August Coords Roundup

Yes, I have bounced back in August and managed to frill up at the rate that I have gotten used to. It’s nice to have so many outfits to look back on and remind me of the good times this month (even though there were also some low moments in between those).

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Coord 1: Sparkle

| Resailan Jewelry Box JSK | Lady Sloth Galaxy Witch overdress | AatP Arabesque OTKs | Deary heels | Haruhi Clover headbow | offbrand earrings, necklace, rings, and ribbon belt | handmade bracelets | Puvithel Crystal Heart brooch |

Those were some of the quickest photos I took because my hair wasn't quite dry and I needed to be fast before all the curls fell out.

Don't look too closely or *gasp* you will see my bra. I have no shame though, I'm content with being a harlot.

My Discord server had a meet on the last day of July and since July’s monthly coord challenge theme was sparkle, I decided to try to match that. My original plan was more or less this, but with Crystal Dream Carnival, however, that wasn’t sitting comfortably enough, so I swapped the dresses. But pretty much everything else is how I envisioned it. Even the hair, which didn’t dry enough to hold the curl, but as it was a Sunday I had the rollers in until the last minute and then took the photos before whatever did come out of the curls disappeared. It probably isn’t the most sparkly or glittery thing that I could’ve done, but between the glitter mesh overdress, the glitter makeup, and the various bits of shiny jewellery it seems enough.

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Coord 2: Out About Town

| Innocent World Georges Rose JSK | Violet Fane Antiquite tights | offbrand blouse, shoes, barrette, and jewellery |

These glasses are so flattering, I'm very glad I caved in and bought them.

Seriously, just look at how pretty they are!

My Mum came over to visit for the weekend and on the day of her arrival we went out for dinner to a South African restaurant. Since I already needed to be clothed, I battled my inner demons which have been bothering me and dressed up to spite them. Though I resisted taking full on outfit photos, mirror selfie was good enough (and every take actually came out to my liking, which I’m pleased with). Shame that the lighting obscures the fact that this blouse is a lovely dark green to match the other dark greens, but you can’t have it all. Dressing up helped somewhat and the dinner was really delicious, if anyone had asked me what I expected South African food to taste like I would’ve said much hotter, but it was spiced and flavoursome, whilst also quite sweet and fruity. Definitely will be back to try more!

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Coord 3: Six in Summer, Take 1

| Haenuli Lovely Memories JSK | offbrand blouse, jacket, and earrings | replica socks | Sosic Shop heels | Pink Up Fanny’s Dressing Table hair clip | pins from Six: The Musical |

I'd say give this pop princess a microphone, but my singing might not be the fast pass to a singing career...

Representing all the queens!

The reason for my Mum’s visit was that we were going to see Six: The Musical (her for the first time, while me for the third). This obviously required dressing up and obviously had to incorporate the pins I got in London in January. My original plan fell through due to procrastinating too long on crafting and then having insufficient materials, so I once again had to battle my inner demons for some inspiration, but it was worth it because I liked this look. The dress isn’t denim, yet against the denim jacket feels and looks surprisingly similar, and the pins were just right, I love them so much! We once again went out for dinner first, this time to a Polish restaurant, before heading to the theatre. I am pleased to report that I have now converted my Mum to the Six fandom, when I went to the shop to get something, she also jumped at getting a pin, and loved every bit of the show. And I will say, this is now the third cast lineup that I’ve seen live (and at least fourth or fifth counting what I saw on YouTube) and it may be one of my favourites? Everyone did a smashing job and the best news is that I booked the tickets to see Six with Mum after I already bought one to see on my own, so roll on Six viewing number four!

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Coord 4: Six in Summer, Take 2

| AatP Rosier Fleur JSK | Lady Sloth Glitter Mesh blouse | Snag White Russian fishnets | Angelic Pretty Elegant Doll boots | offbrand hair pins | Axes Femme earrings | pins from Six: The Musical |

I'm less pleased with the selfies from this look, but I needed to be out the door on time, so they'll do. It was just hard to take a selfie that also showed the space buns, is all.

