July Coords Roundup

July ended up being a ride that I did not expect. However, throughout the month having lolita fashion and being able to engage with it and with the community have kept me sane. Even though I knew before that lolita fashion was part of my identity, July has helped me really feel it. It prompted some introspection on whether that means I’m a lifestyle lolita now, but that’s a lot to unpack, so let’s leave it for another time. Today is just about the outfits.

EDIT: I’m so sorry! I swear that I spent like an hour putting all the pictures in and the Blogger had to mess that up by not saving it, including the text about the last outfit. Argh, I am absolutely livid! So sorry for missing that out earlier.

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Coord 1: It’s Meeting Time

| Innocent World Revival Sweet Teddybear JSK | offbrand blouse, hair clip and necklace | Red Maria tights | Sosic Shop heels | Angelic Pretty Charlotte’s Bear brooch | Jule et Lily Sakura pin | Star Glazed Delights ring | Big Pink Boutique earrings |

I really wish that I'd made a note of the seller I bought this flower clip from, they had loads of pretty things and maybe they have an online shop somewhere.

I was actually tempted by Jule et Lily's sakura collection, but decided against it in the end. So it was an amazing, if very unexpected, to see this pin as a freebie with my order.

This month’s outfits have had a good start with this one. After feeling a bit uninspired for outfits putting something I felt cute in seems to have flipped the switch. As well as make the second Important Work Meeting of the three that bit more bearable. The meeting went better than expected, though there was still loads to do afterwards. Nonetheless, it was a good outfit and it made me want to dress up more, which is exactly the point.

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Coord 2: International Virtual Tea Party vol 2

| AatP Sugar Plum Fairy Princess JSK | Lady Sloth Glitter Mesh blouse | Resailan Jewelry Box tights | Irregular Choice Total Freedom shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | Chocomint hair clip | Promised Land Creations earrings | Risu Rose necklace | Voodoo Dolly ring | Dalao Home wig |

How is it that my quickest wig-trim job is also my best so far?

Worn photo: golds match. Flatlay: golds absolutely do not match. And that's what we call coording skills.

Actually, this was the fourth one of these tea parties organised by @fairytaleprince, but the second one that I was able to attend. After putting a prototype of this outfit together way back in the 29th instalment of the 1 Dress 4 Looks posts, it was finally time to wear it. Initially I was going to wear it to a local Christmas market, but I never went, so now was as good a time as any. I went with the wig because I wanted the headbow to pop against light hair - and *finally* trimmed the fringe on it! If I may say so myself, I didn’t do a half-bad job considering how it was a rush 20-minute-or-so job. The tea party was lovely, it was great to meet new people from a whole host of places, as well as talk again with the people I’d met before. I’m very grateful that this one started later, to allow more of those in North America to join, because it allowed me the lie in that I needed, though it’s a shame that in the end only one person from the US was able to make it.

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Coord 3: Sunday Folklore

| Haenuli Whipped Cream Kitty JSK | traditional Polish blouse | MuFish tights | Hush Puppies boots | vintage neckerchief as headscarf | apron from BtSSB’s Polonaise Brillante JSK |

You don't always need a new accessory, sometimes you just need to think outside the box.

This embroidery is amazing and I want to showcase the blouse in more coords.

Three days wearing lolita in a row, wow. The inspired mood clearly continued. Once I realised that I kept wearing this JSK in very similar ways, I wanted to break the pattern and do something different. And what better way than with a very comfortable folk look? This blouse that I got to match Polonaise Brillante was made to measure, so it fits like a glove and the cotton it’s made out of is wonderfully soft, yet still holds volume. Couple of pins to secure that apron on the dress and it was ready. Perfectly low effort, perfectly comfortable and great for Sunday at home. There was a danger that I’d have to spend the day doing some work, but although I kept MS Teams open in the background, as I promised before clocking off on Friday, the dreaded “could you do X” message never arrived. Let’s rejoice in the small wins by playing Jaja Ding Dong for an hour because at this point I am a meme.

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Coord 4: Something Cute

| Metamorphose Bubble Bath skirt | Magic Tea Party blouse | Dream V cardigan | Innocent World Wendy OTKs | Bodyline shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | Beckie’s Kawaii Charms ring | offbrand ring |

Somehow when I wear outfits this typically sweet, I feel like the coords are incomplete without a fringe. Or at least wearing this without one feels too far outside of my comfort zone for now.

I love this kitty with all my heart!

After one day of a break I dressed up again. There was no reason, no nice weather, nothing was happening, work kept me busy - I just wanted to be cute as well as comfortable. I’m realising that along with Diner Doll this skirt is a massive outlier in my wardrobe, though because it’s a skirt it’s harder to style it in drastically different ways like I can with the Diner Doll JSK. Between these two pieces I may genuinely need to invest in a couple of extra bits to allow myself a bit of room for more diverse coords. For now I went with this beige/very light brown to highlight the kitties in the print. Though I feel that if I ever find the Pinafore JSK cut of this print, I might cave in and replace the skirt. But that’s for some distant time in the future.

