged some pictures from older LJ wardrobe posts as examples, but you can
view the wardrobe posts there still to this day (though there are many broken images from anything hosted on photbucket and flickr.)
|  | | A selection of pieces from buttcape's wardrobe post in 2013 |
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How do I participte now?
Well, a lot of people still use
EGL LJ to participate. Its one of the only times of year that the livejournal community has new posts these days, as it is largely abandoned in lieu of places like Facebook or Discord. Youtubers may film their wardrobe, I've seen folks on Insta posting it to their stories, and bloggers can put it on their blogs and link to it any which way they like. January is still referred to by some as "Wardrobe Season", but it isn't what it used to be in it's heyday. I think that our fashion community is slowly becoming more interested in the way things used to be, and perhaps that interest may manifest in old traditions seeeing renewed popularity again. While very few people have beautiful, giant walk in closets with their items perfectly displayed like a shop, it is a peek into the secret life of the Lolita to see how others store and keep their prized possesions. It also is a great gateway to discussing storage solutons, which is something every single one of us can benefit from. Its fascinating to see how people kept their items 11 years ago, and I wish we had collectvely begun sharing our wardrobes and closets much earlier.
Now, go forth and make a wardrobe post!
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