The other way round would've been more 'chronological' I guess, but meh, who cares.

So the coord had to be adjusted for a few things: working from the office on that same day (so something quick to change into), weather heating up again, and the fact that this year alone I’ve seen Six whilst dressed in red and in blue already. I don’t mean to be showing favouritism to any of the queens in the show, so it was time to pick something else. Oh, and I once again wanted to wear all my pins because they are too good not to and until I find a crown-shaped ita bag, finding ways to wear them is the only option (if you ever spot crown-shaped ita bags or something like that, let me know, please!). I like how, when arranged likes this across the neckline, they look like an elaborate necklace or a chain of office. That and the whole coord is exactly the mix of regal and cool that I wanted, the perfect pop princess combination. This time I had front row tickets and had an official Six mask on, so the cast definitely saw me and I hope this visible show of support gave them the fuzzies because they did a stellar job. This musical remains a firm favourite of mine and with every cast change that I get to see I am shown a whole new facet to a character that I thought I knew,

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Coord 5: Heatwave Gingham

| Chrysanthemum’s Concerto Lost in the Garden of Eden JSK | Cat Tea Party blouse | handmade apron | Angelic Pretty Wrapping Cherry socks | Bodyline shoes | Cutie Creator headbow and wrist cuffs |

Let's face it, even if I wasn't working from home, anything more than some lipstick and maybe cream blush on a heatwave day is excessive.

There is something so very satisfying about how simple this is.

This ended up being this month’s coord 1 for the No Buy Support Challenge, so read more about the outfit here.

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Coord 6: Heatwave Outing

| Violet Fane Otome Nostalgia skirt | Crown Label cutsew | Metamorphose shoes | offbrand socks | Cutie Creator hat | Dentelles brooch | handmade bracelets |

Guess which bitch booked herself a cinema ticket whilst it was still heatwave and still insisted on wearing frills? *puts hand up* Granted, this was super, super casual, so casual that after taking this photo I changed into different shoes (these carried too much risk of losing one of the detachable bows) and forgot to put my bracelets back on after washing my hands. Somehow I survived public transport and walking, mainly thanks to an iced tea and Gatsby cooling wipes from Japan. Believe it or not, this look actually started with wanting to do something pretty oldschool, mainly leaning into the blouseless JSK looks (with the candidate being Meta’s Shirring Tiered Ribbon JSK). After spending a good chunk of time looking through coords by R.R.Memorandum’s owner and designer, @onlyfrillsandhorses, I realised that I didn’t have the right pieces to make that idea work, but I could still do something in that spirit with this cutsew, and the rest was born. Had it been even a little cooler I would’ve swapped the hat for something else, but sun protection was absolutely necessary. The film I went to see was called Fortune Favours Lady Nikuko and whilst the obvious fatphobia limited how much I could enjoy it (Nikuko was done dirty, she seems like a sweetheart, but consistently the jokes were about laughing at her rather than with her), I had a good time and the film was worth weebing up for.

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Coord 7: Cool Monday

| Bodyline L249 JSK | Dear Celine Polka Dot Waltz blouse | offbrand socks and shoes | Chrysanthemum’s Concerto beret | Bibelot Rose badge | Dear Celine badge | handmade bracelets | Angelic Pretty Logo Ribbon Charm wrist cuffs | Twinkle Kitty Boutique ring | Candy Kitsch ring |

Blue eyeshadow is a vibe. I get why it fell out of favour for a while, but I like it.

I have gotten so much more wear out of these blouses than I ever would have anticipated.

Cool both in temperature and because I was going for more casual, streetwear-ish vibes with the sneakers. It’s not a revolutionary coord, but it was comfy and cute, which was what I needed.