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Coord 5: From Taisho with Love

| Innocent World White Double Braid Tartan skirt | offbrand top, hat, necklace and ring | vintage haori | Enchantlic Enchantilly Invitation to Castle Ball tights | Hush Puppies boots | 4 Aces ring | My Inspiration brooch |

Even though I went through the pain that is orthodontic treatment, I still don't know how to do an open mouth smile that doesn't feel forced or look odd. This photo is the first of so many attempts that I actually liked.

Featuring all those great textures.

Ok, it’s not the most period-accurate, that’s merely the vibe that I was feeling that day. I’ve been wondering what this skirt would look like with a haori and played around with lengths a little before settling on this more column-like silhouette. Once the hat was on (though only for the photo), I kind of felt like I should have a leatherbound notebook and go out to study insects. Very specific, I know. All in all, it was a nice experiment that I’d like to try again in the future with some variations. That whole day was additionally sponsored by Dandy Wellington and His Band’s music, which made everything even cosier. It’s July, but you’d never know that based on what I’ve been wearing, and since we’re still bound indoors, might as well evoke those warm, cosy vibes in.

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Coord 6: Final Important Work Meeting

| AatP Sheherazade JSK | Axes Femme blouse | Innocent World Fleurs Checkered OTKs | offbrand beret and shoes | 4 Aces and Enchantlic Enchantilly rings |

Oddly enough, feeling like utter crap made me less critical of the photos I took. Silver linings, I guess.

The low waist cut works great for hourglass shapes - and even better if you manage to squeeze a corset under it.

Continuing with the red x brown theme, this was what I wore to the very final Important Work Meeting. However, that day I had gotten some very bad news I was not expecting, which really meant the entire day was best thrown in the garbage. I was already dressed by the time I got said news and decided to quickly take some pictures for myself, to document the outfit, even though I really wasn’t feeling like it. It was a quicker and less fussy option than trying to do a flatlay. Insert commentary on how social media is all fake and how we put out our best, most curated selves out there, when in reality we’re far from perfect or happy? That’s probably way too deep and involved for what was actually going on inside my head, my thoughts were very literally that I’d regret not taking the photos and that they don’t have to be perfect because they’re for me, not for anyone else.

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Coord 7: Feeling Blue

| Resailan Jewelry Box JSK and hair clip | offbrand blouse and necklace | Jane Marple OTKs | Haruhi Clover star clips |

Looking back, this coord would've looked better with fancier hair and makeup. Oh well, I guess that I'll have to wear it again sometime.

This print still has my heart.

When looking for something that would be cute and comfortable, my eyes landed on this JSK. This time I wanted to pick up on those cool blues, which almost lean into silver, so I decided to coordinate it with my grey and silver pieces. And I like how it came out and it was exactly the level of comfort I was after. For anyone out there wandering about Jane Marple socks, whilst they are much thinner than lolita brand socks (like thin summer socks), they surprised me by stretching all the way mid-thigh without any struggle. Only my Innocent World OTKs consistently do that, and I suspect that the thinness of the material might be what helps the JM socks achieve that. The question now is how they will hold up to wear, but I’m impressed enough to consider buying more Jane Marple socks. The day was uneventful, work, grocery delivery, chilling after… I tried to follow the news of the Polish presidential election a little (even though generally I stay away from Polish politics - I don’t live there anymore and don’t envision myself returning, so don’t see the need to keep up). Life since Thursday has been a bit detached, as if my body kept going whilst my heart left the country, and almost on autopilot, but sticking to doing things that made me happy is helping a little, even if I doubt whether I actually feel it. It’s certainly making me feel better than if I had sat in pyjamas all day long.

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Coord 8: Casual Classic

| Innocent World Georges Rose JSK | Axes Femme top | Violet Fane Antiquite tights | offbrand shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | Peppermint Fox brooch | offbrand cameo |

This was the first of several hair curling/waving experiments that month. I loved the volume, so might redo it.

Even though this brooch is purple, it's such a pink-based shade that it works well with this coord.

Whilst I am a tiny bit bothered by not having something at least pink-ish at the bottom of this coord, it was very comfortable and I felt cute, so it’s not a big deal. I was testing a different way of curling my hair and while the effect wasn’t what I was hoping for, it was much more comfortable to sleep on, so I’ll keep experimenting with that a little more. It gave me some nice volume, which I wish could last. The most notable thing about that day was that for a healthy, balanced lunch I made myself some fluffy pancakes. My grocery delivery had a bigger thing of milk than I need, so I was thinking of ways to use it up and thought that it might not last until weekend for pancakes, so I carpe diem’d and had them for a working lunch. Regrets were only temporary.

