Alyssiumbaby

2019 Was the year that I started to get back into the swing of things with Lolita. The last couple of years have seen some major changes, moving house and having a baby, so my prorities were elsewhere.While I was able to get to a couple of events in, when I was on “lolita maternity leave”, it feels like 2019 was the year that I got my Lolita groove back!

January is always full of taking wardrobe pictures and challenges, so 2019 was kicked off with a A Very Frilly Valentines Day chocolate meet in the city with some lovely girls from my community. Jess helped take this picture inside Adelaide Arcade, a lovely vintage building with lots of old world charm. I had recently picked up this JSK from a swap meet in my comm, so I was excited to wear it for the first time. I am wearing Baby the Stars Shine Bright Kumya-chan’s Love Love Valentine JSK II with a pink Angelic Pretty Classical Lady Blouse, offbrand pink anklet socks and Baby the Stars Shine Bright Scallop Ribbon shoes. I dont have the matching headbow so I wore my Kuma Kumya years that I handmade a couple of years ago. My accessories are Angelic Pretty Milky Berry Bracelet, Strawberry-chan Bangle, ffbrand ribbon ring and Baby the Stars Shine Kuma Kumya-chan Cookie Ring. Im not usually a pink person, in fact its probably my least favourite colour, but I couldn’t say no to the dress as it had Kuma Kumya on it. I decided to just run with it and went pick all the way. Im also really happy that I went with my natural hair, on hot days it makes a huge difference. I certainly felt very colourful, more so then usual and Im really happy how the entire look went.

Early march and I was Out to lunch on a day off, in the city with some friends. It wasn’t a comm meet up, just a lovely day out with some friends and we decided to frill up. We had lunch at NNQ and dessert afterwards at Sanchurros, as we had all gone for a chocolate theme. I wore my Angelic Pretty Chocolate Rosette JSK and matching headbow with Emily Temple Cute Chocolate and Ribbon OTKs and teaparties. My bag is aso from Angelic Pretty and my accessories are Angelic Pretty Crown Chocolate Necklace, Angelic Pretty Melty Ribbon Chocolate Bracelet, Q-pot chocolate bracelet, Angelic Pretty Chocolate Piece Ring, Angelic Pretty Academy Emblem Chocolate Coin Ring, Angelic Pretty Chocolate Piece Pierced Earrings. This was a comfy outfit and I had no problem eating several courses without being uncomfortable (thumbs up to shirring and petticoats) The only thing I find frustrating when coordinating chocolate is the multitude of different browns. If I wore this outfit again I think I would go with a different bag, the brown is too dark, or alternatively go with a different darker brown blouse to match the bag. The brown in the socks offsets the wig, though if I used my natural hair, Im not sure if that would still work. Other than that, happy with the look.

In late February, I missed the main community strawberry pick. So I did a catch up Berry Beerenberg day with some friends. We went to the patch and had lunch at Herbies afterwards. I wore an Angelic Pretty Milky Berry OP and Angelic Pretty Strawberry Parlour Straw Hat. For footwear I used anklet socks and Angelic Pretty Red Teaparties. For accessories  I used a BTSSB ivory parasol,  Offbrand Strawberry earrings, Beerenberg felt strawberry brooch, Offbrand heart sunglasses Angelic Pretty Sweet Berry Wrist Cuffs Angelic Pretty Milky Berry Bracelet Angelic Pretty Strawberry-chan Bangle Angelic Pretty EAT ME Cookie Ring and a offbrand red ribbon ring. This time of year is still very hot and this day was no exception, so hat, suncream and a parasol went with the coodinate. We do a strawberry meet every year (its one of my favourites) so I have collected alot of strawberry accessories to match. Im using my natural hair for twin plaits, though looking back I should have pulled out the style a little bit more to get a large plait effect. I felt cute wearing the outfit and I would be happy to wear it again.

In April, just in time for Easer I hosted a Picnic and Chocolate Egg Hunt in the botanic gardens. It was a beautiful sunny day and we got some lovely pictures. To go with the easter theme I wore Angelic Pretty Fancy Paper Dolls Tiered JSK and matched the headbow with handmade bunny years. To go with the pastels in the print I used a sax short sleeve Baby the Stars Shine Bright blouse, stripled sax OTKs and lavender teaparties. My accessoreis were, Offbrand pom pom earrings, Baby the Stars Shine Bright pink bangle, offbrand pastel bead bracelets. Angelic Pretty Whipped Cake Ring  Angelic Pretty EAT ME Cookie Ring. Its been while since I wore such sweet pastel, and although I felt quite cute, I didn’t really feel comfortable in the outfit. I sold the set not long after the event. Looking back at the outfit though, I am happy with how it looked and hope that it found a nice new home.

