Behind the Fashion: Miss Rosie

Here are the magnificent Miss Rosie‘s answers!! I love her answers greatly and am eternally grateful that she would do this.






What inspired you to wear Lolita?
I’m not sure how to answer this. I was wearing other alternative fashions and dyed my hair unnatural colors long before I discovered lolita, so I can’t say that I was ever intimidated by wearing the clothing out in public. Strangers staring wasn’t exactly something new for me, so I didn’t really need inspiration in that sense.

I think I was most drawn to the lolita aesthetic because it is a frivolous and hyper-feminine form of expression that is also modest. In mainstream fashion, and even in other alternative subcultures the emphasis on a woman’s sex-appeal is almost always present, and it’s nice to have an escape from that kind of social pressure. Lolita makes me feel good about being a woman, while most other fashions made me more insecure.

Purchasing the clothing was something different entirely. I couldn’t bring myself to ask my parents to buy it for me so while I found out about lolita fashion early in my high school years, I didn’t seriously consider wearing it until I reached college and actually had the time and resources of my own.

What do you like to wear when not in Lolita?
It depends, I suppose. Usually if I’m in public and not in lolita it means that I just don’t have the time or energy to get dressed up at all that day. In that case I’ll usually just throw on a pair of jeans and an old band tee shirt. I really don’t like pants much, but I despise shaving my legs, so the jeans usually win out over skirts if I’m crunched for time. If I’m at home I’m usually in my boyfriend’s pajamas. :3

Are you in school? If so what is your major/grade?

Yes, I’m a senior at an American university. Currently I’m studying criminology, though I’m not really sure what I’ll do with the degree after I finish. At least the coursework was interesting.

What would you say are your “non-lolita” hobbies?
To be honest, I don’t consider any of my other hobbies to be lolita-specific because I liked them long before I found the fashion. I like traveling, drawing, reading, baking, sewing and collecting cute things.

I also enjoy scary things like ghost stories, horror films, haunted houses, and survial horror videogames. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of videogames that involve punching holes in zombies with a shotgun, but if it seems creepy I’m probably interested.

What kind of music do you enjoy?
My favorite band is Coheed and Cambria. In general I enjoy alternative/indie rock music, though occasionally I listen to classical music and jazz.

Books?
Again, I’m a fan of the horror/post-apocalypse genre. I’ve been on a zombie kick for the last year or so, but I’ve read quite a few stories about ghosts and serial killers as well.

What do you think is the least Lolita about you?
Clothing doesn’t, and shouldn’t dictate behaviour. That said, I’m not going to deny that there are plenty of stereotypes about lolitas.

I suppose the least stereotypical thing about me would be that I don’t like most teas. I think fruit teas are nice enough when they’re sweetened, but other than that, I can’t stand the beverage. ):

Any final words?

If you want to do something, do it now instead of just dreaming about it. There will always be people who will try to discourage you from achieving your goals, but you can’t waste your life trying to please them. Stand up for the people you love and the things you believe in so that you can live your life without regrets. :3

Also, I’d like to thank you for inviting me to participate. I really appreciate it!
Yours,
Miss Rosie

Welcome Blade!!! (a little late...)

So maybe I should be shot for how late this is, but oh well. On June 5th, 2010 my newest nephew was welcomed into the world! After some scarey labor problems mommy and the 6lbs 1oz, 21 in Blade Konner are just fine! I’m so happy to finally welcome him into the world! Sadly I have to leave him only 6 days after him being born, but I’ll be back in 20 days! I just wanted to throw all that out there and let ya’ll know that I’m all happy!

BTW, I also have my travel blog made. I made it on Blogger so I can see how it operates and if I like it. Most of my favorite blogs are currently hosted there, since Miss Lumpy recently moved (and is loving it), I figured I’d try it out and see what I think. So far I don’t like it, but after a bit of toddling, I may switch, all depends on what I can figure out. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TRAVEL BLOG!!
*kisses*
Princess Raelynn

**EDIT**
That idea fell through... I didn't have much internet access :/

I'm Leavin' On a Jet Plane

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Starting this Friday, I’ll be gone for three weeks. I’m going with the People to People Student Amabassador group to Europe!! We’ll be going to England, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. I’m so excited and really plan on making a website or blog about my trip. As part of the program, we keep “Travel Journals” but I plan to keep another journal to post to the new website/blog when I return, as I don’t think I will have access to a computer often. Sadly there will be no lolita on this trip (and no BTSSB in Paris ), but this’ll still be a ton of fun and I’ll have loads of pictures!!

This is really a dream trip to me, but I’m so very nervous. Yes, I’m excited (who wouldn’t be?). But I’m also scared. This will be my longest time away from home, plus, I’ll be in new countries that may or may not speak my language. Though I have the group leaders there, I still have to be more responsible at home. Daddy won’t be there to make me get up or to make sure I don’t forget anything in the hotel room. I think I can step up though, so this should be fun.

I’m going to try to get another Behind the Fashion up before I go, Miss Rosie, author of The Ugly Duckling, is currently working on completeing her answers.

