Clamoween

This is Clamoween, this is Clamoween… It was the CLAM Halloween meetup this weekend and as a very non-Halloweeny person, I didn’t know I could be this excited. Yet here I was.

| Haenuli Just One Bite JSK | offbrand blouse | Innocent World Shanti OTKs | Hush Puppies boots | Ruha Garden headband | offbrand/handmade hair clip | Puvithel Crystal Heart necklace | Innocent World Strawberry Fields wrist cuffs | Violet Fane brooch | offbrand brooch | Brightlele wig |

This may be one of my favourite makeup looks. It was both a good eyeliner day and I think I cracked the code to getting the eyeshadow shape that I want.

Although for most of the day this apple (which is actually a Christmas ornament) lived on my head, I had to do some fancy closeups with me holding it. I guess since I love eating apples, I am more likely to be Snow White than Evil Queen though, so you don't have to worry about me offering you anything dodgy.

You’ve already seen the flatlay version of this outfit in a Lolita Blog Carnival post. The outfit itself hasn’t changed, though thanks to Instagram I was able to tweak my hair ideas (thank you for reminding me that I own a grey wig!), then simply came up with some darker makeup the morning of. Whilst I still think that this necklace in silver or gunmetal would’ve been a much better match, I am still not getting one just for this one outfit that is now in the past. Though at least the contrast wasn’t that stark when worn compared to on a flatlay.

The plan for the day was afternoon tea at Cocoa Cabana (and I am absolutely in love with that name!). As you may have gathered, this café-cum-cocktail bar specialises in chocolate, so naturally this is what our dessert section consisted of. The sandwich selection was alright, they were tasty, but nothing to write home about. I have very much enjoyed the scones and thought they were some of the best ones I’ve had – it helped a lot that they were still warm when they were served! Not so good for those of us doing cream first, as that just melted, risking stains on dresses, though I believe we had no accidents like this. An, very interestingly, instead of jam we got salted caramel for the scones, a combination which I did not expect to work and yet it did. As for desserts, they were very rich. This was definitely high quality chocolate and it wasn’t as sweet as you’d expect, as some of the chocolates had some very bold flavours (e.g. sour cherry). This was great if you don’t have as much of a sweet tooth or wanted to indulge in something more mature, for a lack of another word, or simply enjoy quality chocolate. I personally prefer sweeter treats, so I only ate 3 out of 4 sweet treats, passing one to someone else.

Display at the front of the cafe.

Sandwices weren't particularly impressive looking, though they were ok. The hummus ones were really nice!

The dessert section, on the other hand, looked divine! This is what we all came for!

Whilst I knew that this meet would end up being quite big, even I was surprised at how well attended it was. I believe there were around 20 people on the day, and that’s after one person has had to drop out. It was great to meet some new people too, whom I hope to see again. Sometimes it’s hard to chat to fresh faces at bigger meets like this, as you may either want to catch up with friends you’ve not seen in a while or simply sit too far away, so it was great that I have managed.

Sadly, our reservation at Cocoa Cabana was only for two hours, so as accommodating as the staff there were, we didn’t want to overstay our welcome and headed to a bar nearby for some more chill and chat time. As usual, conversations spanned a wide variety of topics, though my personal favourite was a discovery of a “new substyle” – UwU Goth. Just like ‘bittersweet’, it’s not a real substyle (sorry if you think otherwise – and I will lump ‘pastel goth’ into this too) and it’s a more accurate representation of the kind of sweet x dark aesthetic that we see, particularly when Angelic Pretty tries to be goth. When our comm’s True Goths have imparted that new wisdom onto me and given me an example from our own comm, I simply had to agree (that person’s style really is the pinnacle of UwU Goth) and I intend to use this term from now on. Because ‘bittersweet’ is so 2012, Karen.

As always, it was nice to relax in good company. I enjoy a meet where I can sit back and chat with people, particularly when I’m a bit tired from the working week before that, and it’s a good way to get to know the comm’s newcomers. Although my initial plans were to do buy some bits from a fabric shop afterwards, it closed by the time I left – and I can’t say that I’m that upset about it. There will be another opportunity to go and the time spent with the other lolitas was more than worth it. Plus, although I am fully aware that my gothic lolita is veeery much classic, I enjoyed this darker look and can feel that I will be ‘gothing around’ more without having to be prompted by occasions like Halloween.

