November Coords Roundup

Does anyone else feel like November just flew by? Well actually, it’s not just November. Now that the end of 2020 is physically in sight, I feel like the entire year flew by - and dragged at the same time. It’s all that lack of differentiation between days. The only way I know that the days were different is thanks to dressing up (and my weekly meal planner).

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Coord 1: Back at the Office

| Innocent World White Double Braid Tartan skirt | Axes Femme cutsew and brooch | Innocent World Fleurs Checkered OTKs | Cutie Creator headbow | offbrand shoes and necklace |

Urgh, I forgot how hard it is to get a good selfie with indoor lighting only.

When I bought these socks, I thought I'd get a lot more wear out of them than I ended up getting. So when I do get a chance, I really go for it because I still like them a lot.

Not permanently back, just for one week. My work decided that since reception was opened, we should have one person from the office join the receptionist, for when she goes on lunch or gets particularly busy. Thankfully the rota assigned me a generally quiet time, so whilst it was a chore to be back at waking up early after seven and a half months of working from home, at least I wasn’t there when it was really busy. I decided to use that week to test my commitment to dressing up for work like I have at home. And whilst for practical reasons my coords had to be toned down significantly (and the photos aren’t as nice because it’s November, there’s no natural light by the time I’m back home), there are definitely things that I’ve discovered that I could incorporate in a post-pandemic working life. This particular coord was deliberately simpler, since it was a Monday and extra energy conservation was required. I liked the brown and black combination, that’s very toned down and won’t scare the few normies still around. Overall, it’s not a major outfit, but definitely one that would get reworn to work again given how comfortable and low-key it was.

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Coord 2: Library is Open

| Song and Temple Fairytale Library skirt | Yilia Lolita blouse | Putomayo socks | offbrand shoes | Haruhi Clover headbow | Patisserie Pink Bookshelf brooch |

Pro tip: lip tints don't rub off your masks like lipsticks do.

Have you seen two pieces more perfect for each other? (Well, probably...)

I couldn’t wait to wear this brooch and what better to pair it with than this skirt? The two actually go SO WELL together, they may as well have been made for each other. The outfit itself was simple, in a good way. Each element added something of value, it was perfectly preppy and office-appropriate without losing any of the lolita part. In an ideal world I probably would’ve gone with different shoes, but I’m not mad at those ones. And considering that this blouse, despite its polyester non-breathability, was actually alright to wear for my commute, this also stands a chance of being re-worn in a post-Covid world.

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Coord 3: Red and Pink

| Metamorphose Classical Sister OP | Axes Femme cardigan | Red Maria tights | handmade headbow | offbrand shoes and earrings |

This headbow has seen so much wear since I made it, I'm impressed.

They're not exactly the same, but near enough to count as a match.

In trying to make this OP a little more office-friendly (even though it’s already very office-friendly), I mainly considered adding further layers on the top. This led me to trying it with pink, because red and pink would surely work, whilst offering something different. It was a little bit of a gamble, since I just went with it and didn’t try the two pieces on until I actually got to the office, but thankfully it worked out really well. It’s a really simple coordinate, yet no less effective - everything is understated by design without losing on detail. I actually had other pieces that I ended up taking off because they were just clutter.

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Coord 4: Vintage Chill

| Angelic Pretty Cinema Doll JSK | Millefleurs Georgette blouse | Red Maria tights | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | vintage hat and brooch | offbrand rings and choker | Gravelvet Iridescent Princess necklace | handmade sash as belt |

I was REALLY feeling this look, I have some silly amount of selfies of it and couldn't dedice on one.

Wearing a sash as a belt was interesting, I might try this again.

Vintage hat, vintage brooch and vintage style curls. Yes, yes and yes.

There’s no way around this - I love this look! Mainly because the Hair Gods have been extremely kind to me. I tried a different, more intentional curling pattern and it really did what it was supposed to, even with my limited styling skills post-taking the rollers out. It worked so well with the hat too, it just turned out exactly how I wanted it to and I was definitely feeling myself that day. It was the Sunday at the beginning of my 9 days off work, which I planned to spend intensively creating content, cooking/baking and catching up on films, all three of which were performed that day. I felt really accomplished by the end of it and putting together a coord that I was 100% pleased with was the perfect start to a hopefully productive week!

