Being Fancy Everyday

Here's an outfit I wore out of the house a couple months ago - one of my more "put together" ones, for lunch in town with friends, but not considerably more elaborate than many I wear. 

I am a pile of frills and lace, I admit it!

I'm wearing a pouf of a skirt, all layers of in-built and extra petticoats with flock and gauzy layers, a fancy shirt with oodles of ruffles at my neck, a waistcoat clasped with chains and ornate buttons (my own modification), lace gloves, fabric flowers in my hair, silver Gothic jewellery, iridescent sunglasses, and Gothic eye-makeup. Not visible are the plum tights I was wearing to match my hair flowers, and the long black "granny boots" too. Quite fancy, quite ornate by modern standards, but other than the "shiny" and fancy fabrics, not much fancier than many Gothic Lolitas and Elegant Gothic Aristocrat fashion followers wear regularly. I'm rooted in European expressions of the Gothic, but I am a big fan of darker Japanese fashions, so it should be no surprise that my outfits are heavily inspired by followers of those styles too. 

In Lolita fashion, there are plenty of 'Lifestyle Lolitas' - those who wear the fashion everyday, and tie the aesthetic into other aspects of their life, the same as there are plenty of members of the Goth subculture for whom the aesthetic and the mindset colour their entire lives, but with Goth, I see more who wear the more casual embodiments of Goth as everyday wear, and reserve the fancy for special occasions, whereas with Lolita it is more a sliding scale of "relatively fancy" for everyday, to "really, really fancy!" for special occasions. There are, of course, Lolitas who only wear Lolita to conventions and meets, those who wear it sometimes and wear other fashions other times, etc. 

Goth being less fancy does make sense - the original Goth fashions grew out of punk, and were full of stuff like ripped tights, skinny jeans, pointy boots etc. and not of the fancy Romantic fashions that grew out of it later, and there is nothing "un-Goth" about wearing, say New Rocks, skinny jeans, a Sisters of Mercy t-shirt, spiked collar and trench-coat instead of say, a bustle skirt, pointy boots, fancy black tights, corset and ruffle shirt with lace gloves. However, is wearing Romantic Goth fanciness too much for anything other than events? 

To be honest, I think it depends a lot on what you are wearing, especially fabrics - if what you are wearing is made of the very luxurious fabrics and styles that are mostly reserved for 'evening' and 'occasion' wear in any century or locale, then you're probably too fancy for just shopping in the supermarket (after all, such things are expensive and delicate, and everyday life will probably damage them), which doesn't mean you can't wear them shopping if you really want to, only that it's probably not practical or sensible and would be a lot like wearing a ball gown to the supermarket, just a black one from several hundred years ago. 

Totally hipster pose... argh!

Hang on! In these pictures I've got synthetic satins for my blouse and skirt, and there's flock on the skirt! Yes, and this outfit is probably good party wear for a more casual party (and I'll be wearing it to one tonight!) or, when it was originally worn, for a Saturday lunch with friends. I made the outfit more day wear than fancy party with a matte fabric modified business waistcoat, matte purple tights, and 'day' Goth makeup rather than fancier evening makeup. If I wore the exact same cut garments, but made entirely of cottons and other matte fabric, then it would look a lot more like anachronistic day wear. I could have easily made it into more 'special' party wear by swapping the waistcoat for a fancy brocade bolero jacket or an ornate shrug, and the tights for patterned lace tights rather than block colour tights, and the granny boots for fancier shoes. 

This is where I think Lolita's and Aristocrat's influence comes in for fancy everyday wear - a lot of the cuts are full of ruffles, full skirts, and rather fancy designs, but they're usually made of lined heavy cottons, and occasionally velvets, rather than satins, brocades, silks and flocks. The've often got prints on them too, which always seems more casual than woven-in designs, and therefore offer a good balance between having a pattern and not being too fancy for day wear. They have plenty of details such as bows and lace, but bows are often of the same fabric as the dress, and lace the same colour, or a complimenting one. Altogether, and despite being a lot more colourful than a lot of Goth fashion, Lolita and Aristocrat manage to be both fancy and able to be worn everyday.  These aspects can easily be incorporated into outfits that are Goth rather than Lolita, and allow those who want to be fancy out and about, to be fancy without looking like you're going to a party or a masquerade ball. 

