May Coords Roundup

May picked up with coords after a slower April – and it was precisely the sort of creative burst that I needed in my life to keep me going.

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Coord 1: An Officer and a Gentleman

| Mary Magdalene Paulina JSK | offbrand blouse and earrings | Violet Fane Antiquite tights | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Manda Rin Designs hat | Rose Marie Seoir necklace | vintage brooches and gloves |

A softer version of my winged eyeliner and lipstick makeup.

The stabbiest brooch. You can even see here how far the stabby part extends.

May 2nd was my first working from home day following the stress pit that was exams and I was more than eager to dress up and feel like me again! I was also going to see An Officer and a Gentleman: The Musical that evening, so in checking what I haven’t worn in a while my eyes wandered towards this dress and decided on some more classic retro styling. Very pleased with the look and I admit, even though I was supposed to be working during the day, I fully gave in to the WFH vibes of doing fuck all.

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Coord 2: 42 Balloons Take 2

| Lady Sloth Look at My Dreamy Sky Casual OP | offbrand top, socks, and shoes | Snag White Russian fishnets | Chrysanthemum’s Concerto beret | Madillustration brooch |

Blue glasses and blue eyeshadow, this still feels very 80s even if it isn't actually.

Repping that 42 Balloons merch like a champ!

What's more appropriate for seeing a show about a man who flew in a lawn chair tied to a bunch of weather balloons than a sky dress? 42 Balloons is still a favourite and I loved it just as much as I did the first time round, if not more. The coord also got some appreciation from the theatre staff who noticed the reference with the clouds (although my other one, the Dream On brooch to reference the theme of everybody having a stupid dream, seems to have gone unnoticed – but I knew). Also, bonus kitty content. The funny thing is that the last picture like this that I have with Spy also involves this dress. Maybe he's just drawn to it specifically.

Everyone cheer for The Boy <3

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Coord 3: Hebden Bridge Adventure

| Victorian Maiden Shirring Frill JSK | offbrand top and earrings | Innocent World Rose Lace Millefeuille bolero | Angelic Pretty Airy Dot socks | Bodyline shoes | Angelic Pretty Classical Petit Rose headbow | vintage necklace | Folk and Fortune Diamond of the First Water brooch | Violet Fane Violet’s Tea Room brooch | belt from Physical Drop's Shirring 3-Tier OP |

If you look very closely, you can just about see the green shimmery eyeshadow I put into the inner corners of my eyes.

Fun fact: this rose is hanging on to the headbow by like a thread. And I keep meaning to do something about it - and then don't.

Wednesdays are the perfect days for little adventures with friends. This one involved a day out in Hebden Bridge and I embraced the late spring vibes by doing more green and pink. Sure, the tea parties being more of a bluish mint than the grassy green tones everywhere else irk me a little, but I was going to do a lot of walking, needed practical shoes, and didn't want to do the same green socks and pink flats combo again. It still works, which is all that matters. We had a truly blessed day of romanticising every moment, appreciating the flowers, brightening up everyone's day (seriously, the people in Hebden Bridge were so lovely and complimentary all day), and I came back with a cute Laura Ashley teacup and saucer set from the antique shop, as well as having met a former lolita at The Yorkshire Soap Co shop. Go on mid-week adventures, people, you deserve to live your best Studio Ghibli lives.

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Coord 4: Softer Tricolour

| Metamorphose Polka Dots Shirring Pinafore JSK | Axes Femme cutsew | Banned Retro cardigan | Snag Plee-yay tights | Sosic Shop shoes | offbrand hair clips | handmade earrings and bracelets | Folk and Fortune Romance Book Club Book Stack brooch |

I made these earrings and bracelets a fair while back now and they're finally getting their moment to shine.

Seriously, if you want cute beads for making bracelets, Daiso is hard to beat. Pro tip from me.

I was initially thinking of wearing this dress for the next round of seeing 42 Balloons, since the glittery tiers of chiffon are very floaty. But then I started planning outfits and this came up, which wasn’t quite the vibe I wanted for the show - so I just wore it for working from home. The cutsew being a more muted shade is quite jarring in comparison to the tights, I thought that with them being more sheer the colour would desaturate more than it did. But that is the only real criticism I have of this coord. I like how it came out and it was really comfortable. And it was fun to finally wear these bracelets and earrings I made with the beads I picked up in Daiso.

