Work from Home & Lockdown Coords

Welcome to the new normal that is lockdown. I have been working from home for almost two weeks, whilst official lockdown has been going on for a full week. One of the things I've learnt from this is that working from home is an encouraging environment for wearing frills. There have been some casual outfits and some fancier ones, some that I've been meaning to try for a while and some that I didn't expect to happen. So let's talk about those!

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Coord 1: Fancy Work From Home Friday

| BtSSB Secret AIR MAIL from Sweet Kitty JSK | Angelic Pretty Whip Girl cutsew | Angelic Pretty Sugar Ribbon OTKs | Haruhi Clover headbow | Angelic Pretty Cute Ribbon wrist cuffs | Latte Galaxy brooch | Enchantlic Enchantilly ring | Fantastic Grim Jewellery necklace |

When I mentioned Fancy Work From Home Friday to my colleagues, they asked for a photo, particularly with the teacup.

Proving that there is sax in this print.

This was only my second day working from home. On the first one I went with a lazy slob look to celebrate having somewhat of a break. But Fancy Work From Home Friday had to be a thing and I even went so far as to drink from my china teacup. After saying that I wanted to wear this dress with sax, this was the perfect opportunity to do so. And that colour combination genuinely reignited my appreciation for this dress. It was simple and comfortable, thanks to the cutsew, but I would totally wear this in a slightly fancier version in the future.

First I had breakfast - which required more tea than my china cup could handle.

Then I could get onto snacks. Pierniczki can last forever if stored correctly, so these genuinely are leftovers from Christmas.

Not much happened besides that, to be honest. It was a fairly standard day of working from home, setting up my then still new laptop and enjoying the change of pace.

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Coord 2: Cards Against Lolitas Sunday

| Dear Celine Magic Book OP | Putomayo Celestial Light OTKs | Imperial Fiddlesticks Emporium headbow | Fantastic Grim Jewellery necklace | Violet Fane brooch | offbrand earrings |

The laziest approach to hair and makeup right there.

Book-necklace appreciation pic.

 

Whilst I have worn lolita on the Saturday too, it was the outfit that I filmed another Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates prompt in, so you will have to wait to see that. By Sunday I was a bit tired, so looked around for a quick and easy option, landing on this OP from Dear Celine. I really like the way it looks with wine red, especially with these socks in particular, although part of me really wishes that I had more energy to do something different with my hair. Even sticking a wig on might’ve been better. Oh well, I genuinely was just sat at home, under a cosy blanket. Playing Cards Against Lolitas and chatting with my community via Discord was fun, there were people I haven’t spoken to in what seems like forever, as well as those I’ve gotten close to over the past few meetups. We were actually such a large party that someone else had to start another game as the one I set up could only hold a maximum of 10 people. It was great fun, if you’re looking for online meetup ideas, I thoroughly recommend doing that.

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Coord 3: Remote Twinning & Cards Against Lolitas Take 2

My partner in crime @lolahbell - I can't comment on her outfit rundown, so I'll focus on mine.

| Bodyline L262 JSK | Primark blouse | Bodyline shoes | bow clip made out of cutoffs from the dress when it was beilg altered | everything else is offbrand |

I tried to mimic Holly's hairstyle and learnt that I can just curl the front of my head if I'm lazy.

The cherry necklace that everyone into rockabilly/retro fashion probably has.

Killing two birds with one stone is what it’s all about. After seeing so many people share their incredible remote twinning coords, I wanted to join in on that bandwagon too. The first person to respond was a good friend of mine and while we can’t twin clothes, we were able to vibe twin – because not all twins are identical. It’s amazing how we could get such similar coordinates, down to every accessory, and she even completely nailed down the kinds of poses that I do, it’s uncanny! Whilst I had that coord on I realised that it was one of the cheapest ones I’ve ever put together. By my rough calculations, the coordinate itself came up to about £50-something – not including petticoat, which was just under £48 on its own! Though I guess that still makes for an entire coordinate at around a £100 mark, which is pretty good. Once I got dressed in this, I pretty much stayed in it until the evening when I hosted another round of Cards Against Lolitas for those who couldn’t make it on Sunday. It was much, much quieter, but still just as nice. It also turned out to be someone’s very first lolita comm meetup, which made me realise how great virtual meetups are for newbies to just get familiar with the comm and how the comfort of their own home can help. I want to try hosting more of these even after the lockdown is over to provide that safe space in the future as well. Let’s see how that goes.