My tips: 

♣ Wear cottons, wool, lace and matte fabrics for day wear, and brocades, jacquards, flock, devoré and velvets as occasion wear. 

♣ Prints can add fanciness without stepping up the 'occasion' level, and come in everything from kitsch and rockabilly designs of neon zombies to ornate wrought iron gates. 

♣ Accessory choice can make an outfit more or less special-looking.

♣ One or two 'statement' pieces can be made of fancier fabric and be more detailed without necessarily making the entire outfit more of one for a special occasion.

♣ Sometimes less is better - don't heap on the accessories - one bracelet or cuff can be enough, one necklace, one hair accessory/hat, etc. Wearing too much can look cluttered. 

A Foray Into Lolita With Friends

I'm no Lolita, but I must admit I have a fondness for the subculture. 

Two of my friends, however are. Today I went to meet my friend K. in Inverness city, and her friend M. I hadn't actually met M. before today, but she's a Sweet Lolita and a sweet person.

I very nearly didn't make it out today because of a wardrobe crisis. I bought a beautiful skirt off the internet, marked size M (12), but although it is marked 12, it was actually a lot smaller than that, probably closer to an 8. It was what I ordered, so I have no complaint with the company, and I know that sizes vary, and I guess that the sizes of the brand Banned run small. Another customer had left a review to this end, so I should have taken heed. I felt that I had no issue with the seller, so instead of sending it back, I decided to insert some panels near the back to widen it out a bit, which worked out nicely in the end, but was nearly a disaster as my lovely little Mini Stitch travel sewing machine (the one I have up here in Scotland as my fancy one with half a galaxy's worth of stitch types and a vast array of feet and suchlike is in storage in England) broke after I'd sewn the first seam. Oops. After much frantic hand-stitching (not as neat as I would have liked, but I will re-sew it later) and help from my beloved Raven, I was ready to wear it out - an hour late. Oops.

I bought K. and M. delicious local ice-creams by way of an apology, and we went exploring. We went to Heroes for Sale, the local comic book and geekery shop, and then headed off towards the cathedral... by way of everywhere inbetween! The lovely shop assistant at Caledonian Gifts mended K's choker for her - she really is a lovely lady and a good friend of mine (with a spooky streak of her own). I bumped into so many people I knew in town, so kept pausing for chats.

K. My Gothic Lolita friend, photo on phone-cam, at Eden Court.

We also kept pausing for photographs. I don't mind it, and neither did the other two, if people asked nicely and politely to photograph us - we are certainly an unusual sight in Inverness, even if I do often wander around the city in full Romantic Goth gear - but people who just assume that we are happy to be photographed and interrupt and accost us and try and get us to pose without asking politely and without even so much as a please seem very rude indeed. The tourist who just asked us to look in his direction while we were having a rather involved conversation in the Cathedral (I was discussing various bits of Christian iconography on the pulpit) really annoyed me. If he had approached us with "Excuse me, but would you mind being photographed" or even an approximation of that if his English wasn't so good, would have sufficed.

M. the Sweet Lolita I met for the first time today!
Another phone-cam picture at Eden Court

Before we got as far as the Cathedral, we met up with S., a friend of K.'s who was a bit wired after ingesting particularly strong coffee, and headed down past the statues of Faith, Hope and Charity (placed in the wrong order on their podium; they have Charity, Faith and Hope in that order, over the wrong words...) and across the beautiful old Victorian footbridge to by Eden Court, where we stopped for a toilet break and a nice sit down indoors. I had fun playing on the oversized xylophone in the grounds, and a family from abroad asked us nicely if their children could pose for photographs with us - nice to see being Goth and Gothic Lolita being perceived as a family-friendly! 