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Coord 5: Two of Them

| BtSSB's Polonaise Brillante ~ Ideas of a Maiden ~ Apron JSK | Ank Rouge cutsew | offbrand ankle socks | Bodyline/offbrand shoes | Cutie Creator headdress | handmade necklace | My Inspiration brooch | Innocent World Strawberry Fields wrist cuffs |

It's been a hot minute since the fake fringe came out. This also isn't a combo I would've done had we not been twinning, but I actually like it quite a lot.

Say whatever you want, but Innocent World has the nicest lace wrist cuffs. If you want nice lace wrist cuffs, you simply can't beat a classic lolita brand, they know their lace best.

Who doesn't love a twinning moment? And, dare I say it, I think Lara and I totally nailed it. She was coming over to the UK all the way from the US, for a totally unrelated occasion that I was able to hijack for a quick dinner evening, and twinning was the obvious choice of attire. As the more keen eye will have spotted, I did change shoes. Not just for practical reasons, but because after 10 years of faithful service my Bodyline red heels truly gave up on life and me. RIP, I would have replaced you in a heartbeat except that you're a discontinued model.

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Coord 6: 42 Ballons Take 3

| Metamorphose Airline JSK | Niuniu’s Shop blouse | Mademoiselle Pearl Persimmon socks | offbrand shoes, scrunchie, hair clip, and earrings | Donguri Kyouwakoku brooch | handmade bracelets |

Somehow juuuust about managed to capture a part of the scrunchie and the hair clip in my ponytail.

Blind box gods really wanted me to have things to coord with the Dumb Airline Dress and I'm so happy that I finally got to put this brooch with it.

Am I insufferable yet? I’m not doing my job as the unofficial 42 Balloons spokesperson very well if I’m not. Jokes aside, this was my last opportunity to see the show, which this time I’ve gone to see with a friend. The weather in Manchester had turned nearly summer-like, with temperatures in the low 20s, so whilst I wanted to add my denim jacket to this, it would’ve been overkill. In looking at what else would suit the theme and vibe of the show, I gravitated towards this JSK and seeing as I kind of had this more casual idea with blue in mind, I ran with it. The coord would’ve been perfect with some balloon accessories, but that is sadly not something that I own. So instead all accessories are used because they fit the colour scheme and are a complete mess thematically. But I still think it came out great and fun, precisely what I wanted. So many of the cast also appreciated it when I came out to the stage door to get them to sign my programme (I felt so very awkward doing it, but they were all sweethearts about it!).

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Coord 7: Manager Training

| Physical Drop 3-Tier Shirring OP | Banned Retro cardigan | offbrand socks and necklace | Clarks shoes | Cosy Kawaii Mood earrings | Violet Fane Violet’s Tea Room brooch | Bows and Crossbones bangles |

Hello and welcome to another instalment of “This is my blog, I can post whatever I want”. Because this is definitely not a lolita look, I just happen to be wearing a Physical Drop OP because it’s very hecking comfy, and the whole outfit was cute enough to snap a bathroom mirror selfie. Although Kato-san is also very keen on making clothes that are simply wearable, regardless of how traditionally lolita they may look, which is why we love her so much. That is all, thank you for bearing with me.

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Coord 8: The Picnic That Never Was

| Metamorphose Vintage Fruit OP | Tabio socks | Irregular Choice Ariel’s Treasure shoes | Cutie Creator Maiden’s Prayer headbow | offbrand earrings | Innocent World Strawberry Fields wrist cuffs |

In search of a natural look I ended up using my creme blush as both a blush and an eyeshadow. And I think I like it, it really does create a very fresh look.

Ignore the wrinkles, just focus on the lovely vintage labels.

Or rather, the picnic took place all fine, but I couldn’t go for a variety of reasons. So instead I dressed up in roughly what I was thinking of wearing to it the day before. I say roughly because I would not have worn these heels for an actual picnic, they’re pretty, but not the most practical. I’m so happy to have this OP after searching for it for so long, and this incredibly simple styling highlights its inherent charm. Well done on this release, Meta. And not so well done on me for not realising this when the dress was released.

