November Coords Roundup

Christmas is almost upon us and somehow November felt like the right length for a month. In fact, I’m pretty surprised how much I managed to get done this month, not just in terms of the outfits - though the fits were also good, if I may say so myself.

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Coord 1: Leisurely Elegance

| Baroque Repose of Queen OP | Innocent World Rose Lace Millefeuille bolero | AatP Lace-Up Ribbon OTKs | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | Angelic Pretty Classical Petit Rose headbow | offbrand hair clip, earrings and choker |

I'm trying to remember if I put on any eyeshadow here, but I don't think I did. Which means the light played a really nice trick here.

Rose lace and roses on the print.

I actually had a different dress up plan for that day, more seasonal (since it was still October), but that plan got relegated to another day, while I capitalised on the mood to dress up otherwise. The light green compliments the green undertones within this print so perfectly that I’m not even mad that this is looking very spring-like for mid-autumn. Sometimes you can embrace your unseasonality, so why shouldn’t you indulge?

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Coord 2: Another Date

| Dear Celine Magic Book OP | Pretty Rock Baby Spring Break Upper East Side cardigan | Innocent World Short Boots OTKs | Sosic Shop shoes | Naked Lace Company barrette | Promised Land Creations earrings |

The neckline of this cardigan was just a little bit too high to fit the dress' collar - nothing that leaving the top button open couldn't fix though.

10/10 poor choice of background there. Aesthetic - 0. Laziness - 1.

This is what I actually planned on wearing before, but since I was going out and this seemed casual enough (by my standards at least), plans got swapped. Had I been staying inside, I probably would’ve gotten a beret out instead of a barrette at the back of my head, though that is the only thing that I’d change. Plus this dress is warm and, you know, it was the last day of October, so it wasn’t exactly spring out there. Layers were needed. As for the date itself, that went very well. I did plan on writing a whole post about being out there on a dating app as a lolita, but that one went so well that my experiences were cut short and I lost the drive to write about that. Sorry not sorry ^^"

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Coord 3: Business Demon

| Haenuli Just One Bite JSK | Atelier Boz Roland jacket | offbrand cutsew | Angelic Pretty Lovely Ribbon OTKs | Vivienne Westwood x Melissa Anglomania heels | Antique Beast Cat Ears headdress | Puvithel Crystal Heart necklace | Voodoodolly ring |

Lashes once again by Lola's Lashes. I swear I'm not sponsored by them - but if you're seeing this, Lola's Lashes, please, sponsor me!

The lace on this headpiece is so nice.

Also known as straight up looking like @tonblackberry. But when she is so right about the Roland x Antique Beast headdress combination, how can you resist wanting to do that yourself? It works on so many levels, the ratio of ease to elegance being one of them. It’s so low effort, yet the tailoring makes this so effective. And for a day when I felt a bit under the weather, a gothic look helped mask any deficiencies I may have had in colouring on my cheeks by turning them into intentional paleness.

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Coord 4: Unexpectedly Home

| Metamorphose Bubble Bath skirt | Axes Femme blouse and brooch | Amavel cardigan | Haenuli Secret Garden tights | offbrand shoes and beret | Madillustration brooch |

I keep going back and forth with this Axes Femme blouse (and another one) on whether to sell it. Outfits like this one are what make me keep it, but is that really enough?

The brooch is from another Axes Femme top that I have, but this is why they make these detachable.

Even though I felt significantly better the day after, I decided to stay working from home to make sure that I get rid of all of that lingering cold before I go to the office again. And since I was staying home, it’d feel like a waste if I didn’t dress up. When trying to find something that I wouldn’t reach for when it gets to the more wintery and festive season, the green bottles on this print caught my eye. A few items quickly thrown on the bed later I decided that this would work enough and, well, here we are. It does work a lot better than I imagined. Cute, still cosy and comfy, and also different enough to satisfy my need for variety.

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Coord 5: Early Winter

| Innocent World Revival Sweet Teddybear JSK | Axes Femme cardigan | Metamorphose Snow Crystal OTKs | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | Bibelot Rose Snowflake necklace |

I'm still impressed with myself when I bother with any degree of makeup for working from home. One day that kind of energy will transfer to hair a bit more too.

