March Coords Roundup

It’s pretty much exactly 12 months since the very first collective coords roundup post of the pandemic. The me from that time was very green indeed, still believing that March 2021 wouldn’t be a repeat of March 2020. And whilst that very first coords roundup post was based on only about 2 weeks of outfits, this was before I really got into the swing of experimenting and trying new things with my wardrobe. So I’m very pleased to say that 12 months on my assortment of outfits is a bit more interesting (in my opinion, at least) than in March 2020.

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Coord 1: Writerly

| Metamorphose Shirring Tiered Ribbon JSK | Axes Femme blouse and brooch | DreamV cardigan | Innocent World OTKs | offbrand shoes, earrings and rings | Cutie Creator Maiden’s Prayer headbow | Latte Galaxy Librarian Lady brooch |

I've been looking at these earrings, thinking how I'll probably have to get rid of them because they match nothing I own. To finally find a use for them felt wonderful.

Quick lace appreciation stop.

This outfit was actually still from February, worn exactly the day after the February Coords Roundup post went up. I signed up to a writing webinar and wanted to wear something that’d feel writerly. It’s also been a solid week of me listening to Taylor Swift’s evermore album, so the aesthetic feels were dialed up to a 10. And whilst I don’t think the light colour palette matches the darker, broody vibes of the music I’ve been listening to, I do think that I accomplished my writerly look pretty well. The webinar was also very good, I got loads of notes and it made me excited to finish the novel I started way back in 2019 now. My plan overall was to spend March planning and plotting the missing bits, maybe get a few random bits of writing done to get back in the swing of things, and then tackle it head on in April for Camp NaNo. And at this point I can safely say that I managed to get the planning done, so roll on April!

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Coord 2: Simple Coord

| BtSSB Secret AIR MAIL from Sweet Kitty JSK | BtSSB Tulle Lace Round Collar pullover | Angelic Pretty Crown Ribbon OTKs | offbrand shoes and beret | Twinkle Kitty Boutique rings | handmade bracelets | Hello Crumpet brooch |

First day post hair chop and I was enjoying how bouncy my twin tails could be.

Notice the bear face wax seal in the print.

I saw @dodotheextinct’s post about how sometimes all you need is a simple coord following a basic formula. Those words spoke to me and this is the outcome. I wanted to wear lolita, but not had any particular ideas to realise and wanted to stay comfortable. This outfit ticked all of those boxes and that’s really all that I can say. Well, maybe it’s worth mentioning that I had cut my hair earlier that week entirely on my own (guided by Brad Mondo’s video) and the lightness was still new and exciting.

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Coord 3: All Because of Hair

| Metamorphose Polka Dots Shirring Pinafore JSK | offbrand cutsew, cardigan, hair clip and earrings | Angelic Pretty Sugar Ribbon OTKs | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | Enchantlic Enchantilly necklace | Angelic Pretty Charlotte’s Bear brooch | Jule et Lily pin |

I'm not used to being able to achieve curls this tight, so experimenting continues to find the right balance for me.

Every time I think about potentially getting Charlotte's Bear JSK, I look at this brooch and remember that the entire release was notoriously different colour than stock photos made it out to be, which helps curb my enthusiasm.

What I actually wanted to do was to see how my new hair length and my usual curling method played together. But since I was already going to the effort of curling my hair, why not dress up too? This outfit morphed and evolved, starting slightly more elaborate/themed and ending in this more relaxed version. Which, in all fairness, was needed, that day ended up keeping me busier than I thought I was going to be with lots of small tidbits of work. Plus it was comfortable and still looked cute.

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Coord 4: March Coord Mashup Take 1

| Angelic Pretty Diner Doll JSK | Lady Sloth Glitter Mesh blouse | Lady Sloth Metallic overdress | AatP Arabesque OTKs | Sosic Shop heels | Angelic Pretty Sweet Cream Princess headbow | Twylite Fashion hair clip | offbrand necklace | Angelic Pretty Chess Chocolate Emblem brooch | Lady Sloth My Coffee Time brooch | Chocomint ring | Sweet Dolly House ring | Love a Lolita ring |

It's been a shockingly long time since I've done my go-to makeup last. The last time I can definitely remember was May 2020, but surely it can't have been that long! ...right?

Proof that I'm following the theme and there is indeed an actual cake in this print.