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Coord 9: Slightly Rock

| Lady Sloth Slavic Bestiary JSK | Axes Femme cutsew | Cutie Creator tights | offbrand shoes, hair pins, earrings, and gloves | Le Petit Four necklace | handmade garter belt |

In hindsight, I should've stuck to a regular smokey eye instead of trying this smokey eye smudged wing liner thing. But eh, it's fine.

The textures in this photo please me immensely.

For seeing Jesus Christ Superstar I tried to find something that would be at least slightly rock. The original plan involved this, but with AatP's Rosier Fleur, but that dress does not fit me the way I want and it's time to actually part with it. But since I was already mostly dressed when I realised that, I did a quick scan of what could I replace it with, landing on this. Yes, it is a little bit like what I wore in July of last year, but I think I like this version better. And the dress got very enthusiastically complimented by two young girls (probably in their late teens? it's hard to judge people's ages these days) at the tram stop on the way to the theatre, so that tells me it was definitely the right choice.

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Coord 10: Filming Content

| Innocent World Georges Rose JSK | Axes Femme cutsew | Violet Fine Enchanted Ivy tights | Modo Prayer Poem shoes | Physical Drop headbow | vintage earrings | offbrand necklace and rings | Firmoo glasses |

The post-braid waves and flat headbows are such a great combo.

I love cute glasses - but I love them even more when they are free!

When Firmoo reached out to me to collaborate, I picked out this pair immediately (though full disclosure: I initially requested these frames in tortoiseshell, but those turned out to be out of stock). I wanted gold glasses to add to my collection and these are precisely what I wanted. The collaboration meant putting stuff up on my Instagram that featured these and since it had to be relatively soon, I took that as an extra layer to the challenge of how to style them. The cutsew was definitely too warm, even for my cool indoors, but I like how this relatively simple coord came together. The gold touches help highlight the glasses, whilst the overall simplicity of styling still lets them be the star of the outfit. If anyone is on the lookout for affordable frames, then Firmoo has a nice range of stylish ones and you can get 50% off with my code kamis50. And if you buy through this affiliate link, then you’ll help me put some money into the kitty in these trying times ^_^”

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Coord 11: Almost Summer

| Chrysanthemum’s Concerto Lost in the Garden of Eden JSK and headbow | Nile Perch cutsew | Innocent World Torchon Lace Ribbon bolero | Angelic Pretty Wrapping Cherry socks | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | vintage necklace | handmade bracelets |

This headbow is supposed to sit more upright, but I forced it to sit closer to the head which I think suits my head and less voluminous hair better.

An attempt to showcase the row of bows that just happened here. Like the stars aligning in Disney's Hercules.

A very simple, very bare minimum coord for working from home during Peak Busy Season. And I really like it. Not only it was super comfortable, but I think this extra simple styling actually lends itself to this dress better. It’s a cute gingham JSK – why try to force it to be something it’s not when it’s cute in its own right? I like it more this way and this is knowledge to stash away for the future.

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June is almost upon us, with ILD hitting exactly tomorrow. And I’m stuck between work-induced tiredness from Peak Busy Season in higher education and incredible excitement for The Queen is Dead. If I could just dump work, I would fully dedicate myself to TQiD stuff, that stuff enriches my soul even if I’m physically tired and then I want to keep going. But I know that this will also be over in a flash, like all incredible events, so I want to savour the moment as much as I can. Expect a bit more silence, as well as plenty of TQiD content afterwards. And if you’re coming to Manchester for TQiD – see you soon! Please, do say hello. I may be running around a little like a headless chicken, so a quick hello from someone here would be very grounding and add more loveliness to an already incredible event.

Reflecting on My Wardrobe Once Again

It will be almost two years since I last did a Big Load of Thinking about my lolita wardrobe and style more generally. And I mean that literally given how I broke down my classic style into a whole separate blog post. Yet here I am, once again finding myself at a point where new information and personal growth are challenging what I thought I knew about myself – and this time all because of generative AI technology.

Photo by Anastasia Kolchina on Pexels.com.

Determining Your Season

My friend told me how they used ChatGPT to establish what season they are. The Internet is once again obsessed with figuring this out and people out there charge hefty money for the service of throwing your style upside down – but ChatGPT can do that for you for free! Although I just tested the thing with a different AI chat and that one was quicker to say that this method isn’t foolproof and you may still want to consult a professional, but at least it ended up with roughly the same results. For those curious, the method is simple: take a selfie with no makeup and in natural light, then use any colour picking tool to extract the HEX codes for your eyes, lips, cheeks, skin, and hair, before asking your AI chat of choice to determine your season.

