Isn’t it great when you make a plan and then it works out? I wanted to get more skirts and I wanted to buy from a US indie brand whilst out at The Great Lace, and then scored both with one purchase from Forest Girl Clothing/Atelier Heidi. You absolutely must know that this skirt has three pockets: the front one and two in-seam ones, which obviously makes it a winner.
Look 1: Veg are plants too
| Axes Femme cutsew | offbrand upcycled cardigan | offbrand socks and ring | Hush Puppies boots | Cutie Creator Maiden’s Prayer headbow | Lady Sloth Winter Spices necklace | Kirstteas Pumpkin Cat Bean Pie brooch | Toadstool House Art brooch |
I can’t explain why this cardigan is the first thing I reached for when putting this post together. Something in me just did. Maybe it’s all that embroidery in the skirt making me lean towards the embroidery on the knit. And the warmer shades. Despite there being next to no orange in the skirt, the coord does seem to work. Probably because the orange is just an accent colour.
Look 2: Stems and leaves
| offbrand blouse, shoes, rings, necklace, and brooch | BtSSB Polonaise Brillante ~ Ideas of a Maiden ~ OTKs | Rose of Sharon hair clip | Folk and Fortune Ruby Hilt Dagger brooch | Metamorphose wrist cuffs |
Now this is a coord that’s far more expected of me here. This skirt was made for being worn with green. Out of all my potential options I picked this blouse: firstly, because it’s still new to me and secondly – because I bought them both in Chicago, so it makes sense to pair them. I would love to have some sort of a bustier or stays thing to add to the coord as it gives me those peasant/folk/renaissance fair vibes, which an extra layer would accentuate nicely. Something for the future.
Look 3: Spring petals
| offbrand blouse and necklace | AatP Poison de l’Amour OTKs | Laura Ashley shoes | handmade (not by me) headbow and brooch | Star Glazed Delights ring | Dentelles brooch | Sweet Mildred corsage |
Pink, on the other hand, there is plenty and that lovely dusty shade too. On the flatlay the pink looks pretty bottom-heavy, but I think that the jewellery and headbow would balance it out, especially as the Sweet Mildred I’d wear as a corsage on my wrist. Though I could also pin it to the blouse or stick on my head. Anyway, the point is that if having it on the wrist wouldn’t work, then I’d have the option to change it.
Look 4: Summer straw
| offbrand blouse, hat, socks, and necklace | Sweet Fragrance apron | Memery shoes | handmade earrings | Jule et Lily Sakura pin | Violet Fane Violet’s Tea Room brooch | Le Petit Four ring | Cutie Creator wrist cuffs |
After doing the first three coords, I was looking back over the pictures and it struck me how they were all quite cool-weather outfits. And while this skirt is pretty much good to wear all year round, its inherent vibe is for the warmer months. So I set about making a summer coord, perfect for a picnic. The apron helps tie it with the blouse since the skirt is a pretty stark white. I should probably invest in some sock toppers for these (and many other) totally offbrand socks that I enjoy wearing with lolita, some extra bit of frill would help balance out the vintage-style, but nonetheless pretty plain sandals.
In all honesty, I thought that by now I would’ve worn this skirt already. Life’s not been very conducive to dressing up just generally, between work and moving flats, so at least I got to put some coords in the bank for when I can finally frill up. And this skirt is going to the top of the list!
At this point I can’t even remember how I found out about The Great Lace event in Chicago. Probably through Instagram and then someone in my Discord server verified that the organisers aren’t complete newbies and are on good standing with the comms. One very emotionally detached early bird ticket purchase in January 2023 later and then another 15 months on top of that, and now my first US lolita event has all gone by in a flash. I’m going to do my best to combine both days of the event into one post and to structure it a little bit differently, so bear with me and let’s hope that I will stick to a manageable word count. (Spoiler alert: I did not stick to a manageable word count.)
