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.