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Coord 5: Filming Day 2

| Mary Magdalene Paulina JSK | Chess Story The Secret Key of the Elves blouse | Violet Fane Antiquite tights | Vivienne Westwood x Melissa Anglomania heels | Imperial Fiddlesticks headbow | offbrand flower clip and jewellery |

I want to say that irl these leftover curls didn't look so frizzy. But the reality is that the difference wasn't quite so big.

Love me some unassuming rings. Despite also loving stupidly big ones. We do extremes in this house.

Carrying on with the theme of “churn out content during my week off”, I tried my best to preserve as many of the previous day’s curls and got dressed up again. Whilst normally I would’ve gone with a lighter blouse with this dress, I really wanted to use this one, which was doable once I approached the rest of the coordinate as if this were an OP. This allowed me to adjust how I achieved colour balance and made for a coordinate that I am overall pleased with. I don’t love it as much as I loved the previous day’s one, but I like it a lot. I also decided to go with the Vivienne Westwood heels instead of the navy blue ones I’d normally go for to change things up a little. After all, they both photograph as just dark, and the strappy design was really calling to me that day.

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Coord 6: Second One of the Day

| Angelic Pretty Diner Doll JSK and headbow | Primark blouse | Angelic Pretty Drained Cherry OTKs | Bodyline shoes | offbrand earrings and necklace | handmade bracelets | Chocoming and Once Upon a Cookie Treat rings |

I love the aesthetic of cherries so much, don't even know why.

Also shoutout to that Primark blouse being such a trooper, it realy does the job when you need simplicity and comfort.

The first coord of that day was for the next Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates post, so you’ll have to wait before that gets unveiled. After a quick recovery break after that I changed into this coord, which I filmed more stuff in. The red may seem somewhat shoehorned when looking at the coordinate only - until you realise that I created the coord around an apron I remembered that I owned and worn for most of the video. It makes a lot more sense there, though I’m not mad at it like this either.

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Coord 7: Retro Red and Pink

| Bodyline L262 JSK | Lazy Oaf top | offbrand tights and shoes | handmade headbow | Big Pink Boutique earrings | vintage necklace | Twinkle Kitty Boutique and Star Glazed Delights ring |

It's incredible how a retro makeup can pull a simple ponytail to look retro too.

These earrings revived my love for earrings in general.

Do you ever have a point to make and feel that unless you exemplify that point as best as you can, you won’t be taken fully seriously? This is what happened with this outfit. My energy levels were not quite up there for a more elaborate retro look, but I needed to make a point about retro lolita - so I looked around for the most casual version of it that I could quickly pull together and landed on this. And I do like it. It’s a shame that the layered tights don’t read as such. I had pink ones, exactly the same colour as the cutsew, under the sheer-ish black ones, but the black ones just made it all too dark, certainly not helped by how light works in my photo corner where everything skirt down reads as darker than it is. But even with that in mind I’m happy with the overall outcome. Happy enough to potentially return to this idea in the future and improve on it.

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Coord 8: Casual Craft Meet

| Lady Sloth Look at My Dreamy Sky Casual OP | Innocent World Ribbon Lace Millefeuille bolero | offbrand tights | Angelic Pretty Twinkle Star socks | Sosic Shop heels | offbrand beret | handmade choker |

Funny how this beret (an awkward shade of blue) is the best match I have for this dress (another awkward shade of blue). Why do blues be like that?

The ribbon cloud might be my favourite one in this print.

