Meta Brings the Retro

It's not a secret; I love Metamorphose. Usually. Mostly. I mean, we all know that Meta has questionable taste at times. There's a reason why they're called "the eccentric spinster aunt" of the Lolita brand family...

Listen, I know we all want to forget about
Jewel Leopard

... but when they get it right, they get Lolita really, really right. Everyone loves their grandma-couch florals, and the velveteen pieces are becoming a staple for everyone wanting to revisit the Old School roots of our fashion. Many of the people in my home comm have Meta prints on their wishlists, and with good reason-- Meta puts out cute stuff!

Mermaid Princess was a fun take on the jewelry print

Recently, during another late-night peruse through the Brand websites, I found that Meta is really pumping out the border prints right now-- Happy Balloon, Majestic Princess, and, the big one right now, Koi Koi! Floral Invitation. Between all of these bright colors and interesting designs, it was easy to miss this gem:

I'm so glad I clicked on this thumbnail, because I've fallen in love. Hard. This is the Candy Bottle OP, and it looks like something that Emily Temple Cute would put out if they went full-stop Lolita. The print is definitely bringing back the 1950s inspiration that sometimes gets tossed to the wayside in a style that likes to default to the Victorian era for inspiration. It's not the only one, either-- around last fall, the Candy Bar print was put out, and it, too, had very vintage-looking sweets.

 

Between the brightly-colored corner store candies and the traditionally Sweet cuts of all the dresses, the red and white colorways have a very Country Lolita-like feel to them, which the advertising is happy to point out. Maybe that's why I'm so enamored of it-- I love Country Lolita!

There are three colorways (Red, Off-white, and Green) and three styles of dress-- the OP, which is certainly my favorite, the Ribbon Shirred JSK (the standard Meta fully-shirred option), and the Lace-Up JSK, designed to look more like a matching bustier-and-skirt set. There are also matching hairclips, and OTKs that sort of got shoe-horned into the collection.

This print ran itself straight to the top of my wishlist! I just can't decide on which colorway I like best-- all of them are so pretty! The green is an unusual emerald that we don't see much in Lolita, the red is just so fun, and the off-white works really well to showcase the print. Either way, I just know that this is a print that I could stare at for hours.

What do you think of this new Meta print? Is it Jewel-Leopard tacky, not bad, or something you've got to have? Did you already purchase it? Let me know (and share pictures!) in the comments below!

Urban Garden Update!

A while ago, as part of a 365 Lifestyle Lolita Challenge, I showed you all my new garden, having been freshly planted. Since plenty of time has passed, and my pretty green things have changed significantly, I wanted to show you updated pictures!

First, all of my plants were moved to our large communal balcony, rather than the little private one in my bedroom and a railing in our other window. This makes everything a lot easier to get to and water, and now everything is in one place!

We also had these old planters with old soil and dead plants from a previous resident taking up a bunch of space, so I emptied them out, cut out some holes for water drainage, and planted a bunch of spare strawberry bulbs I had lying around. I know, it's very late to be planting strawberries, and I might not get anything out of them, but it's worth a shot.

Speaking of strawberries, look at what I've got already! One of my pineberry plants is already starting to bear fruit! This one will be ready for eating in another day or two. A quick note about pineberries, about a quarter of any berries your plant produces will be red like a regular strawberry! The rest will be the white variety.

I forgot about the strawberry's tendency to grow out like this-- oops! It should be okay, though this might mean that my downstairs neighbors could have a few red and white surprises on their patio next month.

I'm so excited about my lavender finally blooming! I never had much luck with lavender before, so this makes me especially happy.

Lemon thyme is a favorite of mine, and I'm just so pleased to have it in my little garden.

How are your gardening projects coming along? Did you have any early-blooming flowers, or are you waiting on tasty vegetables to grow? What would you like to plant in your garden that you can't?

The Bedroom of a Victorian-Rococo Lady

The challenge for May 16th involved describing your ideal Lolita interior, and a thousand things flooded my brain: daybeds and loveseats and four-poster beds with chiffon curtains, collections of tea cups and bouquets of flowers on top of lace-covered end tables, absolutely everything in my favorite shade of powder blue.

There's a particular bedroom setup that I'm head-over-heels in love with, and it comes from Versailles:

The private sitting chamber of the Queen that inspires me so.

