August Coords Roundup

I went into August straight from an outfit high of July, as well as with a new wave of motivation. Previously there was a drive pushing me to prove that I could wear everything I owned at least once by the year’s halfway point. So far my average is 9/9.5 coords per month, which means that if lockdown continues and I keep up that as the bare monthly minimum, I will go through all my main pieces for the second time this year by the end of September. And seeing as this is just an average, lowered by January-March, when I’ve actually averaged 12 coords per month during lockdown, good 60% of my wardrobe would get worn 3 times this year if lockdown carries on and I kept this pace up. I know that’s a lot of mathematising and nerding over something as basic as wearing clothes, but this kind of thinking really gets me pumped. It’s what people in education call stretch-and-challenge, something that requires a bit of extra work and push, but that’s nonetheless achievable - and when you do reach that goal, the sense of accomplishment is all the greater thanks to your work.

That was the mindset that I entered August with. Now let’s see what August was actually like in terms of outfits, shall we?

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Coord 1: The Admiral

| AatP Side Frill JSK | Infanta Swan Lake blouse | Metamorphose Swallow-Tail Jacquard jacket | Innocent World Pearl Ribbon OTKs | Hush Puppies boots | handmade tricorn | detachable brooch from the dress | Puvithel Crystal Heart brooch | Wicked and Whimsy ring |

Just proof that mirror and selfies are two different things. And even when you know your selfie angles, they don't always work out as you'd like them to. And that's ok.

Fancy jackets with lolita dresses is such a great look!

This is the exact same outfit that I’ve put together for the 37th 1 Dress 4 Looks post. I did actually try out the ero look from that post, but it wasn’t working on me as well as I’d hoped it would. After lots of toing and froing I decided that it was time to sell this dress and this was its last huzzah with me. It also featured in a video earlier this month, so at least it got a good send off. My only complaint with this look was that although I felt amazing and loved what I saw in the mirror, I somehow really struggled to capture that on a photo and I have no idea why that was.

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Coord 2: 1920s Murder Mystery Party

| Axes Femme dress | Primark heels | Dalao Home wig | vintage necklace as headdress | Primark and Somewhere-Else-I-Can’t-Remember necklaces | ostrich feather |

 

Considering how everything else is more historybounding than historically accurate, the makeup is the most accurate thing here.

When in doubt what to do for a headdress, throw a necklace on your head. 4/5 times it will do the job.

This, on the other hand, photographed so easily and were it not that I was running a little late, I could’ve easily kept going. Yes, I know it’s not lolita, but my blog, my rules and my exceptions. My friends from my previous workplace were hosting a murder mystery party via Zoom and I got to play a young singing diva, so of course I had to dress up! Determined not to buy anything new, I worked with what I had and I’m genuinely surprised how close this dress comes to the 1920s silhouette. The waist is a little higher than it would’ve been, but the boxiness of that period is there. I’m still not quite sure how I feel about that silhouette on myself, but it was certainly comfortable. And the murder mystery was so fun! I’ve never done one of those before at all, let alone via Zoom, but now I’m hooked and want to do more. When I shared this photo on Facebook, people from my comm were also supportive of a frilly murder mystery party idea, so this is something to investigate (pun intended?).

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Coord 3: Dots Everywhere

| Bodyline L262 JSK | Sweet Dolly House ring | everything else is offbrand |

The hoarder in me rejoiced at finally finding a use for these hair ties.

Polka dots are very important. That's all I have to say on this matter.

Technically there was a coord before this one, but it was so casual and I wasn’t *really* feeling it, so it never got photographed. This one was for my first day back working after a short break. Simple, comfortable and still fun. If I had any more polka dots, I definitely would’ve squeezed them in somehow. What else could I get that’s polka dot? Probably a necklace, maybe some bangles... Any other ideas?

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Coord 4: Is This 1940s?

| HeartE Tartan JSK | A.R.W. blouse | Dancing Days cardigan | Angelic Pretty Twinkle Star socks | Bodyline heels | offbrand beret and earrings | Tea Party Club badge |

 

Shame that the hairstyle isn't the most visible, it's a sort of victory roll, but facing more to the back.

 

 

It's such a gorgeous shade of blue, why isn't there more of it in lolita?

The coord I wore but didn’t photograph that I mentioned above? This is basically the upgraded version of that. The previous version had this JSK and blouse with white ankle socks and that’s it. Spicing it up with the cardigan and the blues made for a really cute look. My hair was in need of a wash and as gross as this may sound, that is the best sort of hair for doing any kind of vintage styles on. And once this hair was on, it really made the outfit feel very 1940s inspired. With this HeartE JSK I’m always torn on whether the outfits are ever lolita or just adjacent. It can only hold the smallest petticoat I have, which happens to be quite uncomfortable for me, so this dress gets worn more in casual ways. But I’m glad that I wore it like this, it was cute and I might do it again.

