How to fill up the space at your wrists in a coordinate

Lolita fashions follow rules that make for a harmonious coordinate. Often, you’ll hear the term “balance” used to describe the way a coordinate is structured. One place that often gets mentioned is the wrists. Since Western fashion doesn’t put much focus on wrist accessories, it can be difficult to figure out how to style your wrists. Here are some ideas for filling out your wrist space.

The basics

Most lolita coordinates will use one of four elements to fill out the wrist space: wrist cuffs, bracelets, sleeves, or gloves.

 Wrist cuffs

Wrist cuffs by Krad Lanrete

Probably the most unusual accessory to a Western j-fashion fan, wrist cuffs are small, stretchy pieces of fabric that add color and texture to the wrists. They may also have bows, charms, or other details that create visual interest at an otherwise boring portion of the coordinate.

Bracelets

Bracelet by MILK

Lolita brands frequently release jewelry, including bracelets, to match their main pieces. These pieces may be stretchy beaded bracelets, jingling charm bracelets, or plastic bangles. You certainly aren’t limited to Japanese brands! Previously featured indie brand BB and B, for example, makes bracelets that work extremely well as big statement pieces for your wrist.

Sleeves

Lolita blouses often feature ruffles or laces at the wrist hems, which means you don’t have to work as hard to accessorize. That doesn’t mean you can’t add more details by layering (more on this later).

Gloves

Gloves by Atelier Pierrot

Taking cues from Victorian and Rococo fashion, gloves also fill out the space at the wrist with a vintage twist. Lolita brands often release both winter and sheer gloves, and secondhand shops also sell vintage gloves.

Using these elements in different ways can create unique looks, so you never wear the same coordinate twice.

Stack it up

Bracelet by Moi-meme-Moite

If one bracelet is good, four bracelets is better. You can use small bracelets to make a statement piece by stacking them on your wrist. I like using stretchy plastic jewelry for this purpose (I believe they were purchased from Aliexpress). If you have one statement piece, put it in the middle to give it a little more punch.

Layering

Even if you have long sleeves, you can add wrist cuffs or bracelets for a pop of color. Fluffy Kawaii Jo mentions doing this in her video in Summerland Boutique. Her plain white blouse is broken up with a red bow at her throat and wrist cuffs with red too.

Bolero by Angelic Pretty

You can also layer gloves with wrist cuffs or bracelets to reinforce style elements or colors. For example, a set of plain gloves becomes more thematically relevant with a coordinate bracelet. A wrist cuff that matches  your socks makes the whole coordinate feel “balanced.”

Hopefully these tips will give you some new ideas to use in your closet!

Jenna

By day, Jenna is a legal professional living in Los Angeles, California. By night (and weekends), she is a frill wearing monster who loves Innocent World and lolita indie brands. When she isn’t taking mirror selfies of her coordinates, she enjoys reading comic books, playing board games, and snuggling with her pup, Lily. You can see her mirror selfies on her instagram @lovelylaceandlies and contact her at lovelylaceandlies@gmail.com.