Of masquerades and one cloaked in shadow

Happy October, my lovelies! May the spooky whimsy of Halloween find you even if your country doesn't celebrate it as a whole.

This weekend there was a lovely meetup at the LACMA art museum, which is currently hosting a Tim Burton themed exhibit. Very regrettably, my online ticket order didn't go through, and I found out too late. But my sister and I got to say hello at least to a few of the other lolis, and it was sorta fun walking around the museum in our finery. It was also fun playing Spot the Tim Burton Inspired Outfits, as quite a few people had lovely gothy or at least stripey clothing on.

Not to mention I discovered I'm really, really in love with traditional Japanese art. (If you're in LA and visit the LACMA, do see the Japanese Pavilion gallery! The building's circular, with a ramp that spirals around, and opens onto platforms where you can view a few paintings on each 'floor'--the floors really look more like balconies, because you can look out past the paintings to other floors. Also the walls are made to look like Japanese sliding screens, so the light is rather soft and mysterious.)

Here are some pictures from the meetup on our group's page at Meetup.com. I don't know if non-members can view photos, but it's worth a try hopefully. 

After that, we went and explored the Halloween section of Target. I picked up a gorgeous black velvet hooded cloak (pretty good quality for a costume!), which I'll use for--among other things--my Death costume. After years of beloved but fairly obscure costumes, I want non-Sandman fans to at least be able to tell I'm some sort of Reaper. Plus I just need a cloak and scythe. You know the feeling?

My sister was absolutely entranced with the selection of masquerade masks we found at Target, and I don't blame her. Take a look at these~

Haha, I didn't realize I would be visible.

Also, I found these shoes~

 It's a bit hard to see, but they're Victorian-style! At Target!

And while we're at it, an outfit snap~

The actual shoes I wore for this coordinate are black mary-janes with a bit of a heel. I love them. And they're brand new. Sadly no pics of them, though.

Speaking of Death, the day before the ill-fated meetup I went to a thrift store and put together most of an outfit in which to emulate our favorite supernatural perkygoth in a few weeks' time.  Moar pic spam! *throws confetti*

This isn't for my costume, but it has skulls and roses on it! I approve.

I'll layer the above two skirts in some sort of hopefully awesome and Death-looking way.

This tee shirt is way too big, but as you can see it's gorgeous, so I'll remake it somehow, maybe by cutting apart and then lacing up the sides.

That's all my news for now, except that I've decided to start making accessories to sell. I'll probably start with local customers, but if you see anything you MUST have, do let me know! Seriously. (Nothing will be priced above...well certainly not over 15 US dollars, at least while I'm still starting out.)

Also, I enjoyed reading everyone's lace-themed posts for Sophistique Noir's October theme. I wanted to participate, but I was a bit low on energy when the actual day came.

Of the thrifty aristocrat and Fifty+ Followers(!)

Over fifty followers? Wow! Thank you all so much! I want to do something a bit more special in honor of this... Unfortunately I can't do a giveaway just yet, but maybe a video log? (I've gotten inspired watching Makelovely's vlogs.) I'm working on sort of a thank you art piece, but it's not quite done yet. Anyway thank you all for reading!

The other day I mentioned that I was going to a thrift store, and the time has come to reveal what my main purpose in going was. From the beginning, I've wanted to build a boystyle aristocrat wardrobe as well as a lolita one. I was able to find almost a full coordinate while thrifting, including shoes (not pictured unfortunately). The latter is especially amazing because I'm usually a US size 9 1/2 or 10. I say usually because I found a pair of 8 1/2 shoes that fit pretty well, although I'll have to soften up the tops of the toes somehow.

The full ensemble (almost)~

This one is clearer...

 ...but I like my expression better in this one.

I feel so dashing. 

I was afraid the shirt would need altering, but it fits pretty well, and with shoulderpads I think it will be almost perfect. (I have small shoulders and long arms, making ready made clothes a challenge sometimes.) I will be changing the buttons, though.

You can't really see it, but the pants (or trousers as some of you may call them) have red pinstripes that pretty much exactly match the shirt. I was stoked to realize this.

Thanks to those who left encouraging comments about my fabric issues. I'm glad to know I'm not alone! Things are looking up, though. I visited a big JoAnn's yesterday and while browsing, I realized that there's a lot more black fabric there than I'd thought. It just helps to know what you're looking for (which can be hard to figure out, sometimes). You're mainly in luck if you like fancy fabrics, which I do--I found some pretty good quality taffeta, brocade, satin, organza, and so forth. So, it's time to experiment!

I didn't get any more materials for my JSK/OP (I'm trying not to buy too many things at once), but I was able to bring home some lightweight flannel for another pair of bloomers. Elasticized, this time...

Of roses and a slumbering princess

With Halloween fast approaching, you know what that means for us gothic types: it's time to put together a costume worthy of the most otherworldly fantasies of our spookily-inclined hearts. At least, it does to me. With that in mind, several days ago I headed to a recently opened thrifts store (Acts Thrift Store, for any interested readers here in LA).

Perhaps because of the approaching holiday, or possibly as a result of my improved thrifting skills, I came across many goth-and-lolita-friendly finds. For those who, like me until recently, were mystified by the elusive Way of the Thrift Store Goer (so to speak), I've found that the way to find treasures is to keep firmly in mind what types of material you are willing and not willing to have in your wardrobe.

You don't have to have extensive knowledge of various types of fabric (heavens, I can't claim I do either). But when you consider a certain item, look at the fabric and try to decide if you're willing to wear that type of fabric. If not, there's not much you can do except use the item's design as a pattern for a similar item. On the other hand, a horrible item made of wonderful fabric can be used for raw materials, even if your DIY skills can't salvage the item's original design.

