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This month's Bibliotheca theme is "Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking." I was inspired by Lovelylaceandlies' blog post Florals: the one thing that lolitas agree on because despite not owning many prints, I, too, agree with florals.
Here are some non-print ways to wear your flowers!
Jacquard
Jacquard is a type of fabric where the design is woven into the fabric itself. Brocade is a type of jacquard that is more intricately woven and typically has a raised texture and multiple colors, but jacquard can also just be one solid color.
Jacquard can come in chiffon, satin, shantung, and other various qualities, which can create different effects for visual interest! And while jacquard patterns don't necessarily have to be floral, it is one of the most common motifs used.
Tonal satin jacquard
A striped example
Main pieces aren't the only garments that can use patterned fabric!
An example of a textured jacquard
Gobelin
Gobelin is a type of jacquard, but I wanted to give it its own section because of how it has been used in lolita fashion. It's commonly associated with old school, and if you are a classic or old school lolita who wants to be a couch, gobelin in a must-have wardrobe staple. It must be noted that some garments also feature gobelin-like prints, but a true gobelin must have the design woven in.
A smaller-scale floral design
This JSK comes in two different gobelin patterns - a bouquet layout and a more packed all-over layout
Flocking
Flocking is a technique used to create a velvet-like pattern on fabric. It is often tonal, but can come in a different color from the base fabric, and can be applied to a variety of different fabric qualities. Like a regular print, it comes in all-over patterns as well as border patterns.
This example shows flocking applied over a striped lurex georgette
This flocked pattern has a lace-like design and highly contrasts the ground fabric
Flocking on a gobelin ground, a two-for-one floral
Embroidery
There are a variety of different types of embroidery that get incorporated into lolita - eyelet, placement patterns, all-over embroidered patterns, etc.
This dress features large embroidered motifs in the same color as the fabric for a subtle textured effect
It's a bit hard to tell front these photos, but the base fabric in this dress appears to be a two-tone taffeta and is embroidered with a swirling floral design and sequins
A dress is made of embroidered cotton eyelet - the small scale of the design makes it quite subtle
The scale of these embroidered flowers is similar to the last example, but because it's embroidered on shantung (pink) and taffeta (grey), the overall effect is very different!
This OP features an embroidered border design with scalloped hem
Lace
Lace is very often used in lolita fashion as a trim, but I wanted to specifically highlight garments that use lace fabric!
This extremely elaborate example has a floral lace overskirt that also has three-dimensional flowers
The white lace layered over colored ground in this example really highlights the design of the lace and makes for wonderful contrast
This dress is made entirely of lace netting. Unlike the previous example, the lace is layered over fabric that matches in color, and the scale of the florals is quite small, so the effect is much more subtle.
Burnout
Burnout is an effect where a design is made by burning off a layer of the fabric using chemicals. This can be applied to different types of fabric. Velvet burnout looks very similar to flocked fabric at first glance, but the difference is that flocking is made by applying a pattern onto a fabric, whereas velvet burnout starts out as an all-over velvet and the design is burned into the fabric. Burnout chiffon looks very similar to a chiffon jacquard, but the edges of the pattern will look slightly darker.
Burnout isn't extremely common (or may not be labelled as such). These examples are all of burnout chiffon from Angelic Pretty.
Of course, there are plenty of other non-print ways to feature florals in a coord, such as using them in your accessories and makeup, but I especially wanted to highlight fabric options that may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think 'florals'. So maybe florals are indeed groundbreaking?
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