gothic lolita – Luna By The Lake With Cake

Read an Essay by Novala Takemoto | 365 Lifestyle Lolita Challenge

I finally joined egl on livejournal so I could read an essay I was dying to read! I really Princess Love Being Mean, I thought it would be an interesting place to go because with my own journey with being a lifestyle Lolita I haven’t really factored being “mean” or “rebellious” into it, I often have the aspirational image of trying to be like a heroic magical girl or a virtuous disney princess. However in this brief essay that doesn’t seem to be what Takemoto-san is talking about, it seems to be more about making sure to put yourself first in situations in a lot of it. That I can agree can be off putting to others but is important to do. What threw me off of that a little though was when he said he was a big fan of models or actresses when he found out they were a nightmare to work with. I think that explains a little about Momoko as a protagonist.

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My Gothic Reading List

I will include a mix of books that I have read and also still want to read, some of these are actually gothic literature and some are just things that remind me of the aesthetic

1.) Dracula

I have actually read this book and there is a lot of surprising details inside of it, at one point a man eats a spider. It is a bit more confusing than I expected but all around highly entertaining and I reccommend

2.) Coraline

It’s a children’s novel but it is genuinely very spooky, it’s a short read and a delight. Also the movie is very cute as well.

3.) Frankenstein

An amazing book that is largely misrepresented in media. I really loved reading it and now understand how it was so frightening to Shelley’s colleague’s at the time. The main theme I gathered from it is if you create life don’t be a deadbeat dad.

4.) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I can’t believe that I still haven’t read this book, it’s been on my list for awhile and I want to promise myself to read it this month.

5.) The Haunting of Hill House

I’ve only recently become aquainted with this novel’s existence but the premise of a haunting is a classic and it is on my want to read list

6.) We Have Always Lived in the Castle

This is another on my want to read list as I love psychological thrillers in movie form but haven’t experienced any in book form

7.) Edgar Allen Poe’s Poems

I love all sorts of his poetry and I believe his work to be fairly standard of gothic literature

8.) The Yellow Wallpaper

This is an amazingly disturbing short story that I adore and illustrates a lot of the horror of being a woman in that time period

9.) The Phantom of the Opera

At this point the musical is much more famous but the original novel is very compelling and much more disturbing

10.) The Picture of Dorian Gray

This book is a delight and I didn’t know it was considered gothic literature until very recently, I read it for AP English in high school and it still sticks out in my mind

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What is a Lolita?

There’s an exceedingly simply answer to this question. It’s an individual who wears lolita fashion, but to those of us who hold our frills deep inside our hearts and consider ourselves to be lifestyle lolitas this question may be a lot more complex and hold different answers for each of us. I know it does for me. Ever since I was little I dreamed of being a lost princess and of fairytales. I romanticized everything and in the poetry I wrote people were transformed into royalty, flowers and gemstones. Everything was fantasy and fantastical to me long before I ever discovered what Lolita Fashion was. Sadly, no people from a tiny forgotten country came to inform me that I was in fact a princess. So when I saw Lolita Fashion in it’s most derivative form searching for a prom dress my junior year of high school. Something clicked. I ended down a rabbit hole of blogs and youtube channels with Parfaitdoll and FYeahLolita showing me the way. These resources aren’t nearly as active now as they were then but I still hold both of these blogs close to my heart. I watched Deerstalker Pictures and Pixielocks when she was still a Lolita herself. I still love watching PrincessPeachie even though she has largely traded her frills for the more comfortable fairy kei. This was a world that I immersed myself in and learned so much about and fell in love with.

The clothes themselves were beautiful and sparked joy in my heart but what was even more important to me then what the clothes looked like was what they meant. It was a way to assert my independence in a way that felt comfortable. I felt like myself when I wore them. It said to the world that I am feminine and I am strong and I control the image I have for myself. The frills spoke of the strength of the heroines in my fairytales and that that strength is inside of me as well. It showed me that I have the ability to achieve my goals in a way that makes sense for my life and in a way that isn’t defined by the others who are around me. At 22 years old, I still want to be a Princess as defined by virtue not birthright. I want to be kind, organized, responsible, and beautiful. There are so many beautiful bright princesses in the Lolita community that I adore and look up to. There are girls in my own comm that I admire with all my heart and the sense of community I have been blessed with in this fashion is incredible. I have so many wonderful women that I can turn to in a time of crisis or visit their animal crossing islands. It’s a group of individuals outside of my day to day interactions and that kind of connection has been truly precious to me.

There is also a magical and mundane aspect to me as well. Due to being in this community I have learned so many life skills I wouldn’t have learned without it. I learned more about sewing, cooking and baking. Things that should be basic life skills but don’t seem to come up very often. I learned more about music, poetry, other languages, how to budget, and how to write about my own experiences all because of this wonderful aesthetic that I am so delighted that I get to live in.

I think as time goes on what a Lolita is to me changes but at its core it remains similar. To be a Lolita is to be a modern day princess with all of the strength and courage that that implies. It’s to be able to stand on your own two feet and do what you love. Its being kind to others and taking care of your life while not sacrificing what makes you happy. It’s something that I truly love that in this lifetime I get to be.

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25 Gothic Lolita Gift Ideas

This was inspired by Princess Peachie’s video on Sweet Lolita Gift Ideas, I may not have gotten to the impressive number she did, but I wanted to acknowledge the inspiration

1.) Black lace trim

2.) Porcelain Doll

3.) Owl Pellet Kit

4.) Gothic Color/Themed Tea Set

5.) Grimm Fairy Tales

6.) Gothic Literature

7.) Girly Black Accessories

8.) Herbs to grow

9.) Crystals

10.) (Ask first!) Bones/Taxidermy

11.) Black Food Coloring/Fun gothic baking molds

12.) Creepy Cute Stickers

13.) Jewelry with mortuary themes, bats, alchemical, or medical themes, your lolita can have her own preferences so pay attention

14.) Beautiful Mortuary Photography Books (Ask first)

15.) Books by Caitlin Doughty (Ask)

16.) Elegant Dark Stationary

17.) Cemetery Photography

18.) Evanescence Album

19.) Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride

20.) Black lace tights, black or burgundy or gray tights

21.) Drawing Materials

22.) Black Bath Bomb

23.) Dark Makeup Brushes,

24.) Black nail polish

25.) Black Lipstick, a good one