1 Dress 4 Looks Take 79

AatP’s Persian Rug ~ Medallion Design That Weaves Wishes ~ was one of those releases that I fell in love with the moment it appeared and would’ve bought on the spot were it not for the price and my no-buy. But then my no-buy ended, the release went on sale and, miraculously, there was a branch with the green colourway still in stock. Classic lolitas never beating the ‘wannabe oldfashioned furniture/textiles/wallpaper’ allegations, am I right?

Look 1: Green Monotone

| offbrand blouse | Sheglit Florence OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | Tiny Passerine Creations The Duchess’ Tea earrings | Puvithel Crystal Heart necklace | Metamorphose wrist cuffs | vii ring |

It had to be done and you know it. Are there way too many shades of green? Oh, absolutely. But there are also way too many shades of green in this JSK, which means that all of them work. Also, it wasn’t until I cleared this up that I remembered that I have green Crystal Heart earrings from Puvithel, which probably would’ve worked marginally better, at least with the necklace and ring. But eh, we’re here now.

Look 2: Subtle Riches

| Lady Sloth Glitter Mesh blouse | AatP Arabesque OTKs | Modo Prayer Poem shoes | AatP Scheherazade headdress | offbrand necklace | Folk and Fortune Fleur-de-lys earrings | Le Petit Four Emerald Palace ring | vintage brooch |

Well, maybe not quite so subtle after all. Pulling some golds into the coord is rarely ever subtle, but classic lolita has a tendency to absorb just about everything and still somehow looking understated even when it’s pretty OTT. Or maybe I just can’t tell what’s OTT in classic anymore.

Look 3: Victorian Festive

| Axes Femme underskirt | Summer Tales Boutique Royal Stewart Tartan blouse | Enchantlic Enchantilly Crown of the Rose Princess tights | offbrand shoes | Vierge Vampur bonnet | Cutie Creator headbow | Estrellas Brilliant Star choker | Victorique Violette brooch | vintage brooch | Ebony and Ivory rosette | Chalmiere Christmas ring | Candy Kitsch bracelet | XKawaiiCutieX earrings |

The world is hard-wired to treat every green x red look as a Christmassy one – and let’s be honest, this is but one way to make this JSK look festive. I’m sure that I will find another one come December. I think that irl I probably would’ve stuck to only one substyle vibes, but for the sake of the theming coming across extra clearly in the post, I mixed my accessories a little bit more freely.

Look 4: Mixed with Ivory

| Infanta Swan Lake blouse | Violet Fane Enchanted Ivy tights | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Rose of Sharon hair clip | indie hair clip | offbrand hair clip | Wax Poetic necklace | vintage earrings | Jane Marple ring | handmade bracelets | vintage brooch |

My one time of wearing this JSK so far confirmed that to make this bodice work for me, I need to pair it with blouses with busier, frillier necklines. And to honour my previous vow to never use the l’Esprit de la Noblesse blouses in flatlays because they are a nightmare to make look good in that format, I’ve settled on the Infanta one and literally took it from there. It’s a slightly all-over coord, but I kind of like how from the tights brought out not only more ivory, but more light green as accent colours.

As mentioned in that last cord, in reality this cut works best when I can fill a significant chunk of the neckline area with something. The super short bodice means lots of room between my face and the neckline, as well as quite large armholes that I find a little unsightly. But flatlays get to ignore those things to an extent. I think that I’ll still reach for the four coord ideas above at some point, but they are highly likely to end up significantly modified for worn versions.

September Coords roundup

Happy October! Time to kick it off with a look back at September before I succumb to the crunchy spicy leaf season.

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Coord 1: Sangam Afternoon Tea

| AatP Persian Rug ~ Medallion Design That Weaves Wishes ~ JSK | l’Esprit de la Noblesse Le Nuage blouse | Peacockalorum underskirt | AatP Arabesque OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | AatP Sheherazade headdress | Tiny Passerine Creations The Duchess’ Tea earrings | offbrand necklace and ring | vintage brooch | Le Petit Four Emerald Palace ring | handmade bracelets |

It feels like so long since I've done a winged eyeliner and now I'm questioning myself why.

The (almost) perfectly square neckline.

