October Coords Roundup

And so the Spooky Month is coming to an end. I am definitely noticing the effects of a partial return to the office, as even when the will to dress up is there, the energy often isn’t. That and once again my brain is plagued with all the non-seasonal ideas - seriously, what the hell is up with that? Why do I want to wear thick cardigans in summer and light summery clothes when it gets cold? I don’t know if it’s just my mindset that’s not attuned to the seasons or if this is a sign of me needing some wardrobe reshuffle. Or if I’m just looking for an excuse to do a wardrobe reshuffle because I want to do one anyway.

*~*~*~*

Coord 1: Fairytales & Travel

| Song and Temple Fairytale Library skirt and scrunchie | A.R.W. blouse | Amavel cardigan | Innocent World Short Boots OTKs | Deary heels | Patisserie Pink Bookshelf brooch |

Sometimes minimum effort doesn't have to look like minimum effort. Distracting people with layers and accessories helps with that.

Proof of print name.

Kicking the spooky month off on the very first day… with a completely non-spooky coordinate. Spooky stuff isn’t my cup of tea, so while there will undoubtedly be some appropriate outfits, for the most part we’ll see more of this sort of cosy stuff. This is in part my getting my frills fix at the end of the working week, part trying to make it to Fluffy Tori’s Coord Mashup Fairytales & Travel theme before that closed (which I didn’t make in the end), and part using my newest acquisitions to prove to myself that they weren’t unjustified impulse buys. This skirt is one that I typically travel in whenever I’m going somewhere, plus it’s called Fairytale Library, hence this for the Coord Mashup theme. And I did say that I would get more on the navy and green train, it is a very good train to be on. The rest was just trying to get through the day with as little stress as possible - a tall order considering that it was still the beginning of the academic year for me, but one can hope nonetheless.

*~*~*~*

Coord 2: Casual Monday

| Bodyline L380 skirt | Angelic Pretty Logo Embroidery Tutleneck cutsew | Snag Sweetheart tights | offbrand shoes, earrings and bracelet | After Midnight necklace | Sweet Dolly House Cookie Bon Bon ring |

Very glad that the ear stud just about made an appearance.

I have a feeling that the writing on the bracelet's heart charm is actually a brand name, but I haven't investigated that yet.

Comfort and warmth needed to enter the chat, and upon realising that I haven’t worn this skirt with reds much, the rest of the outfit happened on its own. It’s definitely very comfortable and pretty warm, great for a working from home day half of which was spent cheering up my cat, who was mostly hiding in the bathroom because we’ve had the audacity to upturn his routine by my parents going off on holiday. You know, the usual human crimes against felinekind. But it’s fine, that was the most pets I ever got to give him probably ever, which makes up for that.

*~*~*~*

Coord 3: Spying on the Neighbours

| Lady Sloth Look at My Dreamy Sky OP | L’Esprit de la Noblesse Le Nuage blouse | Bodyline L380 skirt as underskirt | Miss Point corset | Red Maria tights | offbrand shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | Tiny Passerine Creations The Duchess’ Tea parure |

Distracting people from minimal makeup with eyelashes from Lola's Lashes was the theme for this month.

This aquamarine-style gem honestly photographs a different colour every single time.

Well, the outfit was put together for filming a video, but as Spy was hovering around my feet whilst I was taking outfit pics, we ended up taking this gem of a photo, so now this is the Spying on the Neighbours look. It was supposed to be something easy and just let the blouse do the talking, but as I put the dress over it, I realised that it definitely needed that extra pizazz from the corset. There was still room for laziness with minimal hair and the false lashes doing all the talking makeup-wise.

Meme us!

*~*~*~*

Coord 4: Working Clash

| Metamorphose Polka Dots Shirring Pinafore JSK | offbrand cutsew, jacket, earrings and bow clip | Angelic Pretty Colourful Polkadots OTKs | Hush Puppies boots | Boguta underskirt | Chocomint hair clip | Promised Land Creations necklace | vintage brooch |

The struggle of trying to compromise your good selfie angle with an angle that makes the hair clip visible.

All the patterns!

Dots and tartan and stars? Well, yeah, basically. It’s weird, I admit, but I also think it kind of works? It’s somewhere on the spectrum of that quirky teacher that has sort of lost the grip on reality, but you kind of respect that as a power move. If I were a coffee drinker, I’d definitely have a cup of something strong with this because it was a Monday, but since I can’t stand the flavour of coffee, I had to gain power through a bold look to get through the day.

