AYWi30C #28 - From as many brands as possible

The flipside to the last prompt, not only in how I’ve tried to not repeat brands here at all, but also to how it’s a different substyle. I asked my Patreons whether this prompt should be classic or sweet and they chose sweet. After that the coord pretty much made itself.

| Metamorphose Bubble Bath skirt | BtSSB Dreaming Sherbet skirt as underskirt | Magic Tea Party blouse | AP Ladder Ribbon OTKs | Bodyline shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | Sweet Dolly House hair pins | handmade bracelets | Chocomint ring | Dear Celine bear badge | Madillustration Powder Puff brooch as a necklace | offbrand earrings | Banned Retro Bella belt |

As you can tell, I’ve gone for a somewhat monochrome take on Meta’s Bubble Bath skirt and we have as many brands as items (which is 13, my lucky number, if we count ‘handmade’ and ‘offbrand’ as ‘brands’). When looking through the pieces that I hadn’t used in this challenge yet, I realised that almost all of my sweet JSKs have already been featured, leaving me with skirts (and shorts, though I decided not to take this route just yet). Which I don’t mind, I like my lolita skirts and am always excited to wear them. Why this one over the other ones? Partly because it was one of the contenders for the previous prompt - it would’ve been the most challenging one had it won the poll. And partly because it’s such a ridiculously fun print to play with. So even though I sometimes struggle with coordinating it, I choose to look at that as a challenge, not a hindrance. This is the Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates challenge after all, right?

In all the years that I've owned it, I still don't know what this model may have been called as it appears to be an older one. But it is really, really well constructed and though I don't wear it much, I'm glad to own it.

This was one of the first proper lolita blouses that I bought, finding it somewhere on Lacemarket. And as such it became one of the earliest lessons in sax as a colour doesn’t exist because this is clearly mint. I’m not sure whether that is how the blouse was advertised by Magic Tea Party, but it certainly was how the seller described it. Yet despite that, despite it being a very sweet cut and simply not a piece that I reach for often, I hold onto it precisely for moments like this. There are a few things that this matches within my wardrobe, but why limit myself by getting rid of it?

One thing I keep forgetting about these is that the lacy pattern in between the bows is a lot duller. I checked Lolibrary and it seems that that's what they should be like, but at this stage I don't even remember if I received these socks like this or if I accidentally caused the damage.

I think these socks were a similar story, although to their credit they are actually sax, just one of those shades of it that seems to work better with mints. And just like the blouse, they don’t see much action with me, which is a shame because they are really cute.

I recently saw someone unbox a different pair of sax shoes from Bodyline, which appear to have been the same or very similar colour. Apparently whoever makes their shoes also doesn't know what sax is.

Sense a theme here? Though I guess of all the things featured here so far these Bodyline tea parties have had a decent share of wear. And for once the ‘sax that turned out to be mint’ worked out in my favour since these are the only shoes that match this skirt and my Diner Doll JSK. I don’t even know if Bodyline still has that exact model and colourway in production, let alone in stock, but if you’re looking for some comfortable tea party-style shoes in mint, I do recommend these.

Something about this photo pleases me greatly. Can't even put my finger on what it could be, it just does.

Had I not psyched myself up for avoiding repeating brands, there likely would’ve been more in this photo, e.g. wrist cuffs or a proper necklace. And now that I look at it, I realise that I totally could’ve used my Brandwhore ring from Star Glazed Delights too. Oh well… It’s not like there aren’t enough accessories here anyway. Whilst doing super OTT coords with skirts is perfectly possible, I think it’s better to not force yourself to go down that route.

Here's a bit of random trivia: ever since seeing it in a random video online, I put bobby pins 'upside down', i.e. the wavy end facing the scalp. I find that they genuinely do stay better that way - but it also means that putting in decorated pins like these is really hard for me because I just don't know how to grip them.