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Coord 4: Another Remote Twin & Zoom Livestream with Joelle and Lou

| Angelic Pretty Fantasy Theater Gilet JSK | Haenuli x I Do Declare blouse | Angelic Pretty Toy Circus tights | Angelic Pretty Elegant Doll boots | Cutie Creator headbow | Chocomint star clip | bow clip from Dear Celine Magic Book OP | Angelic Pretty Crystal Dream Carnival ring | Twinkle Kitty Boutique ring | Brightlele wig |

After years of this wig getting progressively worse I finally decided to give it at least a surface brush. Thanks to that it looks fluffy again - and this coord's colour palette and the lighting really bring out the lavender hues in it.

This bodice is what I fell in love with and what made me buy this dress. It's such a flattering cut too!

Let’s start off with the livestream coord. This is an outfit I had in my mind for a while now, maybe even a year, and been meaning to put on ever since I started working from home. The Zoom livestream with Joelle and Lou gave me the push to do so since it was a big enough occasion to warrant something quite so out there. The coordinate itself is actually pretty simple, it’s the individual pieces that are bold and/or big on their own that creates the OTT feel to it. My biggest win with this one is that the tights, which I got from an Angelic Pretty lucky pack, do actually fit, which I didn’t expect them to do. Yes, they stretched out quite a lot, but they go almost up to my waist (with a bit of a fight though) and the bear on the leg is still recognisable as such.

For those who are interested, you can watch the repeat of the livestream below. It lasted a bit over two hours and while for us doing it time simply flew by, watching it on replay you may want to arm yourself with a drink and a snack.

This time my partner in crim was the amazing @inkonsakura - who is also blogging over on It's a Long Story, you should check it out! Again, I will only be giving an outfit rundown for my own. Even though there are obvious differences to our outfits, we do look like we go to the same school, so mission accomplished!

Lockdown got to me and made me do these toast shots.
| After Midnight First Semester JSK | Innocent World 2017 lucky pack blouse | Angelic Pretty Crown Ribbon OTKs | offbrand shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | offbrand beret | sentimental pin (see detail shot) | Metamorphose Double Pockets 3-way bag |

Sweet Mana, look at the time!

It's been a long time since I wore this blouse, I need to make more effort to wear it.

This badge says 'model/exemplary pupil' and it's something we were given as a reward for highest marks on behaviour at the end of an academic year in the first few years of school in Poland. No-one ever wore these, there was never any real purpose to them other than to reward good behaviour. I'm glad that (oh God!) 20 years after receiving my first one of these badges I finally found a use for it. At least it has that vintage feel to it now which is so trendy now.

And before the livestream I also took some photos for another round of remote twinning. This is more like actual twinning, since at least the main piece is the same. The school vibes of this outfit together with lockdown madness slowly creeping in made me particularly giddy to try posing with a piece of toast in my mouth, as if I was an anime schoolgirl, so now you have that. And thanks to @inkonsakura’s photoshop skills, you even get to see that scene play out. You’re welcome, Internet. Don’t say that I don’t treat you.

I have no doubts that there will be more of these roundup outfit posts coming in at semi-regular intervals. Meetups are still cancelled, I'm still working from home and everything around is closed. Getting dressed up is one of the few things I still can do that gives me joy. There are also a few more remote twinning coords cooking up behind the scenes that I will share with you once they’re ready to be shown. At this rate I will go through every main piece in my wardrobe much quicker than I normally do, putting me very much on track for wearing everything at least once this year (and some pieces are already being worn more than once with all that remote twinning). Let's see at what point I start dressing in full OTT regalia just to do my daily allowance of outdoor exercise.

Stay safe, everyone!