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Coord 8: Ladylike

| Innocent World Georges Rose JSK | offbrand top and necklace | Innocent World Tulle Lace Millefeuille bolero | Angelic Pretty Cinema Doll OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Manda Rin Designs hat | vintage earrings |

I am pretty open about liking my grey hairs and in particular I love how they add that little extra flair to a hairstyle like this. It's a built-in highlight of the most mature variety.

Fun fact, the quilted fabric under the hat is one of my couch covers.

Sometimes you just want to look like you’re casually going shopping at Harrods even though you’re actually just working from home. This, together with the previous Georges Rose look from this post, was going to be my No Buy Support Challenge attempt for this month before I read the prompt more carefully and realised that this doesn’t quite meet the brief. But the coord is still cute.

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Coord 9: Quick Filming

| Angelic Pretty Crystal Dream Carnival Tiered JSK | offbrand blouse, earrings, and ring | Bodyline L380 skirt | replica socks | Deary shoes | vintage hat, gloves, necklace, and ring |

The redemption outfit this hat deserves. (Even though it's supposed to be worn with the bow on the side, I simply refuse.)

This ring (as well as the necklace in this coord) belonged to my late Grandmother. I don't often wear the jewellery that I inherited from her, but every time I do, I feel her closer to me and I remember the times that she wore those pieces. True to a person brought up in the 50s and 60s, she was always classy when leavingthe house.

The story started similarly to a lot of my outfits: I needed something to wear for filming, I checked what’s something I haven’t worn in a while, I looked at what I’ve done with that dress in the past, and let inspiration take over. In this particular case what inspired me was how cute this dress looked styled in something more retro back in June 2018 and the urge to redo that coord with some updates was pretty strong. It’s sad that the skirt misbehaved in photos, but besides that I am very pleased with this look. Especially with how well the hat worked with it, this is the redemption I was hoping for after the first less successfull attempt. Though let’s be honest, this was not the most comfortable thing to wear, so as soon as filming was done, off went the entire thing in favour of something with lots of shirring and fewer layers. But it got immortalised in both photo and video format, which is enough for me.

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Coord 10: Back to (High) School

| Chrysanthemum’s Concerto Lost in the Garden of Eden JSK | offbrand blouse, jacket, shoes, and beret | Angelic Pretty Alphabet Marine OTKs | Axes Femme earrings | Fluffy Tori pin | Tea Party Club badge | Sweet Dolly House Cookie Bon Bon ring | Angelic Pretty British Ribbon ring |

Cool people make their bomber jackets kawaii, right?

Never heard of a brand called Brave Soul. If this jacket is representative of their style, then I might look for more of their stuff on Vinted.

And coord 2 for this month’s No Buy Support Challenge, again, a bit more on the outfit is in the separate post.

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Coord 11: Doki Doki 2022

| Metamorphose Airline JSK | Snag Fishing for Love fishnets | offbrand shoes | handmade hat | vintage gloves |

Welcome on board this Metamorphose Airlines flight number N053N53 to Doki Doki Festival, make sure to fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the in-flight entertainment.

There's a seller on Etsy who makes polymer clay name tags and I think one day I will request a custom one for this dress.

Cons are back and what better excuse to wear something more ridiculous than a con. So Airline-chan made a proper debut, as I finally got to a stage where this coord is complete in a tick-box way i.e. it has every piece covered and the colours are balanced. It was SO MUCH fun, both just being at the con itself and getting to lean into the character by directing people to their nearest emergency exit. Doki Doki is such a great con with a really chill vibe, made all the better by seeing so many of my friends and hanging out with them. As a bonus I also sold a few bits, including some I didn’t expect to go so easily, which is always nice. The cogs are already turning for next year’s Doki Doki and I can’t wait for that.

