Of gothic gowns and spookily quaint Tshirts

And she snatches a moment of quiet amid the aftermath of her little sister's slumber party, firstly because she wishes to welcome all the lovely new guests to her Ballroom who have become her followers!

I am extremely pleased to spread the word of a new, multi-lingual Lolita blog list over at LiveJournal, instigated by the marvelous meiki (LJ name). A few days prior, skyblue_pink (LJ name), whose own blog I quite enjoy, had thrown open a query to the general EGL community inquiring after a mysterious and strangely elusive kind of Lolita blog--those by gothic lolis, such as yours truly. I had been wondering at the scarcity of Gothic Lolita blogs myself, and so, like several others, I posted my blog's link on this thread.

I cannot say for sure whether or not this Lolita's query had anything to do with inspiring the later blog list. However, to my great delight, The Midnight Ballroom was listed under the English-speaking blogs (right there among the Ms)! I promptly combed through the list, looking for lolita blogs that I had somehow missed in my great quest to...well, to acquire the long list of blogs you see there to the right. Knowing my own love of perusing my favorite loli blogs' latest musings (and knowing my own slowness to update this blog), every blog that I add is added with my dear guests in mind. Yes, truly. (Your host is sentimental as well as strange.)

I shan't witter on much longer this time, but all of this is to say that I want to welcome all my new followers, most especially those from LiveJournal! I do hope you will enjoy the ecclectic goings on of this darkly fanciful place.

And now, I promised you pictures, didn't I? For those who have only just wandered into our enchanted moonlit tea party, I will reiterate that my Loli Day this June closed with a formal dinner for a friend of mine who is graduating high school. I do not yet have any Lolita clothes whatsoever, but my gothic side got a chance to darkly shine, in a long gown of black lace that I acquired a few years ago.

 I truly apologize for the (sloppily drawn) face mask. I will try to avoid such practices in the future. However, all of the pictures taken at this time were candid shots, and while I do love candid shots, in this one I had a rather strange expression that I would prefer not to be your first impression of me.

Now, this may not be loli, but that doesn't mean we can't do an...

...outfit rundown! The opportunity to do such a thing for any outfit, even a gothic, non-Lolita one, does make one feel very loli, I must admit!

dress: Aardvark's Odd Ark, a vintage and secondhand clothing store. I believe they have more than one in the Southern California area.

gloves: Hot Topic

necklace: handmade (with a butterfly pendant and a length of thin black ribbon, which ties in back. Oddly enough, I'm wearing that necklace again today!)

hairclips: possibly someplace like Target? I've had them for a while.

And here's a full outfit shot!

Although, admittedly, my hair covers much of it. Yes, that is my real hair! Anyway, my shoes are unfortunately not very visible, but I wanted to comment that I bought them at a store called the Rack Room this spring, which had several different styles of low-heeled Mary Janes! Hence my newly discovered love for this style of shoe. I like to call this particular pair my "doll shoes," because they make me feel like a quaint and charming doll while still retaining that air of spooky mystery. Perfect for a goth loli, no?

Ah yes, and that is my younger sister (one of them) in the white gown. She isn't a loli herself, but that is a "head-eating bow" of sorts that you see--I believe it's the one I bought for her from Icing this Christmas. I hope she doesn't mind being featured in my blog!


Now for a bonus shot! In my last post (earlier on the day of the graduation dinner), I had mentioned that, while I did not truly dress up, I had donned my most loli Tshirt in honor of Loli Day. After posting that entry, I asked yet another of my younger sisters to snap a quick shot of me, just in case visualizing said shirt was as hard as describing it was.

There! Isn't the print darling? I  bought it at Walmart last year, around Halloween. It makes me want to make an ensemble like the one pictured!

It's a little hard to tell, but I was experimenting with this makeup tutorial on LiveJournal by the stunning sweetsailormars (LJ name)...as well as trying to look suitably melancholy for the photograph. I shall try out said tutorial once more when I have a type of makeup more conducive to vivid colors than my present powder-based eye shadows.

I shan't keep you much longer, but I do have one more bit of exciting and truly Loli-related news. During Christmas break, I began taking my first foray into loli sewing, in the process of making an as yet unfinished rectangle skirt. Today I feel inspired to finally recommence with this project. I have been longing to get started on all the loli-related creative undertakings that have been whirring in my brain, so the prospect of working on this skirt once more is quite exciting. As always, expect pictures of the finished product (and possibly during construction as well)!