Hosted by members of the local community, excellently named Frillinois, The Great Lace was held on the weekend of March 29th and 30th, at Palmer House Hotel in Downtown Chicago. The theme was along the lines of ‘spring garden in the city’: perfectly accessible for all styles and wonderfully seasonal, though not necessarily the best advertised as plenty of people I encountered were not even aware that there was a theme. Still, with a beautiful venue and plenty to get inspired by, The Great Lace was promising a weekend of frills and frills only, no having to share with an anime convention (just other people staying at the hotel, but it was massive, so it was fine). And I was certainly all about finding out how do they do it across the pond, if you get my drift.
| BtSSB Polonaise Brillante ~ Ideas of a Maiden ~ Apron JSK and OTKs | Stroje.pl blouse | Sweet Fragrance apron as underskirt and belt | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Kaneko Shop headdress | handmade necklace | Folk and Fortune Kukuryku brooch | My Inspiration necklace | Star Glazed Delights ring | offbrand shawl and hair clips | Lullabellz hair extensions |
| Angelic Pretty Flower Garden JSK | Lady Sloth Galaxy Witch overdress as an underlayer | handmade cape | Enchantlic Enchantilly Crown of the Violet Princess tights | Modo Prayer Poem shoes | offbrand flower clips, earrings, face flowers | Enchantlic Enchantilly necklace | Peppermint Fox brooches | Folk and Fortune Diamond of the First Water brooch | Le Petit Four bracelet | Irma Saf ring |
I won’t spend too long talking about my coords because I’ve mentioned plenty in the March Coords Roundup post. What I would like to reiterate here is the inspiration and the purpose. Saturday’s more comfortable outfit was an homage to my own heritage and a nod to the Polish community in Chicago itself. It was perfect for a day of shopping and fashion show, and chatting with whoever I came across since I had fewer things that would get in the way, fall out of place or even get lost by accident. On the other hand, my Sunday outfit was all about that floral theme and going over the top. Even though it ended up still being quite a comfortable coord overall, that cape is weighty, so it was better saved for a day spent mostly sitting down, taking pictures, and eating.
How was The Great Lace the same as European events?
Let’s get straight to the point. And the point is that The Great Lace was in essence exactly like the events that I’ve attended in the past. The split of having one day for shopping, panels, and fashion show, and then another for the tea party and swap meet was familiar, as was the atmosphere inside. Although obviously for me it was less about any reunions and more about meeting people for the first time, it carried the same heartwarming feelings of saying hello to people who have only lived in your phone up until then and who you can now give a real hug to. Lolita events are ultimately about fostering connections, both to the fashion and to one-another, and I have certainly felt extra connected to both over the course of the weekend.
The kinds of things that you could buy or see at the event were also familiar, if obviously different due to the actual nature of the vendors and guests. The vendors hall was filled with US brands, with only the Atelier Pierrot, Iris Garden x Haenuli, Harajuku Hearts, and the Lolita Collective offering other brands at their stalls. Plenty of handmade goodies and beautiful art, ranging from small and inexpensive for the most student of student budgets to full-on OTT spenny if that’s what you fancied. Going to multiple European events means that there are certain brands that I see vending there more often, which is great for restocking, but can get repetitive. To go into a vendors hall filled predominantly with items that I’ve never seen with my own eyes before brought back some of that joy of going to my first lolita event ever. Those feelings didn’t necessarily last through the fashion show as I had hoped to see more of those US indie brands modelled and on stage, which was not on the cards, nonetheless the fashion show was as familiar an affair as I’ve known it. This was also my first live lolita fashion show post-TQiD and it’s an interesting experience to go back to the very traditional, elegant, relatively conservative format after you’ve witnessed a lolita fashion show with nipples, latex, and sapphic scandal. But I fully appreciate that it was TQiD’s that’s the outlier and it’s not going to set a precedent. I can’t really speak on the quality of the panels because I only went to Atelier Pierrot’s presentation about manufacturing in Japan, parts of which I had also caught at TQiD. None of the other panels on offer were of interest to me, they were likely perfect for all those for whom this was their first lolita event ever, so I chose to free up my time for socialising instead.