Starting with hair accessories, this headbow, despite its rather saturated shade of blue, somehow ends up working really well with those awkward blues and mints in my wardrobe. The shape of it is really flattering and size-wise sits perfectly at the intersection of casual and visible. Still, with it being on the side, it felt like filling in the gap on the side with something was a good idea, so I used these hair pins. However off-theme they may feel with the skirt print, given all the other accessories and motifs I managed to shove into the coord I think they work well enough.

I remember there being other colours of these and part of me regrets not getting them, even if I rationally know that I don't need those. Will I still stop by the shop next time I'm in town? Absolutely!

These are one of my most recent acquisitions, I got them from a local vintage/upcycling shop. All the jewellery was marked as deadstock, so whilst I’m not sure that this is actually the fastening that these earrings had, the design is precisely what I needed: something neutral, something sax, something neither too big nor too small. And that little gem in the middle? That’s precisely what spoke to the magpie within me to indulge and get them.

I might genuinely invest in a chain that could accommodate brooches as pendants, this seems like a great way to get my brooch collection to multitask.

In the absence of a suitable necklace from a brand that I hadn’t used in this coord yet and which fit the clusterfuck of motifs I already had I decided to Frankenstein a necklace. The idea was good, pin a brooch to a chain and call it a necklace - the execution turned out to be really tentative as it wasn’t the most stable thing. But it was good enough for the purpose of the video and the flatlay .

From what I remember, this was just a random pin, more to advertise one of Dear Celine's sailor releases rather than be part of a print. Which is a shame because if they released a sailor dress with this bear in the print, I would totally buy that. (So maybe not a shame after all...)

Since I already shoehorned bears into this mix with my hairpins, why not add more bears? Or at least a singular bear, particularly when it matches in colour so well. I may have said this somewhere already, but both this and the other Dear Celine freebie bear pin get a lot more use in my wardrobe than I had anticipated. It’s great though, always good to get a useful freebie rather than one that will gather dust.

Aw, I bought this ring at my first big lolita event, Wicked and Whimsy. That feels like a lifetime ago now...

As already mentioned, due to my own insistence on not repeating brands, I didn’t have wrist cuffs that I could use, but with a coord this traditionally sweet lolita bare wrists were a no-no. Thank goodness for all the various bracelets that I’d made over the years, this particular pair comes out time and again to bring a touch of cuteness and a pop of colour to my coords. And since I made them to fit me, they’re also really comfortable. The ring, as always when I use it, adds a sensory bonus in the form of that pearl charm rattling like mad with the slightest movement, which only goes to show that I’m still a child at heart who enjoys making rattling noises.

The fluffiest bow to rule them all. If this were detachable from the belt, it would undoubtedly land on my head at least once (likely more than once).

Another pretty recent addition to my wardrobe, these belts from Banned Retro are simply perfect for any sort of cute fashion. They work with rockabilly, they work with lolita, no doubts they’d work with other J-fashions too. The fluffiness of that bow reminds me a lot of the official Disney Minnie Mouse bows, they too are super puffy and round. 10/10 tempted to get even more colours.

Peek-a-boo, I see you! Thank goodness, actually, that Bubble Bath has a floral lace on the hem, it means that this floral lace doesn't stand out too much in a bad way.

You may be asking yourself: why an underskirt? For two reasons. Firstly, the practical one of Bubble Bath being slightly on the shorter side on me and me not being 100% comfortable with that. Secondly - the prompt is ‘as many brands as possible’. So if it’s possible to shove one more into the mix by using a skirt as an underskirt, why wouldn’t I do it? Whilst we’re on the subject, in my various forays into underskirts, all he way from when they were a trend back in 2016-ish until now, I can hand on heart say that other skirts or dresses work way better as underskirts than actual purpose-made underskirts. At least for me they do. They are already the perfect length for lolita, so no having to measure if you’re getting the right thing or fiddling with how high or low to wear it. Once you know how the piece sits on you on its own, as a skirt/JSK/OP, you’ll know instantly where it’ll sit as an underskirt. And you also get the added benefit of cuter lace and/or better drape as the fabrics behave differently than standalone chiffon underskirts. But that’s just my take on it, I also totally get why having a lighter and thinner layer for extra length is beneficial in avoiding cooking alive.