The secod Coord Mashup theme was Classic-but-Sweet and cake. Which seemed very much up my alley, so I absolutely had to do this. This particular coord is the first idea that came to my mind for that theme. Out of all my dresses, only three feature an actual cake in the print and this simply was the one I felt most like using. And it does have some actual gold trim on that top bodice bow, so I feel justified in using golds. My initial plan was to use the pie headdress, even though it’s pastry and not cake, but that’s how the gold tones entered the picture, so since I removed the pie, it’s nice to still have a half-legitimate reason for this particular combination. And since I already dressed up pretty OTT, I made sure to make the most of that by filming a video (the Letter to My Newbie Lolita Self, which you can find here). I was even going to go to an online swap meetup, but whilst I joined, between the coord starting to wear me out, hunger creeping in and the platform being completely overwhelming and overstimulating for me, I ducked out after maybe 20 minutes and changed into a onesie.

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Coord 5: March Coord Mashup 2

| AatP Rosier Fleur JSK | Dear Celine Polka Dot Waltz blouse | Bodyline L380 skirt as underskirt | Metamorphose Heart Ladder Lace OTKs | Metamorphose Triple Bow shoes | Imperial Fiddlesticks headbow | After Midnight headdress and brooch | Angelic Pretty Milky Candy brooch | handmade bracelets | vintage gloves | Twinkle Kitty Boutique ring | BtSSB Merry Sweet Cake ring |

As far as I remember, this is all remnants of that hair curling experiment you saw above. Granted, there were some preservation attempts involved, nonetheless I'm impressed that it held this well.

And the sole actual cake of this coord.

And the day after I put on my other spin on the Coord Mashup theme. This one came about as I watched Joelle’s video doing her outfit, which led me to think that maybe my original idea was more sweet-but-classic rather than classic-but-sweet. It’s all very highly subjective, of course, but why not have two coords anyway? So this time I started out with a classic dress and added the sweet to it, and it basically ended that every all-ivory item was completely classic, while anything with even a little bit of pink was sweet. It’s true that there is even less cake in this one than in the first one, but it’s full of all kinds of sweets, so… Six and two threes, I guess? This time it was more a case of dressing up with nowhere to go, as I spent all day doing up various smaller bits: finishing videos, scheduling blog posts, doing some planning for Camp NaNo in April, minor chores/adulting etc.

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Coord 6: Casual Wednesday

| Lady Sloth Look at My Dreamy Sky OP | Axes Femme cutsew | Red Maria tights | Sosic Shop heels | Claire’s bow clips | offbrand hair ties | Madillustration Dream On brooch | Jule et Lily Sakura pin |

Still enjoying the extra volume to my freshly chopped hair, this time in double braid form.

That hair tie is one I picked up during my trip to Seoul. There's this chain of accessory shops, kind of like Claire's (i.e. cheap, cute, lots of choice), which I'm pretty sure had some sort of 'buy X for 10,000 won' deal going on. And the best thing: the shops are called Naughty Cat - how cute is that?

You ever wear something because it’s been in your limbo pile of worn clothes, too fresh for laundry, but not quite fresh enough to be put back in the wardrobe? This is where this cutsew sat and something in me was determined to make this a lolita outfit. Not much thought went into it besides wanting it to be comfortable and low maintenance, which I think turned out ok. It’s not a groundbreaking outfit, but it was never meant to be, it did what it needed to and I’m satisfied.

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Coord 7: Fancy/Casual Friday

| Song and Temple Fairytale Library skirt and bow brooch | BtSSB Tulle Lace Round Collar pullover | MuFish tights | offbrand shoes | Cutie Creator Maiden’s Prayer headbow |

I'm sad that Cutie Creator/Sweet Dreamer turned out to be a scumbag of a company, but at least I found out before I placed my next Taobao order because I had more of their accessories in the cart. Their accessories are great, but not irreplaceable. If you have a particular favourite shop for hair accessories, let me know!

This is both a matching bow brooch and cutsew lace appreciation post.

It’s fancy by my co-workers’ standards and casual by mine. Another outfit that rescues an item from the clothing limbo pile for one more wear before it becomes clear where it belongs. This feels very close to an outfit I’ve done with this skirt in May 2018, but with a slight seasonal update for cooler weather. If something ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Also, I feel like this whole look makes me appear a lot younger than I actually am and something about that realisation seems just a little unnerving. Or maybe I shouldn’t have watched The Picture of Dorian Grey...

