July Coords Roundup

After June having only 6 coords and with July promising a lot of Things To Do and kicking off with way cooler weather (seriously, it was practically autumnal at times), I was determined to dress up more. Did it happen? Oh boy, did it just!

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Coord 1: Back in the game

| Summer Fairy Limited Menu JSK | Axes Femme cutsew | DreamV cardigan | Angelic Pretty Odekake Ribbon OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Angelic Pretty Twinkle Star headbow | Folk and Fortune Late Night Diner necklace | offbrand brooch |

Tried that loose side braid again, but I think it worked better with the flatter style of headbows.

Necklines will have to align!

It’s been so long, in fact, that I forgot where I misplaced my Bluetooth camera remote (I swear, I lose these things way too easily, I need to do something about that). The fact that it was July 4th did not influence my choice of dress at all, that is pure coincidence as I was going by what I haven’t worn in a while. And although I’m not mad about this coord, I still like it. The light browns complement all of those fast food items nicely. Working from home explains the simpler styling – that loose side braid is growing on me and I want to do that hairstyle more often.

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Coord 2: Casual Museum Meet

| Physical Drop Shirring 3-Tier OP | Wonderland Ukiyoe Lilith’s Collection skirt | AatP Lace-Up Ribbon OTKs | offbrand shoes and necklace | Angelic Pretty Classical Petit Rose headbow | vintage earrings and gloves | Violet Fane Violet’s Tea Room brooch | Bow and Crossbones bangles |

What you see up here is the look of "Oh heck, of course I curled my hair on a humid day, thank goodness I have the time to take pictures before leaving the house."

I finally fixed the string on my hobbit door necklace. And by "fixed" I mean chopped the bit I couldn't untangle and realised that it's still long enough to go around my neck without choking me.

Sometimes I get myself in these spirals of indecision about what to wear to a meetup and then I remember that I do the 1 Dress 4 Looks posts precisely to avoid that. This time it’s the very last one that came to the rescue. It worked out in person just as well as on the flatlay, if not better. Somehow there’s enough gathering in the bodice of the OP to add some lovely volume that balances out the skirt, and of course the extra bit of frill at the bottom acted as an additional petticoat. Our museum venture was relatively brief, sticking to only a few parts of the whole museum and then promptly retreating to the cafe when our sugar levels dropped. But it’s fine, that’s what casual and chill meetups are for. I got to see the taxidermy derp buffalo, so I’m happy!

It'd be mean not to share him with you.

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Coord 3: & Juliet

| Victorian Maiden Shirring Frill JSK | Angelic Pretty Airy Dot socks | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | offbrand hair clips | Folk and Fortune Typewriter necklace | handmade bracelets | Banned Retro Bella belt |

Please, ignore the highly un-aesthetic office background.

When Folk and Fortune came out with these, I knew that I had to get one. This is me manifesting that publishing deal.

Or more accurately, work followed by & Juliet at the theatre. I didn’t want to miss a chance to dress up, but also wouldn’t have a chance to change in between the two parts of the day, so needed something to work for both. I was also keen on using my new Folk and Fortune customised necklace and felt it fit the theme here pretty well. The simplicity of the styling really works with this dress and thankfully it was just about warm enough to be out with only a cardigan over this. Also, & Juliet is one hell of a show, if you are in the UK and can see it whilst it is on tour, you absolutely should!

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Coord 4: Filming Day

| Angelic Pretty Flower Garden JSK | Atelier Pierrot Decay blouse | Innocent World Union Flag Lame OTKs | Modo Prayer Poem shoes | Vierge Vampur bonnet | Physical Drop headbow | offbrand earrings and ring | Rose Marie Seoir choker | vintage brooch | Peppermint Fox brooch | handmade belt |

For some reason these glasses seem to glare more than my other ones. I have so many nice selfies that are just the reflection of my window in these.

In living up to its name, the Decay blouse wants to disintegrate completely. I now have fray check, which I will be applying as soon as I find the will to deal with all of this.