Now the question is – do I wear some casual frills to work on Halloween itself? I was thinking about wearing Dear Celine’s Magic Book OP, as it’s low-key enough to be suitable for work, yet still fancy enough to be both casual lolita and themed enough to work for Halloween. Meta’s Classical Sister OP was my other contender, however, I’ve worn that on Sunday and while it’s an easy outfit, I don’t want to repeat myself. And I think that Magic Book is easier to care for, as it may be machine washable if I remember correctly? I’m not sure, I’ll have to ponder this very seriously. What do you think? Meanwhile, let me drop the quickest photos I’ve ever taken of that nun lolita outfit with Classical Sister.

| Metamorphose Classical Sister OP | AatP Sheherazade ~ One Thousand and One Nights ~ headdress | Taobao socks | hush puppies boots | Enchanted Dream Wear necklace (not very well visible here, scroll down for a closeup) |

This is literally just lipstick, I was going to do some light makeup, but I was in a rush to leave for a social event and was already late.

Praying to Mana-sama to grant me infinite burando money.

Re-Coord an Outfit for a Change of Seasons

Change of seasons doesn’t have to mean that you can’t re-wear certain outfits. Whilst some coordinates will be very seasonal, others can be easily adjusted to work with your current season’s weather. In this week’s Lolita Blog Carnival prompt we are looking at re-coordinating a previously worn outfit to reflect that.

For mine I’ve picked the outfit I wore on Easter Monday this year. Firstly, it’s a dress that I’ve not work a lot yet as it’s still pretty new to me, and secondly - that was a very hot Easter Monday. The UK doesn’t get heatwaves very often, which means that wearing lolita and heatwaves don’t always get to exist together. At the moment the weather is still pretty mild, certainly on the ‘needs layers’ side of autumn, but not very cold. This outfit could easily be adapted to the season and probably in more ways than one. Below is just one of them.

| AatP Side Frill JSK | Infanta Swan Lake blouse | Violet Fane Antiquite tights | Innocent World shoes | After midnight beret | Imperial Fiddlesticks headbow | offbrand brooches |

My main goal was to keep the outfit as similar to the original one as possible to show that it’s a rehash and not a completely new thing. I probably could get away with just throwing a bolero over the original short sleeve blouse, but I felt that the softness of ivory/cream colours worked better with the dress and the season than the stark white. The shoes and the bow pin placement are (mostly) as they were back in April.

I am so glad that I got the Imperial Fiddlesticks headbows when I did, they are both versatile and comfortable.

I decided to swap the original wine red headbow for a beret and bow combination. The new headbow is from the same indie brand as the original, which means the same shape and style reflecting the original outfit. A singular hair accessory was preferable for the hot weather back then, whereas with the cooler weather now a beret not only adds some warmth, but stabilises the headbow a little during windy spells.

They look so lovely against the rich burgundy colour of the dress.

Similarly, the Easter heatwave didn’t exactly inspire to add accessories, which I rectified now. A cameo brooch is a classic that goes with basically anything and here also ties in with the tights. The rose one is there for extra pizzaz and to reflect the rose pattern of the dress fabric. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure why I didn’t include any brooches back in April. Feels so unlike me…

This particular detail really caught my eye as I was taking the detail pictures.

With cooler weather it’s time to pack away the ankle socks. Tights are much better at keeping me warm and I am ever so slightly obsessed with these Violet Fane ones (even though I’ve not worn them yet). They look gorgeous and there’s something quintessentially classic about the look of a solid colour dress with busy(ish) print tights.

Altogether this came out as an outfit that I’d love to wear, probably even more so than the original one. Granted, with this particular dress flatlays can be a little deceiving, as the halterneck sits differently on a bed vs on me. Though on the other hand, the volume of that skirt somehow looks more impressive here than when I wore it (even though I remember having to make my hoop a little smaller back in April to avoid the overstuffed look). Still, this coord came out more exciting than I anticipated it to be and I might have to find an excuse to wear it. Ideally whilst it’s still autumn, because the colours do give me that lovely autumnal vibe.

As always with Lolita Blog Carnival posts, make sure to check out what the other participating bloggers have done.

The Bloody Tea Party

1 Dress 4 Looks Take 30

White and cream pieces always seem the most versatile to me. Four outfits could never even come close to exhausting the list of coordinating possibilities. This means that whenever I do one of these posts with a white piece, you’re only getting a snapshot of what I was in the mood for when taking the pictures. And it seems that when I was coordinating Alice and the Pirates’ Rosier Fleur JSK, I was in a mood for elegant things – and, unlike myself, not really in the mood for much colour.

