October Coords Roundup

Happy Halloween! It was truly great to finally have a year when instead of indifference to this holiday, I felt genuine excitement. Our flat is full of ghost friends that bring me tonnes of joy and I am really pleased with how many appropriately spoopy looks I wore.

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Coord 1: Leeds Comm’s 15th Anniversary

I cannot tell you how hard it is to take a good selfie with a net veil.

The earrings may be the feature of this detail post, but this ring is such an MVP of my wardrobe.

In retrospect, I wish that I’d looked up what the 15th anniversary was (crystal, as it turns out), as then I might’ve done something different with accessories. That doesn’t change my feelings on the coord though and likely wouldn’t change the vision, especially given that it took me a while to even settle on this. And I’m very happy with everything, it’s very classic me with the vintage styling and nods, and it was very comfortable for a whole day of travelling, eating, and standing around. The afternoon tea we had was very nice, I liked how the subtle updates compared to what we had back in May kept the spirit of the meal (mini street foods for the savouries) whilst doing something new and seasonal (all the sweets being something spiced). A great time was had all around and here’s to another 15 years of the best, most drama-free comm out there!

Obligatory food picture.

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Coord 2: Lost Textures

These glasses are my lesson in not skimping on the anti-reflective coating next time. They reflect everything!

Here you can see some of those lost textures.

Embracing the Spooky Month with an all black and almost definitely goth coord. And, as all black coords tend to do, all the textural details got lost because who heard of even, bright, and consistent natural lighting in October? Still, it was simple for working from home and I felt very elegant in this. One could say that I felt like a very elegant gothic lolita. I’ll see myself out.

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Coord 3: Cosy Months

Hope you enjoyed the Spooky Boy interlude ^_^

One of the best tenners I ever spent in my life.

Because a Sunday at home, spent on book editing and playing Stardew Valley is very much the kind of cosy months energy that we need. Having bought this cardigan at the onset of summer and right before moving, it promptly went into storage, so it’s nice to finally give it an outing. I contemplated using patterned legwear, but let’s face it, it’s not like there was that much need for going that extra mile when comfort was far more important.

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Coord 4: Extra Witchy

Weird selfie, but I really wanted to show off my makeup.

To date this colourway of the Crystal Heart necklace is my most striking one.

Dressing up for not other reason than: 1) it’s Halloween month; 2) I felt like it; 3) I was left unsupervised so there was no-one to stop me; 4) I forgot that I no longer have the stamina for at-home overdressing that I did back in the pandemic. Still, the coord came out just as I imagined it in my head. Fun and witchy, yet not too dark or spooky. The overstimulation got to me pretty fast, though, and I promptly yeeted it all off once I took the photos. If I could’ve just lounged around all day, it would’ve been a different story, but let’s face it, this isn’t an outfit for someone who has laundry to do and a dinner to cook.

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Coord 5: Perfectly Pastoral

Growing out my fringe means a lot of this deep side part swoopy things going on.

This somehow has big Oktoberfest vibes lol

Now that’s much more comfortable for a day of chores and working from home. Far less Halloweeny, but I can only push myself so far for the season. It’s really nice to know that this extremely offbrand corset top I got off Vinted works as well with lolita as I hoped it would, makes the tenner spent on it even more worth it. Originally my plan didn’t involve the sheer apron skirt over it, but the coord was missing that extra layer of ivory and it does look so much better with it. I forgot how much I adore this skirt, it makes me feel like a proper historical heroine. And styled like this? About 75% more so. So there, that’s this month’s edition of barely-lolita-but-my-blog-my-rules coords.

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Coord 6: Spooky Meet

Always joy and happiness at autumn leaves.

And I went at just the right time too because the trees are now all bare and the leaves on the ground are more wet than rustling.

For our comm Halloween meet we gathered round for a super chill afternoon of painting ghosts. This was obviously the prime time for this vest and why I bought it in the first place, so I'm extra pleased that I had the time to take my coord shots outside with the leaves. It is, if I may say so, peak October coord from me. I had lots of fun painting the little ghost friend, I surprised myself with how great mine turned out given that it was one reference picture and a lot of winging it. I did have to leave early to make it home in time for DnD that same night, but it was a time really well spent.

