No Buy Support Wardrobe Challenge: 1 Piece, 2 Different Styles

More so than the previous prompt, where I dedicated a day to just doing looks with one dress, I have found this one quite challenging. Not because it’s necessarily difficult to come up with two looks in different styles for the same main piece, but because it felt weird to wear the same dress twice in a month without necessarily feeling like wearing it. Being used to cycling through everything once before returning to it, unless there’s an idea that I really want to materialise, is far more natural for me. This led to a sort of false start attempt, which you will see in the coords roundup post, but I did manage to get this prompt ticked off this month.

Coord 1: Heatwave Gingham

| Chrysanthemum’s Concerto Lost in the Garden of Eden JSK | Cat Tea Party blouse | handmade apron | Angelic Pretty Wrapping Cherry socks | Bodyline shoes | Cutie Creator headbow and wrist cuffs |

Double gingham and waves that have partly fallen out by the time the photos were taken.

Broderie anglaise appreciation post.

As you can see, I chose Chrysanthemum’s Concerto’s Lost in the Garden of Eden JSK as my main piece for this prompt. Primarily because with the abundance of actual summery weather in August it felt imperative to capitalise on wearing gingham whilst it was seasonal. And partly because by the time I realise what I had originally planned wasn’t going to work, I was left with not a lot of time and this was the dress that spoke to me the most.

Yes, wearing lolita in temperatures of 30*C and above is rough - but my flat is cold, which makes heatwave frills bearable as long as I stay indoors. This coord was just right to wear around for a work from home Friday, which should give you an idea of how little outside heat comes in. As already mentioned, heatwave and sunny weather really inspires seasonal coordinates like this one. Had I had more gingham pieces, like gingham socks, you bet that I would’ve added those too. The apron adds an extra country feel and I’m still very proud of it (it’s entirely hand sewn by yours truly), so that did genuinely stay on for pretty much all day. Unlike the accessories, which were on just for the photos. Let’s face it, even in my cold flat, comfort is still the most important thing on a heatwave day, especially on a work from home heatwave day.

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Coord 2: Back to (High) School

| Chrysanthemum’s Concerto Lost in the Garden of Eden JSK | offbrand blouse, jacket, shoes, and beret | Angelic Pretty Alphabet Marine OTKs | Axes Femme earrings | Fluffy Tori pin | Tea Party Club badge | Sweet Dolly House Cookie Bon Bon ring | Angelic Pretty British Ribbon ring |

Urgh, this hair did not want to stay out of my eyes, it ended up being tied up later.

Apples are my favourite fruit, so to find a jacket with an apple patch was extra lovely!

I know, what a 180 degree turn from the heatwave look above! There was a day when things really cooled down and as I was already looking for a way to style this dress for the challenge, it was time to finally wear my new-to-me varsity jacket without melting into a puddle. It’s a shame that the day itself, another work from home one, was full of minor inconveniences because I do like this look and don’t want my mood on the day to influence that too much. Sure, there are definitely things that I’d change (legwear being the foremost one), but this is very much my vibe right now.

And honestly, vibes and moods aside, I am so extremely pleased with this jacket. I am not exaggerating when I say that I’ve been looking for the right varsity-style jacket for at least 2 years, but finding one that’s a shorter length and in the right colours is a challenge. Ultimately my patient stalking Vinted paid off, as I scored this one for just a couple of quids and it’s exactly what I was after without really knowing that this was what I was after.

Although I mentioned that I’m not 100% satisfied with every little bit of this coord, I don’t necessarily think that I will redo it as such. More likely I will keep this jacket and a few of the supporting pieces as a base to use with other dresses and make whatever changes seem appropriate then. That’s a lot more my style of wearing frills than full on coord redemptions.


With only two prompts left in this challenge, and with them coinciding with some busy months work-wise, I think it will be quite important for me to get planning ahead of time. The final one will probably be much easier than the next one because of what I said at the beginning of this post and preferring to cycle through everything before I wear the same main piece again. But maybe let’s see how things go, there are all sorts of surprises that life can throw at a person.