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Finishing the month on a con outfit, especially such an iconic one, is a great high. After the low of July it feels refreshing and revitalising to have worn frills so often this month, despite new challenges and warmer weather. As we approach autumn and winter, I am all primed and ready to get more seasonal with my looks as well as food choices and general cosiness around. Moreover, knowing now what I want out of my style has given me a big motivational kick up the backside to go after it, as well as a fresh outlook at what I own and how I can wear it next to match this new direction. There will be more on that at some point later, for now I need to somehow get through September without losing all my marbles. Fingers crossed!

No Buy Support Wardrobe Challenge: 1 Piece, 2 Different Styles

More so than the previous prompt, where I dedicated a day to just doing looks with one dress, I have found this one quite challenging. Not because it’s necessarily difficult to come up with two looks in different styles for the same main piece, but because it felt weird to wear the same dress twice in a month without necessarily feeling like wearing it. Being used to cycling through everything once before returning to it, unless there’s an idea that I really want to materialise, is far more natural for me. This led to a sort of false start attempt, which you will see in the coords roundup post, but I did manage to get this prompt ticked off this month.

Coord 1: Heatwave Gingham

| Chrysanthemum’s Concerto Lost in the Garden of Eden JSK | Cat Tea Party blouse | handmade apron | Angelic Pretty Wrapping Cherry socks | Bodyline shoes | Cutie Creator headbow and wrist cuffs |

Double gingham and waves that have partly fallen out by the time the photos were taken.

Broderie anglaise appreciation post.

As you can see, I chose Chrysanthemum’s Concerto’s Lost in the Garden of Eden JSK as my main piece for this prompt. Primarily because with the abundance of actual summery weather in August it felt imperative to capitalise on wearing gingham whilst it was seasonal. And partly because by the time I realise what I had originally planned wasn’t going to work, I was left with not a lot of time and this was the dress that spoke to me the most.

Yes, wearing lolita in temperatures of 30*C and above is rough - but my flat is cold, which makes heatwave frills bearable as long as I stay indoors. This coord was just right to wear around for a work from home Friday, which should give you an idea of how little outside heat comes in. As already mentioned, heatwave and sunny weather really inspires seasonal coordinates like this one. Had I had more gingham pieces, like gingham socks, you bet that I would’ve added those too. The apron adds an extra country feel and I’m still very proud of it (it’s entirely hand sewn by yours truly), so that did genuinely stay on for pretty much all day. Unlike the accessories, which were on just for the photos. Let’s face it, even in my cold flat, comfort is still the most important thing on a heatwave day, especially on a work from home heatwave day.

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Coord 2: Back to (High) School

| Chrysanthemum’s Concerto Lost in the Garden of Eden JSK | offbrand blouse, jacket, shoes, and beret | Angelic Pretty Alphabet Marine OTKs | Axes Femme earrings | Fluffy Tori pin | Tea Party Club badge | Sweet Dolly House Cookie Bon Bon ring | Angelic Pretty British Ribbon ring |

Urgh, this hair did not want to stay out of my eyes, it ended up being tied up later.

Apples are my favourite fruit, so to find a jacket with an apple patch was extra lovely!

I know, what a 180 degree turn from the heatwave look above! There was a day when things really cooled down and as I was already looking for a way to style this dress for the challenge, it was time to finally wear my new-to-me varsity jacket without melting into a puddle. It’s a shame that the day itself, another work from home one, was full of minor inconveniences because I do like this look and don’t want my mood on the day to influence that too much. Sure, there are definitely things that I’d change (legwear being the foremost one), but this is very much my vibe right now.

And honestly, vibes and moods aside, I am so extremely pleased with this jacket. I am not exaggerating when I say that I’ve been looking for the right varsity-style jacket for at least 2 years, but finding one that’s a shorter length and in the right colours is a challenge. Ultimately my patient stalking Vinted paid off, as I scored this one for just a couple of quids and it’s exactly what I was after without really knowing that this was what I was after.

