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.