*~*~*~*

Coord 5: Mildly Gothic

| Metamorphose Classical Sister OP | MuFish tights | Vivienne Westwood x Melissa Anglomania heels | offbrand hair clips | Promised Land Creations earrings | After Midnight necklace | Violet Fane brooch |

Hair and makeup was in part inspired by prompt nr 8 of the AYWi30C challenge look I did.

That whole series of brooches was super tempting, but even though I don't wear this one too often, I could not resist.

As per usual, my take on gothic lolita leans pretty classic, but I think this one just about slides by as gothic, don’t you think? If I did darker makeup, it probably would’ve been more obvious, though even as is all the little touches help tip it in that direction. It felt like so long between this coord and the previous one (well, it has by current standards, entire 12 days have gone by with nothing even lolita-adjacent!), so I eased myself gently with something comfortable. And gosh dang it, I do love this OP, I am so glad that I succumbed to the treat yourself mentality back then.

*~*~*~*

Coord 6: Pumpkin Patch Trip

| Grove Deer Moon of Eternal Day OP | Innocent World Rose Lace Millefeuille bolero | Innocent World Fleurs Checkered OTKs | Hush Puppies boots | After Midnight beret | Cutie Creator headbow | offbrand earrings | My Inspiration brooch and necklace | Axes Femme collar | Angelic Pretty Melty Ribbon Chocolate ring |

A very good eyeliner day, even if I did the wing super tiny.

Btw, I picked this ring at the swap meet and it was in a box of free things. How could the brandwhore in me resist?

I wrote more about both the day and the outfit separately, so you can catch that post here.

*~*~*~*

Coord 7: Spooky Afternoon Tea at Ordsall Hall

| AatP Sugar Plum Fairy Princess JSK | Sentaro Star Sleeve blouse | Putumayo Celestial Light OTKs | offbrand shoes, earrings and ring | Vierge Vampur bonnet | Puvithel Crystal Heart necklace | vintage ring | handmade bracelet | Dalao Home wig |

A bold claim, but these Vierge Vampur bonnet are second only to Triple Fortune ones. You can try to change my mind if you wish, but there is little point.

Photographing black flocked velvet on a black organza is a nightmare, do not recommend.

And as above, this one was part of the previous post, so catch it there.

*~*~*~*

Coord 8: Casually Blue

| Meta Wizarding Lesson trousers | Angelic Pretty Whip Girl cutsew | Angelic Pretty Sugar Ribbon OTKs | Hush Puppies boots | vintage hat | Innocent World Original Crown Tassel brooch |

Let's be honest, the hat only came out for the photo.

Such a good lucky pack item, all these years later and it still serves me well.

That was a pretty RAAAARGH kind of Monday, which in turn demanded comfort and minimum effort. Luckily even very casual sweet ouji still looks as if effort was made. Cute, playful, perfectly boyish, did the job of getting me through Monday. What more could I ask for?

*~*~*~*

Since it’s only 2 days away now, let me wish you a Happy Halloween to all who celebrate or decide to do something for it. I do have half a mind to wear something spooky on Halloween itself, but this is all dependent on energy levels and I am setting tomorrow aside for filming the second half of that charity lookbook that I was going to do. (Half is done already, yay!)

As much as I would love to ‘get back on the train’ of dressing up a bit more regularly (and at least give everything that I own its 3rd or 2nd spin), I may have to accept that this is not realistic. The days of dressing up a few times per week are once again confined to weekends, which is still a lot compared to the Before Days, even if ‘the new normal’ created over the course of the pandemic makes me think like the standard is higher. But I definitely would like to squeeze in more outfits than this next month. I have a short break coming up, which I plan on taking at least one coord with me for, and hopefully it will be an overall much quieter month before the festive madness begins (which I’m still on the fence about how much I should participate in this year).

So we’ll see how things go. How was your Spooky Month? Did you do everything that you wanted to? Squeezed in all the spooks that you could? Enjoyed the seasonal changes of October? I hope that you did - November is traditionally pretty dreary in the Northern Hemisphere, so hopefully whatever fun stuff you were able to fit in to this month will get you through this time between Halloween and Christmas.