Of a meme and a lolita bubble

Sammy of The Random Lolita has embarked on a most exciting-looking 30 day meme in which one shares tidbits about oneself and lolita fashion, and I have decided to join her.  If you'd like to join in too, please do so! Here is Sammy's post with the 30 days' topics.

Day 1~
10 things about your lolita bubble.

1. I fill lolita cliches without even realizing it. At this moment I am sipping tea while working on some handsewing for my onepiece, and browsing lolita blogs. Oh, and this morning I baked a coffee cake. (It was a new-to-me recipe but it turned out pretty nicely!)

2. I love the idea of people choosing a symbol or motif to "represent" them, or to incorporate into their wardrobe/surroundings. I love black roses, so they've become the dominant motif in my wardrobe--though not the only one, certainly.

An interesting aside: in the world of my stories, "dusk rose" is another name for a black rose, so I suppose I named myself (online anyway) after my favorite flower.

3. Speaking of which, I'm slightly strange perhaps in that I've named different sides of my personality as they relate to a specific fandom or subculture/alternative fashion. I think of "Dusk Rose" as my lolita and goth girl self. But I also love boystyle, so my Aristo self is "Rainshadow." (I love the rain. Overcast days are my favorite.)

4. Blogs have always been a huge part of my connection with the lolita world. Victoria Suzanne of Lolita Charm (the first blog I discovered) was a major influence on my decision to become a lolita (Thank you, Victoria! <3). During the months last spring when I didn't have the resources to begin sewing my loli clothing yet (I was at college across the country), lolita blogs gave me a window into the lives of other lolitas, and a connection to the lifestyle I longed for.

I've always hoped this blog would do the same for other aspiring or solitary lolitas. I'd like to be a lighthouse, if you will, so my fellow rufflebutts know they're not alone in their struggles to bring beauty and frills (spooky or otherwise) into their lives.

5. This blog is officially one year old! I thought its birthday was later this month, but apparently I first posted April 30th. Well I suppose this 30 day meme will be a sort of birthday gala, in that case. Thanks for making this an amazing first year, my dear Ballroom dancers! <3

6. Two of my characters wear styles similar to myself (well lots more do too, but that's beside the point). Umeko is a gothic lolita who loves black roses, and Etsu dresses in boystyle Aristo; she was first inspired to do so by the aristocratic attire of a (fictional) Visual Kei artist whom she admires.

7. It's strange, I can picture my dream wardrobe very clearly in my head (well, reasonably clearly), and so sometimes I think of it or refer to it as though it already exists, although I still have to pull my dream dresses out of my imagination with a needle and thread. Do any of my fellow wardrobe builders have this experience sometimes?

8. Despite having a somewhat unusual style (or so I've gathered), I've seen a lot of gorgeous lolita clothing that would fit right into my dream wardrobe, and I wouldn't mind purchasing some items when I have the funds. But for now I most enjoy wearing things that I made myself.

9. Eventually I hope to take on some leadership roles in my local loli community, partly, I think, because I'd like to extend the "lighthouse" concept beyond cyberspace.

10. I dream of taking commissions someday, and of having my own lolita brand. Some of the designs will be inspired by my characters, so I'm looking forward to creating them.

That's all for Day 1 (although I should warn you that Day 2 will be coming along shortly). I hope you enjoyed reading these, and again, feel free to jump in on this meme at any point of you'd like.

Of "the lady in black"--as they called me at the Faire

Having finally finished hemming the chiffon layer of my skirt (that stuff is so finicky to work with! And this is my first ever rolled hem), I should go on and post a few pictures from the Faire. 

Near the entrance to the fairgrounds, we fell into conversation with a group of young Elizabethan soldiers, and they insisted we take a picture with them. They also said "Our knees are for sitting (on)--"hence kneeling on their part and the sitting down of my sisters and me.

I especially loved watching the Middle Eastern dance performance that we saw.

This next dancer I absolutely loved. She was so mysterious and graceful.