Rachel, who hosted the last crafty meet, stepped up to the plate and delivered us another one. And once more I brought my own project to work on while everyone else did their thing. After an almost full week of filming (with two breaks for other activities), I was ready for a more casual outfit, which led me to this coord. An OP, bolero, tights and beret is such a lazy combination, which works precisely for days like this. I was comfortable and ready within minutes, exactly what I had hoped to achieve. The meetup was super small, only four people myself included, which probably reflects everyone’s post-Halloween tiredness and/or November’s low energy. So whilst others made felt brooches, I focused on embroidering felt. The final pieces may turn into hair clips or shoe clips, I will certainly look into ways of making them be both because versatility. And later, after I’ve eaten I finally put up my Christmas tree. Truth be told, I didn’t really have the energy for it, but I knew that having something festive would cheer me up, so I ignored my tiredness and did it anyway. Thank you, past Paulina, for sometimes doing the right thing and not the lazy thing.

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Coord 9: Impromptu Unboxing

| BtSSB Secret AIR MAIL from Sweet Kitty JSK | vintage blouse | Haenuli Secret Garden tights | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | offbrand beret with JSK’s detachable bow | Patisserie Pink Bookshelf brooch |

Being back to working from home means at least being able to combine indoor lights with natural light for selfies.

Hello, are you now officially my new favourite brooch?

Although I did have this outfit on the back burner for sometime this month, I got to wear it sooner as my L’Esprit de la Noblesse order arrived. One day wait was already long enough to open it, as I really wanted to have an unboxing video for it, as well as a review, both of which will come later. It was odd, doing an unboxing after my working hours, however, I’ve filmed some stuff before using non-natural light without it being disastrous. Maybe this will encourage me to film more in the evenings instead of waiting for spare mornings and hope that the weather will hold enough to provide sufficient natural light. The coord itself was comfortable and cosy. It’s still similar to what I’ve done before in terms of the tricolour scheme, but with slightly different elements and combinations, making for a look that’s overall different enough to feel new to me.

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Coord 10: Cosy Goth (?)

| Haenuli Just One Bite JSK | offbrand cutsew, shoes and brooch | Axes Femme bolero | Angelic Pretty Crown Ribbon OTKs | Metamorphose Grande Couronne necklace |

I tried to recreate the wrap ribbon hairstyle, but for my own hair I'd need a narrower (and preferably textured) ribbon. So I braided it in instead, but you can see it better on the full-body shot.

These big crown necklaces from Meta are so good, I may be tempted to get more in the future.

Well, not really. Cosy goth was the initial idea that I had, something I wanted for a working Friday, but the execution ended up more classic simply because of the pieces that I have available to use. Though I’m not mad, it’s just a label, the outfit still did its job of being cosy and comfortable. So comfortable that I even ended up baking a cake in it after work (no All Frills Baking of that one though since it was your standard “mix everything together and bake” kind of thing).

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Coord 11: Blue for the Board

| Resailan Jewelry Box JSK | Infanta Moon Elegy blouse | Innocent World Ribbon Lace Millefeuille bolero | Angelic Pretty Harlequinade OTKs | Deary heels | offbrand beret | Celestial Castle hair clip | Gravelvet Iridescent Princess necklace | Twinkle Kitty Boutique ring |

Was a dangly hairlip above my ear a smart choice to go with a headset? No. Did I take it off after the photo? Also no.

This crystal heart is one of my favourite details in this print.

Honestly, I almost forgot about my resolve to frill up for all the Board meetings. Fortunately, I remembered in time (the night before) and I was in a mood to dress up anyway. Though I really need to rethink where my Christmas tree is, although it’s pretty there, it’s affecting my photo spot in ways I’m not quite so keen on. The coord was nice though, I’m surprised I haven’t yet actually worn this dress with sax blue given how much of it is on the print.

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Coord 12: Not-Steampunk

| Angelic Pretty Fantasy Theater Gilet JSK | Axes Femme blouse | Angelic Pretty Twinkle Carnival OTKs | Hush Puppies boots | Imperial Fiddlesticks headbow | Milkribbon Misako brooch | Wonderbox Designs brooch | Innocent World Chiffon wrist cuffs |

The more brassy gold of this JSK's buttons is what made it work with brown.

Most embarrassing behaviour was me not doing much work that day. So, appropriate, I guess.

