May Coords Roundup

Somehow May ended up feeling really busy. It seems like a lot has happened, which is odd because when was the last time that I could say that a lot has happened in a month? At the same time, it’s been quite a dreary May, with a lot of heavy rains and grey skies, which resulted in it feeling slower and longer than one would expect May to be. Apparently we are to have some warmth and sunshine this weekend, so let’s hope that’ll be here to stay.

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Coord 1: A Small Adventure

| Haenuli’s Lovely Memories JSK | offbrand top and shoes | Innocent World Rose Lace Millefeuille bolero | Violet Fane Antiquite tights | Innocent World Organdy Bow Rose clip | Latte Galaxy Librarian Lady brooch |

Such a shame that you can't see the bow clip at the back. Although truth be told, my hair do wasn't the neatest one.

So have a closeup of this brooch instead. For bag closeups you can head over to the What's In My Lolita Bag post.

I actually wore it on the very last day of April, simply didn’t feel like postponing a post that was already scheduled to later. It’s easier to tag this along with this month’s post. My plan for the day, for once, involved an actual mini-adventure outside: venturing to a neighbouring borough to browse charity shops, then back into city centre for a dinner out. I know, proper spoiling myself there, but I promise you I was responsible all that time and took a test the day after to make sure (I had already taken one at the beginning of the week for work purposes, so needed to anyway). Since the day involved a lot of walking, I needed to base my coord around practical shoes. I also wanted to use this opportunity for Bibliotheca’s monthly theme of What’s In My Lolita Bag, since for once I actually needed one, so the coord happened very much around those two things. And I’m pleased with how it came out, it got lots of compliments for the various elements, and overall I had a very lovely day. Didn’t buy anything in the charity shops, though I did end up supporting a couple of independent businesses out there and I had an order of all sorts of second hand goodies from Japan arrive earlier that day, so the world remained in balance.

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Coord 2: Mixed Patterns

| Heart E Tartan JSK | Snag White Russian fishnets | BtSSB Border OTKs | Metamorphose Grand Couronne necklace | offbrand hat, jacket and boots |

Another curling method tested that is now forgotten. Though I do remember not liking the results that much, so it's not much of a loss.

I think these were the first pair of brand socks that I ever got? I overestimated how much I'd use red and white striped socks, but I'm glad that I've held onto them.

I hesitate to call this a punk lolita look, it feels just a touch too polished to be really punk in my eyes. But it was certainly inspired by that vibe, as well as the earlier days of lolita fashion. I wore this because this coord was simply in my head and needed to be let out into reality - and it was super comfortable, which was great for a Sunday mostly spent chiling. Although the jacket was only on for the photo, I didn’t spend a whole day indoors in a leather jacket.

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Coord 3: Anniversary Filming

| Mary Magdalene Paulina JSK | L’Esprit de la Noblesse Le Nuage blouse | AatP Arabesque OTKs | Deary heels | Cutie Creator Maiden’s Prayer headbow | offbrand earrings | Innocent World Moon and Star Pearl necklace | Puvithel Crystal Heart brooch |

This year is certainly shaping to be the one where I practice my open mouth smiles and grow used to how they look. It's nice to have variety.

I love this shade of blue on the brooch, even if it makes the navy of the dress appear even darker.

Using up the Bank Holiday Monday to film a video for my 10th anniversary of being into lolita and buying my first lolita dress. The video is up now and I wrote about the anniversary here, so go check that stuff out, we’re here to talk about this coord, which I absolutely love. There’s some poetic beauty in filming a video about my first ever lolita dress whilst wearing my ultimate dream dress - but the coord itself was put together purely because this was at the top of my ‘wear next, it’s been a while’ spreadsheet. And because I wanted to wear this blouse with it. I like how pinning the brooch diagonally has ended up, it created a really pleasing line going through the outfit. However, after getting dressed and filming my energy levels dropped significantly, so I needed a chunk of mindless time staring at a screen (which I brightened up by watching Victor Lockhart’s videos, a 10/10 would recommend pastime endeavour), which led me to a fascinating realisation: maybe lifestyle lolitas didn’t actually want to be lifestylers? Maybe they took the energy to get dressed, did a thing, and by that time lost all energy to even change out, so they just stayed in their fancy outfits, chilling and zoning out, while we all glorified that into lifestyle choices led by aesthetics? Some food for thought for you.