(Note~ Much of my thrifting knowledge has been gleaned from more experienced thrifters, such as The Lady of the Manners and Miss Lumpy. Their names link to a thrifting post from each of them, in case you're interested. Actually, to tell the truth, I couldn't find an entire thrifting post from the the Lady of the Manners, so in her case the linked post is merely one of several Gothic Charm School columns that has a paragraph or two of wise words about thrifting.)

Now, what treasures did I find? First, I have to tell you a bit about my planned Halloween attire. For the longest time I was torn between several options, but I believe I've happened upon a costume idea that incorporates them all. In short~ gothic Sleeping Beauty, thus combining one of my favorite fairytales with one of my favorite subcultures (the other being lolita, naturally).

For a longer explanation, well, I shall explain. Have any of you heard of the Visual Kei band Lareine? They aren't active any more, but I found out about them because their singer, Kamijo, went on to create the band Versailles, which is my very favorite musical group. If you like roses, vampires, French aristocrats, and a dash of symphonic and power metal, all mixed together in a fantastical epic saga, I highly recommend Versailles.

Little by little, and especially in the past few weeks, I've come to love the sentimental, romantic atmosphere of Lareine as much as I love the dramatic, unearthly grandeur of Versailles. One of my favorite Lareine songs is "Kyokutou no Koibito," which I have seen translated as "The Far Eastern Love." Judging from my still developing Japanese skills, it could also be translated "Lover from the Far East." Take your pick, my dears.

To tell you the truth, I'm really not sure how exactly the title ties into the rest of the song (although I love the title all the same). The song seems to be about a version of Sleeping Beauty with black roses twined in her hair, slumbering "in the midst of briar roses" while her prince searches for her with a sword of glass. From what I can gather, at least. Here are the romaji lyrics at Jpopasia.com, and an English translation at this website, if you'd like to read them. And of course, a link to the song itself on Youtube!

Rather than wearing loli, I planned to put together a long, flowy gown type of costume--the kind of thing in which you might imagine a princess slumbering. At first, while wandering around the thriftstore, I was trying to make up my mind between a kuro outfit, to go with the roses, and a shiro outfit, which besides having that lovely ghostly look I've been craving, would also feel more like a costume.

That came out strangely, but I mean that while I love kuro gothic, and I'm sure I could pull together a kuro outfit that felt fantastical enough to me, it would take more work because kuro gothic makes up the greater part of the wardrobe I'm putting together. Shiro, however, while it will eventually have it's own place in my wardrobe, lends itself more easily to the "strange and wondrous" feeling a costume should have, simply because I haven't worn white in so long. Dear me, I'm not explaining this very well, am I? Ah well...

In the end, in true Dusk Rose fashion, I picked...both! Well, I will have a mostly white costume, with a few black accents. In addition to tying in the roses, this will give me another dose of the Yoh-esque black x white asthetic I've been craving recently. Speaking of Yoh, I've figured out another piece of art that probably influenced both my love for the black x white look (not exactly the oldschool type of black x white, though I love that too) and my costume choice. I present to you this gorgeous piece by Mayatosi, which I first discovered via Tumblr. Doesn't it have a gorgeous, sentimental air of melancholy about it?

Is it picture time? Yes, at last!

I found a couple of skirts each made of the same, slightly crinkly material, and will use fabric from the all white one to make the other a bit longer and fuller.  

(Is that a "bubble skirt," I wonder?)

 (Sorry, I couldn't get this one to completely stay on the windowseat.)

Speaking of black and white, I love that embroidery at the bottom. The design uses white (or silver?) thread as well as black, which is delightful because one of my favorite types of fabric is the kind with embroidery in the same shade as the background, such as white on white or black on black. A detail shot~

For the top half of the outfit, I took my own advice and sought out an average button down shirt with fabric I love. It's full of the above mentioned white on white embroidery, you see. Even if I can't salvage the blouse, I have Big Plans for that material. I just haven't figured out what said plans are, yet.

I also found this blouse, which has the virtue of poofy sleeves. (Always a good thing. Always.) We will see what DIY can do with it. In order to spare you yet one more in this deluge of pictures, I laid out my third blouse option along with it. Well, not really a blouse option--I bought this one mainly for the sleeve material.

The one feature I knew my costume had to have was long flowy sleeves that gathered at the wrist and just below the shoulder, so I plan to use the lace material to achieve that effect. The lace (which unfortunately you can't see very well) isn't perfect, but it's pretty soft and it has a pattern of roses! To go with the (to be DIY-ed) ones in my hair! Er, excuse my squeeing then, if you will.

If you're like me, you believe that corsets and the like are always a good thing (kind of like poofy sleeves, but even more so--if you can believe it that is). Accordingly, I've found some sort of corset belt-ish thing made out of the most lovely silky black fabric, which will tie in the other black accents very nicely.

The nice thing is that when I'm done with this costume, the separate pieces will fit will into my regular wardrobe, so all my sewing work won't be in vain. Speaking of my regular wardrobe, though, I found the most amazing tee shirt while costume hunting.

It has a chandelier! Besides featuring one of my very favorite motifs, this will make an excellent cutsew to go with my socks (see previous post)! Really, I've been needing more chandeliers in my wardrobe...but then, don't we all? (Oh all right, I mean that all of us probably have some outlandish motif or design feature we adore--such as carousels, or cake hats, yes? Or black roses.)