Lightningsavage’s Top 10 Favorite 2019 Coordinates

I know it’s late—but better late than never, right? I was looking back the other day and wanted to share a few of my favorite coordinates of 2019.

I’m not going to lie, losing weight has made me much more confident in myself and in my coording ability. In 2019, I was able to grow my jacket collection and refine my taste just a bit to reflect what I want in my wardrobe. In my 2018 wardrobe post, I wrote about some of my goals to expand my closet, and I was able to complete some of my goals this year, like getting another Roland. Below are some of my favorite ouji, EGA, punk, and casual J-fashion coordinates of 2019!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsddbacntjV/

I wore this coordinate to a board game meet my comm had in January. At the time, I was at my skinniest (I re-gained about half the weight I lost), so while I still own this jacket and blouse, they don’t really fit. The blouse was even super tight on me then.

The blouse I wore is one of my favorites, despite the fit issue. I love the buttons, and how it ruffled around the high neck and wrists. With my current body goals, I highly doubt that I will ever fit back into it, so the search continues for a similar blouse in a larger size! (If you find one, please DM me on Instagram!)

My inspiration for this coordinate came from this blouse and its golden buttons. At the time, I had just received both the jacket and the blouse as hand-me-downs from a friend, so I was still seeing how I could coord things and how these pieces fit into my closet (if at all). The first time I coordinated this jacket, it was with silver; I challenged myself to coord it with golds and browns this time, and to rely more on jewelry and accessories.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtoV8bQnKRJ/

Similar to the first coordinate, this one started off as a challenge to myself to coordinate a shirt I had bought from Closetchild in Japan. The shirt in question is a black and white mesh shirt with a black underlayer. I also really wanted to wear my h.Naoto jacket again! Since it’s not in the Instagram description, here’s my outfitt breakdown:

Shirt: Offbrand
Undershirt: Killstar
Jacket: h.Naoto
Scarf: Offbrand
Pants: Drug Honey
Shoes: Yosuke
Necklace: Offbrand
Belt: Putumayo

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxXuwsMnf0G/

This coordinate was fun. I couldn’t decide what to wear, so I wondered what it would be like to wear nothing but a single brand—and if I even could with my small closet. In the end, I got away with everything but the shoes and shirt (because h.Naoto shirts are generally too small for me).

https://www.instagram.com/p/Byi4ozSH5Lr/

As summer ILD rolled around, my comm held a fantastic tea party (and the only tea party I have ever attended without working) focused around a murder mystery game. Each attendee signed up for a role (a Disney character!) and we set out to roleplay out a scenario where someone was kidnapped. As a group, we had to figure out how, where, and why. I signed up for the role of Beast, became Marshall, and actually played a key role in figuring out who did it and why. It was a super fun experience and was a good excuse to wear my SY jacket that I had been searching for. To make it a bit more fancy, my girlfriend suggested that I wear the detachable cape as a side cape for a more military look. I really do regret not getting a better photo of this one!

At the tea party, all the leading roles were given a resin pin with their character’s name. Pretty much everyone I know has kept theirs in their accessory drawer because they were so beautiful!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1Jd8-1nWLm/

I didn’t get to do much for my birthday last year, so my girlfriend took me out to Izakaya for dinner. Even though it was in the middle of summer, I definitely wanted those vampire vibes—so, I popped my collar and wore a scarf and a cameo brooch to finish off the look. This ended up being one of my top favorite coordinates of the entire year!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B11Wq3Lnzs4/

This coordinate really excited me, as I’d been wanting to play with matching uncommon colors for a long time. I love the challenge that comes with trying to balance out different colors without black or white, and the instant I got this Putumayo set in green, I knew that I wanted to pair this with navy. But it wasn’t until this year that I actually had the accessories to pull it off!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3S_2jQHn_A/

I’m pretty sure that I took pictures of this coordinate on the hottest day of the year. The sun was brutal that I was sweating bullets through my thinnest blouse.

For this coordinate, I wanted to play with textures and patterns—and show off the famous Moitie blue lining. I loved this gilet, and this shoot and coord were meant to be a memorial for it. I had grown out of the gilet entirely, and it would no longer close. I waited for the men’s size for the longest time (if you have it and want to sell, please let me know!) but it never showed, and so I was forced to sell it. I was able to expand my closet quite a bit with the money I received, though, and this gilet now has a new home where it will be loved.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4IXqVoHdfu/

The caption says it all! I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of mixing punk into ouji and aristocrat and actually pulling it off, so I wanted to experiment with that a bit. I wore my Roland with my Leopard shirt from HELLCATPUNKS, and I was surprised how well they went together (as long as I didn’t let the vest part of the Roland show).

I don’t think anyone should be shamed for experimenting with the fashion and mixing things up. I specifically enjoy punk mixed with casual ouji!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B55uMHQJ0R5/

This is probably one of my favorite coordinates to date—even though it was so long ago! At the time, I had just gotten my Captain Hollow jacket as well as this Moitie blouse, so I decided to throw them both on at the same time. I didn’t really think that the blouse’s ruffles would work with the cut of the jacket at first, especially when it was closed, but it turned out that it worked just fine when it was open.

This coordinate was inspired by Kamijo. I wanted to return to the good old black and white coordinates for a minute!

Sorry I was so late in getting this post out. I’d written most of it 6 months ago, but my work with Kuroshiro Kawaii got in the way of my posts, as did COVID-19. Please be safe out there, and don’t forget to wash your hands!

lightningsavage

Kal from Lightningsavage Photography specializes in creative portrait photography for J-Fashion enthusiasts and more. He has served as the J-Fashion event photographer for Oni-Con 2016–2020, as well as fashion shows, meetups, and personal shoots. He is also a co-owner of Kuroshiro Kawaii. You can follow him on Instagram at @lightningsavage_photography and @kaldec_

He is currently into visual kei and EGA fashions.