Thank you, ChatGPT, for providing this service.

Whether you use this method or shell out on a professional to analyse you, the vast majority of people end up finding out that nearly everything they own is completely the wrong colours for them, which inevitably leads to at least a bit of an identity crisis. The same happened with me. Both ChatGPT and the Ecosia AI Chat established me as a Soft Autumn, which is best suited to muted shades with warmer undertones. Yup, no true red/white/blue tricolour for me! Though at least my recent kick of getting greens, as well as embracing pinks more, has been a good move if I were to follow this to the letter.

Oh No, but That’s Not What I Wear!

The important thing to establish here is that just because you are a whatever season, it doesn’t mean that you absolutely aren’t allowed to wear other colours that make you happy. First of all, you absolutely can and should wear whatever you want, your body is your temple, adorn it however pleases you as its deity. And secondly – the seasons theory is there to suggest colours that highlight your natural colouring in the most complimentary way. Like any fashion rules, these aren’t set in stone and you can still incorporate other colours successfully by either ‘compensating’ for whatever has been washed out of you with makeup or by employing those other colours more strategically (more on that later).

The initial response may be something like this.
Picture taken from Amazon.

With what you are seeing of my style here, and given that I am very happy with where my wardrobe is right now, it is no wonder that this discovery has me questioning where I am. Fashion is never still and even those with very distinct, clearly defined styles still experience fluctuations within them. Mine happen to be of the larger variety and right now are centred on colours. Realising what colours might suit me most is something that I will be taking more into my non-lolita style (though even in that area there has been some resistance), but lolita is not immune to it. So here I am, thinking about how to use this newly acquired information to my advantage and make the most of it in lolita too.

What Matches That Currently?

Wanting to start with the positive, I’m not starting entirely from scratch. There are things already in my wardrobe that fit that season, a fair few actually, including some recent additions and favourites. Once I had my season, my search moved to Pinterest and this particular breakdown proved the most helpful to me due to how detailed it is:

The Internet swooping in to help with a whole bunch of similar breakdowns.
Image taken from Pinterest.

Green tea, rose, cornflower, burgundy, brick, spring, midnight, mocha, and bone – these are all colours that I have at least something in. And even if not in that exact shade, like the case may be with neutrals, then certainly something that still fits the bill of a softer, more muted shade of a colour with warmer undertones (specifically my many shades of ivory). Some of these include my favourite items, and if I were to go through my main pieces only, then out of the 54 that I currently own, 24 fit into the soft autumn colour palette, with a good balance between JSKs, skirts, and OPs (the ratio being 11:8:5). I’m not going to bother to count things like blouses etc. – even with just these it’s clear that I could easily keep my current lolita style, with its mix of sweet, classic, and retro elements.

I probably could have squeezed in one or two more reds that are closer to the brick shade, but I'll be honest, I found identifying the budgundy shades easier than deciding which is brick red vs true red vs some other red.

What About the Things that Don’t?

I already hinted earlier that not all is lost. It’s not like I have to get rid of everything else – mainly because I don’t have to do anything, remember, these things are just guidelines. But also because it is possible to wear colours that aren’t within your season without getting yourself washed out. The suggestions given to me by ChatGPT included stuff like not wearing those colours too close to your face (so skirts are a-okay), creating a barrier between tat and your face that is within your colour palette (AI suggested a scarf, but a big bow at the neck or a collar is more lolita), using that colour as an accent in an outfit that’s otherwise all your season or just a neutral (my trusty all-ivory-with-a-pop-of-colour formula), or just straight up makeup magic. It’s not like I’m going to get rid of my Dumb Airline Dress just because some colour theory says it doesn’t suit me when it brings me insane amounts of joy and I just bloody love wearing it.

Oh look, it's Totally Not My Colours in a coord that I bloody loved and still love looking at!