Vendors hall. Photo by Karen, borrowed from the event Discord server.
Enchantlic Enchantilly fashion show. Photo by @dreamy_sweetie
Hoshibako Works fashion show. Photo by Karen, borrowed from the event Discord server.
Hoshibako Works fashion show. Photo by Karen, borrowed from the event Discord server.
Axes-X fashion show. Photo by Karen, borrowed from the event Discord server.
The final similarity that I would like to highlight, even if it is somewhat bittersweet, is that you’re never guaranteed good food just because the venue is fancy. For clarity, I am completely setting aside any comparisons between afternoon tea in the UK and anywhere else because it’s not like I expected Strike a Pose or The Grand Embassy to supply me with perfectly traditional scones or Victoria sponges. And I’ve certainly been to enough mediocre afternoon teas at hotels in the UK, including some that were for bigger events. Fancy venue does not always equate to fancy food or even plentiful food. Which I can laugh about now and there’s always that extra layer of funny since other people bring snacks to share with their friendship groups. I’ll forever be grateful for that Tunnock’s tea cake at Divina Commedia and I’ll forever be grateful for a chance to try cheese curds and a pecan praline from Buc-ee’s at The Great Lace. It’s a mild form of frilly traumabonding, so whilst of course that we’d always rather have only the best food, be wowed with each bite and be sure that we’re not going to need a takeout the moment we leave the venue, often the collective disappointment in food leads to fun memories for everyone at the table. And as we’ve already established, events are all about making those connections. Plus, it’s always interesting to learn how the current tea party experience compares to what others at your table may have had and learn about what lolitas in other countries do just generally.
The sweets spread. For a table of ten. Yes, that was all.
Thanks be to the Bringer of Buc-ee's!
How did The Great Lace differ from European events?
To address the elephant in the room: scale. Whilst I’ve not attended any Street Fashion Europe events when those were still happening, I get the impression that even those weren’t quite as big. To me Dream Masquerade Carnival back in 2017 felt massive at, I believe, around 200-ish people? A lolita exclusive event that’s literally twice that size was mind boggling to me. Thanks to how large the space was and how well room capacities were managed, it never felt this overwhelming, though I certainly got glimpses of it when seeing the queues snaking back on themselves. It makes sense too: the US is a bigger country, has a much larger lolita population overall, and the organisers have found ways to add more tickets throughout. But if you struggle to say hello to everyone you want to at a European event, at a US one it seems that you have to accept that as an inevitability and make peace with that fact.
The queue to enter the fashion show. At the end of that photo the corridor turned left and the queue went all around that too. I didn't even realise that I got snapped there. Photo by Karen, borrowed from the event Discord server.
A panoramic shot of the tea party room. Photo by Chloe, borrowed from the event Discord server.
The tea party group photo, trying to squeeze 400 people in one shot. Picture by @mintypile.
The second difference was the overall vibe and structure of the Saturday being far more inspired by convention style events. Whilst the shopping and fashion show format with a tea party the following day isn’t inherently a convention invention, there were plenty of little things around those that I’ve never experienced at European events. Badge pickup (and it being open the day before the event), an actual schedule packed from basically 10am until 8pm (European events will have maybe one or two things to attend during the whole day that’s not the fashion show and rarely go on until that late), accommodation discounts for those staying in the venue (likely because we rarely use hotels for the shopping days of our events), photographers having official press passes and being there mainly to document the event, not to offer coord shots… Not to mention some of the things that I heard or glimpsed that as an organiser myself I recognise as being better for the organisers/venue/guests than for the attendees which I will not go into. Where European events always feel very grassroots to me, The Great Lace Saturday, despite being organised by members of the lolita community, felt more like Doki Doki convention than a Tea Party Club event. It’s not a bad thing in and of itself – it will simply meet some people’s expectations of what is the most important in a lolita event and what isn’t
As someone who's used to just picking up a tote on the day of the event, this was both nice and weird to do the night before.