Look 1: Queen of the Damned

| Haenuli x I Do Declare blouse | Putomayo Celestial Light OTKs | offbrand heels | Puvithel Crystal Heart necklace | After Midnight headband | handmade (not by me) hair clip |

No relation to the film whatsoever. I just feel like this isn’t quite enough to call it proper goth or vampire, but this outfit certainly has a darker feel than most. This blouse is also a nightmare to use in a flatlay, so unless I’m really feeling it, I will probably avoid using it in flatlays in the future.

Look 2: Simple Country

| Innocent World bolero | BtSSB Antique Ribbon shoes | Tutuanna socks | Cutie Creator hat and wrist cuffs | Peppermint Fox brooch |

This was the last coord I photographed and I noticed that it currently being autumn has really influenced my choices. So as the dress is very lightweight, I wanted to showcase that it can be worn in the summer too, which naturally led to a country look. Although I have something sweeter in my mind to try out another time…

Look 3: Elegant White Goth

| offbrand cutsew | Atelier Boz Roland coat | AatP Arabesque OTKs | Hush Puppies boots | Claire's flower clips | Enchanted Dream Wear necklace |

I love the look of gothic looks all in white. I find these incredibly elegant and timeless. Whilst I’m not 100% happy with this one, I feel like I’m not far off that simple, streamlined look that I admire so much. It’s all about having the right pieces here and hopefully by the time this would ever be worn I will obtain a more suitable hair accessory.

Look 4: Classic Princess

| BtSSB Chiffon Princess blouse | Violet Fane tights | Sosic Shop heels | Cutie Creator headbow | offbrand flowe clips and jewellery |

This one started because I really wanted to use my Violet Fane tights. Once I noticed that the tights and dress were very different shades of cream, it inspired me to do that more quirky/mismatched kind of classic and in a funny way I feel like it works? Maybe it’s the frames and the cameos, but something about this makes me feel a little nostalgic and like this is a walk down memory lane.

Of course, I could’ve done more colourful looks, but isn’t that a bit obvious? Whilst working with a limited colour palette can be a great challenge (which I’ve tried for example in the monochrome outfit prompt from the Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates challenge), these coords really happened very naturally, through mere decisions of wanting to use that piece over another one. And in fact against all these cream/white looks the first one with red now feels super jarring.

Create a Spooky/Halloween Themed Coord

Neither spooky nor Halloween themed are my forte. I do, however, have a Halloween meet planned for later this month, so why not use this week’s Lolita Blog Carnival prompt to plan my outfit?

| Haenuli Just One Bite JSK | offbrand blouse | Innocent World Shanti OTKs | Hush Puppies boots | Ruha Garden headband | offbrand apple decoration | Puvithel Crystal Heart necklace | Innocent World Strawberry Fields wrist cuffs | Violet Fane brooch | offbrand brooch |

I’ve been saving Just One Bite for the Halloween meet, so of course the outfit had to be with this particular dress. As for everything else, I’m not sure whether it’d be more appropriate to call this the Evil Queen or Gothy Snow White. Suffice to say that I am running with the theme of the print as the outfit’s inspiration.

 

The three bits of grey in one picture.

Definitely wanted to run with grey and red as my colours. Despite not having that much grey, I hope that between this blouse, the pattern on the socks and the print it’s enough to work.

Focus on the roses, not the strawberry bow.

In absence of grey or black wrist cuffs, I went with these ones. They’re a little less flashy than my AP ones and although they’re strawberry themed, that’s not that obvious so I thought they’d work. Plus, the lace has roses on it, which matches both the rose jacquard pattern of the dress and the motif on the socks.

This should look quite nice when worn.

The headpiece is my Ruha Garden floral headband with a literal Christma ornament added in. I still need to glue an actual hair clip onto it, but that won’t take long.

I mean, can you really go that wrong with this necklace?

 

Whilst a shame that I don’t own any apple jewellery, this Puvithel necklace is timeless enough to work with such a dark outfit. It’s true that a silver one would probably match the greys a bit better, but we can’t have everything.

Subtle yet to the point.

 

As for brooches (because how could I not add any brooches), I went with a black offbrand one for extra sparkle and this Violet Fane one for theme. These bottles could be medicines, but also poisons, so it seemed like a nice, subtle way of hinting that the apple is poisoned. Which I guess would make the coord more Evil Queen after all.

Do you have any Halloween meetups planned? Or spooky/Halloween themed outfits? Or are you a 24/7 goth who lives Halloween all year round? If you have any suggestions on how to improve this outfit, I’m all ears, there’s still a little bit of time before the meetup, so I should be able to make the changes. And don’t forget to check out what other bloggers taking part in this week’s prompt have put together!

The Bloody Tea Party
Ruffle Road 
In Love with a Dream