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Coord 5: Casual Country

| Lady Sloth Winter Spices skirt | Ank Rouge cutsew | offbrand bolero, socks and shoes | Cutie Creator hat | Innocent World Strawberry Fields wrist cuffs | My Inspiration necklace |

In hindsight, hair down was not the brightest idea for the weather. But it was easier than coming up with something.

On an unrelated note, I really want more jewellery from My Inspiration.

August decided to remind itself that it’s supposed to be a summer month in the UK. That once again reminded me how much my style relies on cardigans and layers, and that maybe I should invest in a few more skirts, OPs and tops that I could throw on casually. For now I merged looking cute with staying cool through this combo. I’m really happy that I was able to use this skirt, which is my go-to Christmas wear, outside of winter twice now. The only thing I wish this coord had is a basket bag. One day I’ll get one. And I finally became the ‘lolita in the wild’! I had to go to town to pick up a jacket after alterations (which turned out to not be quite done just yet, but it’s ok, I got some groceries whilst at it) and when checking Facebook on my way back I saw someone had posted a ‘spotted in town’ kind of post on the CLAM page. This feels like some kind of achievement unlocked and it made me feel super like a lifestyler since I genuinely did wear this for work first and a trip to town and Aldi happened naturally.

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Coord 6: Pink Circus

| Angelic Pretty Fantasy Theater Gilet JSK | Dear Celine Polka Dot Waltz blouse | Angelic Pretty Sealing Border OTKs | Irregular Choice Total Freedom shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | vintage mini hat | Tea Party Club Dream Masquerade Carnival pin | Angelic Pretty Chess Chocolate brooch | Star Glazed Delights ring | handmade bracelets | Lockshop Daisy wig |

Another accessory I finally got to use: the mini-hat clip and this pin.

The pin came after the print, in case you were wondering.

As I said in my last AYWi30C post, since discovering how much pink is in this print I wanted to coordinate it with pink. That’s it, really. I’m really pleased with how it came out, the colours ended up being much softer than what I had in mind, but that’s simply the nature of the pieces that I own. For a moment I had a plan of upgrading this coord to ivory x pink with dashes of mint, but the mint accessories that I have wouldn’t work very well with this coord. Maybe another time. What I’m particularly pleased with is that I managed to incorporate not one, but two accessories that I’ve had for years and never used before: the pin and the mini hat, which I’ve had for three and five years respectively.

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Coord 7: Simple Classic

| Mary Magdalene Paulina JSK | offbrand top | MuFish tights | Deary heels | Triple Fortune headdress | Innocent World Moon and Star Pearl necklace | offbrand ring | handmade bracelets |

Trying to get both the headdress and the ring in the picture at least a little.

 

 

Such a great match for this dress!

Simple and elegant for working from home. Although I actually needed to pop out to the post office to send a dress I sold (I hope Side Frill JSK has a new loving home). So there were regrets about wearing lolita when I hit the stuffy outside, although overall I wasn’t too bad. The weather plus walking were a much worse combination than the weather plus this outfit, since this dress is made out of light cotton and the top is a mesh one. I’m really loving the headdress with this JSK too! I was worried that they might not work, but since the dress is a very dark navy, the black of the headdress fits right in.

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Coord 8: Cloudy with a chance of cherries

| Lady Sloth Look at My Dreamy Sky Casual OP | offbrand blouse and necklace | Angelic Pretty Wrapping Cherry socks | Sosic Shop heels | handmade hair clips and bracelets |

Pinning braids up into a crown is a godsend of a hairstyle during hot weather spells.

Brand ankle socks are so frivolous, but they really are too cute to resist. Not many ankle socks out there pack this much detail.

This idea started out with Haenuli’s Lovely Memories JSK in mind, but once again I could not be bothered to fight the zip. So I switched to this OP, which wasn’t quite working - until I put the blouse over it. Had I ventured outside in the heatwave we had at the time, I would’ve melted from the layer overload, but my flat stays mild-going-on-cool, so I was just fine. Still kind of wish that I was able to do it with the original JSK, but damn that invisible zip.

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Coord 9: Historical Vibes

| Metamorphose Gold Braid Tuck Pinafore JSK | handmade ring | My Inspiration brooch | everything else is offbrand |

Same braids as the day before, just pinned differently. Seriously, I did not even bother undoing them for the night.

Roses everywhere is always a good complimentary motif to go for.