The badges were cute though.
The third difference that I’d like to point out is the style. Whilst a lolita event isn’t always the best measure of what’s popular in a given area since most people try to match the theme, you still get a flavour of what substyles are most popular based on what people are wearing. On top of this, knowing that there were plenty of people for whom The Great Lace was their first lolita event or even a first big event in lolita ever, it was very easy for me to spot those first timers, especially on Saturday which I think had more attendees from that category than Sunday. Sunday is when I have found more people trying to match the theme, though I still would have said that the ones who dressed more OTT were the more experienced lolitas. Even the sweet lolitas have found their more toned down or floral main pieces to come to the tea party in. And there were certainly plenty of sweet lolitas! Even knowing that it’s arguably the most popular substyle in lolita in general thanks to its higher visibility and higher accessibility, Saturday was when the sweets turned up in droves. And Saturday is also where I saw the wider spread on the casual-to-OTT scale, with more people who seemed to have pitched their outfits on the slightly more conservative side, presumably because of not knowing what to expect. It isn’t a bad thing and I find that happens at every event I go to. Even looking back at my own first event I feel like my attempt was a bit less OTT because I did not know where to pitch. Yet the impression I got was that, unlike in Europe where we have arguably fewer lonelitas and more people relying on their local comm to find that information out and maybe give a second opinion on coords, the US lolitas going for the first time may have come from all over and not necessarily be members of comms. There was a small handful of lolitas whom I saw mostly with what appeared to be family members rather than friends, which further fuels that theory.
And lastly, which may be more specific to just The Great Lace than US lolita events generally, is that I have found the tea party itself to be much more packed than I am used to. And by packed I don’t mean people, but schedule. To me the tea party day is supposed to be all about getting dressed up, eating the spread provided, and hanging out with friends new and old. Meanwhile Sunday had two more guest demonstrations, the swap meet, and the meet and greet with RinRin all in the morning, and then, during the tea party itself, the Q&A with Connie and RinRin, the raffle, and an unannounced mini history lecture that, if I may be so blunt, could have been a leaflet or a page on the event website. None are necessarily bad things, but it’s awkward when the organisers are on stage asking for everyone to get back to their seats and you have to hurriedly finish your conversations, only to find out that this isn’t really stuff that you have much interest in, but it’s rude to talk over stage events. It did extra poorly with the venue’s tea service which I found to be just not enough food (and as already mentioned, the food was meh just on a straight up quality level) and the staff seemed all too keen to clear up as soon as they spotted your plate to be empty. I have done far more socialising after the tea party was officially closed and everything was being cleaned up than during the tea party itself, which is not how I want to spend my time at tea parties. Some of this was clearly dictated by the venue’s schedule, some seemed like the result of being overly enthusiastic and trying to make everything happen in just one event, and only some, I imagine, was actually down to any kind of cultural differences.
Atelier Pierrot's Manufacturing lolita in Japan panel. Photo by @eepy_lamb.
Q&A with Connie and RinRin. Photo by Mori/Kat, borrowed from the event Discord server.
What suggestions do I have for the organisers for the future?
My biggest, most important tip would be to build more socialising/down time directly into the event. Although 99% of the attendees travelled from much closer, even interstate travel in the US is time consuming. And the one thing that I find is universally a killer of a good time at events is people feeling rushed or like they can’t do everything that they want to in the time that they have. Moreover, big lolita events are a chance for catch up with people one has not seen in months, a year, sometimes longer. Add to this the fact that event-goers (and maybe especially lolitas, high on the fact that for once everything is directly relevant to them and nothing else) frequently neglect to take care of themselves (drink, eat proper food, sit down for a bit, take themselves out somewhere quiet for a second), and you create an environment where people will crash and burn. This goes for the guests as well. Yes, they are there for work, but at the same time, they will appreciate having more time to rest, since frequently they are straight back to their usual day jobs the moment they return from the event. From what I’ve heard from others, this does seem almost directly lifted up from convention culture where people also notoriously crash and burn, but since lolita exclusive events don’t have to be exactly like cons, why not change that culture too? Less is more and people will find their own ways to fill the extra time with, trust me.