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Coord 4: Unnecessarily Fancy Thursday

| Metamorphose Classical Sister OP | Lady Sloth Metallic Mesh overdress | Angelic Pretty Musee du Chocolat OTKs | offbrand shoes with clips from Angelic Pretty Elegant Doll boots | Ebony & Ivory hair clip | Tiny Passerine Creations Duchess’ Tea earrings | bow brooch from Dear Celine’s Magic Book OP |

It might be unnecessarily fancy, but you also know you've desensitised your work colleagues to the shenanigans that you get up to when you're in your weekly team call, visible bust up, and not a single comment or weird look is made towards you. *gasp* What if I underwhelmed them? I need to try harder!

Still looks a tad messy with how the light catshes all the individual hairs, but that's hair for you.

Because I knew that days when comfortably wearing a long sleeve OP might not be that numerous in the near future. And why should working from home be just about casual looks? This is pretty laid back by my standards: fewer layers, limited accessories, no fancy hair do’s or makeup (just lipstick). Yet it’s still unnecessarily fancy for a Thursday. And that’s fine, sometimes that’s exactly the pick-me-up one needs.

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Coord 5: Rainlita

| BtSSB Dreaming Sherbet skirt | Nile Perch cutsew | Angelic Pretty Logo Embroidery cutsew cardigan | Haruhi Clover hair clips | handmade choker | offbrand leggings and wellies |

Open mouth smile selfies might be hard, but not as hard as winking ones. Still amazed this one came out so effortlessly.

I wish I had a silver glitter raincoat to match these, that'd be super cute.

My Mum visited me that weekend and although the weather was pretty miserable all week carrying onto the weekend, we couldn’t let that stop us. She wanted a charity shop spree, the same one I had gone on the week before, and I preferred to go out too than to sit at home, which meant only one thing - I needed to make a coord around my wellies! Thankfully, it wasn’t hard, it came together quickly and was really comfortable too. However, the reality of being a rainlita proved to be much different as I really needed a raincoat or poncho instead of an umbrella and the one I have isn’t quite kawaii. Nonetheless, it was fun to be a shapeless blob and to know that underneath that I look really cute. Besides, the main point of my coord were the wellies and those were still on display - I walked past a little girl, maybe 3 or 4 years old max, who also had glitter wellies and she got really excited when she saw mine, that was the most adorable thing ever! The charity shop spree also brought with it some good loot as I scored a sturdy new tripod for £5 and a cute Laura Ashley blouse for £6 that you will see further down.

Above you have the expectations of being a rainlita - here is the reality.

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Coord 6: Blue Cameos

| Angelic Pretty Royal Unicorn Switching JSK | Infanta Moon Elegy blouse | BtSSB Dreaming Sherbet skirt | Innocent World OTKs | Irregular Choice Total Freedom shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | offbrand hair clips | Tiny Passerine Creations necklace |

I do love coordinating this dress with sax blue, there's something slightly ethereal about this combination.

And the necklace that inspired it all. Yes, I ordered more from Tiny Passerine, I have a very weak spot for their jewellery.

All there is to this coord is that I wanted to wear this necklace. Literally all. I looked for something that would complement it and landed on this dress, since it also has sax cameo designs all over the skirt, and the dusty shades were perfect for each other. I also love how the Dreaming Sherbet skirt works as an underskirt with this JSK, the lace is the right length and you still see a peek of the sax coming through, which ties the whole thing together. There will definitely be more looks that use that skirt as an underskirt.

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Coord 7: Polka Dot Overlord

| Metamorphose Polka Dots tiered skirt | Laura Ashley blouse | Snag Sweetheart tights | Bodyline shoes | offbrand hair ties |

Thinking about getting red tights with white polka dots.

Do you have a headache yet?

I’m taking over the world one polka dot at a time. I couldn’t wait long before wearing this blouse, literally, as soon as it dried after being washed it was on. And even though this isn’t the 100% polka dot everything coord that I may have envisioned, I love it nonetheless. One day, when I find the right polka dot tights and maybe even shoes, I will upgrade this. For now this is my polka dot overlord form.

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Coord 8: Playful Nostalgia

| Haenuli Whipped Cream Kitty JSK | Laura Ashley blouse | Snag Sweetheart tights | Hello Crumpet brooch | offbrand shoes, earrings, waist ribbon and blue ring | bow hair tie made from offcuts of Bodyline’s L262 alteration | Sweet Dolly House Cookie Bon Bon ring |

Fun fact: those earrings, which you can juuust about make out, were in my maybe pile. Not anymore.

There really do be dots everywhere in this coord.