On top of this, I think that colour theory and seasons are great for determining one’s everyday wardrobe. Their point is to simplify our decision making processes by creating a wardrobe where everything will look good on us with the least amount of effort necessary (not unlike a capsule wardrobe, just with a different focus). The various points related to my newly discovered soft autumn-ess will be taken on board for that. But even though I wear lolita frequently, it is by no means my daily style (and is certainly less so now than it was at the height of the pandemic and working from home). And I feel that this is a sentiment that many others would share. Putting together a lolita coord is already such a labour and energy intensive process that going the extra few steps to adjust things to make us look our best isn’t that much at all. We’re already in the mindset of being willing to do that with how obsessively we can get tweaking to get a coord just right. Sure, for some folk out there knowing their season might be the guidance and direction they need to cull their wardrobe or to curate it in a way that brings out their best through colours. But I imagine those folks will be in the minority. Wearing something as loud as lolita is pointless if it isn’t making you happy and if what makes you happy are the brightest, sweetest pastels, even though these are not ‘your colours’, then ignore the theories and wear the pastels.

But Maybe A Tweak or Two…

That being said, I don’t plan on ignoring this discovery entirely when it comes to lolita and how I dress within that realm of my style. Pinterest makes it hard to look for direct inspiration in applying this to lolita fashion, given that all of the guides and suggestions are created with mainstream styles in mind. But since we are talking about something as basic and universal as colours, there are some things that I can surmise on my own.

1. It’s Time to Get More Browns

My back and forth with whether I should add more brown into my wardrobe has been going on for years. Whilst that was mostly relating to more brown main pieces, knowing that my colour season leans into autumn, I think it makes the most sense for me to get a few more builder and accent pieces in brown. Especially now that knowing this has solved my issue of which brown to get because the cool ones and the brown ones are so very different. Right now I’m thinking maybe one or two more blouses, a belt, as well as some more bronze-y jewellery so that I am not constantly relying on the same few things.

This very much feels like something that I'll focus my search on.
Photo from SonDeFlor.com.

2. Pink is Here to Stay

In lolita my forays into pink tend to utilise it as a secondary or accent colour. Unlike my non-lolita wardrobe, where I own and frequently wear pink as the main one. Although I am still as picky as I’ve always been, it is a good time to maybe introduce more pink through my main pieces. I’m mainly thinking of a skirt, but one more JSK that wouldn’t be limited by the season couldn’t hurt. That being said, whilst I have a whole bunch of pink brooches, my necklaces are lacking in those, so maybe I should look for something too.

I would fully swap my black Snow Dot skirt for the pink one, now that my eyes have been opened.
Photo from Lolibrary.

3. Rethink Some Colours

For now I’m not committing to acting out on anything, only to have a Real Good Think about some of them. Over the years I’ve had pretty much every colour imaginable in my wardrobe, some with more ease than others. Whilst I have enjoyed being able to wear yellow, I’ve been wondering about getting rid of it anyway, so this may very well prove to be the catalyst for that change. But in a more dramatic turn of events, stark white is also on the chopping block. It’s unlikely that I’d get rid of every single true white thing in favour of an all-ivory base collection, but it may very well lead me to getting rid of a few things – and we all know that every little helps in lolita.

Another coord that's absolutely not a Soft Autumn colour palette - but whilst Diner Doll stays, the fate of this cardigan and these socks is a little bit less certain.

In Conclusion

Finding out my season through ChatGPT was a fun exercise that I’d still recommend to people curious about these things. Everything that’s suggested for Soft Autumn people is going to get considered in the context of my non-lolita wardrobe first and lolita second – especially as it helped me put names to things that I was already gravitating towards. But lolita is my fun fashion, my most out-there fashion, and I don’t wear it to things like work that often. Not enough to warrant that level of overhaul, anyway. These ideas will still likely get implemented, especially into my classic wardrobe, which in itself is a lot closer to that season anyway than the sweet. But bar a few smaller additions or changes, at least right now, I won’t be doing any more major changes. If not for any other reason than because I simply can’t imagine myself parting with some of these pieces and still love myself in them.

1 Dress 4 Looks Take 70

Literally within one day of buying my first ever Physical Drop piece [LINK] I bought my second one. Having missed out on this Shirring 3-Tier OP in this very shade of green once before, when I found it at Closet Child Harajuku I was not about to let it go again. And it was from my wishlist, so it got an automatic pass for insta-buying. It will join my bunch of spring/summer pieces, so as that time is finally here putting together some potential looks is actually long overdue (except that it isn’t because I put this post together in like March).

