December Cords Roundup

The final month of the year usually brings with it a lot more red looks and a lot more last minute squeezing in of coords I haven’t had the chance to wear previously. This year is no different, even though I also know that I wasn’t quite as intense about dressing festive every day as I have been the previous two years. Can you really blame me though with the year that we’ve had?

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Coord 1: Last Pre-Festive

| BtSSB Secret AIR MAIL from Sweet Kitty JSK | A.R.W. blouse | offbrand bolero and beret | Angelic Pretty Alphabet Marine OTKs | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | DMC badge | Enchantlic Enchantilly Queen Cat Secret Library ring | handmade ring |

No idea why the light was like this that day, let's just roll with it.

Sometimes I feel like this badge doesn't get enough love considering how many things it matches.

Not that there wasn’t going to be anything completely unfestive in December, but this was the last day of November and I wanted to get some of that energy out before December hit properly. The whole coord came together because I wanted to put these socks together with this JSK, and while I like that part, I would’ve wanted more of that more royal blue throughout the coord rather than the navy. Maybe if I leaned more into a true tricolour and added more reds I would be less bothered by the shades of blue, but I also didn’t feel like going properly tricolour. Next time I will. Still, this isn’t to say that I don’t like the outfit, just that I think I’ll work on it in the future.

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Coord 2: Casual Christmas Ouji

| Fan+Friend Alice Knight shorts | A.R.W. blouse | offbrand jumper | Angelic Pretty Toy Circus tights | Hush Puppies boots | vintage brooch |

Love how ouji is the perfect thing for completely makeup-free looks, but the camera is less keen on those for my taste.

The most festive brooch that I own. For now. Working on getting more.

This is an even more toned down version of what was in the 1 Dress 4 Looks Take 53 post because sometimes overfancifying stuff isn’t the right thing to do. It’s as simple as that, really.

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Coord 3: Winter ILD

| L’Esprit de la Noblesse La Bibliotheque JSK | Sentaro blouse | Innocent World Union Flag Lame OTKs | offbrand shoes | Rose of Sharon hair clip | Puvithel Crystal Heart earrings and necklace | Ebony & Ivory brooch | vintage brooch | Le Petit Four Emerald Palace ring | handmade ring |

I have almost lost these lashes to the weather. That I didn't is down to pure dumb luck.

Due to a slight mistake this 2-way clip usually works better as a hair clip than a brooch. Unless I can use the alligator clip to attach it to clothes.

After being Naked-chan until scarily close to the event, I indulged the most festive of colour combinations: green and red. And thank Mana-sama that I took pictures before leaving the house because as soon as I did, I exposed myself to the most horrible weather that looked at the one hour of hair styling I did and threw it in the trash. There were generally lots of little things going wrong on the day and stealing my spoons until I was running on fumes, but even with that I was able to find a few moments to enjoy being around my friends and enjoy finally having a fancy ILD in person. And having a coord that I really enjoyed also helped, this is the sort of outfit that this JSK deserves.

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Coord 4: Snow Prince

| Fan+Friend Alice Knight shorts | Axes Femme cardigan | Metamorphose Snow Crystal OTKs | offbrand boots and toppers | vintage hat | Celestial Castle hair clip | Sweet Dolly House Snowflake Cookie brooch |

I did have a cutsew underneath, but only so that I wouldn't wear the cardigan directly.

Fun fact, I forgot to take this brooch off the cardigan and ended up washing it. Both came out fine.

I said I was going to wear this, didn’t I? It’s an ever so slightly modified version of the coord from 1 Dress 4 Looks Take 52, one that made it that little bit extra seasonal. Of course, the reality is that the boots and the hat were only on for a photo, but that still made for a comfortable coord to spend the day working in.

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Coord 5: Surprise Classic

| Mary Magdalene Deborah Doll JSK | Infanta Swan Lake blouse | Angelic Pretty Brigitte Regimen OTKs | offbrand shoes and hair clip | vintage brooch |

That joy you feel when the dress does fit in the end.

Since it's Mary Magdalene, minimal details are the best. And this brooch compliments the lace.

The surprise here is that this dress fits. When it first arrived, I was missing like an inch to be able to zip it up. And then I invested in some new bras, a few of which are unpadded and decided “ah heck it, let’s try” - and suddenly I was able to wear it. I might still have it altered if I ever find some matching fabric, but for now it turns out that I don’t need to. As soon as I discovered that I can fit into this dress I had to wear it and to me overcomplicating coords with Mary Magdalene’s pieces is doing them a disservice. This dress is so nice in its own right that going traditionally classic lolita with the outfit was only fair. It made for a very comfy work from home coord too and I felt so gorgeous throughout the day. Though in hindsight the blouse being a lighter ivory than the socks bothers me a little. Not so much when it was worn, but on the photo it bugs me a bit.