Being able to dedicate the time to making lunches like this is a definite upside of working from home!

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Coord 9: More Casual

| Song and Temple Fairytale Library skirt and scrunchie | offbrand top and shoes | Snag Tights White Russian fishnets | Fantastic Grim Jewelry necklace |

This ponytail says that I have stuff to do.

Part of me wishes that I bought two of these scrunchies. Then again, I hardly wear this one as is.

Nothing fancy, but I liked the more summery feel to this outfit provided by the fishnets and the mesh top (which is actually a crop top that only barely tucked into the skirt). Although sadly I did not anticipate how fishnets, these shoes and walking would combine and I ended up with blisters from my quick trip to the post office. Not ideal in any circumstances, even less so when I was anticipating a further walking trip that evening to pick up my Mum, who was visiting for the weekend.

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Coord 10: Out with Mum

| Bodyline L30 skirt | Chess Story Gift from Budapest blouse | Enchantlic Enchantilly The Crown of the Violet Princess tights | offbrand shoes, bracelets and hair ties |

Sadly, somewhere between getting off the tram and reaching home I lost one of those flower ties.

This blouse has really lace around the neckline.

The point of this outfit was to create something that was both elegant and low-key. The weather was miserable and I was expecting Mother Nature as well as my own Mum, and this coord ticked all the boxes for me. Although since I gave myself blisters the day before, I actually had to swap for a different pair of shoes for the actual trip to town.

Mum and I went to Irregular Choice to shop their sale. She had money left over on her giftcard from last year and I had been eyeing a pair of shoes that I wanted to try on first. Every time I visit the Manchester branch I feel so welcome and taken care of by the staff there. They made sure to adhere to the safety guidelines (masks on at all times, disinfectant gel on entry, limit on the number of people inside, plastic socks for trying shoes on) and the friendliness of the staff kept the experience such a positive one. In the end both Mum and myself left with the shoes that we wanted and we spent the rest of the evening admiring them back at my place.

Anyone else forget that people can't see if you're smiling when wearing a mask? But it feels rude to not smile.

My shoes: Flickety Kiss in this amazing silver glitter. They were super comfy when trying them on, so let's see if that's still the case when actually wearing them out.

And my Mum's shoes: Rocko in pink. She couldn't decide between the colours, but in the end I think she made the best choice with this pair.

I also ordered some afternoon tea delivery for us from a local(ish) place called The Fab Patisserie. My priority was to find a business that was local and small, and it also turned out to be black-owned, which made it even better. The tea was so beautifully presented and the variety of desserts was what made me go with this one over some other ones that I found. Although the sandwiches were nothing to write home about, just what you’d expect, the sweets were lovely. Sadly, the scones were too hard for us to eat, which is a shame, because they looked lovely. Overall, I’d give this afternoon spread a solid 8/10 and I would buy again, although likely not just for myself. (I was expecting a tea party the weekend after, but this would’ve been too much for just me.) Also, having an afternoon tea at home with a delivery was certainly a new experience. The ups were comfort (house slippers all the way!) and being able to take your time, while on the other hand having to do the setup and the cleanup yourself, as well as not getting to experience a new place were the downsides. Mum and I agreed that we prefer the experience of afternoon tea out, of being out in a fancy place and being treated like fancy ladies to a nice treat. But until the pandemic is truly over, this was nice to try out.

I did my best to present this nicely, but my table is too small to hold this much food.

The eclairs were the weakest of the spread and they were still lovely. The choux buns were strawberry flavoured and that chocolate cake was so rich that I'm glad Mum and I split it between us.

Most of these I ate the day after, we only ate the lemon meringue pie because we couldn't figure out what it was until we ate it.

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Coord 11: Casual Sweet

| Angelic Pretty Diner Doll JSK | Axes Femme cutsew | Angelic Pretty Sugar Ribbon OTKs | Bodyline shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | Chocomint ring | handmade bracelets |

This selfie really captured the amazing textures on that cutsew.

Bracelets to match the cutsew and the ring to match the dress.

In my quest to make more diverse coords with Diner Doll I landed on using it as a skirt. I knew that this cutsew could work with it, but had it been under the dress, as intended, it wouldn’t have been enough to make the coord balanced. This dress is already such a blue-ish shade of mint that pairing it with blue simply had to be possible - and there are bits of sax blue in the print already, they’re just pretty small. With the cutsew on top the coord lets those blues come a bit more to the front. This was such an uneventful day that I even skipped any semblance of wearing makeup. Usually I bother with at least some lipstick, whereas here I opted for simply biting my lips a couple of times to give them some colour before taking a selfie. Because casual lolita is valid like that too.

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Coord 12: Twinning for a Meetup

| Angelic Pretty Cinema Doll JSK and OTKs | offbrand blouse, shoes and jewellery | Cutie Creator headbow |

Go-to makeup, go-to hair, go to accessories. No point messing with something that already works.