So I bought this dress when it came on sale. And I have zero regrets. The stock photos do not do it justice and it has managed to convince me that maybe a high waisted cut is not my enemy after all. Having stumbled upon an Indian restaurant offering Indian afternoon tea, I rallied the willing comm members up to try it out, so this was the perfect first outing for this dress. I like how it feels very effortless like this and all the various carpet-like details make for super nice touches. The afternoon tea, whilst delicious and very filling, left a bit of a sour taste in our mouths because the restaurant didn’t deliver so well for the gluten free member of our party (and the desserts weren’t to my taste either, the savouries were much better). Which is a shame, since otherwise this would’ve been a really nice, unique spot for future meets. I might go back with like my Mum or something, but definitely wouldn’t risk it again for a meet.

It looked so good too! So why the sudden drop in effort with something that Indian cuisine is perfectly capable of delivering?

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Coord 2: Monochrome Crown

| Metamorphose Polka Dots Shirring Pinafore JSK | Pinky Girls cardigan | Angelic Pretty Crown Ribbon OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | offbrand necklace, ring, and belt | Metamorphose Grande Couronne necklace | voodoodolly ring |

Originally I planned a different headdress, but it was too much for what is a pretty casual look.

Even if the crown motifs beg to differ about the casual accusations.

These socks need wearing, you say? It’s September now and most of my summer pieces only got worn once this year, you say? I gochu, time to combine the two. Although maybe don’t look if mixed metals offend you as to pull in more of the crown motif, I mixed my metals very freely. Not much to say about this coord, it was cute and comfy, like how it came out, next.

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Coord 3: Makers Market

| Chrysanthemum’s Concerto Lost in the Garden of Eden JSK | offbrand blouse and shoes | BtSSB Secret AIR MAIL from Sweet Kitty OTKs | Cutie Creator Maiden’s Prayer headbow | Melty Wish earrings and necklace | 4Aces ring |

There was no point in going too hard with the makeup since it was a rainy day.

Yes to all the wax seal motifs.

Realising that the time for my annual wardrobe swap is going to arrive sooner rather than later has lit a bit of a fire under me to wear as many of my summer pieces at least one more time as possible. Since we were going out to check out the local makers market, I coorded around comfortable shoes and some still unworn socks, landing on this coord. It’s not overthought at all, it’s super simple and comfy, but still got plenty of compliments from the sellers, making me feel cute.

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Coord 4: Transitional Seasons

| Metamorphose Vintage Fruit OP | Amavel cardigan | BtSSB Polonaise Brillante OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | beret handmade by Kerry | Pastel Paca earrings | offbrand choker | vintage brooch | 4Aces ring |

ALL the autumnal colours!

A boss move on my part, moving the bows from the OP to the cardigan, if I may say so myself.

Early September is such a wild time: it can be warm or cold, the leaves can still be green or they can start turning, it can be sunny or miserable. The perfect inspiration for styling this OP in a less summery way. To be fair, it all started with adding green and then with these OTKs, but once it was all on, I knew that I wanted that look of early autumn that’s mostly green, but starting to turn. Mission accomplished in my books, this may be one of my favourite coords with this main piece. Although wearing a petti for packing may not have been the most practical choice I ever made.

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Coord 5: Hometown Reminiscing

| Wonderland Ukiyoe Lilith’s Collection skirt | Axes Femme cutsew | Innocent World Lauretta OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Imogen’s Imagination beret | Pastel Paca earrings | Summer Tales Boutique necklace | vintage brooch and bracelet | offbrand brooch |

The joys of finding coord-taking spots in other people's houses...

This pin was a gift from our DnD DM, since I play a tree-man character, and this felt like the right time to bring it with me.

For a nearly one week-long trip to Poland I took precisely one frilly outfit and it was this one. We spent the majority of the trip in the countryside, so frills weren’t practical (for wearing or packing), but since I was already taking my long A-line petti, I could whip something up with this skirt with no problems. We spent one day wandering around my home city and barring the shoe change for something better suited to cobblestones and lots of steps, this was perfect for mooching around the old haunts. Even the weather was so much on my side that despite bringing a cardigan with me, I didn’t need one and spent the whole day like this.