Snowflakes everywhere.

November got cold. It was rainy, but cold nonetheless. And I was done waiting for things to get late enough for this cardigan to be appropriate and just wore it. It’s such a lovely, soft thing, as well as stupidly cosy, making it perfect for a work from home Friday. Simple and effective.

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Coord 6: Late CLAM-oween

| AatP Rosier Fleur JSK | Infanta Swan Lake blouse | offbrand tights and earrings | Hush Puppies boots | handmade hat and armband | Enchanted Dream Wear necklace |

I wasn't going to do a red lipstick, but the look really needed that extra bit of colour to tie it together, so I made sure to apply it as lightly as possible.

Very pleased with how this ended up working.

This coord has waited pretty much a whole year. The first idea for it blossomed in time for Halloween 2020, but I hadn’t gotten myself in gear to get that hat and armband done until the month after - and now it got its outing. Very pleased with how it came out, the WWI vibe is exactly what I was aiming for and if I were ever to amp it up in the future, I’d try to find a suitably period-appropriate apron and splatter it with something red. The meetup itself was also amazing. Just seeing everyone was enough to have a good time, but add Sean the Skeleton into the mix and absolute madness ensued. We all thought we were The One - turns out Sean was quite the fuckboi and dallied with anyone who would allow him to dally. Proof below.

How it started.

How it ended.

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Coord 7: Green and Red

| After Midnight The First Semester JSK | Miss Point Earl Gray blouse | Innocent World Union Flag Lame OTKs | offbrand shoes, beret and hair pins | vintage brooch |

Those pearl-ended U-pins can be surprisingly tricky to stick where you want them to.

F in the chat because every detail shot I took turned out slightly blurry and I only realised that now.

Does what it says on the tin, really. This was originally supposed to be with a different dress, but part of me just was not feeling it, so in the morning I switched to this. There’s a bit of a festive air to it thanks to the colours, but that’s not ever a bad thing in my books.

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Coord 8-13: Travelling Around Poland

A travelling capsule in practice.

This is also a testimony to how much hair, makeup and accessories can change up a look.

Minor details are still details.

I’ve talked more about the outfits in a separate post, which you can find here.

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Coord 14: Golden Rose

| Innocent World Georges Rose JSK | Lady Sloth Glitter Mesh blouse | AatP Arabesque OTKs | Irregular Choice Total Freedom shoes | Haruhi Clover headbow | Innocent World Moon and Star Pearl necklace | offbrand brooch, rings and belt |

It was actually a pretty good eyeliner day, but the best selfie of the lot doesn't show it off that well.

All the subtle golds.

Definitely unseasonal with these light layers and definitely on the fancier side for just working from home, but once the idea of pairing this dress with gold entered my head, it wouldn’t leave. And I did need something slightly less casual, at least at the top, since I was filming the intro and outro to the charity lookbook right after work. The look came together nicely, nothing to rave about, just good with room to make it fancier should I ever want to.

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Coord 15: Elegant Thursday

| Haenuli Lovely Memories JSK | offbrand cutsew | Baroque Repose of Queen tights | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | vintage hat | Tiny Passerine Creations The Duchess’ Tea parure |

I also have selfies with the veil down, but due to the proximity of the veil to the camera they aren't necessarily the best ones.

This could literally be in someone's wedding album. Probably not mine, but someone's.

First of all, this was another case where I laid out an outfit with this dress, then changed my mind about it (the previous one being coord 7 in this post). Secondly, although I wanted to go for something simple, classy, and elegant, kind of evoking what I wore with this dress back in May 2020 without completely repeating it, somehow I’m not feeling this particular version. I think this is down to the hair and makeup, me trying to do the least amount possible affected the end result. Hopefully, as time goes by, I will stop being so critical of this look, because it was both cute and comfortable, which I needed. On the day my mood was for something far more fancy and involved, which I couldn’t indulge in, and I think is what I am comparing this against.

