Outfit of the Day: Inspired by Dark Mori

Several weekends back, I was visiting family for their county fair. My cousins suggested that we go to Pioneer Village to explore, take a few pictures, and just generally have some fun. Of course, since I am me and the weekends are when I let loose with my clothing, I was dressed to the very strange nines. This time, it was black. All black. Lots of black.

I don’t usually wear much mori kei because of my body shape; curvy me plus flowing clothing can result in a frumpy rather than fairy-like appearance. However, this particular outfit isn't strictly mori kei, and, more importantly, it's much more comfortable than my usual frills. Therefore, it was perfect for bumming around a county fair. It was also perfect for climbing around in train cabooses, crouching down next to sod house windows, and running through the rain despite water-soaked shoes.

I'm sorry I didn't get any close-up pictures of the outfit, mostly because I spent much of the trip behind the camera. However, we did get a few good posing shots of me (though my legs do look a good deal shorter than they actually are). This is one of them.

Outfit Rundown:

Top: I got this as part of a mystery bag from GoodGoth a few years back, but the tag is missing.
Skirt: A gift from my friend Liz, tag also missing.
Vest: Handmade
Tights: Wal Mart
Shoes: Wal Mart
Hair Accessories: Claire's

These are fun, too. We got some creepy pics of me as the villain of our day's amorphous story (which, given that I was looking black-clad and witchy, wasn't an unfair read of the appearance), so this creepy pic of me staring through a window will have to do instead of outfit close up shots.

Fashion and Costuming: A Blog Hiatus

I have exciting news! And by "exciting news," I mean, "Please forgive me because I won't be able to blog regularly for a while."

I’m volunteering as the costume manager for my old high school. I know the director, and so when she said that the fall play was Seussical and she needed behind-the-scenes help, I volunteered. Since I’m living with my parents just two blocks from the school, I’m an easy distance from the auditorium. And, because she knows me, I got roped into planning most of the costumes that won’t be rented and possibly a puppet or ten.

I’m so excited to do that, but it’s going to take a chunk out of my free time. For the next two months or so, I probably won’t be updating this blog. I’ll come back of course, but for a little while I need to put my energy into creating brightly colored outfits for the Whos and feathered tails for a flock of sassy birds. I might post an outfit shot or two, and I'll definitely be posting something about the costuming process when I'm done, but posts will be rare until after the show gets done.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. I’ve got a lot of birds to feather and a lot of characters to bring to life.

Conversations in an Attempt to Figure Out What to Wear to a Wedding

I fear that my life among human beings has hit a slight snag. I have not one but two weddings to attend this fall. One is on Sunday and I am having a hard time navigating social norms in terms of dress while still being true to my personal style.

I have been to weddings, of course, but it's been years since I was at a wedding where I had any say in what I wore. The last two weddings I went to had dress code information given to me. I was to wear a bunad to one of them and a black dress to the other. As a result, I have no recent memory whatsoever of what is considered normal in these sorts of social occasions.

And, because I'm me, a strange thing happened, which is the same thing that normally happens when I try to talk about social norms. Suddenly, I start talking like I'm an alien anthropologist trying to decipher the strange rituals of a particular tribe of another species.

___________________________________________________________________

 Part the First: Contemporaries

Me: I am confused. How does one clothe one's naked body in order to attend the hu-man* ritual called "wedding"?
College friend: Depends on the ritual. What type of hu-man are participating?
Me: The type of hu-man who are friends with one [name of groom] are participating in the ritual. Unfortunately, I possess only limited knowledge of the moral code known as "normal" in the Murrikan^ tribe of the hu-man species.
College friend: I suggest a kilt like apparatus so as to blend with the indigenous tribe, though camouflaging may be required so as to mask your operations of the ritual.
Me: I have heard that, in the Murrikan tribe, these garments are often decorated with images of the genitals of local plant life. Is this so?
College friend: I am unfamiliar with the exact practices of this tribe, but I believe this may be a good hypothesis.
Me: It would make sense, given that this "wedding," I am given to understand, is at least in part a fertility rite. Perhaps I shall test this hypothesis about the decoration of native Murrikan kilt-like garments.

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Part the Second: Parental Beings

Me: I am confused. What does one clothe oneself with in order to attend the hu-man ritual called "wedding"?
Father: Nothing.

Me: We are not on Betazed. I fear that would be inappropriate in the Murrikan culture. 

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Notes:

* Pronounced \‘hü-mȯn\ 

^ Pronounced \‘mər-i-kin\

Toying with Dolly Kei: An Experimental Polyvore Post

I rather enjoy dolly kei. So, for this week's post, I decided to play around with dolly kei outfits on polyvore.

