AYWI30C #28: From as many brands as possible

Wow, we are really on the home stretch of this challenge! I'm actually kind of sad, I've been working on these prompts for so long it'll be weird when they're done.

Nut enough about what I won't have shortly, and more about what I do have, and that is a very pretty coordinate, if I say so myself ^__^

This prompt was so much easier than the last one, but that's just how my wardrobe is. I knew that I wanted to combo this Queen Cat with this The Floral Notebook blouse, but the rest all came together on the fly.

And honestly, most of my decisions after that basic combo came from my choice of bag. As I've mentioned before, I don't own a solid black bag, so I had to run with something that wasn't going to be a straightforward match. I thought the pink heart bag was a fun touch, playing off the floral motifs in the print and running in a sweeter direction, rather than a more serious classic or gothic.

Which, let's be honest, is much more me anyway! Once I'd chosen the bag it was a simple matter to pull out a bunch of floral-themed accessories. 

As you can see, I've got multiple tones going on with the different flowers which matches the colours in the print. I really like it! Normally I tend to go a bit more matchy-matchy, so it made for a nice change of pace.

So while this coordinate isn't really groundbreaking, the constraints of this challenge led me to a look I may not have pulled out otherwise, so I'm quite a happy camper! Very keen to wear this look someday ^__^

Coordinates from January - March 2020

Well, this year has progressed in a very unexpected way, hasn't it? But here, on my blog, we will have regularity, and that is my coord roundup post. Here goes!

Let's start with a confession: I very nearly didn’t take any lolita clothes with me to Japan in February. But in the end I packed some simpler, versatile items and I’m glad I did because I wore lolita twice!

My first lolita coord of 2020 was worn to go out in Harajuku. It’s a very simple outfit, but I liked working tiny bits of pink into the otherwise straightforward black x white outfit. Shirring Princess is an odd dress for me, I don’t really like it very much but it feels good every time I wear it!

JSK, OTKS & Bag: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright.

Bolero: Maxicimam

Shoes: Bodyline

Necklace: Angelic Pretty

Other accessories: Offbrand/MeLikesTea

We went to Harajuku Zooland this day to see all the cute animals, so have a couple of bonus pictures of adorable furry things!

Then when we were in Kyoto I decided to dress up to visit the Railway Museum. James bought me this Drug Honey hoodie earlier in the trip, and it’s one of my new favourite items of clothing. Can you believe that I was actually telling him not to buy it for me?! Good thing he didn’t listen ^__^

JSK, OTKS & Bag: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright.

Hoodie: Drug Honey

Shoes: Bodyline

Beret: Offbrand

Bow: MeLikesTea

James also took a shot of this coord with my new Instax camera! I’ve wanted an Instax for years and finally have one (I also may blog more about it in my Japan Highlights series, because there’s a bit of a story to getting it!) which is so much fun!

Once we came home we were meant to not do much for a while, but of course life had other plans and on March 7th James and I attended our first event with the Newcastle Steampunk Community - a tea duel! I had intended to wear a steampunky lolita coord, but didn’t quite like how everything was working so switched out my skirt for these overalls (another Japan purchase) and I honestly think it works as a casual ouji coord!

And I mean, even if my outfit could be argued to not be ouji at all, I was still going to share it because I also wanted to share James’s outfit! I love it when we dress up together and I think he makes a very handsome ouji accessory ^__^

My Coord

Overalls: Punyus

Blouse and beret: Offbrand

Socks: Angelic Pretty

Shoes: Bodyline

James’s Coord

Vest & shorts: Lyris Design

Shirt, tie & boots: Offbrand

Socks: Angelic Pretty

I really love how James coords his ouji outfits, it’s never what I would do myself but it always works so well! Also, have a cute shoe shot I took of him…

Speaking of shoes, my Bodyline ones finally gave up the ghost that day. RIP shoes, you were good to me for many years.

That was going to be it for the month, as I was keeping it quiet since I'm still recovering from the 2019 burnout. But then COVID-19 happened and at the end of March I found myself working from home. And I decided I was going to take full advantage of it and dress in lolita!

My first WFH outfit was pretty simple, but quite cute and made me feel all pumped up to get to work!

OP & Necklace: Lady Sloth Verrry Berry Picnic

Bolero: Banned

Socks: Angelic Pretty

Everything else: Offbrand/Taobao

After my first day of working from home I actually sat down with a list of my main pieces, sorted from last worn to most recently worn, and came up with an outfit for each of them. I'm not a morning person, so having the thinking part done beforehand helps me get ready! So at the start of my first full week for working from home, I wore a piece I hadn't worn yet at all - Queen Cat.

Skirt: Enchantlic Enchantilly Queen Cat

Cutsew: The Black Ribbon

OTKS: Metamorphose temps de fille

Everything else: Offbrand/Taobao

Again, it's a simple outfit, but I liked it well enough (though I eventually want to do something dramatic and OTT with this print!) and it was very satisfying to more this skirt from "never worn" to "most recently worn". It is a bit tight on the waist though, so I did change into my PJs after lunch (shhhh don't tell my manager!).