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Coord 16: Markets and Theatre

| Angelic Pretty Diner Doll JSK | offbrand cutsew, boots, earrings, bracelet and ring | Crown Label cardigan | Haenuli Secret Garden tights | Pink Up Fanny’s Dressing Table hair clip | vintage necklace | Twinkle Kitty Boutique ring |

My Mum kept commenting how the pearls on this cardigan switch it up and she's not wrong.

My old friend, you tie off so many of my looks.

The above point was further proved by this outfit which feels so much more put together simply because I put the time and effort in to do my makeup and hair properly. Will I ever learn to stop being critical of myself when I don’t do that or to bite the bullet and do the hair and makeup if I want to like the final look? Maybe. That’s besides the point for now. My Mum came to visit me, as Dad and I bought her tickets to see Waitress, the musical. So we wandered around town a bit first, checking out the Christmas Markets, then had a casual dinner before catching the show, which I loved, we both had a blast there. But the theme of the show explains the outfit, really.

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Coord 17: Sort of Festive

| Angelic Pretty Fantasy Theater Gilet JSK and detachable bow as hair clip | Pretty Rock Baby Spring Break Upper East Side cardigan | Innocent World Short Boots OTKs | offbrand shoes and earrings |

Note to self: get more big bows to wear at the back.

Since this is sort of festive, have a detail shot of a sort of festive looking balloon.

Someone at work earlier that week made a comment that I looked very festive because I had this cardigan on, which is a very fair comment. This led me to the realisation that I hadn’t coordinated this oh-so-colour-versatile print with dark green yet, so this outfit came to be. It’s simple and minimal on accessories (all brooches came with the cardigan, so I treat them all as one entity unless they’re separated), and was just right for working from home.

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My trip stuffed with casual looks heavily skewed this month, but I can’t say that it’s a bad thing. Between that and going back to fewer days per week working at the office I once again had the energy to dress up more often and to push through my list to get everything worn three times this year. Which is now very definitely in sight and seems quite doable. Will it happen? It would be nice, though I’m trying to not put myself under that kind of pressure. That is an unnecessary level of pressure, plus December is always mad, plus I have other things keeping be busy these days, plus I'm sort of all over the place with my style right now and don't know what I want of my wardrobe. But I will give it an honest go.

1 Dress 4 Looks Take 53

The dark twin to last month’s 1 Dress 4 Looks post. And whilst I could’ve done pretty much every single one of those previous looks,that doesn’t make for a very interesting blog post. Besides, where is the fun in having a dark twin and not putting together some darker coords?

Look 1: Ringmaster

| offbrand cutsew | vintage jacket and brooch | Angelic Pretty Toy Circus tights | Hush Puppies boots | Beholder Fashions mini hat | Bibelot Rose rosette |

It’s never a bad time to do a circus ouji. Whilst to wear it I would have to figure out how to balance the mini hat out, but it would be very worth it. In hindsight, I might also add some more brooches. But all in all this is a pretty solid, safe yet effective outfit.

Look 2: King of the Fae

| vintage jacket and brooch | Metamorphose Ornament OTKs | Irregular Choice Total Freedom shoes | offbrand crown, earring and brooch | Le Petit Four The Warrior Sacred Heart necklace | Amadea Kingdom The Adventurer D20 brooch |

They say to not follow the king of the fae - but no-one ever said a word about *becoming* the king of the fae. This is definitely the outfit to wear for a big party which involves a lot of drinking and music. Though it will have to be in winter since this jacket is very warm! Still, this is one that I look forward to wearing one day. I totally see this with a long blond wig a’la Party Thranduil.

Look 3: Up to Snow Good

| Angelic Pretty Toy Circus tights | Hush Puppies boots | Ebony and Ivory clip | everything else is offbrand |

Since we’re getting in the festive mood, I am obliged to include at least one Christmassy look. Because casual ouji is also valid and we need to show that. Also, let’s appreciate how the bottom half of this is exactly the same as in the circus look, I simply turned the tights the other way around for the flatlay.