Secondly, whilst this is less within the organisers’ control, it is something to consider for the future and that is to keep a more balanced offering of panels. Yes, the panels (if an event chooses to offer them) are heavily dependent on who voluntees to run them. The Great Lace had plenty for newer lolitas and first-time event-goers, and very little for the veterans (only the fashion show and maybe the Atelier Pierrot and RinRin panels). When this is combined with having less time to actually socialise with our friends the following day at the tea party, it’s difficult to not feel like a bit of an afterthought. Intermediate and veteran lolitas are harder to cater for with the panels, sure, but we’re not impossible. It may be good in the future to have one or two backup ideas in the bank, so that when panel applications close and they see that things skew heavily towards a particular group (and this could also mean styles and not just experience levels), there is something to balance it out with. Or allow yourself to have a couple of gaps on the schedule because, again, people will find ways to fill their time with photos and chatter.
Lastly, and more on like an organiser to organiser level, is to get more people on the actual team. The bigger the event grows, the more manpower is required to pull it off without pulling your own hair out. There's no point pointing to something like The Queen is Dead and saying that three people managed that fine when TQiD was nowhere near the size of The Great Lace. Volunteers are wonderful and we would not go far without them, but every event needs people who are on it for months and not just on the day. At the very least consider having one organiser per every 100 tickets being sold, even though that’s as arbitrary a number as it gets. But when all 400 people have something to say and they’re in your inbox, one would be grateful to split that work with three more people instead of just one.
Final thoughts
Obviously, I had a grand time at The Great Lace. My memories are focused predominantly on the lovely interactions I’ve had with people and the fun times sharing a fancy hotel room with friends – which is exactly the same as for every other event I’ve been to, except the hotel rooms weren’t always fancy (though the hostel rooms are remembered just as fondly). Had I been based in the US, I certainly would’ve been making a bigger note of this to attend in the future because I also really enjoyed my time in Chicago and found the city so incredibly easy to navigate and just be in. As things stand, to go again in the future, I’d need just as much notice as I’ve had now (if not more) because of course a transatlantic week-long trip costs more than a budget airline long weekend city break. And with all the undisclosed-until-the-receipt taxes and tips Chicago works out pricier than, say, Rome, even when eating relatively on a budget. So I won’t be back in the US for a lolita event again anytime soon unless some very major things change. For their first event, and one of this scale, I think the organisers did a fantastic job and sincerely hope that they will focus on all of the positive feedback first and foremost. If they do decide to organise something again, I will certainly keep an eye out and encourage everyone I know to go.
To get a feel of what attending The Great Lace was like, as well as hear me reiterate some of the above points and see closeups of my haul, you can watch my vlog from the event here:
Heck yeah, this is a pretty good start to the year in so far as frills go!
New additions
Tell you what, although I have made two big dress purchases even before jetting off to the US, my spending has been under control. Sure, I bought a shedload of books, but my clothing spending has been under control.
2 JSKs (1 classic in offwhite* and 1 classic in pink*)
1 classic skirt
1 classic top
1 classic cape
and 5 sets of accessories (1 gothic headpiece in gold, 1 classic hair clip in pink, 1 classic necklace in green, 1 pair of sweet earrings in white x red, 1 sweet bracelet in sax x mint)
The hours sewing that cape by hand have eaten my life all throughout the first quarter of 2025, so now I will be shoving it into every fancy coord I can to make all that time and pain worth it. Joking, but still, it was a labour of love and inspiration, and I would like to wear it more than once.
