February Coords Roundup

A modest offering of coords for the shortest month.

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Coord 1: Kinky Boots

| Bodyline L262 JSK | Axes Femme cutsew | A.R.W. bolero | offbrand boots, earrings, and brooch | beret handmade by Kerry | vintage necklace |

The shadow cast by my glasses kind of looks like some fun eye makeup.

Dotty brooch for a dotty dress.

These boots may not exactly be kinky, but at the same time, by virtue of being over the knee boots, they are the closest thing I have, so for the first proper theatre outing of the year I decided to coordinate around them. Red was the next obvious choice and so this coord was born. A good mix of dressy enough for going out in the evening, but still comfortable and practical for the chilly February weather. And, I guess, with a splash of that Valentine’s Day mood.

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Coord 2: A Revival

| Angelic Pretty Diner Doll JSK | Dear Celine Polka Dot Waltz blouse | Angelic Pretty Logo Embroidery cutsew cardigan | Angelic Pretty Sealing Border OTKs | offbrand shoes, earrings, badge, and ring | handmade beret | Folk and Fortune Late Night Diner necklace | Bibelot Rose badge | Trixie La Fleur brooch |

At this point these glasses are almost exclusively for this dress.

I only just realised that all of these accessories here were gifts.

Until that point I’ve been feeling low-key down about wearing frills: uninspired, overstimulated by the very idea of some of the coords in my mind, a little resigned as my pile of things to alter or get rid of grows. But it just so happened that I stayed working at home that Monday to collect a parcel that couldn’t be left anywhere for safekeeping – and so I decided to capitalise on that by dressing up. My mood immediately lifted. It’s hard to feel down when you’re dressed in pastels. My shoes are my regular sports shoes, but now I am extra glad that I spent a little more to get them in a cute colour since I got to coord them with Diner Doll. A generally more comfortable/casual take on the dress, but I think it’s exactly what I needed to boost my motivation levels.

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Coord 3: Too Much

| Baroque Repose of Queen OP | Infanta overblouse | AatP Arabesque OTKs | Modo Prayer Poem shoes | BtSSB headdress | vii earrings | offbrand necklace and ring | Le Petit Four bracelet |

Yup, as expected, the headband on this BtSSB headdress is not the comfiest thing...

I'm trying to remember if I ever actually wore that necklace, having owned it since around 2014... and I don't think so.

Too much for working from home, for sure. But not too much for lifting my spirits up with looking nice and being relatively comfortable. (I say relatively because almost all of the accessories got yeeted the moment I was done with photos.) Ever since receiving this veil headdress from a Secret Santa I knew that I wanted to wear it with this dress. Even despite the difference in shades, I think the overall coord works. Saved at least a tiny bit by the lace on the overblouse being lighter than the rest of the blouse. It is such a nice piece, I still regret not getting more of these blouses when I had the chance and it’s been nine years by now…

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Coord 4: Games Day

| BtSSB Snow Dot skirt | Pinky Girl cardigan | offbrand cutsew, tights, shoes, and hair clips | tulle x Eat Me hair tie | vintage necklace | Patisserie Pink Lock and Key brooch | Bed Room bracelet |

I promise that there are hair accessories at the back there.

Actually, now that I think on it (again), so many of my most worn accessories are gifts from people...

Going out for a day of friends and boards games, I wanted comfort and speed of getting dressed, but still with some impact. Black and white with pops of red always looks immediately polished, even when it's low effort, and this coord is no exception. We had a great time playing Townsfolk Tussle and ending the day on some Villainous, both of which were great, though Townsfolk Tussle took it out of us a little. 

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Coord 5: Dear Evan Hansen

| BtSSB Secret AIR MAIL from Sweet Kitty JSK | Ank Rouge cutsew | offbrand jacket | Lady Sloth Welcome to My Dollhouse underskirt | Angelic Pretty Alphabet Marine OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | handmade (not by me) beret | Two Days Slow hair clips | Glitter from Wonderland necklace | Fluffy Tori Everybody Can Be Kawaii pin | Magical Mews Swan Hoe pin | AatP Chris’s Hyakki Yakou badge | Six the Musical pin |

It was very much a faux fringe kind of a day.

The two high school stereotypes in pin form: a mean girl and a nice girl.