We all know that this isn’t really steampunk - but if I ever get a chance to take this coord more in that direction, I would like to. I was originally going to try to wear this dress with mint, but I wasn’t liking the outcome. Then in a flash idea I tried brown and it stuck quite well. Not much more to say about this one, really. The most notable thing that happened was that I impulse purchased a ticket to the Angelic Pretty Paris virtual tea party and now I’m having a mini-meltdown as to what to wear. I don’t even know how much energy I’ll have for that tea party, I’ve packed my December full, as usual, but it’s too late now. It’ll be my Christmas present from myself to myself.

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Part of me tried to preserve dressing up energy this month, so that I’d have loads of it for December when I plan on doing my own coord challenge. The other part was dead set on making sure that I wear each main piece three times this year, and having pre-allocated some of them to December, I pushed myself to wear the remaining ones this month. For no other reason besides getting obsessively stuck on this completely meaningless target I decided to tick off the imaginary list.

However, thanks to my one week off, the month overall was so much more tolerable. Being able to spend a whole week doing nothing but creating content, making things that made me excited and that I felt productive and accomplished doing has been extremely emotionally refreshing. If even a sliver of that energy carries over into December amidst all that festive cheer I plan on cultivating, then I’ll be very happy indeed.

I hope that Black Friday sales haven’t drained you of those crucial funds - or that at least you got things you really wanted and are excited for. I did what I could avoiding Black Friday sales out of self-preservation because brands have already been tearing me apart with their releases. I really need to find a better paid job if I want to indulge in this hobby with less of a heartbreak, as BtSSB practically won Christmas before it even started and Meta has been knocking it out of the park consistently for the last 2 years. So it looks like it’s either a career change or starting Only Fans - or both? Only time will tell...

#Frillmas2020 Prompt Challenge

I said that I’d do something for December, I was encouraged to do something for December, so here I am - bringing you a prompt challenge for December. There is a lot of irony in my calling it #Frillmas2020 when I already know perfectly well that not all of my own outfits will be lolita. Truth is, I couldn’t think of a more style-inclusive, yet still catchy tag.

Feel free to interpret these prompts however you see fit. And if you’re a bah-humbug, can’t stand Christmas, I think it’d still be doable for you to take part and do it in a completely unseasonal way. I believe in you all and your creativity.

Whether I believe in my own energy, that is another matter. But if I managed to dress Christmassy (if not always in frills) for every day until Christmas last year, whilst working in an actual office, then surely - surely! - with enough planning I will be able to commit to this too? This seems like prime time to invest in some cute festive pyjamas so that I don’t have to sacrifice on my lazy comfort days…

I’m going to stop here, before I commit to any more promises that I don’t yet know if I’ll be able to keep! This is my offering to you all this December. If you decide to take part, please, tag me, as well as use the hashtag #Frillmas2020. I would absolutely LOVE to see what you have come up with, whether you stick with the entire challenge or only do the odd one.

And hopefully by sharing this post now I have given you all enough of a head-start to plan and get at least the first few ones in before the pre-Christmas frenzy gets to us all. The fact that it’s exactly a month before Christmas Eve is a happy, though pure coincidence.

Happy #Frillmas2020, everyone!

Advanced Coordinating: #1 Hair & Makeup

Look up advice for putting together lolita coordinates and you’ll find plenty. For beginners. This is, of course, understandable: those new to something are the ones actually needing guidance and by the time they are quite advanced themselves, they don’t need further advice.

Still, from my own experience I remember there being a noticeable step between “this is a solid albeit simple coordinate, obviously from a newbie” and “this is intricate and detailed, reads as a long-time lolita’s work”. And it takes conscious effort to go from one to the other. There was a lot of conscious deconstructing of the outfits lolitas I admired were putting together to figure out what made them look that much more special and how I could apply that to what I was doing. Just scroll back to the coords from 2016 (especially the first half) and compare them to now, you’ll see what I mean.

