Thursday, November 25, 2010

Lolify Your Holiday

For most retailers, it seems as though the official start of the holiday season is the day after Halloween. For myself (and I hope most people....), it is the day after Thanksgiving. Let each holiday have it's place without jumping the gun., is my opinion. But now that Thanksgiving has, technically, passed I can begin merry making guilt-free.

If in everyday life you refuse to settle for boring clothing, cellphone cases, laptop skins, nail art, et cetera....why settle for reindeer sweaters once Christmas rolls around? I find everything more enjoyable with a personal touch, and holidays are no exception.
So, your tree is boring? It's easier to have your own tree when living by yourself, but if your parents object, just move it into your bedroom and opt for a smaller plastic pine.
I went to Walmart the other day and picked up a 3.5 ft black pre-lit tree for $18 (there was also white, pink, and green for the same price). If money is tight, go to a thrift store, pick up a pre-owned green one, and have at it with the spray paint. You can make it pink, white, black, purple, any color! I recommend Quik Color for about $.99 cents a can, and please, go outside when you spray.
For lights, I bought purple and orange string lights back at Halloween and saved them. If you don't want the usual gold or multicolor at your local store, get thee to the internet. Just type in the color your want to google shopping and voila! For a topper, it was actually my boyfriend's idea to take one of my many detachable bows and pin it on top.



For ornaments, I bought a 12 pack of purple bulbs at Walmart for $5, they had a whole variety of colors.  I opted for plastic instead of glass because I have cats that like to destroy things.
The etsy store Pocket Full of Posiez is selling adorable ornaments, most of which are of the gothic persuasion but all of them are cute!


Who doesn't want a bat with a candy cane?

Or a pile of cupcakes?

In clothing, if you want to avoid the dreaded holiday sweaters and cheesy socks, try adding wintery fabrics to your wardrobe like velvet and corduroy. Try a beautiful hunter green or burgundy! Fanplusfriend makes this JSK and this JSK, both which I own and can tell you look beautiful in person. The first is the most lovely dark red velvet, much prettier IRL than in their stock photo. If a main piece like a JSK or OP is too much color for your taste, accessories are a perfect way to completely change the feel of a coordinate. Opt for warm jewel tone gloves and detachable bows, or perhaps pin a bit of holly to your collar. Even better, how about a velvet corset? Timeless Trends offers this burgundy corset in overbust and underbust.


A nostalgic accessory I particularly love is the hand muff! A timeless substitute for gloves or mittens, I find they they look elegant and adorable at the same time. Very easy to make on your own, it is essentially a wide tube with a warm liner fabric like fur or fleece (sometimes on both sides, though some people prefer wool as the outer layer). It is important to remember a loop to hang it from your neck or arm when you need your hands free.

For those of you who dislike holiday music, like myself ("Cool Yule" or "Santa, Baby" is more than enough to make me strongly desire to jump out a window),  there are a few alternatives, though not particularly lolita.
Based on my personal taste which leans towards goth rock and its ilk, I mostly listen to The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack (the original and the deluxe album with remakes by popular musicians), the Trans Siberian Orchestra (metal-y covers of classic Christmas music), and Vampires from Hell (dirge-like organ versions of holiday songs, traditional but very gloomy and haunting).
No matter what you celebrate, I hope you all have wonderful holidays! 

Sincerely, 
Jayne, Peter, and Christmas Hello Kitty

Monday, November 22, 2010

A Victorian Weekend in Detroit

So, firstly, sorry for delay in posting (I've been trying to post twice a week- mid-week and on the weekend).
It was because of my mini-trip to Detroit, Michigan over the weekend.
This is what I wore on the plane and on Saturday. I love this new bodyline JSK, but it has extremely stretchy shirring! I can pull it over my hips without unzipping it. I also cut my hair and redyed my black stripes recently as well, as you can see.


I was expecting to just have a little visit with my grandparents, to celebrate Thanksgiving with them early as I will be remaining in Baltimore for my mothers wedding this coming week, but all in all it ended up being quite a loli-appropriate time!

First, we visited Greenfield Village on Saturday. I used to go all the time as a child, I was a little history buff even back then! My fondest memory is going on a day tour for little girls sponsored by the American Girl doll Samantha (the Edwardian/Victorian one!). If I lived in Detroit still I would love to host a meetup there! Maybe Michigan lolitas do actually, I have no idea. Anyway, it is an outdoor museum created by Henry Ford that showcases historical buildings, vehicles, machines, and artifacts from around the world. The buildings are completely authentic, and have been moved in piece by piece, like Robert Frost's home or the Wright Brother's bike shop. Many of buildings are from the Victorian era and other time periods of commonly of interest to lolitas.
My favorites are the Victorian hat shop and jewelry store, the 100 year old carousel (it's the only one in existance that has a green frog), and Coswold Cottage (beautiful English cottage made of stone, it's one of the oldest buildings in the village and looks like a tiny castle!).


At the giftshop, there were all sorts of adorable things, handmade things, nice smelling things... in the end, I purchased a lovely girly style t-shirt with a chandelier screenprint with tiny rhinestones on the tips. It was on clearance, which makes it even better.