Ok but I have a new obsession with quilted details. Also, look how the pearls on the print look just like the necklace ones!

My comm organised a virtual meetup at the weekend and I thought it was time to whip out Cinema Doll again. Then I remembered that another person in my comm owns it too, in the same colourway though different cut, so I messaged to ask if she fancied twinning (actual twinning photo still to come). The rest is history, really. Since hers is an OP and she’s still building her wardrobe, I matched what she did. But as I said before, this print is so amazing that I genuinely enjoy very simple coordinates to let it shine. Besides, it took me until the night before to realise that the meetup started much earlier than I remembered, so it was nice to not have to think too hard about what to wear and be able to put it all together quickly. We played a game called Scattergories, which was really fun. It was kind of like Pointless in that you had to find an answer that was correct that no-one else had, but also kind of like Countdown in that they had to start with a specific letter and it was against the clock. Since there were a lot of us playing, we only did one practice round before moving onto the lolita categories, which was a lot harder than we anticipated, but still great fun. The hard part was mostly due to the randomly allocated letters rather than anything else. And afterwards, as if it were a real in-person meetup, I indulged in getting a McDonald’s for dinner. It’s been literal months since I had a cheeky Maccy’s last, so quell thy judgement.

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Coord 13: (Non-)Summer Cottagecore

| Metamorphose Shirring Tiered Ribbon JSK | Babysong Lolita blouse | Angelic Pretty Salon de The Rose OTKs | Sosic Shop heels | vintage hat | Angelic Pretty Cute Ribbon wrist cuffs | Enchantlic Enchantilly necklace | Latte Galaxy brooch | Peppermint Fox brooches |

Hair waving experiment number 2. I liked the effect, so migh whip this out for more casual looks, since it was quick and easy to do, as well as ok to sleep on.

Doing a 180 degree turn from disliking this fake droopy sleeve to loving it.

So, lavender is happening more now that I have those two blouses. This is dangerous because even when I just put this particular coord on a hanger, my thoughts were "oh no, I like this a lot". I am not ready to start investing in lavender and go down that rabbithole of shades that never match! Still, there’s no denying that the combination of sax and lavender is really lovely. When I bought this blouse, my worry was that the shower curtain fabric would bother me, since there’s no way this would breathe. However, during the day I realised that it was actually the scratchy seams that bothered me more (maybe because it wasn’t particularly warm that day, it was just mild). We’ll see if a fabric softener wash will help, because while I know I got what I paid for, I ended up liking this blouse design. Those fake droopy straps-effect ruffles used to bother me - until I put this on and then I did a 180 degree turn. It’s a shame that you can’t see that my hat has a lavender ribbon on it, it’s not just there to aid my cottagecore vibes which I was feeling with this outfit. All of this for a Monday of stressful working whilst the rain was absolutely pissing it down outside pretty much all day. Summer is a lie if you live in the North of England.

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Coord 14: Out in Town

| Metamorphose Sailor Tiered skirt | offbrand blouse, tights, shoes, belt and necklace | Cutie Creator headbow | Madillustration brooch | Big Pink Boutique earrings |

This time my curling wasn't quite as successful, but I took the picture before everything collapsed, so it's fine.

Tiers, tiers, tiers everywhere!

Urgh, I am so mad that Blogger ate this last paragraph and that I have to redo it! Blogger can piss off!

Anyway... I had to use up my annual leave by the end of the month, which meant a few extra days off. So on Thursday I braved going out to town to drop an ouji jacket for altering and decided to dress up. It was quite warm, so thin breezy layers were a must. I like how the bottom of this blouse blends into the skirt to create an extra kind of cascading tiers effect. Although I broke the belt by doing it up too tightly and then bending over, so hopefully I’ll be able to fix it. Since I was already in town, I decided to treat myself to fancy desserts, which I really enjoyed and definitely will buy again.

The Paris Brest (top) gets an 11/10 from me, it's pure hazelnut and choux pastry goodness! The chocolate and caramel gateaux (bottom) was lovely too, but a bit too rich for the hot weather and kind of hard to eat, so I'd give it a 9/10.

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As I said, July was quite the ride. I started off on quite a high as far as dressing up goes, I’ve regained some mojo and will to wear lolita and try out things. Then the proverbial shit hit the fan, slowing me down, but not getting me down completely. Lolita fashion provided me with something that was stable and that I was able to control at a time when I was thrown into the unknown without even being consulted on the matter.

How was your July? Have you tried anything new this month? Are you one of those lucky ones for whom lockdown is easing because it’s actually safe to do so? Since I had to redo the post, Greater Manchester has had a local lockdown imposed literally the day I wore that last coord. This country is utter shambles and our government can go shove a cactus up heir bum.