Any attempts at containing my thoughts into one post would end up in a giant monster that no-one would read, so instead I will split this into a short series. These posts are aimed at those intermediate lolitas: the ones who already know the rules and have a solid grasp of what they’re doing, but are trying to pinpoint the things that will make their coords look even nicer and more polished. I will aim to show this based on my own coords because I’m not in the habit of saving other people’s outfits for future reference or admiration, plus this would involve a lot of asking permission of various people. Moreover, everyone’s taste is different. So while I lay out some of the things that helped me take my outfits to the next level, I encourage you to apply that lens to the coords that you really like and admire, to see whether those are the reasons why you like that particular outfit so much and then figure out how you can transfer that onto yourself.

The first instalment of this will talk about hair and makeup. Now, this isn’t to say that everyone has to have elaborately styled hair/wigs and tonnes of skillfully applied makeup. Not every lolita style requires that (e.g. oldschool) and people have legitimate reasons for not being able to do so (scalp sensitivities, allergies to products, mobility and physical restrictions etc.). However, how you style your entire head, face included, is as much part of a coordinate as the headbow or socks you pick for the dress. The key aspects here I’d say are maintaining balance and staying within your theme.

Balance is probably the easier one to wrap your head around. If your skirt is very big and you’re wearing tonnes of accessories, having a bare face and flat hair will seem out of place, and could even make your head appear small in comparison. Similarly, a gigantic twin tail wig with accessories piled onto it and false lashes big enough to cast a shadow down to your chin will be excessive when the clothes themselves are simple, overpowering and overshadowing the outfit. Consider how elaborate and physically voluminous your coordinate is, then aim to match that with your hair and makeup. This may require extra time/practice/trial and error if you’re aiming for the more OTT looks, but the end result will be worth it. Compare these two Diner Doll outfits. The left one is very simple: the headbow is small, the poof minimal and there are only three pieces of accessories (two bracelets and a ring). For such a casual look a bare face and brushed hair was enough. Of course, had I done something special, it could’ve elevated the outfit, but my head doesn’t look disconnected from my body. This is in contrast to the right outfit, which is more elaborate, relying both on more accessories, patterns and detail to create a look. As this outfit was also going for a specific theme (larme-kei), without the right hairstyle and makeup not only would the theme seem incomplete, but the whole outfit would look out of place. If you can, try to imagine the right-hand side outfit with the left-hand side head. It just doesn’t work, does it?

Whilst the left coord would work with the right one's hair and makeup, this doesn't go the other way.
July 2020 vs May 2020.

And now that I’ve mentioned theme: keeping your hair and makeup styling within your theme of choice completes the look. Theme here doesn’t refer strictly to themed outfits, like the ones we associate with big events and meetups that have a theme set. Instead it refers to the overall look that you may be trying to achieve and the purpose of the outfit. Are you trying to exude a certain energy with the outfit where specific hair and makeup styles would add that extra layer (like a retro 1950s feel)? Is this coord something you’re wearing for a particular activity (such as walking)? Do you need to remain practical or within certain limitations (dress code, weather, whatever)? The occasion will determine your outfit, which in turn affects your choice of hair and makeup. Let’s compare these two looks with Meta’s Gold Braid Tuck Pinafore JSK. The left one is very clearly themed. Even if you don’t immediately catch the character reference, between the princess sleeves, the gold jewellery and the crown it is obvious that this is an outfit that I have carefully considered and not something I wore for a trip to Aldi. (No shame to those who wear more OTT coordinates for mundane activities, this is simply not very common in this fashion.) The blonde wig, which is visibly deliberately styled, adds to the overall impression of royalty and, if you do catch the character reference, points to the source. Again, with such styling a bare face would seem out of place, so the makeup adds dimension, as well as colour. Compare this with the right outfit, a much simpler one with a completely different tone to it. Where on the left the aim is to appear regal, the right coord goes almost for the opposite, more peasant vibes. Accessories are still present, but there are fewer of them, very suitable for the occasion that was working from home. Add to this that the day was very warm and the milkmaid braids make a lot of sense as a practical choice, as well as in the context of this more medieval townsfolk-inspired outfit. That is not a social class we associate with elaborate hairstyles or visible makeup, but with practical looks for a day filled with work and a natural fresh-looking face, possibly flushed from said work. Because of this, nothing more than the lipstick and blush was necessary. Instead of aiming for perfection in the left outfit, the right one’s theme was comfort, both in the weather and for the activity at hand.