Look 1: That Shade of Green

| Wonderland Ukiyoe Lilith’s Collection skirt | AatP Lace-Up Ribbon OTKs | offbrand shoes | Angelic Pretty Classical Petit Rose headbow | vintage earrings and gloves | Violet Fane Violet’s Tea Room brooch | Bow and Crossbones bangles |

At this point my love for this shade of green is quite well known, so I’m getting the obvious out of the way. Except that this time it’s obvious with a twist as I thought that layering this OP with this skirt would be much more fun than with an upper body layer. In real life the slight different in shades is more obvious (the OP has warm undertones, while the skirt has cool ones), but that’s less stark in the photo. Also, I have actually bought some light green beads to make bracelets with – it’s just that they turned out to be very tiny and I’m still working out how best to use them.

Look 2: Fae Prince

| offbrand jacket, crown, and ring | morun x muuna stoik overskirt | Violet Fane Enchanted Ivy tights | Modo Prayer Poem shoes | Summer Tales Boutique necklace | vii ring | Le Petit Four Emerald Palace ring | vintage brooch | Puvithel Crystal Heart necklace, brooch, and earrings | Folk and Fortune Ruby Hilt Dagger brooch |

Yes, it’s a simple summery solid coloured dress – but that is what makes it perfect for adding a theme on top of that. And whilst green is still a growing part of my wardrobe, one green thing that I do have is this incredible jacket from @gravelvet himself. Having such an OTT coord so early on in the post is not the usual format that these posts follow, but screw the format. It’s the 2020’s, we’re all embracing our cringe fantasy-loving selves... and probably unironically yearning for the simpler life that being in fae’s captivity is promising when compared to the toils of late stage capitalism.

Look 3: Maypole

| Baroque Secret Garden tights | Laura Ashley shoes | Kaneko Shop headdress | handmade pink rose necklace and bracelets | offbrand earrings and flower clips |

From a fae prince to straight up being gay as a maypole? Why not. All of this started with the headdress and descended from there with the logic of “how can it be even more floral?”. It’s a bit of a work in progress, but it doesn’t seem that far off being completed, don’t you think? It’s also basically a slightly less extra version of the coord I did back in August 2021, the sort of more fantasybounding companion to the full-on fantasy-bordering-on-cosplay of either that or the fae prince above. And I love this iteration just as much for its simplicity.

Look 4: Dear Reader

| Banned Retro cardigan | Snag Plee-yay tights | Sosic Shop shoes | headbow handmade by Jule | vintage earrings and necklace | Banned Bella belt | Folk and Fortune Romance Book Club Book Stack brooch | Angelic Pretty Cute Ribbon wrist cuffs | Enchantlic Enchantilly Queen Cat Secret Library ring |

But as per the actual usual, the most experimental look gets the prime final spot. I think this dress is perfect for those romantic looks – I am also still obsessed with my romance book stack brooch (that by now you’re probably sick of me talking about it). Whilst the brooch doesn’t have any green in it, the pastel shades work well with the muted pastel of the dress. And thus, after a whole bunch of fiddling with things to make sure that the balance is just right, this look was born. Watch me wear it to pick up my next delivery of more or less spicy romance at the library.


In case it wasn’t obvious, I have gone from not owning any Physical Drop to being a total Physical Drop stan. And whilst I will fully be taking advantage of how easy to wear this dress is by styling it in much simpler ways, I am also excited to see all of this potential. Especially that last look, that one may be my favourite. Although, I say that – this is the first of these posts in a while when I love each of the four looks equally and am equally happy with them. Not to say that I’ve been sharing posts with looks that I’m unhappy with. But it’s not often that I am this pleased with each of them.

April Coords Roundup

Wow, that went by in a flash! I don’t even know when, April really flew by in mostly grey light. But it is warmer now, so this will be an interesting one to reflect back on.