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Coord 6: Something Mixed

| Metamorphose Sailor Tiered skirt | Axes Femme cutsew | Amavel cardigan | Angelic Pretty Toy March OTKs | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Physical Drop headbow | offbrand earrings and ring | Folk and Fortune Ruby Hilt Dagger brooch | Violet Fane Apothecary brooch | 4Aces ring |

This ring was getting a lot of wear in September, I just noticed.

Love me some fantasy-leaning brooches. You can take a gal out of being a nerd and all that...

Although my plans had changed for the Saturday, since I already wanted to dress up in frills, I decided to stick with that. The coord was entirely thought up on the spot, having started with just the socks and skirt. Originally my ideas wandered around using more brown, but another look at these socks confirmed that a wine red would be a much better accent colour. The only thing I’d change in retrospect would be the headbow. I actually didn’t pick a headpiece straight away and just grabbed the first viable option that I could think of. But also, I think I’m generally growing into smaller headpieces as time goes on, so maybe next year my challenge should be to wear every single headbow I own and do some spring cleaning with those. Because the legwear challenge so far has really revealed which of my OTKs I have no more use for (and tbf, these ones are probably one of them too, I’m just unsure how well they’d do on the second hand market because they are a bit more worn than some of the other ones I was selling).

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Coord 7: Board Games

| Metamorphose Cyber Neon Girl JSK | NiuNiu Shop blouse | Haenuli Secret Garden tights | offbrand shoes, hair tie, earrings, and pin | Angelic Pretty Fancy Crepe necklace | Magical Mews Swan Hoe pin | Fluffy Tori Everybody Can Be Kawaii pin | handmade bracelets | Candy Kitsch Creations ring | Twinkle Kitty Boutique ring |

Normally with this JSK I think I would've gone with a bright pink lipstick, but I was tying all those reds in from the organza overlays and the bows on the tights.

Look at all those sax and minty blues. Actually, there is literally every primary colour under the sun in this print, I should try harder with it.

The following day we were going out to play board games at a café with friends and I wanted something that was both fun and casual. The legwear list is currently at the stage of being mostly quite specific socks and tights, so after initially trying to style Cyber Neon Girl with a different pair of tights, I pivoted to these because they just worked better with the light blue neons in the print – plus the red on the tights allowed me to tie in the red organza overlays a bit better. I wish that I had some sort of a black choker to both fill in that space and add a slightly more prominent touch of black into that part of the coord, but other than that, I think it came out okay. This is the first proper lolita coords I’ve done with this print, which considering that I got it with permission to wear in non-lolita ways, I’m pretty proud of. We had a good time trying out a bunch of different board games and thankfully this JSK cut is super comfy because Mother Nature demanded sacrifices at the altar, so it was nice to have one fewer waistbands eating at me.

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Coord 8: Briefly Elegant

| Grove Deer Moon of Eternal Day OP | Vallee Lys Nocturne tulle cardigan | Axes Femme underskirt | Enchantlic Enchantilly Crown of the Rose Princess tights | Elf Armorie Cupid’s Heart shoes | Kaneko headdress | Tiny Passerine Creations The Duchess’ Tea earrings | offbrand necklace and ring | enchanted Dream Wear necklace | Star Glazed Delights Brandwhore ring |

The great part about not going out and just having a look for the photos is that no-one sees how lazy I get with my up-do's (long live the claw clip).

Damn, if the textures of this necklace don't bring me insane amounts of joy.

Briefly because most of this coord went straight off the moment that I was done with pictures. I wanted to be comfy and the tulle cardigan proved surprisingly warm. And since I anticipated being in meetings, I didn’t want all this jewellery. Still, I like how the coord came out. It was put together just to get another piece of legwear ticked off the list for this year and because this OP is very comfy, but it kept morphing as I put things on because for once I hadn’t pre-planned anything. I started out with the shorter Nocturne overdress, but the lengths were a little off, especially with the underskirt, which I wanted to keep. The long cardigan also solved my ‘issue’ of bare wrists, which now got some very elegant sleeve cuffs. Also yes, there were too many shades of wine that the camera blew out of proportion, irl they blended ever so slightly better, but this cardigan always trips cameras up with what colour it is.