Regardless of whether there was a theme actually set, the clothes themselves create one. And again, the simpler coord might work with the more elaborate head, but not the other way round.
April 2020 vs August 2020.

Such is the power of hair and makeup. These two elements alone can drastically alter how an outfit reads, which is something people dressing in vintage and historical fashions will know particularly well. If any of you follow Rachel Maksy, then you’ll know that she wears plenty of mainstream modern clothing, faking it to be vintage through styling, and hair and makeup is a big part of that styling. Applying the same energy to lolita will have the same result: with the right choice of hair and makeup you can transform the same coordinate into completely different looks. This doesn’t have to involve anything elaborate either! Start by comparing hair down with hair braided or natural hair vs a wig, if you have one. With makeup, try bare face and then minimal makeup, then as OTT as you can accomplish with your skills.

I also encourage you to experiment with creating themes through your hair and makeup. This can be particularly fun if you do have only one or two complete coordinates at the moment, as it would allow you to fake having more outfits than you actually do. What you can try will depend on what your hair is like, what your makeup skills are like, and what your go-to lolita style is. So let’s assume that we’re talking about a sweet lolita with average makeup skills and shoulder length straight hair. A tiny bit of shimmery eyeshadow and gloss with either two braids or loose hair gives you a very typical sweet lolita look. Now pile on some igari blush and a darker pink lipstick and change your hair to bubble braids - boom, you’ve got yourself some simple larme-inspired lolita. Tease the crown of your hair to create a bump and pair it with big eyelashes for a more hime look. Then try pincurling your hair or doing victory rolls to match a winged eyeliner for a retro style. Lastly, you could try pinning your two braids into a crown and doing a natural makeup for a more toned down, classic-leaning version. All whilst using the exact same outfit, with maybe some small differences if you wish to swap things like hair accessories or jewellery.

The OP, the hat and even the lighting is the same in every photo. The only things changing are hair and makeup (I deliberately omitted glasses too) to show just how much they can change up a look.

As lockdown continues and my emotional energy/motivation levels continue to be on the lower end of the scale, I became very aware myself how much hair and makeup changes things for me, to what extent they affect how much I like an outfit or not. Not just on myself, but also on others. For example, for all the admiration that I have for @fannyrosie and her genuine skills and style, I realised that her looks appeal to me so much because on the photos she shares she always makes the effort to match her hair and do her makeup to the outfit. This isn’t the entire secret to her style, of course, but take those two elements away and the overall styling loses something very important, don’t you think? And in cases where the outfit is on paper very simple, say, jeans and T-shirt or skirt and blouse, her hair and makeup do add to the charm and create a story to the look, be that a more kitchy vintage, something more elegant or something quintessentially lolita.

You may wonder why I’ve talked about makeup and hair first, and the reason for that is very simple: those are the things that involve no additional costs. Sure, they might if you ran out of hairpins or don’t own any makeup, but generally speaking playing with your hair and makeup is free, utilising what you already own. This makes it perfect for building that stepping stone to levelling up your coordinates because the only things that you will need are time and patience to practice. The more you do something, the easier it becomes. And even at the best of times, postage for lolita items from Japan or China takes enough time to allow you to visibly improve your braiding skills or steady your eyeliner hand before the clothes arrive if you practice daily.

Hopefully this post has been helpful and you were able to see the difference that hair and makeup can make for a coordinate. So armed with that knowledge and understanding, go figure out what sort of lolita look you are aiming for, look up some people who do it in a way that you like and aspire to, then use that to work out what you should do. And don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t look the same - after all, your face is yours, not theirs, and not every first attempt will be successful straight away. I believe in you and know that you will figure it out.

Lolita Advent Calendar

Before you get super excited: no, no-one has come up with an actual advent calendar for lolitas, as far as I’m aware. Though, of course, with a little bit of thought and effort, you could make one for a friend, the ‘make your own’ advent calendar trend still seems to be going quite strong.