Possible new looks
It’s funny how two out of three of the new looks featured here are with accessories from the end of last year that I simply haven’t had the chance to wear before we kicked into 2025. Obviously, tha cape had to feature here, but whilst I have ideas for the gothic headdress, it’s not exactly the kind of thing that’s going to be your casual accessory. Everything else was purchased whilst in Chicago, which explains why it’s not been used yet.
Absolutely none on that first front. The boots may actually need to take a back seat for now due to storage reasons. At least until I move and see what my storage situation will be like then. But once that’s done, then I think that I should get working on that underskirt.
Current wishlist
Huh, I guess that by my own very vague categories, I have ticked off some of the items there at the bottom thanks to all of my floral main pieces purchasing this quarter. It didn’t even occur to me that I had.
The non-main pieces list, however, is balancing this out with a clear zilch.
New Year’s goals: progress summary
A relative success with the goals so far, if I dare say so myself.
Did I get my pieces altered? Nothing’s been even sent off yet. However, of the short list that I originally considered for altering, I’ve made a few decisions:
Dear Celine’s Magic Book OP - sell
IW’s Georges Rose JSK - sell
Violet Fane’s Charming Town skirt - doesn’t need it
Angelic Pretty’s Cinema Doll - alter
Have I bought more classic and casual main pieces? Yes. Meta’s Charlotte JSK won’t arrive for another month or so, and neither will The Black Ribbon’s Rococo Heart JSK, but I have the Atelier Heidi skirt to keep me going for now! Maybe one more skirt would be nice, but that’s not particularly pressing.
Have I gotten roped into organising anything? Thankfully not. I resisted very hard from volunteering or hosting a panel at The Great Lace, which I am very proud of myself for. In fact, the only meet that I am organising so far is a trip to the second Enchanted Curiosities Market and that’s as easy as telling people to get there and that’s it. It hasn’t necessarily increased the amount of rest that I am getting, but it’s certainly been nice to not have to stretch what energy I have left any further.
This year was supposed to be the year of rest for me and so far it has been anything but. Event sewing, translation side hustle, trying to work on my writing, now it seems that I’m moving later this month – when am I supposed to be resting? Hopefully soon because gods know that I need it.
Folks, it’s spring! It really didn’t feel like it for so long and now it does, and I cannot express how much good that is doing in my head.
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Coord 1: Working Day
| Bodyline Moulin High Waist skirt | Axes Femme cutsew | offbrand jacket, tights, socks, and shoes | handmade (not by me) beret | Three Little Pirates earrings | Folk and Fortune Typewriter necklace | Love from the North pin | Akaritsuko badge | Twinkle Kitty Boutique rings |
This is why we love a beret: it makes even the laziest hairstyling work.
All of the Manchester events vibes.
I look way more leggy in these pictures thanks to these platforms. An all ivory coord with red accents strikes again for some working from home. There isn’t much to say about the coord itself, since it’s not necessarily very experimental. What I will say is that I had a bit of an issue with this skirt at the start of January where I couldn’t zip it up and now, after nearly 2 months of going to boxfit classes one day a week, that problem seems to have gone away, which I’m very proud of myself for.
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Coord 2: Resort From Home
| Angelic Pretty Cinema Doll JSK | offbrand blouse | Jane Marple OTKs | Vivienne Westwood x Melissa Anglomania shoes | Axes Femme hat | offbrand and vintage jewellery |
When in doubt: red lipstick, winged eyeliner, and a low bun made out of criss-crossed braids. Works the charm every time.
A very satisfying bow match.
On the flipside, Cinema Doll definitely needs altering. As much as I like the outfit, it gives off posh resort holiday vibes in the best way, it was too uncomfortable to keep on for a whole day (though I only swapped the JSK for an Axes Femme skirt and that was still a cute, if more larme-ish, look). Nonetheless all the greys compliment the print and I have discovered a dangerous lack of silver and/or gunmetal brooches which I am sure will come back to haunt me next time I go charity shopping or something. So much for ‘I don’t need any more brooches’...