Afterwards, they called us up onstage to learn a few steps. I learned that it's particularly difficult to swing your hips with a corset top on. 

Later we watched a performance of traditional English folk dances.

Thats all of my pictures from the Faire, but I kidnapped my little sister to take an outfit shot afterwards, partly so I could show you the black and red headwreath I bought from one of our favorite Faire vendors. (Even though it's blurry...)

I know a lot of people go to Ren Faires in goth (which I did) or lolita, which I'd like to do sometime (go in lolita, I mean). What about you? Have you attended a Faire in alternative or historically inspired garb?

Of being thought Versatile by a fellow blogger

Zounds,  70 followers? Here, let me give each of you a (virtual) black rose. Twirling and clapping of hands set aside, I must confess it doesn't seem to work for me to just decide to try and post more often. Lately I've been sidetracked by sewing and writing...and, I admit, by a minor epidemic of fangirling over Ben Barnes, best known as Prince Caspian from Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia.

*ahem*
Anyway, the marvelous OpiateVampire of The Dark Victorian, whom I very much admire, has given me one of those Versatile Blogger things that's been going around lately. I know I promised you some Ren Faire pictures, and I'll get those up as soon as I can. But for now, with many thanks and without further ado, let's attend to this award.

7 Random facts... Let me pause to muse a moment. Here we go, then...

1. I started creating languages (for the world of my stories) at age 13. It's a part of worldbuilding that I really want to start doing again more than I do these days.

2. The first time I cosplayed, I crossdressed (I was cosplaying Zuko from Avatar: the Last Airbender). I love crossplaying! (Cosplay + crossdress)

3. Weather-wise, I'm happiest on an overcast day, or at twilight just after the gold of the sunset fades to silver blue.

4. As evidenced by #3, I find it much easier to be poetic and prettyful than down to earth and humorous. Ah well...

5. One of my cats will steal canteloupe off the table, if you let him.

6. I love to meet new people that share my interests, but I'm very shy when it comes to going up and talking to them.

7. As to building a loli wardrobe, I have forsaken prudence in favor of opulence--what I mean is, you know how we're advised to get a lot of skirts and tops because they're more versatile? I absolutely love dresses, so for me it's actually wiser to just keep making dresses till I drop, at this point anyway. Tra la!

Sorry, the tra la came out of nowhere. My brain does that sometimes.

You know, I'm supposed to nominate fifteen bloggers, but many of the people I would have nominated already have been given this award... Well, I'll just list fifteen of my favorite gothic and / or lolita blogs (in no particular order).


1.OpiateVampire of The Dark Victorian

2.akumaxkami of Les Fleurs Noires

3.SkyBluePink of Goths Just Wanna Have Fun

4.VictorianKitty of Sophistique Noir

5.Victoria Suzanne of Lolita Charm

6.Megan of Makelovely's Blog

7.Sir Isaak of  Visual Aristokei Core

8.The Fool (aka Sammy, I think) of The Random Lolita

9.Kaitlyn of If Alice Were Into Platforms

10. Caroline of F Yeah Lolita

11. indigo_tide of Cheap Frills

12. Alice of Pink Milk Tea

13. Boots of Sincerely, Boots

14. Amy of The Ultimate Goth Guide

15. crimson of The Bloody Fashionista

There are many more blogs that I'm not very familiar with yet, but which I suspect will become great favorites in time.
Speaking of my fellow bloggers and most notably, my readers, what sorts of posts would you like to see on here? I've run into a blogging slump, you see, but I'd rather not go into quasi-hiatus mode when my blog seems to be thriving. Anyway, for any ideas you have, feel free to make a suggestion. I can't make promises on what I'll post, but your suggestions will be much appreciated!

Of oddments that delight me

Or, Things I Love Thursday, minus the Thursday bit. I'm a bit tired of feeling like I've run out of energy and ideas to blog, so I'm going to experiment with posting more often on potentially random-seeming (but still lolita/goth related) subjects, just so I can figure out how to broaden my posting options.