You’ve heard of girl math, now get ready for lolita math – where you take an hour and a half getting ready only to spend thirty minutes in the coord itself for photos and filming, then yeet the whole thing off. I’ve come to realise that just as the Crystal Dream Carnival JSK, this one is also very fancy in cut and that makes it harder to tone down, so I don’t reach for it unless something quite fancy is happening. At the moment, there is very little very fancy stuff happening, but since I was filming a collab video (coming soon), the occasion created itself. I really liked all the previous times when I wore this dress with wine red, it plays nicely into some of the darker flowers on the floral pattern, so since up to then I still haven’t worn my Atelier Pierrot blouse, the two came together and everything fell around that. I must say, Atelier Pierrot’s shirring is very comfortable, that blouse was lovely to wear, except boy, I get that the frayed hems were the whole point, but this feels like it’ll unravel itself into nothingness in like two more wears if left unaddressed.

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Coord 5: Sweet Snack

| The Black Ribbon Konbini Market JSK | Dear Celine Polka Dot Waltz blouse | Angelic Pretty Ice-Cream Parlor OTKs | Bodyline shoes | After Midnight hair clip | offbrand hair clip and earrings | Trixie La Fleur brooch | Lady Sloth My Coffee Time brooch | belt from Lady Sloth’s Look at My Dreamy Sky OP | handmade bracelets | Angelic Pretty Logo Ribbon Charm wrist cuffs |

I swear I had lipstick on, but somehow it's not showing up very well.

Peep these hairclips that my babylita self thought she'd get tonnes of use out of.

What I actually wanted to do was coord this dress with a deeper, darker pink, the one that’s on a few of the snacks in the print. I think that would look very cute. Unfortunately, I don’t really own that much (well, not at all), so I turned back to the other pink-based coord I did with this dress and swapped out the brown elements for sax ones. It’s not my most balanced one, Fifty Shades of Sax struck back with a vengeance, but I think overall I still like the coord more than I don’t. Except for something this bright and sweet I didn’t actually have the energy for dealing with people at work, when I was working from home, so most of it was off after the photos and hidden under a cardigan. Sometimes that’s the cards that you’re dealt.

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Coord 6: Botany

| Physical Drop Long Sleeve Shirring dress | Violet Fane Antiquite tights | offbrand shoes, belt, hair pins, and earrings | vintage necklace and brooch |

Still feel like the whole coord would've looked nicer if I clipped my half wig to the back, but the more I look, the more this version grows on me. And it was way too humid for having any hair on my neck!

The 500 yen belt coming through.

After a literal month of trying to meet up, my friend Shasha and I finally managed. Since we decided on having a super chill day playing Botany (an excellent board game, I highly recommend!), I knew that I had to do something in the spirit of Victorian botanist explorers, even if I didn't do anything floral. Lazy Sunday vibes took over and I had a right outfit crisis, so ended up settling on this OP because it's veeery comfortable and because having done one fancy coord with it already, I wanted to try something a little more relaxed. And I liked the outcome. The only thing I would've changed is adding my half wig. As nice as the braid crown is, on its own it doesn't feel quite big enough to balance even the smaller poof of the dress, so a bigger braid or some hair left down would've balanced this out better. Still, the look came together great and I can't wait to play Botany again now that I've grasped the rules.

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Coord 7: Get Me to a Café

| Violet Fane Ginza Kissaten skirt | Axes Femme cutsew | Innocent World Lauretta OTKs | Sosic Shop shoes | offbrand hair clip | Cosy Kawaii Mood earrings | handmade (not by me) necklace | Milkribbon Butterkeks brooch |

See what I mean? It's glare city over in these specs.

Axes Femme does such great cutsews! I wish they were a bit more consistent with their stretch because I have some that are tight and some that are divinely comfortable - this one is, thankfully, the latter.

I could not wait for my order of Axes Femme cutsews to arrive and then start using them. And even though this particular cutsew is cool-toned to the skirt's warm tones, somehow they managed to work together well, probably because the print has some cooler tones in it too. I am once again glad that I dressed up for working from home because it's been a stressful day, so at least I got to look cute. Not much to say about the coord, to be honest, it's cute in its simplicity and that's about that.