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Coord 1: Compensating

| Metamorphose Polka Dots skirt | Ank Rouge cutsew | offbrand jacket, tights, and hair clip |

As I fell ill with Covid, I could not go to Germany for Easter like originally planned. However, because life is a lover of irony, the day that I was supposed to fly out was the second one of me feeling better enough to wear proper clothes. So rather than think what to wear, I went with what was already planned out (except the shoes and makeup). It didn’t warrant more than just a mirror selfie, but clothes were worn and that matters. That day I also discovered Dungeon Meshi on Netflix and that show is so strongly coded for my D&D character in that weird anime nonsense with food kind of way that I oscillated between being very amused and being very perplexed.

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Coord 2: As Above

| Metamorphose Polka Dots skirt | Stroje.pl blouse | Snag tights | offbrand sweater vest and hair clip | Mademoiselle Boutique necklace | vintage necklace |

Does what it says on the tin: this is another outfit I had pre-planned and it was easier to wear that than to exert brain cells to come up with something else. Plus, this was very comfortable!

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Coord 3: Happy Easter

| Baroque Repose of Queen Teatime Dress and tights | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | Jeshii Doll bonnet | headbow handmade by Jule | necklace handmade by me | Enchantlic Enchantilly necklace | vintage gloves | Le Petit Four bracelet |

Look, a face with actual makeup and lashes!

The way this bracelet and this glove work together makes me yearn to go to a Regency ball and dance the night away.

Easter Sunday, the lazy affair that it was, still deserved something floral and elegant, as well as comfy. This OP jumped out at me as a contender and since I really wanted to play up the pinks of the flowers somehow, after some playing around I ended with this styling. When can you wear a bonnet if not at Easter? This one hasn't seen the light of day in much too long. Now comes the honesty part: shoes, bonnet, gloves, and bracelet were promptly yeeted off the moment the photos were done because I needed freedom of movement to cook. The rest somehow stayed on, but mostly due to laziness because what more do you need to sit down and watch anime? (Side note, Dungeon Meshi is wholly my cup of tea, but dang, I did not expect it to get so dark, give me back my wholesome anime about weird foods, you cowards!) The rest of the coord did then come off by the time I was ready to order myself a curry for dinner. It's already been hard to make Easter feel different from the rest of the week before it, so I didn't try to make my life even harder. But at least I looked great whilst lounging around and watching anime like the good weeb that I am.

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Coord 4: Tentative and recycled

| Wonderland Ukiyoe Lilith’s Collection skirt | The Seamstress of Bloomsbury Jive blouse | Axes Femme Kawaii Bear Brooch cardigan | Tabio socks | offbrand shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | vintage necklace | Dentelles brooch |

Back to mascara and lipstick sort of days.

When I first got this necklace at a work Secret Santa, I wasn't sure. But by now I've worn it so many times that I am extremely glad to own it.

Tentative because it’s only tentative that this is lolita. And recycled because that’s what I was going to wear to a theatre show that I had to skip because of being ill with Covid. It does the job just as well for working from home and I like the green/pink/brown tricolour that’s going on here, it’s very spring-like. Unlike the chillier weather, though this skirt is lovely, long, and heavy, which helps with that part. I need to wear it more.

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Coord 5: A Long Time Coming

| Physical Drop Shirring 3-Tier OP | Amavel cardigan | Snag Plee-yay tights | offbrand shoes and flower clips | Enchantlic Enchantilly necklace | Folk and Fortune Diamond of the First Water brooch |

Trying to photographs hair clips that are at the side of your head is so very tricky.

Fun fact: I forgot that I ordered this brooch with the pearl drop, so when it arrived, I thought that there was a mistake with my order. There wasn't, I'm just very forgetful.

A whole week went by with nary a proper coord (though one super casual one that did not get anything, not a mirror selfie, not even a Whering collage). I realised that I’ve waited long enough to wear this OP from Physical Drop and it was time to stop waiting. The weather was far from spring-like (in fact it was pouring it down and windy as all hell, I know because I went out to the library and battled that wind), but at least I could lie to myself about that. The coord was inspired by my new Folk and Fortune brooch (spotted a theme to my life yet?) and since my spring/summer clothes were still packed up, it was another reason to finally give this OP a spin instead of waiting for some arbitrary time in the future when the weather would be ‘nice’ (it’s Manchester, the weather is always meh, I need to accept that). I’m so very glad that I dressed up, even in something as simple as this, because that turned out to be a very sweary WFH day, so at least I had this cute outfit to cheer me up.