Although I mentioned that I’m not 100% satisfied with every little bit of this coord, I don’t necessarily think that I will redo it as such. More likely I will keep this jacket and a few of the supporting pieces as a base to use with other dresses and make whatever changes seem appropriate then. That’s a lot more my style of wearing frills than full on coord redemptions.


With only two prompts left in this challenge, and with them coinciding with some busy months work-wise, I think it will be quite important for me to get planning ahead of time. The final one will probably be much easier than the next one because of what I said at the beginning of this post and preferring to cycle through everything before I wear the same main piece again. But maybe let’s see how things go, there are all sorts of surprises that life can throw at a person.

Brainstorming the Classic Side of My Wardrobe

We’re closer to the end of August than to the beginning and it really started to bother me that I have such clear direction for the sweet side of my wardrobe, yet my classic side as as much of a tangled mess as when I started the process. As I plan on getting my wardrobe seasonally split around the end of September (really banking hard on there being no late bursts of heat), should there be any other pieces lurking in my wardrobe that I am actually wanting to get rid of, then I’d rather know that now before I pack anything away.

Image by Samer Daboul on Pexels.com.

My initial idea was to go over the various forms that classic lolita can take and evaluate which ones I like on myself and which ones I prefer to admire on others. However, this quickly became very overwhelming because there are a lot of ways to be a classic lolita. The same story happened with trying to go over my coord archive, there is just too much to consider and no clear starting point.

When that route failed, I narrowed it down to coords from 2022, then supplemented that a little with some 2021 and 2020 ones. These reflect my moods and preferences now, so focusing just on the most recent classic coords and marking out favourites, as well as those that had elements I liked, got me started on identifying the common threads.

These coords are so good I gave them two green lights instead of just one.

Based on these four coords alone not all of the themes will be clear, those only emerge when looking at the last 7 months of classic looks, though the collage above provided another interesting insight for me to consider. I brainstormed, or more accurately braindumped the things that I was gravitating towards and then attempted to sort them out somehow, eventually landing on a split between vibes and tangibles (which mainly mean cuts and colours).

Three of these tangibles overarched everything and those were: longer dresses, open necklines, and A-line cuts. That’s on top of the things that aren’t restricted just to classic such as comfortable fit, comfortable fabrics etc., which I’ve been working towards with my wardrobe overall. The other tangibles corresponded pretty closely to one or more of the vibes that I have identified, so for the sake of not overexplaining here’s a rough visual representation of how they align.

Hopefully this is clear enough, I couldn't think of a better way to visualise what I arrived at.

Now this was significant progress! This is more clarity than I’ve had in a long time about where I wanted to go with the classic side of my wardrobe. More importantly, it helped avoid categories that were too narrow and where the exception always seemed to prove that my tastes were too broad to label. For example, I couldn’t go down the prints vs no prints route because as soon as I thought that solids is what I wanted, Cinema Doll emerged. Or I couldn’t say that I was going to stick strictly to tricolour because I do like greens and browns are growing on me once more as a darker neutral. However, these broad vibes enable all kinds of variation under one umbrella, allowing for some diversity whilst also keeping things somewhat more coherent.

The next logical step from that was to once again review my wardrobe post with these in mind and identify the things that I couldn’t reasonably shelve under any of these and take things from there. Do I allow them to stay on the exception rule, just like Crystal Dream Carnival for my sweet side? Is it time for them to go entirely or do they represent something that I am keen to keep, so they should therefore be a replacement? What is enough of a keeper to justify alterations and what is no longer a good fit for my current body? Given the weather, it was harder to do my check of fit through wearing an item for a day as now is not the season for wearing long sleeve blouses, though since those would have stayed in my wardrobe into autumn and winter anyway, I can leave that for later. Though even with that, with some allowances to try things later to confirm for sure, I was able to identify some bits to sell and replace, as well as some to add. Again, to save on overexplaining, here’s a visual to help.

Some of these will likely be happening very soon. The additions are very exemplary, particularly the skirt as it's to indicate that I'd simply like more classic skirts to wear casually.

