CANDY by LODISPOTTO A New Go-to for a Kawaii Casual Style, Part One
Many of us remain in quarantine at the moment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly reduces our need to put together outfits to go outside like we used to. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still coordinate pretty outfits at home to boost our spirits. It just means our priorities are different in this new stay-at-home life: Instead of focusing on simply looking nice, now we think about comfort and cuteness. And that’s where CANDY by LODISPOTTO comes in.
A new casual brand
LODISPOTTO is a well-known and -loved Japanese brand with office lady-style clothing and accessories emphasizing romantic details like ribbons and lace. In recent years, it has branched out to further its concept of “enjoying every day surrounded by cute things” and created new lines to include two additional styles—mille fille closet for a girly style and luminous for a gothic style. Now, LODISPOTTO has once again expanded its portfolio by taking its concept to another popular style: casual.
CANDY by LODISPOTTO made its debut in August 2019. The concept of the casual line is “pop colorful fresh sweet.” LODISPOTTO has only released two waves of CANDY items since its launch, one for fall 2019 and one for the current spring/summer season. True to the main brand, all CANDY items sport soft and girly colors, mainly white, gray, and pink. These are also evergreen colors, which means CANDY items can be worn year-round.
A growing collection
CANDY’s first collection from fall last year only included a couple of items: a sweatshirt dress, two T-shirts, and a skirt. It’s understandable that they wanted to be cautious, but the line turned out to be quite successful. The sweatshirt dress, which was modeled by Katou Nana-San and prominently featured on LODISPOTTO’s social media posts for the line, sold out quickly. Admittedly, the other items in the collection are more plain and received a more lukewarm response by comparison (for example, the pink T-shirts only had logos on them and the skirt was plain-colored with few extra details). Regardless, the spurt of popularity of that one item led LODISPOTTO to develop this line further and expand the number and variety of new CANDY products this year.
This time around, CANDY has not only more clothing items but also accessories like caps and bags. LODISPOTTO also took a bolder approach in upgrading the clothing items in this line and make them stand out more: They added bows and lace details to a lot of the shirts and dresses and used trendy spring fabrics like checks in the latest collection. The new accessories like pouches and phone cases feature a cute ice cream print for the warmer season. Before, you may not even be able to tell which ones are CANDY items, but now they have refined a distinct kawaii casual style that is all their own.
The price point of CANDY items is lower than regular LODISPOTTO items. For example, a CANDY dress is usually around 6,000 yen ($56 USD), while a LODISPOTTO dress is above 10,000 yen ($93 USD). That’s to be expected since LODISPOTTO items are made for more formal settings usually. CANDY items are more expensive than common casual wear, but many Japanese online retailers like Fashionwalker and ZOZO offer 10-30 percent off discount campaigns on some weekends. The actual prices of CANDY items are therefore lower than what’s listed above, and that’s when I bought the CANDY items featured below.
What are the actual items like?
Quite a few items from the most recent CANDY collection spoke to me, but I went with two outfits I feel represent the strengths of this brand the most—the all white logo strap off-shoulder top and flare skirt with lines combo and the pink pop check shirt and shorts set-up.
Top and skirt: CANDY by LODISPOTTO; headband: mille fille closet.
Putting ribbon straps on off-shoulder tops is very clever and a popular detail in Japanese fashion, but CANDY got the ribbon lengths just right to have them drape over the shoulders and smartly added their logo to the ribbons in just the right size. Not too big, not too small, making it a detail rather than an advertisement. The pink in the logo and the lines of the skirt also sets off very nicely against the stark white color of the material, creating a bright spring look.
The top is made of a light sweatshirt material, while the skirt is of a silkier material. What’s really amazing about this outfit is that even though it’s casual wear, it gives off an ethereal feel like a more ornate dress would when paired with girly accessories like the mille fille closet ribbon and tulle headband. At the same time, the cut and design make it a sporty look as well, making it appropriate as a cute date outfit or an errands outfit or an outfit to wear to meet friends!
Top and shorts: CANDY by LODISPOTTO; tank top: INGNI; cap and earrings: LIZ LISA.
Nothing says spring better than a pink check pattern, which always makes me think of cherry blossom picnics. The oversized shirt and shorts combination makes this outfit sportier than the skirt outfit. You can, however, easily add girly details by pairing it with a lace tank top underneath, which is a popular layering technique in Japanese fashion, and adding cute accessories like the LIZ LISA gingham bear earrings I wore with this set-up and the LIZ LISA My Melody bag.
The shirt and shorts are made of a sturdy but not scratchy cotton material. Given that the shirt is oversized and the shorts have an elastic waistband, this outfit is incredibly comfortable and good for working at home or going out to grocery shopping.
The CANDY items I tried out in this post are very high-quality and well-made. Their designs really set them apart from other casual wear brands and are worth the price they charge. I highly recommend CANDY to those looking for a kawaii casual style at home during the pandemic and beyond. These pieces have so much potential even outside of the home environment (for when we can all safely go outside again). In part two of this series, I will show a few different ways to pair these CANDY pieces with items from other brands.