My original plans for this outfit were much fancier, I was thinking of either a bonnet or my vintage hat. But not only it was too warm to bother, once I put this blouse on, the Oktoberfest/medieval-costume-but-make-it-nice vibes looked good. It only reassured me that my future plans for a proper medieval-inspired coord with this dress will work great and in the meantime I had a cute, more casual coord to enjoy summer in. Maybe one day I’ll throw an apron with this, see how that goes.

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Coord 10: Unnecessarily fancy

| Angelic Pretty Flower Garden JSK | Infanta overblouse | offbrand tights and shoes | Dreamy Bows headdress | handmade jewellery |

You know it was fancy because it was Thursday and I actually bothered with things like eyeshadow and blush instead of just making do with a bit of lipstick.

It also feels fancy to have a 'full set' of matching jewellery.

In comparison to all the previous outfits from that week, this certainly was a lot fancier. And given that there was no occasion besides the fact that it cooled down ever so slightly following a storm at night, it felt almost unnecessarily so. But to paraphrase someone on Amino, it’s never unnecessary to be fancy. This coord is simple and lets me wear this odd colour in a balanced way, without drawing too much attention to how awkward it can be to coordinate. Having a ring and necklace to match the bracelets feels like I own a complete set, which is another bonus point to fanciness.

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Coord 11: Delivering Friday

| BtSSB Sweet AIR MAIL from Sweet Kitty JSK | A.R.W. blouse | Violet Fane Antiquite tights | Hush Puppies boots | offbrand beret | Violet Fane Post Office brooch | handmade ring |

This came out too good and I started wondering whether to cut my hair. But then I tried this hairstyle again later and could not replicate it, so I'll stick to what I have for now.

Come on, when Violet Fane announced this brooch, I couldn't miss my chance!

Another one of those TMIF moments: thank Mana it’s Friday. For a while I was once again stuck with how to coordinate this dress before I remembered that I don’t have to push myself to be either super original or super creative every single time. And I really wanted to finally wear that Violet Fane Post Office brooch, so why wait? My flat is actually mild-going-on-cold, so wearing less hot weather-appropriate things isn’t so bad - until I leave the house. The beret was fine for the photo indoors, but I did need to go into town to pick up that ouji jacket, which was now definitely ready, stopped by to get some sweets for the meetup the day after and groceries, and was regretting my outfit choices well before I made it back. But at least I looked cute and did the jacket pickup first, which was good because the lady there, having seen me in lolita three times now, asked for a photo, so it’s good that I didn’t look all hot and bothered.

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Coord 12: Halfway Meet

| BtSSB’s Polonaise Brillante ~ Ideas of a Maiden ~ Apron JSK | offbrand blouse and socks | Sosic Shop heels | Cutie Creator headbow | handmade necklace | The Grand Embassy badge |

Another "curling attempt unsuccessful, quick, take selfie before it all collapses".

Will I ever stop obsessing over these socks? No, probably not.

Had we not been in the grips of a pandemic, this would’ve been an actual, physical meet. Mid-August marked the exact halfway point of my life where I’ve lived in Poland and in the UK for equally as long. From now on I will be livivng in the UK longer than I ever have in Poland. It’s an odd feeling to have, one that many other immigrants will relate to, but the only people that I personally know who can say that they’ve lived through their halfway points are all much older than me. If life was safe, I would’ve made a meetup, probably invited the Manchester comm to Platzki for some good Polish food before we found a nice outside spot somewhere, considering how the weather was lovely and summery, but not so scorching anymore. Instead it was a virtual meetup, very, very chill and casual because I had no energy to think of something different and once again I am sort of over having no choice but to do virtual meetups (though the alternative is no meetups at all and that’s just not acceptable). Of course, this occasion absolutely called for wearing Polonaise Brillante, though once again I toned it down somewhat, both for comfort levels and because after an entire week of wearing lolita I kind of wanted a break. Yes, with this outfit I can now officially tick no 19 on the Lolita Level Up Quiz 3.0. Pre-planning entire outfits in advance was what really allowed me to do it (besides the working from home), but I’ll be the first to admit that I probably picked the worst week weather-wise since it was quite hot and stuffy for most of it. I’ll end this part with the photos of the desserts I bought for the meet, as well as an out-of-context comment I made before we wrapped up the meetup: I want a man to treat me like Mana-sama treats his Dollfie. And that is a fact.

Another 10/10 dessert from Bisous Bisous!

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Coord 13: Wa Rose

| AatP Rosier Fleur JSK | offbrand blouse | vintage haori | Angelic Pretty Rose Lace Pattern OTKs | offbrand boots | Cutie Creator headbow | My Inspiration necklace | handmade ring | offbrand flower clips |

I bothered with makeup? And false eyelashes? On a working day?! Well, without it the outfit just wouldn't look right. It was that or figuring out something to change into and I'd spend enough energy already just putting all that on.