Look 4: Ero Ouji

| offbrand cutsew, necklace, belt, earrings, rings and brooch | Lady Sloth Galaxy Witch overdress | Miss Point corset | Vivienne Westwood x Melissa Anglomania shoes | vintage brooch and necklace | replica OTKs |

As usual, the experimental look is left for last. And whilst I totally love how this looks flat, the practical implications of keeping this ero whilst also appropriately modest enough will be a challenge. One that I will figure out one day - for now I’m just happy that the original idea has come together as well laid out flat as I had hoped it would.


What do you think of the darker looks here? Let me know your favourites, but also let me know if there are any that you think I could’ve done and haven’t. The more ideas in the bank the better!

A Christmas Print Appreciation Post

For years I’ve been saying how I can’t justify getting a traditional Christmas print. Having a dress that can only be worn for one month in a year, when I have an all-year-round wardrobe is not practical. At the same time, I have now crossed the invisible line of getting my 51st main piece, so am I really in a position to talk about being practical anymore? Whilst of course I have no real need for any more dresses, particularly highly seasonal ones, since I’ve moved past one arbitrary barrier, why not indulge in a theoretical look at some of the prints that I would love to own for my favourite holiday in the entire year. You know, to get us all in the festive spirit and all that.

BtSSB’s Kumya’s Christmas Market

Photo from Lolibrary.org

Right now this is my no 1 Christmas print. It has everything that one could want in a Christmas print: a giant tree, cute animals, sweets all over the damn thing, plenty of snow and stars… The big problem, of course, would be deciding on the colourway because although the red is far more festive, the sax has a nicer contrast between the print and the main body of the dress, making the print more prominent. For legal reasons I am not allowed to say that I will be actively looking for it (which applies to all dresses here), but I quietly hope that in a few years time, as newer prints take the spotlight, this one will pop up somewhere second hand at a reasonable price.

BtSSB’s Kumya-chan’s Christmas Holly Night

Photo from Lolibrary.org

What can I say, BtSSB just knows how to do a Christmas print well (when they put their minds to it, because admittedly it’s not always perfect). Before Kumya’s Christmas Market was released, this was like the OG Christmas print that our hearts yearned for. Once again, the colourway struggle is real, this time between the red and the green, though given where I am currently at with my wardrobe, I think I would go for the green. And it does pop up fairly often second hand, not even that expensive, yet until now I managed to resist its charms. Will I manage to continue doing so though?

AatP’s A Snowy Christmas Eve Mysterious Gift

Photo from Lolibrary.org

Ah, this is the one that almost got me back when it originally released. You know what stopped me? That damn bow at the back. It makes absolutely no sense with the military cut, it will likely mostly be covered anyway, and it could potentially limit the stretch of the shirring. But now that I look at it, given how I’ve also broken the barrier of altering brand, maybe this isn’t such a barrier anymore? Back then I used to justify this to myself as being more than just a Christmas print, since it’s ballet themed (even if the ballet in question is The Nutcracker, so still very festive). Oh no, I think it’s spinning its magic on me once more!

AP’s Twinkle Ornament

Photo from Lolibrary.org

Chances of this fitting me right now are pretty slim, but it’s such a charming release. It’s unquestionably festive, sweet yet very elegant in its simplicity… and for a while now I’ve wanted a velvet dress for winter. This feels like one of those Christmas prints that, whilst not workable outside of December like the AatP one might be, would be extremely versatile in providing a variety of different options for each year so that it doesn’t feel like you’re wearing the same coord over and over again.


As I was putting these together, it hit me that I can’t name a single Christmas release from Meta, not even anything adjacent. Dim Light is likely the most festive offering they ever gave us and from what I remember, they mostly stuck to doing a velvet release for the winter. But if Meta decides to give us a proper Christmas print… and Mana have mercy on us all, if they make it one of their signature bear ones… If that ever happens, I think we may be royally screwed, ladies and gentlemen.

Frilling in Poland

This post could also work as a mini-study of packing a working capsule wardrobe of frills with you. Because for the 5 days that I spent in Poland, I wore lolita on the various stages of the casual/fancy spectrum every single day. In fact I ended up packing one or two items too many, as those didn’t see any wear, as well as bought one during my stay which did end up being used.

THE OUTFITS

Five days in a row of frilling, from the moment I left the house to the moment I came back.