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Coord 8: Who Are Ya Meet?

| Resailan Jewelry Box JSK | Haenuli x I Do Declare blouse | Metamorphose Swallow Tail Jacquard jacket | Putumayo Celestial Light OTKs | Deary heels | Cutie Creator Maiden’s Prayer headbow | Puvithel Crystal Heart brooch and earrings | ‘sash’ is the blouse’s neck tie |

In 2021 I would like to practice more eyeliner-less looks, where I still manage to get some subtle eye definition with eyeshadows. Sometimes I really can't be bothered with eyeliner, but I like emphasising my eyes.

I admit, it's not my best detail shot. But it's all I took and perfection is fake, so let this be a reminder of that.

Truth be told, I’m not 100% sure where the desire to do a more masc-meets-femme coord came from, but I like the result nonetheless. The only thing I’d change in the future is replace the ‘sash’ with a belt - or a proper sash. I did attempt to use my chain of office as a belt and while I still think it’s wide enough that with a bit of careful wiggling I could get it on without opening it up, I don’t have enough movement in this jacket to trust myself doing so. This might motivate me to use the remaining craft materials from that chain to make an actual belt. Might. In any case, we had a meetup playing a game where everyone submitted a fact about themselves and we had to guess who the facts were about. Lots of fun and laughs, some I even managed to guess right and I managed to keep a good enough poker face on for mine that no-one guessed mine right. Definitely would like this game to be more of a regular thing, it’d go great at meets welcoming newer members of the comm so that we could get to know them better and they could see that we’re not all bitter and cynical elitists (not all the time at least).

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Coord 9: Romantic Shoujo

| Violet Fane Otome Nostalgia skirt | vintage blouse | Snag Sweetheart tights | Metamorphose Triple Bow shoes | handmade headbow | Big Pink Boutique earrings |

This may have been the start of my using one of the new cream blushers I got recently as a lipstick. I'm enjoying the effect a lot, so expect to see more of it.

Snag tights are so stupidly comfortable, as well as durable, that they raised the bar for all other tights.

I’ve been in a mood to do something inspired by vintage shoujo manga for a while now and finally got round to an attempt through this look. It’s close to what I was after, particularly given that it was a workday so I was lazy, though not quite there. I might need to dip into the current trend for blouses with gigantic collars to get something that’d fit my vision a little better. Nonetheless, I’m happy with the coord, it was cute, comfortable and I even teased my hair to give it a bit of a boost. I’d happily wear this exact thing again in the future too.

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Coord 10: St. Patrick’s Day

| After Midnight First Semester JSK | Cutie Creator headbow | Dalao Home wig | everything else is offbrand |

The wig was literally on for the photo and then taken off. Not that I didn't like it, but I couldn't be bothered to muster the energy for questions should anyone ask when I answered a Teams call during work hours.

The last time I put these shoes on was probably in 2015 and I'm proud of myself for stull remembering how to lace them. Ceilidh meet when, please?

Happy St Patrick’s Day! This coord idea has been rattling about in my head for quite some time (as a potential Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates prompt look even), and I decided that why wait when I can wear it now. Fingers crossed the Irish won’t ban me from visiting for being that person. In my defence, I have loved Irish dancing and Irish music for as long as I can remember (and yes, Lord of the Dance is very much to blame here). The poodle socks and shoes are actual Irish dancing gear hailing from my university days where I finally fulfilled my dream of learning it. And whilst the blouse is very much not Irish, just the most folk-y one I had, I do quite like the unintentional symbolism of blending my own heritage with something that I’ve loved since I was a literal toddler. This one is taking more inspiration from the older Irish dancing dresses, the ones that were simpler and longer, with mostly just embroidery for decoration. However, one day I would love to do something inspired by the more modern ones, the full pageantry with sequins, rhinestones and glitter. If someone ever makes a lolita dress like those Irish dancing competition ones, I might actually faint - before proceeding to drop my money on them.

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Coord 11: Preppy

| Innocent World White Double Braid Tartan skirt | Axes Femme cardigan | Innocent World Diamond Rose OTKs | Sosic Shop heels | offbrand collar necklace |

I think this was from my attempt at French braids kind of hair? I mostly remember how bad I am at French braids (or braids in general), not s much the effect afterwards.

Finally two pieces that were meant to be together.