It’s impossible to feel down in a fun coord like this. I know because I was feeling a bit down that morning and my mood shifted once I got dressed in this. Although the coord feels a bit too ‘jocky’ with the jacket for a socially awkward teenager like Evan Hansen, my reasoning was that it’s still looking a bit high school, which would vibe with the musical. And only once I had it on I realised that the plot of the musical kicks off with Evan writing letters to himself, so the print theme and the socks kind of fit in too. I definitely wanted to try coording these socks and that JSK together once more because I’m not particularly happy with my first attempt and I think it’s because the socks don't actually go over my knee, so the underskirt helps here. My assortment of pins was selected mostly for the colour, though I also figured that the Captain Chris and the Swan Hoe ones were fun nods to high schooler archetypes, with the Fluffy Tori one acting as a balance element to the meanness and the Six one just being there to have something musical theatre related on me.

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Coord 6: Northumberland Trip

| Violet Fane Charming Town skirt | Axes Femme blouse and brooch | DreamV cardigan | Thunda Thighs socks | offbrand boots and beret | 

It was pretty windy that day, though thankfully we were at the gardens before the real wind yellow alert kicked in.

Minimal accessories for staying quite casual (and to keep the packing to a minimum).

For my boyfriend’s birthday we went up to Northumberland, specifically to Alnwick to visit the gardens there. He was going to wear a mostly brown-based outfit, so I tried to match that, landing on this. Originally I was going to be wearing a pair of brown Docs, which are new to me, however, in the lead up to the trip I was too eager to wear them and didn’t break them in properly, giving myself pain and blisters, hence the less ideal boot choice. Still, we had a great time in the Alnwick Gardens, even with it being February and botanical gardens being mostly bare, then at a fancy restaurant in a treehouse, finishing the day off stargazing at an observatory. The day after I wore a slight variation of this (different top and socks) for the journey back, but I didn’t take a picture, so have a Whering collage (still including the Docs).

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Coord 7: Daytime Museum

| Haenuli Whipped Cream Kitty JSK | offbrand cutsew and rosette | Naddine Atelier bustier | Son de Flor belt | BtSSB Secret AIR MAIL from Sweet Kitty OTKs | Hot Chocolate Design Dear Santa shoes | handmade (not by me) beret | Bodyline brooch | Folk and Fortune Typewriter necklace | Tea Party Club Dream Masquerade Carnival badge | Cutie Creator wrist cuffs |

Funny how half of my hair was super wispy and half was crispy with the hairspray.

Still living on in our collective memory.

My friends were in Manchester for the day because one of them had an audition, so I took a half day off and spent my afternoon with them. Since we went to the gallery and were mostly just pottering around, I opted for comfort, though not quite fully casual. I think I’ve reached the stage with this dress where I’ve done most of the major ideas with it and am now at the point where I’m starting to put slightly different spins on the things I’ve already done with it. Which is interesting to me personally because whilst I’m wholly for outfit repeating, usually with lolita the point where I feel like I’ve done everything I could/wanted to with a dress is the point where I’d sell it. Not with this one though. If anything, reaching this stage has given me the permission I didn’t quite realise I needed to let go of that pressure and just enjoy the dress, whether the coord is something I’ve worn before or not. Sorry to anyone out there who got excited that I might be selling this dress (and even if I was, which I am not, there’s a waiting list as a few of my friends have put bids on it already).

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Coord 8: A Working Wednesday

| Chrysanthemum’s Concerto The First Semester JSK | offbrand top | Snag Piglet tights | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | headbow handmade by Jule | vintage necklace | Felfira Moon Designs pin | Folk and Fortune Romance Book Club brooch | Star Glazed Delights Brand Whore ring |

Not seen are the two alligator clips that are holding this headbow in place at the back.

Finally wearing this pin and doing some blogging whilst wearing it = win!

My plan was to go for something comfy yet smart and I think that I achieved that. Yes, it bothers me that the tights look so much more saturated because the top is sheer, even though the tights are precisely the kind of pink that I was looking for. But I was only sitting at home, working and doing chores in between, so it’s not like it’s a big deal. I’ll know next time to pair them with a solid blouse.

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The end of the month has kind of snuck up on me. I was busy doing all sorts of things when suddenly February’s over and March came upon us. I am not ready, I do not feel ready, I feel like my to-do list is not diminishing in size at all – but here we are. Still, in spite of all this, I am looking forward to spring and to some warmer weather. And Chicago, definitely looking forward to that! If you are also going to The Great Lace event, please, say hello! I plan on not being in wigs, so hopefully you shall recognise me easily.