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Coord 9: Visiting Hokusai

| Metamorphose Shirring Tiered Ribbon Pinafore JSK | Axes Femme cutsew | Innocent World Cross Lace bolero | Innocent World Pearl Ribbon OTKs | American Duchess Bernadette shoes | Cutie Creator Maiden’s Prayer headbow | Tiny Passerine Creations The Duchess’ Tea earrings and ring | vintage necklace and brooches |

Using the bubble machine for photos was a genius idea. The gloss over this lipstick a little less so, though the pictures at least have the decency to hide that a little.

Because what's more evocative of water than pearl drops?

For a day off to hang out with a friend, we went to the Whitworth Gallery with the intention of seeing the woodblock exhibition that includes Hokusai’s The Great Wave of Kanagawa. That was my inspiration behind this shades-of-blue-and-pearls coord, though I had a minor outfit mishap in the morning and needed to change my blouse. In the end, we didn’t even get to see The Great Wave of Kanagawa itself because we were distracted by other exhibits and then wanted a break, but the outfit inspiration remains. Also, since only a week earlier my boyfriend got me a bubbles machine (toy), I decided to try taking pictures with that, which seems to have worked very well, so I am certain that more will come.

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Coord 10: Chill and Cosy

| Violet Fane Otome Nostalgia skirt | vintage blouse | offbrand vest | BtSSB Border OTKs | Hot Chocolate Designs Dear Santa shoes | beret handmade by Kerry | Folk and Fortune Typewriter necklace | Little Rogue and Co pin |

Again, I am insanely pleased at all the textures in this coord.

Whilst I am looking further to the new instalments, I also am not holding my breath for anything majorly mind blowing from SJM.

The goal was to be comfy, cosy, and warm during my Sunday at home – and this achieved all three of those goals perfectly. With the added extra of ticking off another pair of socks for this year’s goal. Not much more to say about this look tbh. Otome Nostalgia always lends itself well to being paired with red, so this is far from revolutionary, though I like the textures and the visual interest that the stripes bring into it, worked out even better than I thought it might.

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Autumn is just about kicking in and still in the nice stage: cardigan weather with sunshine, leaves only just beginning to turn, evenings drawing nearer but without taking over the waking hours. October is already packed for me with various events and activities, most of which are (traditionally for me) not very spooky. Oh, and I cannot wait to swap my spring/summer clothes out for the autumn/winter ones, there’s a few pieces there that I wanted to wear recently and couldn’t because they’re in storage. Bring me back my beloved ones!

August Coords Roundup

Whoa, August flew by in a flash! And half of it was too hot for clothes, let alone frills. It’s such a slim showing this month, though hopefully it makes up for it in quality.

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Coord 1: The One that Didn’t Make It

| Haenuli Whipped Cream Kitty JSK | Ank Rouge cutsew | offbrand jacket, beret, and brooch | Angelic Pretty Alphabet Marine OTKs | Sosic Shop shoes | Two Days Slow hair clips | vintage necklace | Sweet Dolly House Cookie Bon Bon ring |

This month was a lot about experimenting with where to put my blush and mixing various ones together.

Trying really hard not to make this detail shot look too aggressive lol.

This is the coord that I was going to squeeze into July, but had no energy for. The weather had cooled down to downright chilly, making me grateful for the bomber jacket. Since the coord was put together to tick these socks off my ‘wear every pair of legwear’ list for 2026, I wanted to do tricolour but where the red is the accent colour, not white, with blue being dominant. And I think I accomplished that. I will definitely be parting with these socks though, they are more of a struggle to coord than they should be and will only get more so as I delve more and more into greens/red/white over blue/red/white for my overall wardrobe.

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Coord 2: A Half Day and Errands

| HeartE Tartan JSK | Ank Rouge cutsew | Metamorphose Cyber Neon Girl jacket | Innocent World Shanti OTKs | Hot Chocolate Design shoes | offbrand hat | Promised Land Creations pendant |

Never have I ever taken coord shots before leaving for work before.

Every now and then I think to myself that I should get more small pendants like this, try to engage in a bit of subtlety. As you can imagine, that day is yet to come.

I took a half day off work to go visit a venue for a future event, as well as do some further errands. Between that and the mild weather I braved putting on something more traditionally frilly for those 4 hours at the office for the sake of the hours after that. It feels like I barely wear this JSK with anything else but this hat and shoes, but don’t blame me when the combo really works so well with the more casual cut.