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Coord 8: Summer? Is That You?

| BtSSB Snow Dot skirt | Axes Femme cutsew | offbrand socks and shoes | Cutie Creator headdress | Vivienne Westwood Lorelei studs | AatP Tulle Lace wrist cuffs |

Lol being sweaty is the best highlighter. But it does look great in moderation.

Gotta flex that designer jewellery (even though, ironically, the stud next to it is probably worth more by virtue of being real gold - but it's not designer, so it's not as obvious a flex).

Paulina? In oldschool? Nah, can’t be, that’s an impostor! Except that… it’s not. We got hit by a bit of heat and knowing that I’d be going out to do my grocery shopping later that day, when it really warmed up, I wanted to be comfortable, as well as cute. The sleeveless look with neck ties has been living rent-free in my head for a while now and there’s no way to do that that isn’t oldschool, so I leaned into it. Did I feel like myself? No, not really. But was I comfy? Absolutely! Which translates to: I enjoyed this for the day, it kept me cool, including on the lunchtime walk when I took the pictures above, for more oldschool vibe I even put on a smaller petti, but don’t expect to see me suddenly making the transition to oldschool lolita. Which also means: don’t expect me to be getting any chunky Mary Janes or RHS, you’ll just have to deal with my offbrand flats killing the vibe.

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Coord 9: Queens Exhibition

| Atelier Pierrot JSK | offbrand top, tights, hair clips, and necklace | Modo Prayer Poem shoes | Folk and Fortune Fleur de Lys earrings | handmade sash | SIX: The Musical pins |

A rare ponytail selfie when you can actually see the bow I stuck at the back.

You've heard of an ita bag, now get ready for an ita sash.

I finally joined the Atelier Pierrot club! I have no idea what JSK this is because the Mercari listing I got it from didn't say and neither did the tag – it looks a lot like the Whip JSK, but without the extra bows. It's also the replacement for AatP’s Rosier Fleur and it is doing that job splendidly. For its debut I chose the Queens exhibition that's at The Lowry right now (and still on until November 3rd, completely free to enter) along with a proper debut of my ita sash. Gotta represent my favourite show. Kept the rest of the coord precisely to let the sash shine, as well as to have something a little bit more practical for walking around on a humid day. The afternoon tea that we went to, offered alongside the exhibition, is a bit more gimmick than substance. It's not bad, the sweets were all sort of one note, but the food was nice quality. That being said, it's not like the branding extended to the food, so spend that same money on something better from like The Gotham Hotel or The Midland Hotel (or any of the other places around Manchester that are actually well rated for their afternoon tea).

The obligatory afternoon tea spread picture.

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Coord 10: Summer Home Cute

| Violet Fane Otome Nostalgia skirt | Axes Femme cutsew | AatP Poison de l'Amour OTKs | Laura Ashley shoes | offbrand necklace | handmade bracelets |

World's most rushed selfie.

Firstly, I adore this shade of pink and want it as both a lipstick and a blush. If you know who makes that, please, send me links. And secondly - not my brain looking at this and thinking that we need more bronze jewellery now...

What was supposed to be a day of lounging at home also included a brief trip to the supermarket – but mostly it was about staying at home. Hence the super low key styling and the total lack of hair accessories (gasp, shock, horror, I know). I did have a thought about maybe swapping the shoes out for brown ones, which I will probably try out next time when I have energy for that. It seems like a vibe that would work, but only with the right styling.

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Coord 11: Double Feature

| Axes Femme Kawaii Coca-Cola JSK | The Seamstress of Bloomsbury Jive blouse | Angelic Pretty Drained Cherry socks | Hot Chocolate Designs Dear Santa shoes | offbrand hair clip and ring | vintage necklace | Bows and Crossbones bangles | Banned Retro Bella belt |

A few hours earlier...

Once again, juuust about managed to catch that bow at the back of my head.

Proof that there is a tiny bit of sax in this print.