The fact that there actually isn’t much from my current wardrobe that is on the chopping block is very reassuring. And inspiring because now that I know what is it that I’m gravitating towards and see that it’s things that I already own, my brain is churning over ideas on how to coord these pieces next. The changes that will be happening are minor enough that they won’t stop me in my tracks as I wait for replacements and significant enough to ensure that what is in my wardrobe will be worn and loved.

I won’t be entirely free of temptations and chances are that I will stray here or there with a shiny enough thing. As God is my witness, I know that I should stop following Chinese Lolita Updates if I want to avoid seeing pretty and available things so regularly, but we all know that I won’t. The goal is that just like having a direction with my sweet side has helped me make better decisions on what to keep/sell/get, having this bit of clarity with my classic side will do the same. No longer will those high neck Victorian-inspired pieces find their way into my cart because this is precisely the kind of thing that I am not wearing and currently trying to offload. At the same time, I won’t have to deny myself any classic pastels or earth tones because as long as the style fits into at least one of the vibes that I have identified, then this item would find a place in my wardrobe.

Honestly? Whilst this process was pretty stressful and downright frustrating at times, I do feel a massive sense of relief right now. I know where I’m standing and I know where I’m heading. The sense of excitement about classic that has dimmed somewhat, overshadowed by my enthusiasm for kitschy food-based sweet stuff, has returned like the shine on a piece of silverware that’s been polished. Here’s to whatever new coording adventures the rest of this year may still bring!

The Summer of Planning Spooks

Dear Reader, the Internets have reliably informed me that despite the heat still reigning in the Northern Hemisphere it is indeed Halloween season. Now, as someone who is not a spooky person, doesn’t really get into Halloween, channels all their energy into Christmas (and yes, planning for Christmas since Christmas in July is fully appropriate in my books), the notice is much appreciated. It allows me to, for once, avoid being taken by surprise when the month of October arrives. At least it lets me do so this year, which is particularly important because not only do I have plans for October, I also anticipate having less time for anything intensely creative and it’s only the second year in my life when I am close to genuine excitement about the spooky season overall.

First of all, there is the matter of planning outfits for a spooky banquet at the opulent Ludwigsburg Palace which I am set to attend. Covid deprived me of visiting it in July, but fortunately I received enough advance intel about the event to reschedule my flights. With tickets now purchased and all the travel arrangements sorted, if I don’t start planning outfits now then I will be a 100% Naked-chan come October and that is not acceptable. Thanks to @lena_golita’s suggestions and a quick (and hopefully adequately timed) AliExpress purchase I should have one coord down, which would be oh so perfect for the Pumpkin Festival planned for day 2 of the event.

Crude collage is crude, but for something done during stolen time at work on MS Paint it's doing a good enough job of representing the plan so far.

That leaves a matter of putting something together for the actual banquet itself. Thanks to the kindness of the people I’m going with, I have a potential backup plan in the form of a gorgeous Atelier Pierrot dress, which a friend offered to lend me. This generosity itself is melting my heart and it is a lovely dress, nonetheless I would like to at least attempt putting something together myself since we’re all trying to save on suitcase space. With the limited spooky options my heart automatically wanders towards Haenuli’s Just One Bite thanks to its elegance, flattering fit, and resistance to wrinkles. At the same time, since I’ve already done a fair few looks with it, I feel like I need a more specific theme or an idea to get my creative juices flowing. The coord above came together because I had a very specific dress suggestion with a very specific aesthetic to add to it (a cottagecore witch). If I can find an angle that excites me for this one too, then no doubts a coord will form itself in no time.

Every coord I've done with this JSK so far. Click to enlarge.