Bonus lil' guy

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Coord 7: Romantic Break

I only now noticed that my purple mascara left a little bit of a shadow on the bottom lash line and it actually looks quite nice. I might try to recreate that sometime in the future.

Repping the romance references between the Bridgerton-inspired brooch and my Romance Weriters' Club necklace.

The day after the meet my local RNA chapter was meeting, so I temporarily put aside the spooks for your classic romantic red x pink combo. Whilst I'm not exactly thrilled by the cutsew being so noticeably more muted pink, the beret and brooch hopefully do enough to keep the tights matching the rest. And, of course, I have a knack for wearing this super floaty skirt on the windiest of days. But it was a great morning, lots of compliments from strangers all around, and then it was comfy enough for when I got back home to just chill in.

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Coord 8: Cosy Chores

Another pair of glasses that's reflective AF.

Ridiculously pleased with how the cutsew and the JSK's necklines layered together.

The day before this I came down with some sort of a cold. Whilst I wasn't back at a 100% then and still took the day off work, I felt better enough to put on some super casual, comfy coord with my softest knit layers. It was perfect for a day spent on laundry, Stardew Valley, and having mostly liquid foods (made a chicken bone broth the day before that came out oh so lovely). And, of course, Bake Off in the evening to wrap it all up. Not bad for a day of still having a sore throat and being a couch potato.

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Coord 9: Fiddler on the Roof

I too am wondering about the passage of time, of the sunrises and sunsets.

Very pleased with this belt that I got off Vinted, it proved itself over the course of October.

Thanks to my shoes order arriving the day before, I could finally start assembling some more dressed up yet still comfy coords. To see Fiddler on the Roof at the theatre I wanted to lean in to something really classic and what better for it than The Black Ribbon's Rococo Rose JSK? As classic as classic lolita gets, super theatre-appropriate, as well as very comfy thanks to the indie brands and offbrand items.

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Coord 10: Birmingham Bring and Buy

Way too early to be this cheerful in photos, but it was for a worthy cause.

This bow normally droops like mad under its own weight, but I managed to pin it up pretty well.

Just short of an exact year from the last bring and buy that I co-organised, this time it was the Midlands comm that hosted one and I decided that this could be a prime time for some much needed sales. Not many sales ended up happening for me, though I did sell a few bits and scored an incredible bargain on an accessory bundle from Neant Glass, so all was good. The coord is very simple, but doesn’t look like it is? That’s what the right pieces in the right places will do. I had a really early start to the day, so needed an outfit that was super quick to throw on, yet because every item adds the right level of detail, it just looks like a well put-together outfit.

Peep my absolute steal of a haul - £10 for all of this!

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Coord 11: The Usual Disclaimer

Wondering how to angle my head so that the bow sticks out ever so slightly less...

The real drink that I cannot live without.

Called as such because of the usual disclaimer that I have to make about wearing the dress for the kitschy aesthetic, not for any actual support of the Coca-Cola Company. Truth be told, I don’t remember what I put this outfit together for? I knew that I wanted to wear this JSK for a working from home day and was browsing through past outfits in Whering and found this one, which I never wore. It must’ve been for some other day of working from home that ended up not happening. I really like how between the patterns and textures this coord looks quite cohesively stripey. The only thing that I’m not so keen on is how, despite best efforts, this headbow ended up sticking out so much. I did decide to just embrace it rather than swap it out for something else, but it still irks me.

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Coord 12: Pre-Spooks Comfort

Been very into minimal, natural makeup lately and this might be the most natural-looking one of all of this month's looks.

Give me ALL the floral and vegetal motifs!

For the remaining two days of October I wasn’t going to wear any frills, even if I planned on bringing out my Halloween vest some more. So a comfortable day of working from home called for my most comfortable dress with the appropriate accoutrements. Cosy vibes at absolute peak here.

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It has been a very good October this time round. However, as much as I enjoyed participating in the spoops, it is now time to settle down with something warm and fluffy, hibernate throughout November, so that I can then emerge as the Christmas enjoyer that I really am. Not that my social calendar supports the idea of burrowing myself in blankets, there are a fair few outings already booked in, but in between them all I will do my best to conserve energy. Stay warm and cosy - or cool and chill if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere and things are getting uncomfortable.

October Coords Roundup