Loving the drama these roses add.

 

This is a great example how sometimes you really need the right finishing touches to make the outfit work. I had the clothes on and really didn’t like what I saw in the mirror. However, I decided to persevere, did some makeup, messed around with my hair until I landed on a style I liked and fiddled with accessories, by which point everything came together. Considering the how many layers this outfit is, you can really tell that the heatwave has passed. Clipping the roses onto my dress was a fun touch and one day I’d love to do the same to achieve a more OTT effect.

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Coord 14: Faking a Skirt

| Haenuli Lovely Memories JSK | offbrand blouse | Angelic Pretty Twinkle Glitter Knit cardigan | Resailan Jewelry Box tights | Sosic Shop heels | Celestial Castle clip |

I kind of wish I'd taken a picture of the back of my head, just for my own information, because I have literally no idea how this clip over a simple bun actually looked.

You ever buy something thinking it will be super versatile and you'll use it a lot, then actually sstruggle to incorporate it? That's me with this clip. Which is such a shame because it is just gorgeous!

The zip still needs replacing and the idea that I’d have to wait until Mana-knows-when to get that done really got me down. That is until I realised that I could wear this dress as a skirt. With a cardigan over it, there’d be no way to tell. And thankfully it cooled down enough for this to be comfortable. I love how this dress is elegant enough that even with such minimal styling it still looks like more than just a casual coordinate, this looks good enough to go out in. Not that I would, just saying.

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Coord 15: Cooler Monday

| Dear Celine Magic Book OP | Angelic Pretty Twinkle Glitter Knit cardigan | AatP Arabesque OTKs | offbrand shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | Violet Fane The Apotheque brooch |

Really pleased with how the OP's collar works with this cardigan, they blend so effortlessly.

A book brooch seems in order. Not that I need more encouragement to get any more brooches...

August has given us almost every weather imaginable. I didn’t think that it’d cool down enough to wear this OP, which is pretty warm, let alone with a cardigan over it, yet here we are. My initial idea was a lot more green, but the green socks I had in mind were much too bright against the muted tones of this print, so I kept the greens in the background. Gosh, this OP is so easy to wear, I need to stop fretting over trying to make every coordinate different just for the sake of it and enjoy having a piece that looks great on its own just like this.

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Coord 16: Vintage Ouji

| Metamorphose Wizarding Lesson trousers | The House of Foxy Land Girl blouse | offbrand shoes, socks and beret |

Peak laziness here.

For a while I wasn't sure what my detail shot should be. And then I remembered that tiny things can also be worthy of attention, so have a button closeup. It's amazing how crucial a design choice buttons can be when the garment is kept very simple.

Not sure what else to call it - it’s not quite ouji and not quite vintage, just a casual version of both. This shirt is cut to a 1940s pattern and is finished in a very feminine way (the slight gather at the shoulder, the cropped length, much smaller breast pockets). However, despite being a masculine version of lolita, ouji fashion isn’t necessarily always traditionally masculine and it’s usually worn by women, so I think that allows this combo to work. Frankly, I was just curious as to how the shirt and the shorts would go together. Had I been going out, I probably would’ve either fiddled around with this outfit some more or wanted slightly different finishing touches, like maybe a flat cap instead of a beret and some oxford shoes. But since it was just another work from home day, it really doesn’t matter, it did the job of keeping me clothed and fancier than I otherwise would’ve been.

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August broke the record: the most coords worn in a month so far. Whilst I didn’t go for it as deliberately as I did when trying to wear everything once before the year’s halfway mark, stretching myself to wear lolita for seven days straight helped a lot in this. As things stand right now, I’m only three pieces away from having worn everything I own twice this year already. And there are still three days before this month is actually over, so it might still happen and you’ll just have to catch those last few outfits in September’s coord roundup post.

How are we feeling so far? My mood fluctuates a lot right now, but for the time being I’m on some uneventful middle ground, leaning more positive during my time off and more stressed when I’m working, but no going overboard in either direction. I am absolutely dying to have an occasion to wear something fancier than a casual coordinate, even just a 'regular' outfit that I’d consider acceptable to a physical meetup, just something. I know that I can just put one on, but the motivation to put that effort in really isn’t there if all I’m doing is staying at home on my own. Alas, it certainly seems like it will be a while still to come before we’re ok to have a meetup, so I might have no choice but to dress up for no reason if I am to satisfy that inner need. Even though it feels like a waste...

By the way, some of you may know: I started a Patreon! The lowest tier includes early access to blog posts and behind the scenes updates, and if you want to know more, the Patreon button is under my bio (right hand side if you’re reading my blog on a desktop, scroll down if you’re on a mobile device). It would mean the world if you are able to join and support me.