Well, I don’t know what else to talk about, so I’ll go start packing (and seeing what else I still have to buy). I’ll talk to all of ya’ll again about the first of July (after I rest and get good american food, or maybe japanese… ^-^)
*kisses*
Princess Raelynn

Behind the Fashion: Sniper

I am so excited to say that the wonderful Sniper of Aesthetic Lolita has agreed to participate! Enjoy! And check out her blog, I love it so.





What inspired you to wear Lolita?
I love the girlish princess-y look. I always have, as I have loved Disney princess films, shojo manga, fairy tails, and female heroines in all kinds of fantasies. I could just tell that it was something I had always dreamt about but never explicitly seen.

What do you like to wear when not in Lolita?
I like to wear shorts over pastel tights, fluffy tutu-like skirts, cardigans, and floral sundresses. I wear looks ranging from classic black + white to pastel popkei to neons with leopard print. I really dislike jeans and long pants/skirts! I think they are bland.

Are you in school? If so what is your major/grade?
I am in college. My major is computer science. I’m thinking about going for a second degree, but I’m not sure what!



What would you say are your “non-lolita” hobbies?
I like (violent) video games including first-person-shooters like Quake and real-time-strategy games like Age of Empires! I’m also a sucker for the Grand Theft Auto and Metal Gear Solid RPGs. I’m just generally really good at games. I like airsoft guns and sword forms I learned in karate. I own a Sig Sauer P226 gas blowback and a Socom single shot (because Solid Snake has one <3).>

What kind of music do you enjoy?
I like pagan folk metal, preferably Russian or German, and Norse electronica. Most of the music I like is fast and heavy!

Books?
I like the fantasy genre and books on alternative health and metaphysics the most!

What do you think is the least Lolita about you?
Lolitas are supposed to be innocent and naive. I am neither, by any stretch of the imagination. Not only that, but I stick up for myself and regard myself to be a strong, intelligent, and independent person. I may look like a dumb and shallow little girl to some, but I often shock people when I show them that I can actually compose intelligent thoughts into punctuated sentences. My opinions on a lot of things are unconventional and I don’t believe in many of the same things people in my age group are supposed to believe in (example: democracy).

Any final words?
Lolita would be so boring if all lolitas were the same standard two-dimensional caricatures! Isn’t this world boring enough as it is? Lolita certainly wouldn’t last as a movement if everyone interested in the fashion had to act like they were something they weren’t. You could say that I’m looking for the time-travelers, espers and aliens in the world!

Behind the Fashion: Miss Lumpy

Miss Lumpy, the lovely wonderful lady, has agreed to take part in this series! I’m so happy and grateful for this chance to talk to her and learn more about her! I could go on and on about this wonderful woman, but I don’t want to show bias, because all the ladies who are participating are magnificent, so I’ll let her survey and blog speak for itself! The last thing I’ll say before the interview begins is THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!

What inspired you to wear Lolita?
I’ve always had a total obsession with beauty. It’s like a drug, really – I am completely head-over-heels for beauty, and therefore it’s always been important to me to impart the beauty ideal I currently identify with. Right now, and for the past four or five years, that image has been through creating an image compliant with lolita fashion. I participated in a documentary last summer, and I got a lot of snickers for saying that lolita makes me feel like I am “channeling all the beauty in the universe; …this is what I was created to look like…” but for me that’s just crazy-hippie-speak for “At this moment, there is no higher beauty that I can strive for. If I make myself look like this, it is in accordance with what is proper for me at this stage in my life; this is the image I should give to my current body, mind, and soul.” I guess I really am a lifestyler through and through.

What do you like to wear when not in Lolita?
Well, most of the time, if I’m not in lolita it’s because I’m at work! My current favorite store for non-lolita clothing is Express because it’s so comfortable business-casual-y. As for other times (say I go out with my boyfriend and want to make sure he doesn’t start a fight because of the snickers I get in lolita, or to class where the puuf gets squished into desks), I wear anything that speaks to me – I like jeans just as much as I like party dresses, mori-girl just as much as mainstream fashion.

Are you in school? If so what is your major/grade?
I am! I took time off between high school and college, so right now I am a second-semester sophomore. I’m majoring in English with a tentative minor in Creative Writing: Poetry. I’m considering changing minors, though, maybe to art or history. I don’t plan on doing anything with my degree because I don’t know any graduates who are, so I’m majoring in my longest love affair to date – the English language – because I can’t imagine studying anything else.

What would you say are your “non-lolita” hobbies?
As many people say, my lolita hobbies and my everyday hobbies definitely meld together… however, I would say my major non-lolita hobby is hooping, as is evident in my picture. I have some mysterious, undiagnosable health issue that make it very difficult for me to exercise due to fatigue and breathing problems, so hooping is great because it’s low-impact (I don’t usually break a sweat or get winded) but still a great workout. As far as other interests go, I am avidly interested in health and find alternative diets such as veganism and vegetarianism to be hugely fascinating. I also love reading and writing, which leads to my main hobby of blogging – I guess for me that’s technically a lolita hobby, though!