This room is known as "The Cabinet of the Meridian," and was a part of the Queen's private chambers in the palace of Versailles. It was used as a setting in several scenes of the Kirtsen Dunst movie Marie Antoinette, and I was enchanted with how cozy it seemed!

A modern-day take on the Cabinet of the Meridian!

Now, I love the idea of having a bed or daybed set directly into the wall, with decorative curtains for privacy if needed. The biggest downside is that this setup might make making the bed a little more difficult, but I'd be willing to put up with that. The rest of the room would be dedicated to living comfortably. I spend almost all of my time at home in my bedroom, but I don't want to always be sitting in a desk chair or on the bed.

Personlly, I'm partial to a Rococo-styled chaise longue or a Victorian loveseat, but other (probably cheaper) options include antique armchairs. Luckily for me, Rococo and Victorian can be easy to blend together in the same room.

Other things to dress up a room with a Victorian or Rococo theme are chandelier lamps, decorative, four-legged end tables or coffee tables, and fancy tea cup displays!

Even if I can't decorate an entire bedroom this way, I'm absolutely determined to have a sitting or relaxing room with this theme of Rococo-Meets-Victorian. What kind of room style is ideal for your Lolita world? Are you a Rococo, Victorian, or some other kind of interior design enthusiast?

365 Lifestyle Lolita Cluster!

It's been a while since I posted something from this challenge! A lot of the things for May weren't really bloggable, or were things that I was unable to do for whatever reason, but there are plenty of little ones that I can combine right here!

Day 117: Look through photographs from before your time

Tracking down old photographs of my ancestors is a great personal joy of mine, part of my lager hobby of building my family tree. Getting to see images of the people who allowed me to be sitting here typing this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Here are some of my favorites:

Circa 1890; my great-great-great grand-
parents, Joseph and Louisa. They both look so stately!

circa 1900: My 4th great-grandfather,
William. I'm in love with how decorative
the framing is!

c. 1900 - The second wife of William;
I think she's an aunt? Mostly, I wanted to
show the matching frames.

1961 - My grandmother and her family when
she was a child (right). I really enjoy my
great-grandma's knowing smile.

Day 124: Photgraph Your Online Handle Handwritten

I tried my best to make it look nice

Day 127: Photograph Your Room

I won't take you through my whole room, especially because I share it with someone else, but here are a few snapshots of my favorite spots!

That's about it for this post. Have you blogged about any of the recent 365 challenges?

Gothic Whims

I'm known to obsess over different styles of Lolita every time the season changes: classic during the fall, shiro in the winter, and Angelic Pretty pastel messes the second the weather starts to warm up again. But as I've been trying to reinspire myself, I find that I keep daydreaming about Gothic Lolita-- a style that I almost never consider wearing.

Elegy's Insomnia OP

Gothic Lolita plays to my love of non-print pieces with the textured fabrics and plethora of interesting details, and I adore the more romantic Goth accessories (I'll pass on the skulls and occasionally the crosses, but ravens and black cats are right up my alley). I'd even splurge on a nice black bonnet accented with roses or feathers.

It helps that the indie brand Elegy Clothing is based in my home state of Ohio, and I always see them at the one big convention that I attend. Their reviews from the last few years have been great, and while I'm not really into their prints, I'd definitely purchase many of their blouses (which are made with custom bust and waist measurements) and accessories. Especially the Cross Applique Apron.

I would like to incorporate this into an outfit that has relatively plain pieces. I think the cross on the breast adds nice but simple texture, and would make my black FanPlusFriend skirt (which is usually used as an underskirt, but I like to wear it for casual coords) look more interesting.

I've also been loving the idea of handmade cabochon jewelry and going back to lace tights! I'd like to start learning how to make cabochon rings and necklaces, I think, even for non-Lolita outfits. I'm particularly enchanted by ones that showcase typed lines from a novel, though I'd be too scandalized to actually snip into a book. I might experiment with trying to copy the look by hand with a drawing pen, though, or type out the passage I want and print it out, then tea-dye it before making it into jewelry.