Now June and wintery weather I came across some fabric and was inspired to make a dress. I have a bit more detail in my post Why no Hufflepuff Atelier Pierrot! While I technically havent yet worn this dress out, I still consider this a worthy coordinate, so I included it here. The JSK is handmade and loosely based off of a Atelier Pierrot JSK that had been released a little while ago. I coordinated it with an offbrand hat (with matching fabric ribbon) a Baby the Stars Shine Bright blouse, Jane Marple leather bag, ivory Otks and a Edenki badger brooch. Im really happy with the result and I am very much looking forward to wearing this out.

An afternoon photoshoot in the Botanic gardens with Corrina and Tamara in July. It was a pretty ordinary cloudy and rainy day, but pushing past how wet everything was, the clouds made for some great photos! I had only recently received this cute set from my SS and was pretty eager to give it a try. Considering I bought the whole set, it really wasnt hard to coordinate at all, just add a hat and boots and hey presto, instant outfit! The majority of the coordinate is from Pumpkin Cat and the series is Royal Corgi. I bought the JSK, blouse, and serveral bows and clips. I added my Alice and the Pirates Marching Hat and Innocent World boots to go with the military look. Im not a huge fan of the quality of the dress, the cut and materials were a bit ordinary, but considering the price, I got what I paid for. I do love the print though, Corgi’s in guard costumes is too cute!

In August our local community had a swap meet, I wore something warm but comfy so that I lug around boxes for the table I had at the event. The dress is Angelic Pretty Loyal Rosette with matching headbow, worn with a Angelic Pretty navy chiffon blouse. Jane marple socks and Anniversary book bag. For accessories a Angelic Pretty crown brooch and chocolate gold ring.   This outfit was very comfortable and it has some of my favourite elements in it, military style front buttons, full back shirring, a thick cotton print with pleats.  All tick, tick, tick in my book. My favourite part of this coordinate is all the colours match. For example the Jane Marple bag has a bronze leather for the side and strap, with matches the gold of the dress. I do also have the matching socks from the Angelic Pretty Loyal Rosette series, but I prefered how the Jane Marple ones look together with the rest of the outfit, complementing the red and blues. Its nice when everything comes together like this.

In September I started hosting the Australian Community Events again and began with Spring Fling, a coordinate event for people to share a floral or animal theme. I don’t have a great deal of floral prints, so I chose this tea inspired one and went with floral accesssories. The dress is Alice and the Pirates Tea Time Nostalgia JSK with a Baby the Stars Shine Bright Angels Whisper chiffon blouse in Ivory. The floral headband is from Baby the Stars Shine Bright, same as the floral basket bag. The lace stockings are offbrand and the shoes are vintage leather heels. For accessories I wore Offbrand pompom earrings, Baby the Stars Shine Bright Ribbon bangle, pearl bracelet, Baby the Stars Shine Bright butterfly and rose ring. I loved this look and felt very feminine and pretty.

For a Halloween twist in October, our community event was character inspired, can you guess who I choose? This outfit had always given me very Dorothy vibes and put together with the ETC Glitter heels, it sold the look for me. Im wearing a Baby the Stars Shine Bright Heart Apron, blouse and Gingham skirt set, coordinated with white lace OTK’s and Red GLitter ETC heels. Im carrying a Baby the Stars Shine Bright basket bag with a medium Usakumya inside. While I am unlikely to replicate the entire outfit, I do really like the look and it was fun to put together.

In November we had an interstate guest visiting so we went out together, for a night in the city. I toned it down with a cool comfy outfit (it was a bit warm out) I’m wearing a Alice and the Pirates Psyche ~The Doctor and the Eternal Sunshine~ OP, a offbrand velvet headbow, black lace tights and Queen bee flats. My bag is  is a Jane Marple black leather shoulder bag and accessories are Alice and the pirates Rosary necklace, Black bangle and Moitie cross ring. This was a very quick simple outfit and I would like to give this dress another try with a more dressed up look.

Christmas time and my all time favourite Christmas print Holy night Story! I have owned this print in so many different cuts and colours over the years (still currently have 3 dresses) This year I went with Angelic Pretty Holy Night Story OP in black with matching headbow and hat. Worn with heart tights and TUK boots. Being in Australia, it’s always hot in summer at Christmas time, weird concept considering that christmas is always associated with snow. So given that Japan also is cold at christmas time, christmas prints are usually thick. This makes it hard to coordinate them in summer, so to stay cool, it usually means wearing the minimum and having a very plain simple coordiate. I would like to try this again in winter (not that our winters are all that cold in comparison) perhaps a christmas in July theme, this way I could introduce a couple more items and make it a bit more interesting.

And thats a wrap up of my 2019 coordinates. I didn’t have any resolutions last year, short of just trying to get out to more meets and wear the fashion more often and I feel like I have achieved that. This year I would like to get around to wearing more of my wardrobe and perhaps getting around to doing a bit of a clear out as well.

♥ Alyssium♥