Good morning, world! I’m participating in this month’s blogging theme of change and gratitude, I really liked the prompt questions so I decided to answer each one!
What are you thankful for in J-fashion and your community?
I am grateful for all of the friends I have made and how they helped me find a sense of identity young in my life. I felt a lot of pressure to be a certain kind of person and I never knew how to navigate the pressures to be hypermasculine or treat myself as an object made for consumption, in Lolita Fashion I found a way to express my femininity in a way that gave me freedom
Have you made any friendships due to this fashion?
I most certainly have!! I joined my comm my freshman year of college and am still friends with all of them today! My comm is some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met and it radiates positivity when I’m with them. I also have been introduced to other hobbies than just lolita with them! Another girl in my comm got me into mermaiding.
Has your life been impacted for the better because of your experiences in J-fashion?
It 110% has been! My life holds so much more positivity and love due to this fashion. This fashion has helped me be able to accept myself as I am, not as what others see me as and it has been a constant journey growing and changing with the world as I have also grown and changed as a person over time my style has come to reflect that. I don’t think I would have as strong of a sense of identity or community if I had never joined the J-fashion community.
How are some ways you’ve changed from when you first started J-fashion?
Considering that I started when I was 16 and am now 23 I have changed quite a lot! When I first started I wanted to perfectly mimic the other girls I saw online and I think that helped me get a sense of the fashion but now I want to make my own look and style within the fashion. I also have grown and matured a lot! I am now a “real adult” I have a 9 to 5 and I pay bills and I rent out a small apartment. I also recently came out as bigender. I think my 16-year-old self just starting out would be really proud of me.
Will you be switching out your wardrobe for colder (or warmer) weather?
Yes, and no. I will just be adding warmer pieces to my coords but I won’t be putting anything away right now. Recently I put into storage all of the pieces that didn’t fit perfectly into storage so I would stop squeezing myself into them so at the moment I don’t have a ton to work with. I imagine I’ll be using my long sleeve blouses and fleece-lined leggings more.
Do you have any holiday plans to see friends/your community?
Yes!! Winter International Lolita Day is coming up and we are having a tea party at a local inn here soon! It will be wonderful, we went for afternoon tea there this summer and it was amazing. I cannot wait to see everyone! We are also doing an ornament exchange that I am super excited about that. My comm decided to do two different gift exchanges this year. We have a secret Santa and then a lower-pressure ornament exchange.
How has this year been different than last year? Are there changes that you are looking forward to going forward?
I think the biggest change this year was coming to terms with my gender identity literally this month. It has been on my mind for about a year now but I kept pushing it to the side because for the most part, I am happy with the body I was born in. So I figured there was no way that I could be trans. However, as I explored more and more I discovered that being called a boy made me really happy. However, I didn’t want to give up being a girl. Then I discovered that being genderfluid or bigender is a thing. That feels really right to me. In the next couple of weeks, I will be taking my first steps to visually and noticeably transitioning. I’m nervous but also excited.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this blog post! I have been really enjoying participating in the Biblioteca blogging community and I highly recommend all of the bloggers in this community! I’ll put a link to last month’s issue below
Luna By The Lake With Cake 