Named so because in order to save on changing outfits later, I wore basically all of that to work except with the Polka Dots tiered skirt from Meta. It was resit exams week at work, so I needed comfort, but also past me overestimated my energy levels and I had three nights of theatre in a row, starting with Hairspray. The retro touches were thus necessary to the outfit and I felt this coord was camp enough to match the campness of the musical.

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Coord 12: The Importance of Being Earnest

| Innocent World Georges Rose JSK | Axes Femme cutsew | offbrand tights | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Angelic Pretty Classical Petit Rose headbow | Fluffy Tori pin | vintage brooch and bracelet |

When looking at the uncropped version of this picture I thought to myself that maybe my hair needs a trim. It's grown pretty long now (which is funny because I remember the days when it used to be longer).

The lovely triple lace feature on this sleeve is chef's kiss.

For night 2 of theatre proceded by exams I stepped up my game by wearing this coord to work with different shoes and minus the headbow. Booking to see this play was a last minute impulse, led by me getting a code for half price off tickets, and I wanted to look for something a bit more typically classic to wear. I also was dying to wear this cutsew, it is so lovely and comfy, and all of that led to me choosing Georges Rose again. That and the fact that last time I wore it, it was only for a brief time to film some clips and I was very uncomfortable then, so I didn't feel like I'd actually worn that dress. And whilst I wish I'd done something different with my hair for the sake of the coord, given that I was absolutely shattered and had next to no physical energy left, I'm pleased with how the look came out.

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Coord 13: A Chorus Line

| Metamorphose Gold Braid Tuck Pinafore JSK | Lady Sloth Glitter Mesh blouse | Angelic Pretty Crown Logo OTKs | Modo Prayer Poem shoes | Peacockalorum headbow | Tiny Passerine Creations The Duchess' Tea earrings | Chrysanthemum's Concerto necklace | vintage brooch | Hoshibako Works corset |

This time, despite the bow being massive, it successfully hid from the camera by being at the back. But you can just about peep the little touch of gold in my eyeliner.

Such a great corset and it layered excellently with this JSK. This combo will definitely come back.

On the last day of my theatre spree I was thankfully working from home and also in training all day, which doesn't count as real work. However, because I was so low on energy from the rest of the week before, I still changed into this just for the theatre instead of being in that coord all day like I planned. Maybe it's for the better, the overstimulation was a lot from the various bits falling down, but the look was cute. It was inspired by the gold accents that people in like an oldfashioned chorus line would wear, but with gold x red rather than gold x black. It's a little surprising to me that I hadn't worn this JSK with this blouse before, but I guess now is as good a time as any to go for the obvious option.

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Coord 14: Classy Chores

| Grove Deer Moon of Eternal Day OP | Sweet Fragrance apron | Angelic Pretty Cinema Doll OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Haruhi Clover headbow | offbrand earrings | Chrysanthemum's Concerto necklace | brooch from Haenuli's Just One Bite JSK | Innocent World Strawberry Fields wrist cuffs | vintage gloves |

How did I still manage to look so pale when I had red blush practically all over my face?

The straps of the apron kind of make this picture look like it's framed in lace.

An apron coord seems fitting for a day filled with household chores, right? Though let's be honest, this apron is too fancy for proper workwear and the gloves with wrist cuffs are too impractical for doing things. Still, I did actually kick off my week of annual leave with household chores that were neglected by all that theatre and work. I can look cute whilst doing a shedload of laundry.

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From one extreme to another, apparently I cannot find a balance now. Some of it is the very weird weather (Cruel Summer but only because it's humid and rainy, and only just about warm). I'll be changing jobs next month (big yay for me) and don't know yet what my new routine will be like, so whilst there are some meets and other occasions to dress up on the cards, I will have to remind myself to be kind to myself as I navigate a new workplace and get those people used to even my non-lolita levels of dressy, let alone the frilly stuff. I'm excited for it though, I have a good feeling about that role and can't wait to get started. If nothing else, then those few days that are still July when I'm on leave will provide something for next month's coords roundup post.