That one lil' stray strand of hair keeps taunting me in a 'cut yourself a wispy fringe' way and folks, it is a dangerous voice to have in your head.
This cheap offbrand brooch goes into almost every single gothic/black-based coord I do, let's appreciate this 5 euro spend.
Can we have a candid moment here, please? This worked way better in my head than it did worn. I thought that the tights would photograph darker and the cardigan would photograph lighter, so that the difference wouldn’t be quite so stark. The difference in the hem lengths of the JSK and the cardigan bother me as well and overall the proportions feel off to me. Why share it here then? Because I did wear it and did take pictures, and I still stand by the fact that bad outfits have their place in real life. Even if in the moment the awareness that this one hasn’t quite worked out to plan was a little sad.
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Coord 4: Burger Cravings
| Summer Fairy Limited Menu JSK | offbrand top | MuFish tights | Sosic Shop shoes | vintage hat | handmade choker | Candy Kitsch earrings and ring |
The lesson from this coord is that I need more wide-brim hats.
Would you like a burger with your burger?
More induced rather than quelled by this coord though. I’m glad that I had this look on the cards for immediately the day after the previous one because it coming out nicer has helped my mood. It’s nothing major, but then again, I think this dress is going to end up being a more casual piece going forward. It seems to work best when you don’t overcomplicate the styling and stick to the tricolour. So whilst I’m sure in the future I will try something more OTT themed around fast foods, that’s not happening until an event that warrants that kind of overkill is organised.
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Coord 5: A Konbini Snack
| The Black Ribbon Konbini Market JSK | Axes Femme cutsew | MuFish tights | Laura Ashley shoes | offbrand hair clips, ring, and pins | handmade choker and bracelets |
Back on that kick of doing a whole face of makeup with just lipstick.
Ice candy inspired.
I had wanted to wear this JSK over the weekend at home, but I channelled my energy into way too many other things. Technically, on that WFH Wednesday, I also should have been channelling my energy into other things, but I forced myself to dress up precisely to combat some of that stress with a bit of positivity. You know that stuff is serious when Japan nostalgia increases so rapidly. I really wanted to bring out the dark pinks from this print and this cutsew is perfect for that. And in a surprising turn of events, I realised that I don’t own nearly as many snack accessories as I thought I did? Well, I do, but few that fit this dress. So that’s something that I now have to actively try to resist rectifying. Still, the outfit turned out cute and was just the thing that I needed to power me into a day filled with work (my own, translation side hustle, podcast, pre-departure stuff, household chores, you name it, I was doing it).
Sometimes the best selfie light is at Bear Papa's and you just roll with that.
Here for the textures.
Having spent my actual first full day in non-frills and scoring this cute top at Goodwill, it was a no-brainer to wear it as soon as possible for a relaxed day of exploring more of the city. @tonblackberry, whom I was travelling with, suggested some sort of a vest, which I don’t have right now, but I am totally into that vibe for the future. Basically, should I decide to upgrade this coord to something more, it’s all about going somewhere into dirndl vibes. I have thoroughly enjoyed wandering around Chicago in my casual frills, it has very similar, chill vibes as Manchester on a good day, and everyone we encountered was so lovely. Made being in frills beautifully easy.
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Coord 7: Meeting People
| Metamorphose Lovely Forest skirt | Axes Femme cutsew and brooch | Violet Fane Antiquite tights | offbrand shoes and hair clips | Sweet Fragrance apron and belt |
Plugging the gaps in my messy updo with the flowers.
For once I feel like I was fidgeting less with a ring. Normally I am quite bothered by the sensation since I'm not used to wearing rings.