The above-mentioned Delightful Oddments~

~Finally getting started on my first lolita dress

~Working towards a readable second draft of my work in progress novel

~On that note, I've discovered that my protagonist gets to interact with the faerie folk / the magical world a lot sooner than I'd realized, because she's a seer (unknowingly) and goes to Faerie in her dreams.

~The cosplay picnic tomorrow, at which I get to meet other cosplay fans in my area for the first time

~Getting called "the lady in black" at the Ren Faire (we went today, and I'll post about it in more depth soon)

~Learning a bit about how to bellydance at the Faire, after an absolutely gorgeous performance by the dancers. (I've been wanting to learn some form of eastern / middle eastern dance for a while now, but now I'm convinced: I must learn to bellydance! And ballroom dance. And maybe flamenco...)

~The music of Kalafina, one of my favorite Japanese groups. Anime fans might recognize their song Lacrimosa, the second ending song for Kuroshitsuji. The music is poignant, beautiful, and makes you shiver.(Interestingly, this was also the themesong I chose for my NaNoWriMo novel, because I love it and the song fit so well.)

Of her mental soundtrack

Well my waltzing dancers, in the absence of any crafting adventures to recount (though there will be soon, I hope), and because I don't know if you'd be interested in the mild drama of realizing one has to choose between a lolita tea party meetup and a cosplay picnic (for this blogger, that's a very hard choice, you know!), I've decided to tread the path of other bloggers and recommend to you a few bands that might appeal to my fellow gothic and lolita types.

I suspect most of us lolis are somewhat familiar with the gorgeously frilly side of Japan's music scene, and might recognize the names Kanon Wakeshima, the band Kalefina, and (my all time favorite) Versailles. But outside of Visual Kei and Jrock, I'm a diehard metalhead--symphonic, gothic and doom metal, to be precise.

Recently I've been looking for new metal bands, and also I've explored some new (to me) genres, so let me show you what I've found so far. Since I'm not too familiar with these styles of music, I'm a bit scared to ascribe genres (I'm afraid someone will bite me, upcoming mention of vampires notwithstanding). However, I'll let you know when something is metal--usually in the symphonic or melodic styles. Unfortunately, I'm not sure of the protocol of imbedding youtube videos in a post, so I'll leave you with clicky links.

~Sirenia
A female-voiced metal band from Norway. I've fallen in love with their dreamy, wistful sound, exemplified in songs like Winterborn 77 and Sister Nightfall. To me this group has a rather atmospheric quality, but retains the energy and brilliance of sound that makes it metal.

~Svenia
An Italian band. I discovered them during National Novel Writing Month, and they immediately went on my novel playlist. They have a very melodic sound combined with the "ponderous romantic gloom" (my inner poet has an odd way of describing things) that's one of the qualities I've been looking for in my music-listening ventures. Two of my very favorite songs of Svenia's are Death is Waiting for Your Heart and My Nuptial Sepulchre (the other thing I love about Svenia: their song titles!).

~Alucard
A group from Belgium. I've only heard a few songs by this band so far, but I already love them. I can't think how to describe their sound, but it reminds me a little of Lareine, former band of Versailles' vocalist--probably because Alucard's vocalist has a similar tenor quality to his voice. (Is it strange that the singer of this group even looks a little like Kamijo, to me?) I'll start you off with the music video for Cold.

~Amberian Dawn
Another gorgeous metal band, this time from Finland. If you love pure, soaring female vocals, I strongly recommend them. So far the songs I know are He Sleeps in a Grove and River of Tuoni.

And last but not least, I imagine some of you darklings might have heard of this next group, but they deserve to be mentioned anyway.

~The 69 Eyes
Also known as the Helsinki Vampires (see, I told you there would be mention of vampires--and that's not even counting Kamijo). Remember the "ponderous romantic gloom" of Svenia? This band has it in spades, along with a dash of sarcastic spunk. I have several favorite songs, but I'll confine myself to mentioning Brandon Lee and Devils. If you're not sure you like deep-voiced vocals, Jyrki will convince you otherwise.