Now, I do hope I've inspired my lovely guests to undertake their own creative projects, gothic-and-lolita related or no.

Of Lolita Day, and a Fire Nation prince and princess

And she wishes everyone a marvelous Lolita Day! For those who may not know, this is the first of two International Lolita Days that take place every year: on the first Saturday in June, and the first Saturday in December. As of yet I have no lolita clothing with which to create a suitably fancy coordinate for the occasion (which my dear guests already know, of course, because otherwise I would have posted pictures of said clothing, most likely during as well as after construction). However, perhaps when December rolls around... And that will almost be more fitting as my first Lolita-Day-with-a-wardrobe, because winter is so very gothic, after all...even in Southern California, where, ironically, the blazing summer is the season during which plants hibernate and people stay indoors.

However, my lack of loli clothing does not mean I am not celebrating, in my own small way. Do my lovely guests (that is, the US-based ones) by any chance remember all those Tshirts at Walmart during Halloween last year, that were printed to look like spookily fancy gothic outfits? I have two (having elevated them from "costume" to "everyday wear," as they obviously were meant to be worn, no?) and today I donned the more loli of the two. Let's see, I do believe it has printed on it a pinstriped button down blouse; a purple and blue vest with madly ornate "points" (on the hemlines), which laces (corset style!) down the center; another vest, this time with a pattern of grey curlicue leaves, which fastens with a large ornate cross; and at the top (just under the neckline), a strand of pearls and a big red bow. Very rori, no?

I must say, this Tshirt makes me want to sew an outfit like the one pictured on it! Speaking of pictures, I will have to take one of this shirt sometime, if picturing it is as hard for my guests as describing it was for me.

Besides that, I have celebrated this day by finally trying out a lovely two-tone gothic makeup tutorial that the amazing sweetsailormars (LJ name), whose style I greatly admire, posted for us less makeup-practiced lolis, over on LiveJournal.  (And if that gracious lady wishes me to erase the link for any reason, let me know and I shall.)

I have no picture of my attempt at this makeup style, unfortunately, but hopefully during later attempts I shall take and post one. It came out fairly well considering my less than ideal materials, but the two-tone effect gave way to a general smoky darkness around the eye. (Which, mind you, I am quite happy to wear nonetheless!)

That brings me to the slightly loli-esque event that I shall be attending this evening. You see, I was practicing my makeup in part for a dinner party in honor of a dear friend (and two others), who is graduating from highschool! Although she is not a lolita herself, many of her interests and certainly her marvelous creativity seem to fit with our fashion/subculture's ideals, and make me admire her very much.

Despite my lack of lolita pieces, being a Romantigoth for so long has proven very useful in choosing tonight's outfit. I have a long strapless gown of black lace, which I plan to wear with my "doll shoes"--a pair of slightly-heeled, purple maryjanes. Not a loli outfit by any means, but certainly gothic and romantic, or so I like to think. I shall do my best to post pictures after the event.

Speaking of pictures, I promised you photos of that pair of re-costumed dolls (young Ursa and Ozai, formerly Mulan and Shang) that my little sister presented to me, now didn't I? I haven't gotten a chance to take pictures of them myself, but she had done so previously, and so here are a few!

Thumbelina, anyone? The wings are a detachable pair we have (the only thing not made by my sis in this picture), and admittedly not completely Fire Nation...but this picture does remind me of the song Let Me Be Your Wings from the animated Thumbelina.

Can you believe my sis made these outfits out of scraps from my Ursa cosplay (of which Mulan!Ursa is wearing a mini version, essentially)? Her dollclothes always amaze me!



 So does her photography...

I think she really captured the spirit of why I love young Urzai (UrsaxOzai)! Well, I don't wish to overwhelm you with pictures (although I suppose they could count as a photoshoot, of a sort?) so that's all for now. Incidentally,  we are still busily cleaning house, hence my lack of posting, and lack of creative projects about which to post. However, very soon I hope, the gothic-and-lolita
 lifestyling will be back in full force!

And last but by no means least, I wish to thank everyone who is following my blog so far! I didn't expect to get an audience very fast, but I appreciate all who come to listen to these dark, ecclectic musings of mine.

Do have a wonderful Loli Day!