The Cathedral in Inverness is St. Andrew's Cathedral, and is next to Eden Court as that used to be the Bishop's Palace. The Cathedral building is a nice example of Victorian-era Gothic Revival, but it was meant to have two tall spires, and instead has two towers as the tall pointed roofs were never built. I'm not sure why, whether it is the ground it was built on being unsuitable for such a weight or whether they ran out of funds, or whether it was an aesthetic choice or some other reason. There are quite a few church spires and suchlike along the riverside, and another two would have been quite wonderful. The Cathedral has charming stained glass windows and a beautifully carved rood screen and choir. The altar is most amazing. M. had to go after we visited the Cathedral.

An aside: I was once a Catholic, and quite faithful in my own eccentric way (I always found it quite hard to be a good Catholic - it turned out I was meant for a different path) and I sang in church choirs for a long time. As such, despite not currently having any personal belief in the faith presented, I always feel I should at least be respectful in chapels, churches, cathedrals and other ecclesiastical buildings, regardless of denomination - one of the reasons I tend not to use flash photography indoors when I visit - and I do think that others, whatever the religious persuasion, should acknowledge that these are houses of worship with active congregations as well as places for a bit of architectural tourism, and refrain from talking too loudly (let alone shouting!), swearing, using flash photography and generally doing anything profane and disturbing within the building. I think graveyards should be treated with respect too. I was quite sad to hear people swearing, taking God's name in vain (it might not mean anything to you to say "goddamn!" but be mindful of others around you; it's breaking the Second Commandment and the "hallowed be thy name" in the Lord's Prayer), walking up near the altar, etc. I'm not a Catholic, nor a Christian, and my personal beliefs don't include any of that kind of theology (I'm a pantheist, not a monotheist, for a start), but that doesn't mean I can't respect something. You might think someone is wrong, even believing in fairytales, but you can at least be respectful out of politeness. 

 We then went to sit down by the river, where we saw a little fish amongst the weeds, and had a nice chat down by the river and tried very hard not to fall off the concrete steps and into the water despite not particularly practical footwear! I noticed a chap over in the Castle grounds (yes, quite far away...) photographing us with a long lens, so we waved - his body language seemed to indicate he was disappointed in being spotted! We then headed into town and went to the Mall - Claire's Accessories had a surprisingly nice things (I don't usually head in there, but some annoying people who had some sort of petty argument with S. were following him around the mall and annoying him, so I suggested we hide out in the girliest store imaginable; they somehow took entering it as an affront to their masculinity, spent all of 10 seconds there and left - my plan worked!) and I bought myself dinner (macaroni cheese).

K. realised she had missed an appointment with a friend, and went off for her bus, and I stayed in town, talking to another S., the barmaid at Karma Lounge, before being picked up by Raven, who had been shopping for suitable clothes for Capoeira - he's decided he wants to come to classes with me, which is fun. Now we do archery AND martial arts together!

Me, looking Lolita-ish!
The puff to the side is how the skirt is supposed to be,
 the flatness on the right is what the weight of my bag did!
Phone-cam photo by K. on my phone, at Eden Court.

As you can see my outfit is decidedly Lolita inspired, but not actually Lolita. The 'granny boots' are definitely more Romantic Goth, the skirt far too high above the knee to qualify as Lolita (although I am sure it would be suitable on someone much shorter than me; I am between 5'9 and 5'10!) and the shiny fabrics more associated with Romantic Goth and Aristocrat fashion than Lolita, and the makeup definitely more Romantic Goth. I am not a Lolita, but I wanted to put together an outfit that was both "me" in terms of what I like to wear, and of a suitable sort of silhouette to go well with the outfits of the two friends I was with.