Well, I was convinced that I hadn’t worn this pearl collar at all in all the years I’ve owned it - until I went on a mini spree through some of my older videos and saw the exact same combination of cardigan and collar. But it never got documented beyond that, it must’ve been one of those lazy looks thrown on just for filming. So I am immortalising it now, in an updated version. Beyond thinking of pairing this collar necklace with this cardigan there wasn’t much actual thought, the preppy look this gave kind of made the rest of the outfit just happen. This is definitely one that I would happily wear to the office in the future.

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Coord 12: White Prince

| Atelier Boz Roland jacket | offbrand cutsew, leggings and shoes | Patisserie Pink Bottled Stardust brooch | Love from the North pin | Glasses Lit glasses |

Selfies like this make me think that maybe I would look quite ok if I were born a boy. And then I remember that gender swap filter on Snapchat or whatever it was, and how bad it made me look. So it's better that we will never actually know.

It was also three years since Love from the North in March and my heart may have broken a little more than it already was.

Taking a leaf out of @gravelvet’s book to bring this ouji to life. Leggings instead of trousers and cutsew instead of a shirt mean that while without the jacket it may not be much of an ouji coord per se, I sacrificed exactly zero comfort for my Sunday. I managed a very quick trip outside to confuse the normies in Co-op and by the canal, before retreating back to my den for some chill time. 10/10 will ouji with leggings again!

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Coord 13: Coord Mashup x Fancy WFH Friday

| AatP Sugar Plum Fairy Princess JSK | Angelic Pretty Whip Girl cutsew | Angelic Pretty Sugar Ribbon OTKs | offbrand shoes, beret and earrings | Cutie Creator headbow | Angelic Pretty Cute Ribbon wrist cuffs | Chocomint ring | Violet Fane Esoteric Shop brooch | sash from Lady sloth’s Look at My Dreamy Sky OP |

Compensating for the lack of Sanrio merch with a colour scheme and every cat accessory I have.

I bought these earrings in Japan and that dumb kitty never fails to cheer me up. Just look at his dumb face and chubby body!

It’s been pretty much a week since I wore frills last before this and I was itching to change that. Of all the ideas I had, this one was the least OTT, so I went with this. It’s part Fancy WFH Friday, part Coord Mashup for the next theme: contrasting colours and Sanrio. Is using black cheating, since it contrasts with everything/isn’t technically a colour? More importantly, can we appreciate my first attempt at something resembling bittersweet? This is all because I don’t actually have a favourite Sanrio character and own exactly zero merch, so I had to Sanriobound, so to speak. After checking the list of Sanrio characters, I discovered Chococat, a black kitty with a blue collar, and fell in love. This was also the easiest character to blend with what I own, giving rise to this coord. And the most surprising thing was that I’m not mad at the black x pastel combo on me. Don’t expect too much more of it though.

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Coord 14: Spring Wa

| Baroque Repose of Queen OP | Millefleurs Georgette blouse | vintage haori | Baroque Secret Garden tights | Sosic Shop shoes | offbrand hair clip and earrings | handmade necklace and ring | Dalao Home Miss Becky wig |

After the first wig did not work at all and with no time to make my hair presentable, this wig came to the rescue. I forget how nice black hair suits me.

I was going for a more typical column silhouette with this wa coord, but the OP still had too much fabric at the waist and hips, so I had to improvise.

C.L.A.M. have hosted an online meetup with the theme of wear something you love - and this OP is definitely one of those that I love! The coord idea has also been on my mind a lot recently, so with it finally and officially being spring, as well as the cherry blossom season in Japan, a wa outfit seemed appropriate. As well as comfortable, despite the many layers across my torso. I had half a mind to take a video clip of this coord to submit to the Rose Foret’s virtual fashion walk for their upcoming event, however, as I forgot that the clocks went forward overnight and didn’t get as much sleep as I would’ve wanted, I ended up rushing on the day just to get ready. So I’m merely impressed that I managed to take photos I liked and be done with it at literally one minute before the meet officially started - although with my laptop taking a while to load Zoom, I was still a bit late.

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There were genuinely moments in March when I thought that it had been going a bit slow. Then there were those times when I felt like I wanted to do way more than hours in the day allowed. As I mentioned at the beginning, I plan on spending April doing Camp NaNoWriMo, which may not end up being the break that I probably need, but I am excited to do plenty of writing nonetheless. And hopefully I will accomplish my goals by cutting out some of the mindless social media scrolling so many of us are guilty of, instead of backing myself into another corner of Adulting vs Hobbies vs Work.