I love visiting my grandparent's house. It's not only full of Finnish artifacts and keepsakes (and my grandfather's archives of the only Finnish American newpaper), but also many beautiful family photos and furniture from the turn of the century. I am fascinated by old photographs, it's amazing to see what people actually looked like, unbiased in a way paintings are not. Here are some of photos of my great grandmother on my grandmary's bureau.


Fun fact: my two great great great uncles and my great great grandfather died on the Titanic. My grandmary loves to show off the ship's log with their names. I also have a great uncle who was a lion tamer...
On Sunday, we went to an estate sale and I found a beautiful hand mirror for my collection and a lovely but very large frame. Both were $12! I left Sunday night to return to Charm City and my two kittens (who are currently perched regally on either arm of the sofa, like gargoyles but adorable and fuzzy).


On a final note, to anyone who plans to travel by air whilst in lolita, prepare to be patted down! I like to wear my pettis to avoid smooshing them into a bag, and I was targeted for my crinoline both directions of the trip (not that I can entirely blame them, it would be pretty easy to smuggle something under there).
I'll post something more interesting after the holiday, I promise!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

My Lolita Inspired Artwork

Some of you may or may not know, but I am a sophomore illustration major at Maryland Institute College of Art. I sell work at a local bookstore and have been in several gallery shows in the past year. That said, I've been obsessed with making art my whole life! Since I was in kindergarten, I've been making up stories and illustrating them. The reason I got into Goth waaaay back in middle school was because of my art, and the reason I got into Lolita was because of being into Goth. Most of my work involves dark fantasy, mythology, historical costumes, and the like. But naturally, since most of the things I enjoy are related to Gothic Lolita, so is a good portion of my art.
I'm pretty much solely a traditional artist, except for a few excursions into digital painting. I like to work in pen and prismacolor markers mostly.
You can find my art at my website, Nytemare Asylum and my deviantart.
Here are some examples of my work from the past few years.

















I also make silly plushies and things.


Sunday, November 7, 2010

Mini-Post: Full size hats in Lolita?


Lately I've been pining after the Prince Philip Victorian Top Hat at Uniformal Warehouse. But do full size top hats work with lolita?
Hats and I have always had a strained relationship. I want it to work with us, but things just never feel right.
Edit: Well, I went ahead and ordered myself a top hat. Let's see how this goes!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Review: Gloomth and The Cult of Melancholy



After teetering on the fence for a couple months, I decided to finally go ahead and make an order with Gloomth, a online Lolita/Goth/Victorian inspired clothing store based in Ontario, Canada. I purchased the Anther JSK.



Communication
I emailed to ask about production speed and got a response from Taeden very quickly, within a few hours. When I placed my order, I received an automated email as well as a personalized email with further information. The same happened when my package shipped.
Communication: 5/5

Shipping
On their website, Gloomth promised North American orders placed before the 20th of October would arrive in time for Halloween (the store is currently make-to-order, in the process of switching to shipping from stock). I made my purchase on October 19th (cutting it close, I know), but it only just arrived today, November 4th. While my order did ship Thursday the 28th, before Halloween, no standard speed package is going to make it from Ontario to Baltimore in two days. Fortunately, I didn't actually need it for Halloween.
Here is how it arrived:





Kitten not included.
I got a kick out of the margarine box, but my goodness, what a rough trip it must have had! There was a hole punched clean through, as you can see. Inside, the dress was wrapped in black paper (with stickers!).



While I understand that the damage up to the post office, I wish it had been wrapped in plastic. With the hole in the box and all, it could have gotten water damage (even without a hole, cardboard isn't great against water).
Shipping: 3/5

Quality




It looks pretty much exactly like the website's photos, except longer. I'm 5'6 and it is knee length (which is good, in my opinion). It is lined with a built in tulle petticoat (and a layer underneath the tulle so it's not scratchy). I inspected the seems and found no flyaway threads or imperfections. I was surprised by how well the dress holds it's shape. The white parts of the fabric have silvery glitter highlights, but they're very subtle and impossible to capture with my camera.
Here I am wearing it:





I wore it to class and it was very comfortable and didn't wrinkle from sitting down. I was also unexpectedly hit with pouring rain on my way home, and the pattern didn't run or bleed at all when drenched.
Quality: 5/5

Overall, I'm really happy with it. The dress is fuller and longer than I expected, and I really love how it fits and looks on me.

Final score: 13/15

Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween Outfit Post



So, the weekend of festivities it over.
Friday night, I went out to a club and was kinda sorta a gothic ballerina. I just wanted to wear my tiara, really.





OP: F+F
Corset: Timeless Trends
Shoes: Bordello

On Sunday I hosted a tea party at my apartment. I was a pirate :F








Blouse: Bodyline
Pendant: Midnight Moon
Coat: Tripp NYC
Corset: Timeless Trends
Skirt: F+F

Sunday evening, my boyfriend had to work so I stayed home and gave myself a hime haircut. Hope you all had a spookyfun weekend!
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