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Coord 6: Winter Lady

| BtSSB Soiree of the Beginning of My Memories JSK | Infanta Swan Lake blouse | Metamorphose Snow Crystal OTKs | offbrand boots, boot toppers, capelet and toppers | vintage hat and brooch | Peacockalorum muff |

After searching for so long, I have finally found a good capelet to replace the old one I had.

There was also another detail picture of the bow from the dress pinned to the muff, but this one is nicer.

My weekend started by hanging out with a friend. The original plan was to go to Chester to enjoy somewhere pretty at that pre-Christmas time, but not only was the weather a bit miserable, we both actually didn’t enjoy the thought of going somewhere that would likely be crowded, however pretty it may have also been, so it all worked out for the best. This is still what I would’ve worn to Chester, so the outfit plan remained unchanged. And why should it? All the fur bits, even though the top two and the bottom two are different shades, work together to make this pretty summery dress into a very wintery outfit. There isn’t a thing that I’d change about this outfit and I wouldn’t mind wearing this or a version of it again in the future.

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Coord 7: Cutesy Snowflake

| BtSSB Dreaming Sherbet skirt | Resailan Jewelry Box tights | offbrand jumper |

Super quick selfie with just a touch of blush is growing to be my go-to.

This was the first (vaguely) Chrismas jumper I ever bought, actually.

Day two of that same weekend. Too casual to be a coord? Oh well, tough. I was at home all day and decided not to pretend that shoes ever happened. And the only accessory I would’ve worn with this would be some bow clip at the back of my head, so that wouldn’t show up in pictures anyway. Frills can be cosy, let’s normalise that.

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Coord 8: Sax and Pink

| Metamorphose Shirring Tiered Ribbon JSK | offbrand cutsew | BtSSB Forever Enchanted Midnight Spell bolero | Red Maria tights | Sosic Shop shoes | Innocent World Organdy Bow Rose clip | Tiny Passerine Creations necklace and ring |

I have been experimenting with robe curls (waves, really) and I think they will actually become the new go-to quick-curl method.

Letting the Tiny Passerine Creations cameo necklace shine in this coord.

I was practically dismayed when I realised that I hadn’t worn this dress with pink yet. So it was time to address that for something warm, comfortable and cosy for working from home. Few things are as comfortable as full shirring and that is a hill that I am willing to die on.

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Coord 9: Festive Visit

| Lady Sloth Winter Spices skirt | Pretty Rock Baby Spring Break Upper East Side cardigan | Innocent World Belle Epoque OTKs | Hush Puppies boots | bows from Haenuli’s Whipped Cream Kitty JSK | offbrand earrings | vintage Christmas brooch | Once Upon a Cookie Treat Jelly Cookie necklace |

A change of scenery (and sadly also lighting).

All the cardigan details!

Visiting a friend at Christmas time is the perfect excuse to dress up, one that I wouldn’t miss in the world. This cardigan is really doing the rounds ever since the weather turned cold enough and rightfully so since it is so good it’s making me regret not getting it in other colours. A comfortable skirt and cardigan is just the combo that one needs for an evening of chatting and hotpot.

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Coord 10: Christmas Eve

| Chrysanthemum’s Concerto Lost in the Garden of Eden JSK | Ank Rouge cutsew | Axes Femme cardigan | MuFish tights | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | bows from Haenuli’s Whipped Cream Kitty JSK | offbrand earrings | Sweet Dolly House Snowflake Cookie brooch | Twinkle Kitty Boutique ring | Bows and Crossbones bangles |

Evening light was even worse, but this is what Meitu is for.

Or in this case, turning on the flash.

Christmas Eve dinner is a dress up occasion, but this year I decided to keep it on the cuter and more comfortable side. I am here to prove that gingham doesn’t have to be restricted to summer and I really like how this coord came out. It’s cosy and homely, the shirring offered all the comfort I needed whilst overindulging in food, and the addition of snowflakes turned the classic red and white colour combo into something more seasonally appropriate. Everything I wanted from my Christmas Eve coord.

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Whilst I genuinely thought that I would be able to squeeze in something else between Christmas Eve and the end of 2021, I also genuinely haven’t. And that’s a good thing. As you will soon read from my 2022 goals, the plan is to take things a bit slower and make room for other types of fun in my life. So with that in mind, as it is New Year’s Eve, I would like to wish you all the best possible start to 2022 that you can have, with as much rest, inspiration, support, and energy as you can to enable you to make the most of the time ahead of us. Enjoy yourselves responsibly and see you on the other side!