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Coord 6: 42 Balloons

| Haenuli Whipped Cream Kitty JSK | Axes Femme cutsew | Snag White Russian fishnets | Angelic Pretty Fancy Border socks | offbrand shoes, jacket, barrette, earrings, and pin | Melty Wish necklace | handmade choker and bracelets | handmade (not by me) bracelet | Madillustration brooch |

Clear glassess feel very 80s, even though their shape isn't. But my hair could do with more volume (just generally tbh).

Dream On brooch for Stupid Dreams, a friendship bracelet for the vibes, and a train pin because I can. If your coords aren't making you smile, then why are you wearing them?

By this point April felt like it was slipping away from me and so much was happening that I didn’t have the time to prepare for. Thankfully, past me built in those little theatre breaks and this one motivated me to dress up a bit. With no prior knowledge of the show, I just dug out that it’s set in the 80’s and tried to come up with something vaguely inspired for that (with minimum effort in the hair and makeup department because I was also working that day). The outfit came together really nicely, even with the minimum hair and makeup (which I feel is still somewhat authentic to the decade, if I’m not doing that every day now, when these things get so elaborate, then I wouldn’t have been doing that in the 80’s when it was less so, so surely there were others who felt the same). 42 Balloons became my new favourite basically from the moment it started, it is such a wonderful show that I want to scream about from the rooftops and get everyone to watch. If you get a chance, please do!

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Coord 7: Wedding

| Haenuli Lovely Memories JSK | L’Esprit de la Noblesse Le Nuage blouse | Red Maria tights | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | Triple Fortune bonnet | Tiny Passerine Creations The Duchess’ Tea parure | Folk and Fortune Diamond of the First Water brooch | handmade (not by me) brooch | offbrand belt |

Wedding! A wedding! We're going to have a wedding! That hair also lasted surprisingly well throughout the course of the day.

Me playing favourites with new accessories? No, you must be mistaken.

The wedding bells have finally tolled for @petticats and I could not be happier for them! The invitation explicitly invited guests to be colourful and after asking for further permission regarding the bonnet, this outfit was born. It is a successor to this one from the Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates series because it was perfect for the occasion. Ever since getting this dress I thought that it would be ideal for weddings, since it can be worn in ways that don’t read as lolita and still be elegant enough for the occasion, so I’m glad that this finally happened for it. Although I will say, whilst I managed all of the wedding itself in these shoes, I was very grateful to change out of them for the evening reception, not only because the accumulated pain was a bit much, but also because flats are way easier to jump around in to the sound of musical and Disney tunes. 10/10 incredible wedding, one of the best ones I’ve ever been to.

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Coord 8: Wizard of Oz

| L'Esprit de la Noblesse La Bibliotheque JSK | offbrand blouse and shoes | Axes Femme Kawaii Bear Brooch cardigan | Red Maria tights | Cutie Creator headbow | Puvithel Crystal Heart necklace and brooch | vii ring |

These glasses were just made for wearing to The Wizard of Oz!

I managed to get a handful of really nice detail shots. I'll see what will happen by the time I get to post this trio on my Instagram grid, it may end up being a different detail shot.

The spring of theatre continued with seeing The Wizard of Oz. A friend who's seen it on the West End said that the staging was quite green and pink for Oz itself, which settled my decision on wearing this dress as opposed to gingham. Surprisingly, I've not worn it yet with pink, but the combo really works so well and the cardigan kept me cosy in the chilly evening air. Although I think it may be time to consider either altering this dress or selling it, it was a touch tight and the cardigan was almost as much for hiding as it was for warmth.
 

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Everyone around me has also noticed that this April has been cool and grey for much longer than in the past few years. It has finally warmed up right at the absolute end (i.e. the very last day), so even though I committed to swapping my autumn/winter bits for the spring/summer ones around the ¾ mark, it didn’t get a proper chance to kick in until now. My thoughts, when not preoccupied with work, are busy with preparing for The Queen is Dead, and together with getting a bit fed up with my autumn/winter wardrobe this all explains a less than enthusiastic attitude towards frilling up this month. Of course, this is being followed by ambitious plans for May that I will try to curb down as much as feels actually realistic. But as usual, it all remains to be seen. On a positive note though, I really enjoy the dominance of green in April, that was very seasonally appropriate and very much what I am into right now.