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Coord 3: Been a While

| Metamorphose Lovely Forest skirt | Axes Femme cutsew | Banned Retro cardigan | Angelic Pretty Twinkle Carnival OTKs | Sosic Shop shoes | Chrysanthemum’s Concerto beret | handmade earrings | offbrand brooch | Lady Sloth Winter Spices necklace | vintage bangles | Angelic Pretty Melty Ribbon Chocolate ring |

I know it doesn't look like much, but this is my favourite no-makeup-look lipstick, it really looks like you're not wearing anything, except somehow better.

Still glad that the seller was happy to split their mixed sets of these bangles so that I could get two in the same colour. And the lighting here really shows off the irridescence.

The two weeks of hot weather and/or low energy between this coord and the previous one felt like a lifetime. Something actually clicked into place when I dressed up to work from home, like a part of myself had returned. When looking for inspiration for styling this skirt, my eyes gravitated towards the blues in the print and I wanted to highlight them more. Whilst the Twinkle Carnival OTKs are a massive thematic stretch (deer are sort of ponies of the forest), this probably was the best time to wear and tick them off the list for this year. It’s also likely time for me to part with these OTKs too, I’ve been growing a little pile of socks to sell, which will eventually go up on Lacemarket. So if you’ve been looking for these, keep an eye out.

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Coord 4: RHS Bridgewater

| BtSSB Polonaise Brillante ~ Ideas of a Maiden ~ Apron JSK | offbrand blouse, shawl, earrings, hair clips, ring, and bracelets | Innocent World Belle Epoque OTKs | Modo Prayer Poem shoes | Wax Poetic necklace | Dentelles brooch | Le Petit Four ring |

The selfie to show off more of the makeup and a little bit of the braid, not so much the hair clips.

Especially as I just had two more of those in my hair and this one you can actually see better.

Earlier that month hit 20 years since I moved to the UK. I admit that I forgot the exact date, just remembered the rough whereabouts, but my Dad kindly sent me a reminder. But in celebration of that, I threw a really chill meet to visit RHS Bridgewater, so that I’d have an excuse both to visit again and to wear my Polish Dress from Baby. It’s not the most Polish coordinate possible, but I quite like how it’s still very folky with that touch more historical vibe thanks to the shawl. It worked together well and ended up being a nice nod to the blend of my heritage and current home country. We had a great time in the gardens, were obviously the favourites of every elderly patron there, as well as the staff, and lucked out with the weather being just right for frills.

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Coord 5: Super Sweet

| Innocent World Revival Sweet Teddybear JSK | Niuniu Shop blouse | Angelic Pretty Ladder Ribbon OTKs | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | Red Maria headbow | handmade earrings and bracelets | Angelic Pretty ribbon as choker | Angelic Pretty Milky Candy brooch | BtSSB Merry Sweet Cake ring | star Glazed Delights Brandwhore ring | Angelic Pretty Logo Ribbon Charm wrist cuffs | Banned Retro Bella belt |

I should know by now to trust the process, but we all forget sometimes.

I think the last time this brooch was out must've been for one of the Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates prompts. Which goes back a while now.

A WFH Wednesday met this dress not being worn in a long time and these OTKs being the only ones of the unworn pairs that’d match. Full disclosure, not only I was worried about all these completely unmatching shades of sax and mint (yup, there are both), but I also had a moment of dread when putting this on of it being so much traditionally sweeter than what I aim for these days. And then I put on blush and a fake fringe, and suddenly it all clicked into place. It still is significantly traditionally sweeter than what I would’ve done without my self-imposed challenges – but I also looked in the mirror and felt cute, if a little bit like someone else (there was a moment when the fringe went on that I caught a split second glimpse of Misako in myself). And it was nice to use this coord as an excuse to bring out some other accessories that I don’t really wear that much like this headbow and the Milky Candy brooch. Of course, most of it went off after photos so that I could do things like make myself lunch without the sensory faffery, but not quite as immediately as I’ve done with some other coords.

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I have an afternoon tea planned for this Sunday, which I am very much looking forward to, but that obviously wouldn’t have made it to this post. August was a real blip of a month, simultaneously so long and going by in a flash. I look forward to having more of this cooler weather, but I also know better than to count on the weather in this country. But please, it is autumn soon and I wish to wear knitwear!