My last outfit for the month (but it was Tuesday, so mid-work week) was once again pretty casual, but definitely sweet this time and I loved it! Besides, I think we all know by now that casual I just how I do it ^__^

Skirt & Shoes: Bodyline

Cutsew & Headbow: Angelic Pretty

Everything else: Offbrand

I am really enjoying starting to wear lolita again, and it looks like I'll be wearing it a lot for a while due to the whole self-isolation thing. If this keeps up, I'll be sharing my next roundup quite a lot sooner than usual so stay tuned ^__^

Lolita haul from Tokyo!

You have to have known this was coming - how could I not go to Tokyo and not visit the lolita shops?

In the end, as well as visiting the stores in Shinjuku's Marui Annex and the Laforet building in Harajuku, we went to the Shinjuku Closet Child once and the Harajuku branch twice. I'd have loved to have visited the Ikebukuro branch as well, and dropped by the Shinjuku Closet Child a second time, but in the end we had exactly zero baggage space left on the way home so I'm glad we didn't!

That intro may make it sound like I bought hardly anything, but that is very much not true! For the purposes of this post I've photographed things together on an aesthetic level, but when I blog about the whole trip that'll have the details of what I bought where an when, just in case any of my readers care about knowing that much. This is also just the lolita items I bought - I got as much general fashion stuff as well, which I'm also insanely happy with.

So, with no further ado, allow me to introduce my newest wardrobe additions!

First up, the edible themed items! I was surprised to find this Innocent World JSK in both pink and blue at the Harajuku Closet Child, both new with tags. It took me a while to pick which colour I wanted, but I figured the pink was the safer bet. I'm not 100% sure how much I love the cut on me, but we'll see how I go wearing it. The Angelic Pretty cutsew was super cheap, so I had to have it, and the Peace Now bolero is a bit frivolous, but also cute and cheap so again, I just grabbed it ^__^

The Icing Cookie print is never one I really paid attention to, but like so many lolita prints, after seeing it in person I'm in love. It's really adorable, but a little more subdued than say an Angelic Pretty print on the same theme. Very excited to start putting together some coordinates with it!

The other main piece I bought was Enchantlic Enchantilly's Queen Cat skirt in black! It's missing the sash ribbon, but I do not care at all. I also grabbed this super cute BTSSB capelet because how utterly Little Red Riding Hood is it? I mean, except for the fact it doesn't actually have a hood...

But in all seriousness I'm so over the moon with Queen Cat! I tend not to talk too much about things I like but don't see myself buying, and Queen Cat one of those things. I thought it was an amazing print when it came out, and have admired it every time I've seen it since in all cuts and colours. So when James turned around from browsing the skirts at Closet Child while I was looking at dresses and held this up I just had to get it! It was a bit pricey for a secondhand skirt missing a piece, but hey, I had the husband's seal of approval so I didn't think twice!

Speaking of James finding me great things he also discovered these two Axes Femme coats on different days in Closet Child Harajuku. They're both a bit small for me now, but they were both around ten dollars. How could I not at that price? The green one in particular I really adore, even though it doesn't match anything I own.

I did also buy a few items new! I really wanted to get some direct from the brand socks, so I visited AP and Baby. Silly me didn't check the length on the lavender socks though, but oh well. Forced versatility in my sock collection! The floral canotier is from Dangerous Nude and to be honest, it was more expensive than I like, and I kind of bought it because the owner was so utterly lovely that I wanted to buy something! All that aside, it's really gorgeous and I like having an opulent classic piece so I'm still happy.

Following the trend of headwear, on our first visit to Shinjuku Closet Child I went a little bit nuts on accessories. All but the top headbow are from that night! And though the top one has tags, it was also from Closet Child, just later on ^__^ I'm particularly happy with the dusty pink and the lavender x gold bows, as they were on my wishlist.

I also bought all of these accessories at the same time, except for the Angelic Pretty necklace. I even already wore the pink necklace in one of my Tokyo coords, and I'm just really happy to have bulked up my jewellery collection with some more loltia specific pieces.

Throughout our trip we went into a couple of Claire's and also Paris Kids and I picked up so cute little things that will be good for lolita as well as being generally cute ^__^

James also found me three Axes Femme skirts for about five dollars each in Closet Child but my photos of them really don't do them justice. They are all varying levels of brown and floral and all a tiny bit small for me at the moment, but I couldn't pass them up. Two will be great for casual classic lolita - one is a damask-y type fabric in a beige/tan and the other is a brown and mustard floral - while the other will be lovely for mori kei or fairy kind of looks.

So there you have it! All my new lolita items direct from Japan! I'm really happy with everything I bough and am so excited to start incorporating everything into my coords ^__^