There are a bunch of things I would like to add to my wardrobe to get more Gothic-leaning coordinates going:

• A black blouse, preferably one with a high collar and fancy sleeves
• Black lace tights
• Black lace gloves
• Victorian-styled cabochons with pictures of ravens, black cats, book print, and dark flowers
• A black parasol
• A smaller Victorian-styled bonnet
• Floral and feather corsages

Are there any styles that you suddenly find yourself wishing you were wearing? Does your taste in Lolita styles change with the seasons? Let me know in the comments below!

I Dreamed a Dream of AaTP's New Print

I was browsing around the new Baby, the Stars Shine Bright reservations because I wanted to see what new prints were coming out, when I came across this announcement from the Alice and the Pirates side:

 

What. A Les Mis print? Or, as it's properly named, "Prière d'espoir~Light of the oath and the fate of love~." I desperately needed to see what dress AaTP could have possibly slapped this on (I haven't been liking a lot of the recent prints they've been putting out, particularly the "Harry Potter" print), and I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw.

This is the most darling thing I've seen this year. It's such a girly take on a more Classic-oriented print, and I just adore it. There's even a bustle!

I'm a sucker for a bustle back

Unfortunately for me, this version of the JSK has zero shirring and a way-too-small bust, so this is going to have to go in the "Keep Dreaming" dream dress folder.

There are two other JSKs with shirring, but I'm not as enamored of them as I am of the first one.

I could probably see myself buying JSK II in mint, because something about it really reminds me of my Garden Alice Print JSK-- the babydoll silhouette, the weird cap-sleeves, the all-over literature print, and even the lace on the skirt are all callbacks to my older Baby piece. At least this one used a ribbon that matches the fabric.

There is also a third JSK and a skirt (no one pieces). While this last JSK has full back shirring (the sizing option I would usually prefer), it's very plain and lackluster.

The skirt is cute, and I do enjoy the ruffled trim (made from similar fabric as the glittery gold hem on my Sorcerer's Horoscope JSK) and the fact that AaTP repeated the bustle. I'd probably still stick with the JSK, though. If I did snag the skirt, I'd love the blue colorway! It looks nicely lustrous and floaty in a way that the other colors don't.

What do you think of the upcoming Alice and the Pirates print? Are you going to put in a reservation? Let me know in the comments below! 

Water Lilies: The Dress Print I Desperately Need to See!

There was a 365 Lifestyle Lolita challenge topic last week that asked us what paintings would we like to see on a dress. Of course, the first thing to spring to my mind was a Monet Lily print!

The Water Lily Pond

I know that Juliette et Justine sort of has the monopoly on painting dresses, right now, but if I could pick another brand to make a Monet dress, I'd be interested to see a Victorian Maiden or even Moitie spin on my favorite artist.

Nymphéas reflets de saule, or The Willow's Waterlily Reflection
by Claude Monet

In fact, with inspiration from the above painting, I threw together a Monet-inspired coordinate on PolyVore using a Moitie JSK!

Monet is known for his floaty colors that can be surprisingly rich; everything is a haze of color, like you're looking through light, and you have to take a step back to see the bigger picture. Moitie's Rose Print JSK is perfect: the chiffon overlay hides the brightness of the orange flowers and has a very watery, Monet-like effect on the print.

Navy is the primary color in the painting, but you can't ever fail to notice the lesser accent colors: after all, nature does not make landscapes in one color, but many. That's why I brought back the light blue and the greens in the accessories.

What are some paintings that you'd like to see as Lolita dresses? Let me know in the comments below!

Lolita and Rococo Part 1: Rococo in Overview

Something that's been nagging at me lately has been a few posts that I've bumped into around the internet about how Lolita is absolutely not related to the French Rococo era, usually blaming Momoko Ryugasaki of Kamikaze Girls for the mix-up and following up by saying that Lolita has almost no resemblance to Rococo style, particularly early examples of the fashion.

Pardonnez?

I'm going to state that I respectfully, but absolutely, disagree with that argument.

I also want to say that this isn't a call-out post or anything-- it's just something that I enjoy talking about, and I'm glad I was able to get this out on my birthday! This is a topic that I've researched and given presentations on copiously over the years. Let's start from the top.

What Does Rococo Even Mean?

A Rococo-era mirror; note the shell-like ridges and look closely
at the "leafy" bits-- they're very reminiscent of waves!