The day after we had a meetup plans with a big-ish group of @tonblackberry’s online friends, some of whom I’ve met before, some of whom I’ve followed online, and many of whom I met for the first time. This is what I was planning to wear from the beginning, since the plan was to go for lunch, then to the Art Institute, and finish on a fancy dinner. It’s a way more classic take on this skirt and I like how it plays into that. I’m not going to lie, at one point the physical tiredness of three days filled with walking got to me a little bit, but overall I really enjoyed meeting new people and everyone in that crowd was a sweetheart, I hope that I’ll get to meet them again.
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Coord 8: The Great Lace, Polish Edition
| BtSSB Polonaise Brillante ~ Ideas of a Maiden ~ Apron JSK and OTKs | Stroje.pl blouse | Sweet Fragrance apron as underskirt and belt | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Kaneko Shop headdress | handmade necklace | Folk and Fortune Kukuryku brooch | My Inspiration necklace | Star Glazed Delights ring } offbrand shawl and hair clips | Lullabellz hair extensions |
These braids were heavy, but also somehow pretty comfortable? Definitely a great investment!
ALL of the details!
Otherwise known as day 1 of the event, which I will write about more soon. My logic here was that since I am so Polish that I arrived to the USA on a visa and Chicago has one of the largest Polish communities outside of Poland, I wanted to pay tribute to that. Versions of this coord have featured on this blog extensively, my own coords archive counts something like 4 renditions, but this is the most Polish that I have ever been. Like 110% Polish, just missing a plastic bag filled with homemade pickles for a full 120%. I felt fantastic and everyone I bumped into or spoke with throughout the event continued to offer compliments, so the coord was clearly a hit. It seems to have made the day of a few other people with Polish heritage whom I encountered and I had a blast doing the very impromptu ‘fresh off the boat’ photos just out on the street. And I had a total blast meeting online friends in person! Lemme tell you, it’s nice to message people here or there, but nothing beats giving someone a hug and all of that 3D reality stuff.
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Coord 9: The Great Lace, Floral Edition
| Angelic Pretty Flower Garden JSK | Lady Sloth Galaxy Witch overdress as an underlayer | handmade cape | Enchantlic Enchantilly Crown of the Violet Princess tights | Modo Prayer Poem shoes | offbrand flower clips, earrings, face flowers | Enchantlic Enchantilly necklace | Peppermint Fox brooches | Folk and Fortune Diamond of the First Water brooch | Le Petit Four bracelet | Irma Saf ring |
I should've done more blush. All of my makeup was basically blush, but I still think it needed more lol.
Since I forgot to take a detail shot, here's a quick video of the cape since that was the entire point of that coord!
They said the theme was florals, so I delivered! Well, officially the theme was something like Spring Garden in the City, but you get the point. This cape took something like 80 hours of handsewing and boy, was it worth it. Every moment of doubt or hate towards the project paid off with every compliment thrown my way. The vision came together and I felt like a million flowers, this coord really brought back some sort of a spark that I thought I lost. The only bit of improvement that I can foresee here would be to add one of those big floral underskirts that came out a few years back from someone like Boguta (?), but it was too late for one to arrive by the time I thought of it. The day was once again full of chatting with people and meeting everyone I could. It’s difficult to believe now that this whole thing had happened, that only last weekend I was doing all of that, it feels like a parallel timeline or something, so I am all the more grateful for the photographic evidence.
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With the advent of warm weather (and touch wood, it doesn’t seem to be a blip either) this weekend is reserved for the seasonal wardrobe swap. I am a little bit sick of looking at some of my pieces and missing a bunch of other ones, and cannot wait for that artificial feeling of having different stuff. Cannot wait to wear some lighter colours and fabrics, and to not have to layer quite so heavily. It’s going to be great! Hopefully wherever you are and whatever season you are approaching, you’re also finding something that gives you this feeling of things being fresh and inspiring. And don’t worry if you’re not feeling that at all right now, sometimes that’s how things roll.
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