Styling Charlie Toys Factory Tartan JSK

Charlie Toys Factory Tartan JSK by Infanta

img via lolibrary.org 

Since it's December I have been thinking a lot about Christmas coordinates! I tend to love doing a traditional green and red look and part of that is due to the very first Christmas specific dress I ever bought. Today lets look at how I've styled Charlie Toys Factory. 

Now I know what you're thinking, "A Charlie and the Chocolate factory dress, why are you lumping it in with Christmas?" Well it has a candy cane and a present on it and the only colorways avaliable are green, green tartan, and red. However there is one design on the dress that does vaguely remind me of the old 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory film.

img via lolibrary.org

 

This graphic, unlike all of the others is not a typical Christmas item, it appears to almost be a tall doorway? Next to what appears to be a train? It's always reminded me of the scene where Wonka shows the children his Wonkamobile, "A thing of joy and beauty forever". In the scene he drives the dirty vehicle through a doorway and on the otherside it appears perfectly clean. While it's not a perfect match it is the only other element that even vaguely ties this dress to the thing it seems to be named after.

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ANYWAY, This dress has historically been a bit of a challenge for me. Finding a blouse that feels like it matches is difficult since I don't own a ton of blouses that are this particular red and I don't own any in green blouses since I don't think they'd have a lot of mileage in my wardrobe. In addition the collar of the JSK is very fun but a blouse with a large collar would cover it up. Personally I feel you can see the same styling struggles in the sample photos for this dress as well!

2015

The first time I wore this dress was all the way back in 2015!! I opted to use black like in the sample photos. My wardrobe was MUCH smaller back at this time byt I had a selection of basics in white and black. I did end up taking some of the spare ribbon from our Christmas tree and making a headbow to tie back to the tartan on the boarder. (I'm also wearing a wig! Its funny how similar my natural hair is to this now)

2016

The second time I wore this was in 2016. This dress was always perfect for the holidays so for many years in a row it would show up on my instagram during December. This time I wore a blouse with gold stripes and also red stripe socks. I don't love this coord, it feels more like I was using things that just sorta matched instead of feeling intentional. That's one of the most difficult aspects of holiday specific outfits I guess!

2017

This time I went back to blacks again, using a different blouse and legwear. I actually feel like the sheer blouse helps the black portions of the outfit not feel too heavy. There is some black in the tartan at the bottom, and I think choosing a blouse that also has a lighter feeling black works well. I'm not super sold on the gold shoes with the black legwear though...

2018

This is probably one of my more successful coordinates using this JSK. The blouse has a square neck so the sleeves only show at the sides, the socks have white so pull the blouse color through, and since they're not too dark of a color the gold shoes feel more appropriate than in the 2017 coordinate. I'm still using that same tree ribbon in my hair! 

2020

This coordinate uses almost entirely white and red. The square neckline of the blouse once again helps the collar on the JSK shine and the red shoes match the red almost perfectly! Something about the white and red feels undeniably Christmasy, I think this was one of the more successful coordinates as well!

2021

  

I loved how well the white looked in the 2020 coordinate so I brought it back again for 2021. This time paring it with green ankle socks, fluffy boot toppers, and a red cardigan worn as a blouse. Overall I like how this coordinate looks even though the cardigan was a little uncomfortable to wear under the JSK. I almost think I should have paired a few more fur elements, like rabbit ears or a fluffy hat. I's also like to use these fluffy boot toppers with more shoes in the future, its a cute look!

I think If I were to try styling this JSK again in the future I'd try with some brown. I have more more brown in my wardrobe now than I used to and there are some accents on the dress that I think could look nice with it. It may also be fun to try it with a navy! 👀

Anyway I hope you all enjoyed this look back at Charlie Toys Factory with me. Maybe next year I'll try again with something brown! If you have any other ideas from how I can style this as well, please let me know.

And of course have a happy holidays with your loved ones and hopefully lots of good food!