Even though I don't identify fully with dolly kei, I love experimenting with new styles. Polyvore is a great way to do that without spending a dime. Who knows; maybe I'll start incorporating more dolly kei influence into my outfits. For now though, this is just me playing around with the style.

The Tale of the Ice Cream Skirt: or Why I Don't Care if My Cousin Becomes a Lolita

Last year, I purchased a lolita skirt for my cousin Megan.

Megan is not a lolita. Megan, however, has an abiding love for full skirts (which flatter her shape beautifully, I must note), pink, food in general, and desserts in particular. Sweet lolita offers, therefore, clothing which would combine all of those things in one frilly package.

This purchase of this skirt was the result of months of waiting for the skirt to go on sale and a fair bit of e-mailing back and forth with her sister to make sure the skirt was something that Megan would want and to make sure that I was getting the right skirt. Technically, the skirt was a graduation present, but Megan had a high-stress senior year, so I decided to give it to her when I visited for Christmas and give her the option of opening it whenever she wanted.

She loved it. I was pleased both with her affection for the skirt and how it fit her. I dedicated three separate blog posts to ideas for how she could wear it. One day, I would love to take her along to a lolita meet-up so she can get a taste for the style that birthed the craziness of the skirt, and I have been told that she would be interested in going to a meet.

But I don't care if my cousin becomes a lolita or even wears the skirt in anything resembling the lolita style.

That is not to say that I wouldn't love it if my cousin did become a lolita. I'd love to have another rufflebutt in the family, someone with whom I could go shopping for frilly girly things in stores and to whom I could send links to dresses I nerdgasmed over. I am very close to my cousins, especially Megan and her sisters, and it's a thrill whenever we find something new to share. However, I want them to be free to discover their loves on their own, just as I have discovered mine.

This is something I've often thought about when sharing my crazy clothing choices with friends or family. I'm not one of those people who tries to take ownership of what I wear, as if the style were mine and mine alone. However, neither am I the sort of person to push the people I care about into something that I enjoy simply because they might enjoy it, too.

I want the people around me to understand my craziness, but just as I want them to accept my strangeness I should accept theirs.

Styles to Seek: Dolly Kei

Oh, dolly kei. I love dolly kei. It's creepy and cute and weird and if you haven't heard of it then I'd like to introduce you to it.

Dolly kei (or dolly style/fashion) is a Japanese street fashion inspired by vintage, used clothes to create a design inspired by vintage and antique dolls, vintage and antique clothing, Grimm's fairy tales, the Victorian era, gypsies, romanticism, goth, and very old clothing styles from eastern Europe. The look overall is kind of creepy, cute, and usually fairly striking.

One thing that differentiates dolly kei from many other Japanese styles is the lack of distinct brands. In Japan, the store at the fore-front is obviously Grimore, a store that is the brain-child of Hitomi Nomura, but due to the use of vintage clothing there aren't really BRANDS. Yes, there are certainly brands that fit into the style, especially Grimoire and Grimoire Almadel's house brands (Dolly, Rathiel du Dolly, and Verum), but there isn't the same focus on the brand vision.

Another thing that I find fascinating about dolly kei is that it's not about rules; it's about vibe. It's about the feeling of stumbling out of the dark side of a fairy tale. As such, there are a lot of common elements but no rule that any of these elements have to be present. A few common elements of dolly kei are:

• paisley
• tapestry
• embroidery
• tights, boots, and platform sandals
• layering
• mixing patterns and colors
• ethnic-looking pieces
• vintage clothing
• fur accessories
• tassels and shawls with fringe
• florals
• defined waist

Dolly kei is also a bit difficult to define in words. It's much easier to show you. I'm using street snaps and a lot of pictures from the Grimoire blog and the blogs of the staff.

True Lolita Life: My Only Brand Dress Was Purchased By Accident

Yeah, you read that right: my only brand dress was purchased by accident.

Story time!

I tend toward classic and gothic with my lolita wardrobe. I'm much more inclined to wear black, ivory, or brown than white. As such, most of the purchases I've made have been along those lines. I'm not big on pastels or even light colors unless I can easily temper them with something darker.

But then I saw a dress.

There was a girl doing a massive moving sale, and she had several very pretty floral JSKs. One of them was pink and pretty, a little old school, and much farther toward the sweet side of classic than I usually wear. She labeled it as "unknown brand" and it was under 100 dollars. But it struck me, and it struck me hard. Three rows of ruffles on the skirt, pin tucks, lace... I was in love. And, as luck would have it, the front and back shirring on the JSK left plenty of room for my sizable bust.

I altered the straps so that it flattered my shape better.
They attach with buttons in the back, so it can easily be undone.