Commence dumb kitty adoration now.

Also, this rubber duck looks dead behind the eyes, like it's seen things no-one should ever see.

And finally we come to this glorious creation from the brilliant minds at Metamorphose temps de fille that is the Bubble Bath print. Because whoever said that cats having a bath with rubber ducks is an idea that needs to happen totally deserves a medal and I hope that they got an Employee of the Month reward or something back in the day. This is utter genius in how dumb this print is, I love it dearly and will not tire of these kitties having a great time.

It's actually a bit of a shame that Meta didn't go down the AP plastic jewellery for every sweet release route because imagine the possibilities for dumb accessories this print offeres.

This post's detail I hadn't noticed until taking photos: that the powder box says 'Naturally'. Naturally.

As much as I may bemoan the shorter length of the skirt, it’s not entirely a bad thing either when you consider the light fabric too. The dotted texture is an added bonus, but this is a lovely cotton that’s really breathable, even with the polyester lining. As such, whilst I may not necessarily be rushing to wear it in summer, it is certainly an option that I give due consideration because it deserves it. If I’m going to have to cook in hot weather, I can at least look cute in the process.

If only my bathroom was this aesthetic. My original bathroom interior decor plans were a lot more regal than this, but this print is making me reconsider.

Whenever Shower-Kei coord actually debuts, it will be fun to put all the various pieces I made for it together. Like that necklace of the Savoy Fresh Soap boxes I made.

The Shower-Kei coord is yet to be revealed - part of me is saving it for the event it was meant to debut at, while part is considering wearing it sooner rather than later. However, at one point someone said to me ‘Bubble Bath photoshoot in a bath filled with rubber ducks’, which is a glorious image that I absolutely cannot and will not purge out of my head until it happens. Yes, I have already checked how to get tonnes of rubber ducks and how much that would cost. Yes, I have also looked at which photography studio might have a bath ready to be used as a prop. Will it happen though? To be honest, the only thing stopping me is the thought of what the hell would I do with all these rubber ducks afterwards. Because it would take a lot of rubber ducks to fill a bath with.

Not the most makeup-focused picture of makeup, but I only had one shade of eyeshadow on.

I guess if we include the wig worn for the lookbook, then we actually have 14 brands (and 16 if we include the petticoat and bloomers). I decided to keep things simple with this look, even if the size of these lashes seems anything but. But a sweet look like this really doesn’t need anything extravagant, a short curly wig and some pinkish makeup tie it all together really nicely. Hand on heart, were it not that the day I filmed this on was stuffy and I got mighty uncomfortable in this, I would’ve spent the rest of it in this coord, I felt supremely cute.

You know, for all my self-confessed struggles with this skirt, I'm actually really pleased to see the diversity of looks that I managed to accomplish so far.
From left to right these are from: September 2019, April 2020, July 2020, October 2020, February 2021, and May 2021.

Also, looking back on the photos, it may be my favourite coord with this skirt to date. As much as I enjoyed the other looks I did with this skirt (which thanks to finally having a proper coord archive, I could dig out a lot more easily than I have been doing in the other posts), there’s just something about this one that makes it extra cute. I guess I shouldn’t overthink things and just stick to straightforward sweet coords with it, they simply are the best with the print. Problem is that I don’t have much that’s traditionally and quintessentially sweet and in those colours. Mana help me, I cannot be dealing with my own style mood swings!

Whilst searching for the right track to inspire me for the lookbook, I found this one in a folder of royalty free music on my hard drive that I downloaded God-knows-when. And something about that particular track led me to the TikTok-style transformations and a more GRWM format. So I ran with that because why not? It’s still a lookbook, you get to see the details and everything was shot and edited in order, which means a bonus GRWM video. It seems that multiple brands inspire multiple video tags, so I hope you enjoy this one.