I'm actually a little impressed with myself at the variety of hairstyles I managed to accomplish and how they affect the looks.

Minimum accessories doesn't have to mean minimum detail.

Rather than go through what each outfit consists of, let me run you quickly through what the various elements are, since they do repeat themselves:

• The main pieces are Violet Fane’s Otome Nostalgia skirt, Violet Fane’s Charming Town skirt, and Angelic Pretty’s Cinema Doll JSK.
• The tops are a Lazy Oaf pink turtleneck cutsew, a pink Axes Femme knit cutsew, an offbrand white cutsew, a DreamV beige cardigan, and a Pretty Rock Baby green cardigan.
• The pink tights are from Red Maria, while the white ones are Uniqlo leggings.
• The Oxford shoes are from Clarks, while the pink ones are from Laura Ashley.
• The beret, pearl hair clips, the bear necklace, and the folk scarf are offbrand.
• The D4 wooden brooch is from Amadea Kingdom.
• The heart earrings are from Big Pink Boutique, while the pom pom ones are from Axes Femme.

As you can see, the selection remains a very practical one without losing anything of the cuteness. Moreover, travelling in lolita can be a far more practical choice than people give it credit for. Despite it being November and a pretty crisp one at that, I was rarely actually cold (and when I was it was mostly my hands because I forgot to bring my gloves). Mixing and matching the base sets with different main pieces, as well as variance in layering (e.g. the green cardigan being left out with Charming Town and tucked in with Otome Nostalgia) help create distinct outfits with fewer pieces necessary. Diversity in hairstyles also helps to further distract from the fact that some of these are just rehashed versions of each other.

THE TRIP

My trip was part necessary (i.e. I had a document I needed to collect) and part nostalgia (wandering around my own home city for the first time in over a decade), so I won’t go into too many details of what I did. The trip itself was not lolita at all, though I couldn’t help but appreciate how beautiful my city is and how many places would make splendid backdrops for photos. So I will leave you with a few prettier snaps to give you an idea and hopefully inspire you to visit Poznań if you can.

THE REACTIONS

More importantly though, this trip was an interesting insight into what sort of responses I elicited by just being out and about dressed as I was. This is something that people wearing lolita are universally concerned with, particularly those newer to wearing the fashion out in public. As someone who regularly wears it around the UK in places big and small, I am now used to attracting a certain degree of attention and if I’m on my own I rarely notice it unless it’s very obvious.

Anyone in Poznań or planning to visit will be pleased to know that my experiences were not at all different from what I get in the UK. As I said, usually I’m on my own, so I tend to get wrapped up in my own little world and ignore a lot of what’s around me as a result. This time I had the benefit of being out in company a few times, so if I missed that someone was staring, friends who were with me pointed it out (mostly with amusement). And from what I gathered, it wasn’t even a particularly rude type of staring, simply that I stood out from the crowd that much. I feel that in Manchester or even generally around the UK it’s much more common to see someone dressed in some form of alt fashion, recently and most notably various levels of weebs and e-girls with a few punks or rockers here or there. This isn’t quite the same in Poznań, despite it being a large city of around half a million people, frequent international trade fairs taking place there and one of the largest cons currently in the country. Though I have passed a handful of younger people, my age or younger, who fit the minor weeb/e-girl moulds, as well as the odd hipster, so it’s not that isolated either.

Besides that, exactly like in the UK, the direct interactions with people that I have had were all positive. A compliment from a stranger, a smile, a bit of kindness once shown to me by a random lady on the street as she pointed out that my skirt had caught and risked indecent exposure… There wasn’t a single point in time where I’d feel uncomfortable or unsafe for standing out from the crowd as much as I did. The worst that I can claim is potentially causing a bit of inconvenience, mostly to myself and potentially for others, as my petticoat has to occupy a certain amount of space, which is again nothing new to anyone who wears this fashion frequently.

AND NEXT TIME

I will definitely plan something a bit less casual and take advantage of being in Poznań by taking some fancy outfit shots on that gorgeous Old Market Square. And hopefully that next time will be in spring or just sometime warmer than November, because as lovely and crisp as it was, it did not inspire me to take my jacket off for an outfit shot.