This will sound weird, but when I put this on, something in me said “Oh, this is giving me an almost sporty vibe in that 90s kind of way”. It’s probably the hairstyle and shoes combined with growing up in the 90s when teen magazines would always tell you to do a ponytail and wear something like tennis shoes with a dress or skirt for a more “sporty” look. But then I actually had a look in the mirror, realised that I basically look like I should be presenting some sort of children’s TV programme on a Saturday morning - and I am very much ok with that. Btw, have any of you ever gone back to the TV shows you used to love as kids? I did and boy, that’s one trippy trip with that extra layer of post-communist early 90s that to people not from Eastern Europe just looks super extra creepy and weird.

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Coord 9: Chilly May

| Dear Celine Magic Book OP | Innocent World Rose Lace Millefeuille bolero | Angelic Pretty Cinema Doll OTKs | Hush Puppies boots | vintage hat | Glasses Lit glasses | offbrand necklace | Amadea Kingdom The Adventurer D20 brooch |

I quickly learned that fancy glasses can help cover up lack of makeup (or sleep).

Out of the several detail photos I took, this is one that's least likely to go up on Instagram and I want to use it somewhere. Though we'll see how things play out.

The actual coord no 9 was the next Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates one. You can get an early glimpse of it in my anniversary video and the full reveal will come next Tuesday. This one, on the other hand, was a result of the weather being pretty chilly for May and me taking advantage of that to wear my long sleeve OPs while I could. I enjoyed layering this OP with brown, that really brought out the warmer tones in the print, and all those layers kept me warm, which is what I needed on that chilly day.

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Coord 10: Busily Casual

| Metamorphose Sailor Tiered skirt | offbrand T-shirt and belt | Angelic Pretty Crown Ribbon OTKs | Vivienne Westwood x Melissa Anglomania heels | Larme hair tie | Big Pink Boutique earrings | Metamorphose Grand Couronne necklace |

I'm telling you, trying to get bow clips on ponytails show up on photos is h a r d.

I own exactly one actual T-shirt and this is it. It says a lot about me if you play Dragon Age.

For a day with a to-do list nearly as long as my arm, I sure felt energetic enough to dress up, even in something as casual as this. A skirt and a T-shirt was practically the definition of casual lolita for so long and I do like this look a lot. And it’s probably the funky angle (I’m still working out my new tripod and trying to find the best set up), maybe a bit because of the shoes and pose, but I look like I have very skinny and long legs here!

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Coord 11: Imperial Garden

| BtSSB Polonaise Brillante ~ Ideas of a Maiden ~ Apron JSK and OTKs | traditional blouse | Hush Puppies boots | Kaneko headdress | offbrand earrings | handmade necklace |

Except for quality (and my braiding getting worse), the photos look exactly the same as they did when I took them for the lookbook last July. Which I took full advantage of by submitting old photos for the actual coordinate contest of the event.

Is this best blouse? Probably. It's certainly in the top 5!

This is literally the exact same outfit as what I wore in the 18th Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates post. Why? Because this coord is really damn good and comfortable, I love it, I love wearing it and re-wearing outfits is 100% ok. Besides, this is literally the event that I was going to debut this look for, so while the event may have moved online (and I will talk about it in more details in a separate post), why should I have to change my coord?

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Coord 12: Green and Lavender

| After Midnight Concerto The First Semester JSK | Chess Story Gift from Budapest blouse | Enchantlic Enchantilly The Crown of the Violet Princess tights | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | Metamorphose The Grand Couronne necklace | Peppermint Fox brooch | offbrand bracelets | Bodyline bow pin |

Hair curling experiment number I-don't-remember-anymore. I think I like it? Let's see how this behaves on day two, which is actually today.

Did I say that I keep meaning to get more brooches from Peppermint Fox? Well, I do.

I don’t want to say that this was sort of thrown together - but it kind of was. I wasn’t feeling anything really from what I owned (I am waiting for, ekhm, three dresses currently in the post and another one that’s one preorder, oops!), so planning anything in advance like I normally do wasn’t cutting it. And so the night before I just looked extra hard at what I have and went with my heart, which wanted to wear green. And then I remembered how fun green and lavender is as a colour combination, so all of this followed shortly. In truth, I’m loving how freeing it is to not feel like ticking all of those boxes for colour/theme balance. This definitely isn’t 'balanced'. Doesn’t stop me from liking the result and liking the outfit.

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May isn’t even over yet and it took me until this Monday just gone to remember that we have a Bank Holiday this coming Monday too. So there will definitely be a couple more outfits that still qualify as May that aren’t being included here, they’ll get featured in June’s coords roundup post. Because Lord only knows what June will bring, I am preparing myself for the worst so that I cannot be disappointed. At least I have enough outfits to keep going.