Instead, this quick post is for all of you out there looking for ideas to spread festive cheer to your local communities. This is something that I will be doing for my comm and thought that the idea is good enough to share. Because let’s face it, for the majority of us Christmas meetups are still not an option beyond Zoom, which is enough to bring even the most cheerful person down.

To keep my comm sufficiently festive and to make up for the lack of fancy meetups, I decided to run an advent calendar-style quiz. Every day until Christmas itself I will post a question in our group. They will all be somehow Christmas-related, some will also be about lolita fashion or our community, but I’m also including some general knowledge questions, some with visual clues to guess the song etc. The first person to answer correctly will receive 20 points, the second one 10 points, and the third one - 5 points. So because the points are awarded primarily on speed (as well as being right), the questions themselves will be on the simpler side. Together with the range of topics, this should give everyone at least a chance at guessing.

If you have the energy and your comm is large, by all means think of ways to make this into a team challenge. Goths vs Sweets?

This in itself is enough to make for a fun game. I remember last year my office had an advent calendar filled with cheesy Christmas riddles, and even though they were very cheesy, everyone was excited for riddle time each day. It provided a short break from work, got everyone together for those few minutes, and kept the festive spirit going. So if creating and scheduling an advent calendar-style quiz is the only work you can commit to, I’m sure your comm will appreciate it. And if your comm uses Facebook as its main platform, this should be easy to set up in advance with scheduled posts, making the workload a little bit lesser for you.

However, I have decided to take this one step further. Partly because I feel like a quiz like this could easily end up favouring people who are good at quizzes and/or free at the right time to be quick enough to answer first - and partly because I just wanted to get everyone more involved. To supplement that, on each weekend there will be challenges in addition to the quiz questions. Everyone who completes the challenge will receive 10 points, giving people a chance to catch up and make a difference in the overall leaderboard. These will also range, though remaining within things that are doable. An obvious one is to attend the Winter ILD online meetup, which I also plan on hosting, but other challenges involve making themed coords or taking a selfie with a specified object. For some of the challenges, where there is room for taking it to the next level, there are also 5 bonus points to be awarded, to encourage creativity and effort.

Taking certain kinds of selfies is the easiest challenge to come up with, but don't stop there. You can get your comm to write themed haiku poems, draw things, donate money to charities - the sky is your limit.

I considered what could be the prize, but as times are rather tough for everyone, and Christmas season can be a drain on people’s wallets even on a good year, I decided not to give any actual prize that people might unironically want. But since it’d be hugely unfair to not let the efforts go unrecognised, since the maximum possible is 550 points, I felt I had to create something. So in the spirit of “what would we do in primary school”, the prize that I created is a tacky diploma made in Microsoft Word - the kind that when people were first learning Word, every school would make. Think all the cringe: Comic Sans font, themed colourful border, ClipArt images, Word Art, all that early-to-mid-2000s goodness that screams “graphic design is my passion”. It’s essentially a prize so uncool that it becomes desirable because of it. Worthless, yet still there to encourage participation. Leeds comm also has some history of wanting useless, ugly tat, at several raffles in the past we’ve had some charity shop gem be a prize and people wishing that they would win it just because it was so ridiculous, so a cringey Microsoft Word diploma is exactly the sort of prize that people would enjoy.

Of course, some comms have people willing to donate things. Or creative people able to make something. Or the mods know that the next ticketed event will be possible to host, so they could offer a small discount on the ticket. But I’m sharing what my intended prize is precisely so that those of you reading this who really can’t offer anything of value don’t feel the pressure to. You don’t have to have a prize at all, if you decide to do it. Lolitas are starved of interaction and fun things to distract them from the pandemic dread, so knowing that there is something to look forward to every day will likely be encouragement enough. But if you really want to offer something - think about the most uncool thing possible that you could offer, put a Christmas spin on it and go with that. For the lulz.

Sadly, Word 2010 doesn't have those ultra cringy Word Art styles. Remember the wavy rainbow one? But at least the tacky frames are still there.