That's all for now, my Ballroom guests. In writing this, I thought of several more artists I would like to recommend, so maybe I'll do posts like this in the future. But now, go forth and listen to music! (And no biting.)

Of a King who found his voice

This isn't strictly lolita-related, but it has to do with something lolitas might enjoy. Have any of my Ballroom guests seen the recently released movie, "The King's Speech"? If not, I highly recommend it. The film centers on King George VI, and it's filled with the sort of beautiful period dress and settings that lolitas (and goths) tend to love. However, I personally have another reason to love the film besides my love for England and historical movies.

I assume most of you have heard the movie synopsis by now, but anyway: King George VI stammered quite severely, and this made it very difficult for him to speak in public. He found an Australian speech therapist who was able to help him gain enough fluency to give speeches to England--quite a feat for anyone with a stammer (or stutter, as it tends to be called in the USA).

I don't know much about this part of history besides what I learned from the film, unfortunately, but it resonated with me in several really profound ways. All my life, I have stuttered, and my stuttering has often taken on the form of blockages (an inability to get sound out), similarly to the king's. I'm much more fluent now, but it's still an issue sometimes (now you know my secret reason for not rushing to do a vlog, though I wouldn't mind in the future).

Besides the accuracy of Colin Firth's portrayal of stammering, two things profoundly struck me in watching the film. One, it was the understanding and friendship of the king's speech therapist that helped him the most towards fluency--not a cure (there is none), but he does indeed "have a voice," in the sense that he can communicate.

Two, the final speech made an excellent climax to the dramatic arc (there's my writer side coming out), because the movie succeeded in portraying that speaking really is that scary and dramatic for people who stutter, whether in addressing a nation or ordering fast food. I feel that this film has not only shed light on the subject of stuttering, but really ennobled those who do--it's given us back our dignity, if you will. At any rate, do see the movie! And if you'd like to learn more about stuttering, let me give you a link to the National Stuttering Foundation's website.

Of picnics, writing, and A Slightly Personal Confession

Note: I've delayed posting this for a couple days, as it felt strange talking about personal matters in light of the recent disaster in Japan. I can't tell you how troubled I am, along with many others, that this has taken place. Thankfully everyone I know in Japan (at least that I have contact info from) is safe, but hearing about this sort of event, especially in a country I love so dearly, leaves me quite shaken nonetheless. I'll certainly be keeping Japan and those in and from it in my thoughts and prayers. 

++++++

My dear ballroom dancers, I feel as though I've been abandoning you a little bit, what with all that's going on. I can't remember whether I'm posting any less often than usual, but I've certainly had less energy than usual for blogging and the like, which I wish wasn't true. The worst part is, I know it isn't just the (admittedly very stressful) outside circumstances. At the risk of getting slightly personal (which I've been told is a good thing for bloggers), let me say I can empathize with those of you who have anxiety and/or mood disorders. And I know it isn't fun. I have OCD and, I strongly suspect, a mild form of depression (don't worry, I have help I'm getting). Currently both of those things are wreaking metaphorical havoc, so if I do post less often or less energetically, at least you know what's probably the cause. I DO intend to continue blogging, however.

NAO, for some funner stuff. I tried to organize a small, local meetup about a month ago, but while a few people expressed interest, no one ended up being able to come. But it was nice sitting in the park with my sister, munching on the red bean muffins I'd made, and sipping Arizona iced tea.

My coordinate, which is the fourth one of the seven~

I've decided I'm a bit bored of this challenge, so while it was a great idea, I won't force myself to complete it. Plus I've discovered one of my favorite gothy dresses has room for a petticoat, and I've been dying to try out that theory...

Fun Thing II
Remember that writing blog I threatened to start? Well, I have! If you're interested in reading about my WIP (Work In Progress), a fantasy series full of faeries, vampires, gothic dreamers and midnight teaparties (and ballrooms), feel free to visit me at The Dreamer's Raven Quill.