What kind of music do you enjoy?
Whenever anyone asks me this question, I say “anything pretty.” By that I mean that I’m interested in anything that I find exemplifies my ideal of beauty (hippiehippiehippie)… Lately I’ve been listening to Iron & Wine almost non-stop, punctuated by The Decemberists and Lady GaGa. Some music I can never get enough of is Jack Johnson, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Emilie Simon, Regina Spektor, as well as some more “hardcore” stuff like Nine Inch Nails and Mudvayne – you gotta have some good angry music for days when pretty little piano ditties just don’t cut it!

Books?
Have pity, you’re asking an English major what kind of books she likes! Well, I love poetry – my current favorite poet is Langston Hughes, hands down, without any doubt, though e.e. cummings is up there too; I’m a sucker for modernism. I like fantasy, but to be honest I prefer stories of real life that have fantastic or historic elements to them. For example, I just finished A Collection of Beauties at the Height of Their Popularity, which is a collection of short stories about a group of friends in the late 80′s – however, the entire novel is written like a Japanese “pillow book” and the Floating World of the Tokugawa-era Japan is a common theme throughout.

What do you think is the least Lolita about you?
I think lolita is defined by the person, so to be honest, I don’t think there’s anything non-lolita about me! Haha, but that’s a cop-out. I’d probably say my road rage – most of my friends are pretty terrified to get in the car with me! Just ask Victoria Suzanne

Any final words?
Confucius said “Everything has its beauty, but not everybody sees it.” In my life, lolita and non-, the first and foremost thing to me is the pursuit of beauty. Without beauty, there is nothing – no love, no hope, no happiness. This is the driving principle that rules my life: beauty is flighty and difficult to catch, but the fight to seek it is worth it. If you want to know anything about me, that is the most important ♥

Behind the Fashion: Victoria Suzanne

The magnificent Victoria Suzanne of Lolita Charm has agreed to participate in this series. She is the author of one of my favorite blogs to read and I am eternally grateful to her for doing this.



What inspired you to wear Lolita?
I started researching and wearing lolita after I saw the movie Kamikaze Girls, which features a lolita main character. After seeing her style and then finding out about the fashion, I was hooked and started doing my own research.

What do you like to wear when not in Lolita?
When I’m not in lolita, I still wear very feminine clothes that mix the styles of morigirl, otome, or gyaru – basically bows, lilac shorts, anything with rhinestones, and still plenty of curls. My favorite non-lolita brands are Pink by Victoria’s Secret and Juicy Couture.

Are you in school? If so what is your major/grade?
I’m a junior in college, and majoring in marketing with an aim to work in fashion merchandising.

What would you say are your “non-lolita” hobbies?
I’m not sure I’d say there are lolita hobbies versus non-lolita hobbies, but these are some of my more unusual ones – bellydancing and hoop dancing. They’re both great workouts that keep me in shape and include a lot of grace and artistry.

What kind of music do you enjoy?
Mostly I listen to anything that strikes my fancy or reminds me of something or someone. I’m really sentimental about music in that way – I really listen to the lyrics as opposed to just the sound. But my two ‘genres’ are Lady Gaga (in a class by herself!) and country music. The latter might sound surprising, but I’m from the boondocks and have a lot of family in the south, so it reminds me of home and especially my dad, who plays country on his accoustic guitar.

Books?
Books are like music – they have to strike my fancy. A few of my favorites are fairytales by Francesca Lia Block, anything by Diana Wynne Jones (who wrote the original Howl’s Moving Castle), and of course the classics like Alice in Wonderland and a Little Princess. Anything in that old-school ‘books for girls’ style is cute, too – like this little secondhand book I have called Adopted Jane. They make pink lemonade the old-fashioned way and all the girls wear white party dresses to church sociables – very Anne of Green Gables kind of flavor.

What do you think is the least Lolita about you?
Least lolita about me? That’s like asking me what is least American about me – I’m American all over! I wouldn’t say I have lolita and non-lolita parts of my life. I am a lolita, I live my life, and therefore everything in it makes up my lolita lifestyle. So I don’t feel like I have non-lolita parts that I should hide or seperate.

My Boredom Manifesto

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Today on Tumblr, I saw the above photo. It was originally posted by Milky Chuu, it definately made me smile. And as the last line says, I decided to give it a go.

I will fight boredom with action, ideas, and creativity. I will fight boredom with writing, girl’s days, and reading. I will fight the stereotype and broken ideas of women. I will fight boredom by helping others and myself, at the same time. I will fight the the winter blues with apple cider and baking through the afternoon. I will got for walks and take new adventures in the summer sun. I will fight boredom with spontinaity. I will write letters by hand and carry, at least, one book every where I go. I will break free of the mold society has made for me. I will act silly and never fear what others think. When friends and family become bored I will drag them on walks and adventures, and they will have fun. I will fight boredom in my own way and be only me.

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As for the series, I promise my next post will be a new lovely lady’s answers! I’m just waiting to recieve the photo So keep checkin back
*kisses*
Princess Raelynn