Rococo was a lot of things, and not just fashion: it was an entire period of art and aesthetics. While the style is said to have its earliest roots in Southern Germany, Rococo is known as a hallmark of French aristocracy. The word itself is thought to derive from the French phrase rocaille, which is a term describing a type of decoration that makes use of seashells and pebbles. You can see the remnants of this in most Rococo decoration, particularly in the seashell and seafoam-like swirls on furniture and architecture.

Of course, every style or art movement can be described as a revolution against what came before; Specifically, Rococo was a push back against the more popular Baroque period, which was dark, austere, and very much funded by the Church (which is why most of the non-portraiture artwork from the time depicts Biblical figures and scenes).

Blind Man's Bluff by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Most people would use one word to describe Rococo: extravagance. This isn't surprising because the time was marked by the aristocracy's extreme excesses and debt, and followed by the first French Revolution and the beheading of Marie Antoinette (who was one of the poster-children of the period for her gambling and superfluous lifestyle). The same can also be said for the Baroque movement. However, one of the defining features which distinguishes Rococo from Baroque is its focus on color and natural, organic movement. As we can see in the painting style of the time, instead of crisp, clean lines and dramatic lighting, there is the trademark fluffy, painterly brushstrokes and soft pastels. Rococo is playful, romantic, and exists simply because it's aesthetically pleasing.

Style Icons of the Eighteenth Century

Absolutely everyone knows that "Rococo" is basically synonymous with the name "Marie Antoinette," the last Queen of France before the first Revolution. But there are two other people that you should really also know when it comes to this subject: the Marquise de Pompadour and Rose Bertin.

The Marquise

The Marquise was the mistress of King Louis XV and a great patron of fashion and the arts in France. Not only did she wear the clothes that the rest of society would scramble to emulated, she was deeply interested in literature (best friends with the legendary Enlightenment writer Voltaire), theater, architecture (La Petite Trianon is her handiwork), interior design, and even the production of porcelain. Of course, there was more to her life than this, but for my purposes I'm going to choose to skip over them.

Another person whom it would be foolish to overlook is Marie Antoinette's personal clothing designer, Madame Rose Bertin. Everything about her business was huge-- the coifs, the dresses, and, of course, the price tag. As synonymous of "excess" as Marie Antoinette was, Bertin understood that fashion was the chief vehicle of expression for ladies of the French court. This was why her wigs and poufs were stacked three feet high, and the panniers were massive. A court lady was no longer just decoration, but took up space and could make a statement that would be heard.

Some Bertin creations

Of course, I have to round this out by discussing the lady herself: Marie Antoinette. The less-than-nice nickname "Madame Defecit" should tell you everything you need to know about how much money she would pour into clothes, jewelry, parties, and the like. It's often theorized that the early years of her marriage, which weren't spectacular by any means, contributed heavily to her heavy spending. She needed an outlet, and found it in fashion.

Rose Bertin was one of her worst enablers, and together they popularized what is now thought of as Rococo fashion to the general populace. It's true that Marie Antoinette eventually moved away from her "obvious" extravagance in favor of something simpler and more rural, though it was a lifestyle choice that would still cost her plenty of money and what little remained of her reputation. None of that stopped her from being the woman who brought Rococo to its peak, and its end.

So What Does This Have to Do With Lolita Fashion?

A lot, really. It's easy to brush off the more overt Rococo styles to Hime Gyaru overlap, but it's important to note that the two styles developed around the same time, both achieving popularity among the Japanese street fashions in the early 2000s. Of course there was bound to be crossing of the streams, and that's not a bad thing!

Hime Gyaru takes far more inspiration from Rococo than Lolita does, and is probably responsible for most of the Rococo elements you'll find. But that's not to say that you can't see bits of my favorite French period in early examples of Lolita, too, especially the early 00s.

I'm going to more fully bring this back around to Lolita in the next installment, which might be sometime net week. For now, I hope you enjoyed this very brief discussion about the history of Rococo fashion! Thank you very much for sticking with me through the long post: here, have a bunch of pretty Rococo paintings!

Watteau's The Swing -- why this made it into a
Disney children's film, I will never understand,
and will always giggle at.

The Stolen Kiss by Fragonard -- I really like his work, if you
can't tell.

Another Fragonard: Confession of Love