We're only just halfway through November, so if this idea appealed to you, hopefully you still have enough time to make something to share with your comm. And if you do, by all means let me know how it went! I’ve never done anything like this, so as of now I’m not yet sure how my comm will react. But I have every faith that they will get in the spirit of things and good fun will be had. Which is all that I want from this.

1 Dress 4 Looks Take 42

There aren’t that many outliers in my wardrobe, but this is certainly one of them. Angelic Pretty once more proved that they have no idea what colours are, labelling this obviously pink-toned dusty lavender as grey. Still, the tiers, the floral pattern, the sheer opulence and, most importantly, the price at the time made it hard for me to resist buying it. So far I think I’ve done well with wearing this dress in quite different ways, despite the obvious challenges. Fingers crossed I can keep this up.

Look 1: Lavenders Never Match

| Babysong Lolita blouse | Angelic Pretty Salon de The Rose OTKs | Irregular Choice Earl Grey shoes | vintage hat | Big Pink Boutique earrings | offbrand choker | handmade choker and bracelets | offbrand brooch | Peppermint Fox brooch |

Considering how I bought this blouse specifically in the hope of matching it with this dress, it’s only fair that I at least attempt to make it work. And I’m not mad at the attempt. If worn, this could end up being an off-shoulder scenario, I’m not sure yet. At least by (almost) all lavenders having pink undertones and throwing lots of pinks into the mix, the coord is cohesive enough.

Look 2: Spring Flower

| Fi.n.t. cardigan | AatP Lace-up Ribbon OTKs | offbrand shoes | Angelic Pretty Classical Petit Rose headbow | Claire’s flower clip | Enchantlic Enchantilly necklace | Peppermint Fox brooch | handmade ring |

An attempt was made to try and tone this dress down at least a touch. This level of ruffles will never be completely toned down, but it’s not as much in your face anymore. I would happily wear a coord like this for a stroll around some fancy mansion’s garden on a solo weekend outing, which is one of my levels of casual. Not much that I can say here, other than that it will be in my coord bank waiting for such an occasion to come up.

Look 3: Snowy Princess

| Lady Sloth Snowflake Lace blouse | Baroque Repose of Queen tights | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | vintage hat and brooch | offbrand choker and ring |

Whilst my plan was to do an all-white look, I forgot that all the trims on this dress are more ivory than pure white. Because of that this ended up as more of a work in progress - I should either replace the hat (with the one from above or maybe with a gold and pearl crown) or swap the blouse for an ivory one. For now this look is just a little bit confused and while I still like the idea behind it, I would tweak it before wearing.

Look 4: Extra OT-Tea Party

| Lady Sloth Glitter Mesh blouse | overskirt from Baroque’s Repose of Queen dress | Peacockalorum underskirt and feather brooch | Irregular Choice Total Freedom shoes | Jeshii Doll bonnet | Violet Fane necklace | Gravelvet necklace | handmade ring | offbrand flower clips, earrings, remaining rings and brooches |

In an ode to this being my dress for the first OT-Tea Party I organised (and given that there won’t be one for the foreseeable future), I had a go at making an even more OTT coord with this. And I think this one is great. I’m still very mad at myself that halfway through cleaning up after taking photos I realised that I completely forgot about any kind of legwear, but I’d go with some pinks in there, either the Baroque Secret Garden tights or the AP Romantic Angel socks. Though ideally I’d like some of those partly see-through socks like BtSSB do, even better still, in the form of tights as those socks don’t stretch very well in my experience and barely reach my knee. Maybe I can find something like this offbrand…


With one exception this post also ended up showcasing my entire Irregular Choice shoe collection. But the truth is, everyone is aware of how tricky lavender is to match and I feel like this shade may be particularly so because it so desperately wants to pass as grey. I did put this with my grey blouse and socks, and they were much too cool-toned to work, making the coord look off. So for now I will have to stick to coordinating this dress with other complimenting colours and forego matching altogether.

Also, I filmed a behind the scenes video of photographing those coords, which will be up as a Patreon exclusive. So if you fancy catching that to get a bit of an extra insight into these coords and my coording process, you will find it there.