frillSquid: gothic

Showing posts with label gothic. Show all posts

The Great Lace: A Chicago Daydream

After giving myself a couple weeks to let things sink in and rub some of the gild off my awe for the gilded 19th century, I've decided to go over my experiences at The Great Lace. In short: I had fun! In long, well. . .

Bibliotheca: Defiant femininity

And, right under the wire, it's the Bibliotheca post! This theme is defiance, which has a lot of pertinence in the current moment in D.C. I'm going to ignore these relevant reasons and instead focus on something simpler: how can femininity be rebellious?

Bibliotheca: Cherry Blossoms

Bibliotheca's month of florals is almost over, and I am personally 100% on board with this theme for April. Although I try to keep my posts relatable to people outside of my geographical area, I've lived my entire life (except for undergrad) in the D.C. metro area, and so April + florals = cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms shape the local culture and provide a D.C.-Japan connection, so I'm excited to explore this topic.

Bibliotheca: Headwear pt. 2: Who needs it?

For the second half of my Bibliotheca headwear themed posts this month, I'm trotting out an even hotter take than usual.

I love headdresses, hats mini and huge, stupid little clips and cakes and bows that make people look like the most conspicuous shoplifter in Clair's. But with all that affection for headwear, I still don't think headwear is required.

Bibliotheca: Headwear pt. 1: Mini Hats, Proportions, and a Defense of Camp

It's headwear time at Bibliotheca, and that means it's time for me to cart out the hottest of opinions.

I am a serial mini-hat apologist. This will never change, because I am unashamed of my tackiness. But there's so much more behind the strength of my commitment to kitsch.

Guide: Mercari JP and Fril/Rakuma for Beginners

This post is inspired by being done with grad school and a request from a pal on a certain discord server.
Today, I'd like to talk about my favorite inexpensive resources for secondhand brand: Mercari.jp and Fril/Rakuma. These are both direct secondhand sales options for buying from other people (instead of whole companies like Wunderwelt). However, they are only available in Japanese and require a shopping service, so they can be a little intimidating to new lolitas. Once you get the hang of them, Rakuma and Mercari are great additions to your lolita shopping roster!

Bibliotheca: Spooky Summertime

This month's Bibliotheca prompt, in honor of Obon and summer camp, is about scary stories in the summer heat.

Bibliotheca: Booting it Up

Bibliotheca's theme for May, apropos of nearly nothing, is shoes. Shoes are a must for any public place. However, unlike with fully shirred dresses and stretchy socks, even lolita brands recognize that with shoes, one size cannot fit most. Additionally, shoes have nearly no size alteration capacity and require additional adjustment with insoles and orthotics for various foot issues. Because of these factors, even seasoned lolitas might not rely solely on brand for shoes. Keeping in mind that it's the same shoddy plastic, brand name shoes seem like less of an investment and more of a waste.

Bibliotheca: Getting Romantic

I lobbied semi-viciously for this month's Bibliotheca topic of romance, with this post already drafted in the grimiest crevices of my mind. The word "Romantic" means many things to many people: obviously, love is the foremost thought in mid-February, but Romance languages might have their place as well. However, as a recovering musician, Romantic brings to mind the excesses of 19th century European and Anglo-American art music.

Bibliotheca: HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!

It's almost Halloween! Halloween is my favorite secular holiday, so I was feral levels of excited to learn that it was the October Bibliotheca theme!

I'm going to keep things light; this post is just a short list of five spooky reasons why Halloween and lolitas are perfect for each other.

My Kuma Kumya Jack-O-Lantern from last year

Bibliotheca: Fall and Deciduousness

This month's Bibliotheca theme is Fall! It can also be autumn, if you prefer. Fall doesn't happen everywhere, but in temperate forested climates (like my area), it's very literal: one by one, all the leaves of certain trees shed, not in death, but just discarded for the season.

Bibliotheca: J-Fashion as Self-Care

The Bibliotheca theme for August 2021 is self-care, which makes the perfect chance for me to talk about myself. J-fashion wasn't always my priority; in fact, like many lolitas my age, I only learned about it through anime conventions.

Ero and Old School: Forsaken Lolita Taxonomy

Last taxonomy post, I talked about themes, substyles, and lolita taxonomy, specifically with regards to nonsense-term 'bittersweet' and my beloved punk lolita. This post is about ero lolita and old school lolita, what categories they fall into, and how that might effect coordination of each. Like 'bittersweet',old school seems to be a term used primarily by anglophone lolitas.

The Consolidation of Ouji

Even though I usually wear lolita these days, my first love in jfashion was ouji. Ouji is a vaguely masculine-leaning, often shorts-wearing counterpart to lolita; for more, read Stephano's Ouji Overview. But, as I grow forever older and grumpier, I've become skeptical of the 'ouji' label as an umbrella term. As any ouji can tell you, it's nearly impossible to find ouji stores or get multiple substyles in one place.

Bittersweet and Punk: Forsaken Lolita Taxonomy

Lolita taxonomy is hard. By documenting and verbalizing the styles we love, we preserve them, give ourselves bases from which to experiment, and make them easy to pass on. Even though lolita is an incredibly organized, well documented fashion, there are still major disagreements as to what deserves to be a substyle and what's just a theme. For those unfamiliar with lolita terms, a substyle is one of the major divisions (usually gothic lolita, sweet lolita, and classic lolita, the big three), while a theme is a set of motifs that coordinates can use (sailor lolita, country lolita, and military lolita, to name just a few).

Bittersweet lolita, punk lolita, ero lolita, and old school lolita are all points of contention that seem to never resolve. In this post, I'll discuss bittersweet and punk, and next post, I'll discuss ero and old school.

Religious Imagery in Lolita

Warning: this post is very personal, and very Jewish.

I've always wanted to be the type of lolita who wears Moitie, but there's one big reason that I don't: crosses. There are Moitie pieces out there without crosses, but not many, and the iconic Moitie custom laces feature crosses prominently. Additionally, a lot of their other motifs, like coffins, draw from Christian death customs, which I don't relate to.

Wardrobe Post 2021: A Short Reflection

Wardrobe Post 2021: Accessories, Bags and Shoes

Wardrobe Post 2021: Pants, Shorts and Socks

Pants are hard to find names for, again, so I'll stick to brands only unless I'm sure! No tights included; I only have boring once that are hard to photograph.

My abbreviations:
AATP-- Alice and the Pirates;AP-- Angelic Pretty; BPN-- Black Peace Now; BTSSB-- Baby the Stars Shine Bright; IW-- Innocent World; MAM-- Maxicimam; Meta-- Metamorphose Temps de Fille.

Wardrobe Post 2021: Outerwear, Blouses, and Cutsews!

First post is right here!

Third post, pants and socks, is here.

Fourth post is everything else: here.

Fifth/Last post is just some conclusions: here

I don't know many of the names for these pieces, so I'll just put the brand. Apologies for not ironing everything, but I'm not that level of dedicated; I just iron what I'm wearing the night before.

As a reminder, my abbreviations:
AATP-- Alice and the Pirates;AP-- Angelic Pretty; BPN-- Black Peace Now; BTSSB-- Baby the Stars Shine Bright; IW-- Innocent World; MAM-- Maxicimam; Meta-- Metamorphose Temps de Fille.