Secondly, since last year I have found ways to enjoy the spooky season on my own terms. Until then I’ve firmy rejected it since I do not like horror or anything even remotely adjacent to it, so Halloween was not welcome in my house. The contagious excitement of my friends towards the season combined with acknowledging the softer and cuter side of Halloween, massively aided by my very own void boi, seriously relaxed my stance on the matter. I still do not touch anything that was even standing next to horror on the shelf with a ten foot pole, you will not find me decorating my flat for the season or anything like that. But I have a very soft spot for autumn as a season and for what we associate with it, which is picturesque cosiness. So it’s fine if the oranges of the leaves changing colour blend in with the oranges of Halloween decorations and elements. If I were a coffee drinker, I’d for sure be the basic bitch drinking pumpkin spiced lattes, but since I cannot stand the taste of coffee I’m mulling apple juice and making warming stews instead.

The appropriate amount of spooky in my autumn.
Photo by Valeriia Miller on Pexels.

Does that mean adding more seasonally appropriate colours into my wardrobe? Trust me, I really want to, but I have to convince my rational side first. My sense of style has been shifting and trying to find a comfortable spot practically since the beginning of the year, and it’s only just about started to clarify and settle. The vision that it seems to be settling on is focusing on my tricolour roots (with pink being allowed to stay as a shade of red), so at least I won’t be short of reds to be autumnal. I’m also still doing the thing of periodically getting into browns, which I think I want to finally expand on, so that would be good. But it’s those shades of orange that my heart is drawn to every autumn. It may be that as more browns find their way into my wardrobe, a carefully selected orange piece such as a cardigan (oh boy, here we go) will be enough to scratch the itch. I really don’t want the seasonally induced craving to take over. But if I start planning for this now, in the summer, then maybe by the time the spooky season reaches its peak I will have something to accomplish the look with, maybe even found in a charity shop or via Vinted? That would be nice.

Seasonal veg, seasonal clothes, and seasonal colours. If I can make spooky cosy, then maybe we will get along for longer.
Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.

Last but certainly by no means least - despite eeeverything that I told you earlier about not touching anything even horror-adjacent with a ten foot pole - I have bought a horror adjacent book. I know, what a hypocrite, burn the witch! But hear me out! It’s a lolita book, by a lolita author (and a friend), and the horror is more comedy than actual horror. So I can manage that, right? (Because the reason I don’t do horror is because I purposefully keep my escapism light and bright, the world is scary enough as is.) DH D’haenens has launched a book via Kickstarter called Lockhart Mansion, which is fully funded as of Saturday August 6th. If you’re interested, you have literally HOURS to get it yourself here, though I imagine that there may be a run of it after the campaign is completed.

I mean, in today's housing market if I had an affordable haunted mansion and two frillies to share the costs with, I would be thinking hard about refusing.
Image from Flammable Penguin's Instagram.

But by backing the campaign I’m not just getting something lolita and spooky to read during the cosy season that I’m here for. The tier that I backed includes a book launch tea party, which you bet your pettis I am going to (and which I will be reporting on!). This means that I also need to start planning an adequately booky-spooky outfit for the tea party. My thoughts are meandering around the Dear Celine Magic Book OP as it’s warm, book-themed, witchy, comfortable, and easy to pack. If by then I manage to expand my wardrobe with some orangey bits, then I would love to give this dress a pumpkin-ish twist, it seems like it would lend itself well to that. But equally I can’t rely on that happening, so the planning cogs are once again turning and trying to come up with something good. Though at least with this one I do have enough themes to mull over.

Every coord I've done with this OP so far. Click to enlarge.

And thus, despite being still in early August, I have found myself spending the summer planning for spooks. Me, the “Christmas in July and don’t come near me with that spooky stuff” person in your neighbourhood. This is truly proof that you should never say never because who knows what sort of changes are awaiting you in your future…

This post is brought to you by Bibliotheca’s monthly theme of Spooky Summer. I’m sure that the other participating bloggers, many of whom are actually living the spooky life every day, will have something more substantial to say, so subscribe to the Bibliotheca newsletter if you haven’t already.