In the forest thick, a trick of light

My new dress arrived from Victorian Maiden and I couldn't resist getting dressed up in it straight away even if I didn't have anywhere to go. I pre-ordered this back in July as a birthday present to myself, the first time I've ever done that despite wearing EGL for so many years but I've always wanted an original Victorian Maiden Classical Doll dress. To me it feels like just the right balance of being historically inspired whilst still being wearable everyday (I know some might disagree with that statement, but I am chronically overdressed always! Not to be dramatic but I'd rather die than wear athleisure). The hardest part was picking a colour! There was a choice of 12 to match birthstones, and although I bought it for my birthday I didn't fancy Ruby. I wanted blue as it's my favourite colour, so picked the lighter option over the navy as this dress is regularly released in navy so felt less special, but I would have liked it even lighter as I was worried about it being a bit bright. And I was very tempted by both of the greens! I'm really pleased with my choice though! It's giving Alice in Wonderland vibes without looking like straight up cosplay, which is my favourite vibe.

I'm trying to make more effort to take photos of my outfits again. My confidence took a big hit in 2023 which has kept me fairly isolated, but I used to love posting my silly little outfits online and it's a habit I'd like to get back into. I want to find community again, and to do that I need to put myself out there. I've always loved dressing up, but I started to prefer dissolving into the background and I feel like I lost myself. I've tried being braver the past few months, and I guess the culmination of that is starting to post online again, and trying to get rid of the idea that an outfit has to be 'worthy', or the photos meet a certain standard, or whether or not I even have anything to say beyond "Here's an outfit I wore". Because sometimes that's all there is to say and that's okay!