Kaylyn's Brand Mitzvah

In early 2010 I was surprised to hear that my best friend, Kaylyn, was interested in becoming a lolita. Having someone I was already so close to wanting to share a huge aspect of my life was an elating feeling, I even wrote an article about it here. I have had a wonderful time guiding Kaylyn along the path to lolita-dom, it's been wonderful watching her grow and improve.  Now, almost 2 years since she started her journey, Kaylyn no longer needs me to hold her hand. She has had her Brand Mitzvah. 

You may be wondering what a Brand Mitzvah is so I'll explain. In the Jewish religion a Bat Mitzvah is the ceremony that recognizes a girl as an adult (there is more too it but that is my quick definition), so in the lolita realm a Brand Mitzvah is when a fledgling lolita reaches maturity and is recognized as a pro! 

The card I made for Kaylyn (on the left)...it pales in comparison to the other she received but alas I am no artist.

Kaylyn and I had decided to search Mbok for her dream dress, a Jelly Jewelry jumper skirt in black. It seemed that fate had decided it was time for this purchase as we found the dress easily and at a very good price. She bid on it, won, and before we knew it the package had arrived. She came over to my dorm with her package, blouse and wig in tow and with no help from me put together her first brand coordinate.

This may sound dramatic but as she was getting dressed I felt all sorts of emotions, I was nervous in case the jumper skirt didn't fit or if she didn't like the way it looked when she had it on, but also I was excited to see her wearing it. When I saw her for the first time wearing her full coordinate I was overwhelmed with happiness and pride, she looked truly beautiful! I felt like a mother on prom night as I insisted upon taking so many photos of her in her gorgeous dress!

To celebrate her advancement to "true lolita" I got dressed up too and we went out to take pictures at our local Purikura machine. We were so excited that we ended up taking 2 sets, the people in the store must have thought we were really vain to be taking all these pictures of ourselves.

We ended up having a wonderful day together and by the end of it I was thoroughly exhausted for all the laughing. If I let myself I'd go on forever writing this entry so I'll conclude it by simply saying that I am overjoyed to have Kaylyn as my friend and that I look forward to our future frilly adventures together! I hope that all of you get to celebrate a Brand Mitzvah at some point as they are so much fun!

Lolita Brand Addict Meme

I made this just for fun, don't take it too seriously!

(Click For Larger Size)

Frills Center Stage: Eme 15

Recently whilst doing a lolita search on YouTube I stumbled across a performance at the Nickelodeon Mexico Teen Choice Awards. I was a little confused as to how the video was relevant to my search but curiosity got the better of me and I clicked away. I was surprised to see that the three girls up on the stage, in a legitimate televised concert, were decked out in Angelic Pretty!

The more I watched the video the more excited I became, sure they weren't wearing blouses and their skirts were a little short on them but who cares, they were wearing lolita! And to put the icing on the cake the song was pretty catchy too!

Once the video was over I scrolled down to read the comments expecting a whole bunch of enthusiastic lolitas to be singing the praises of this group. I was shocked at what I found.

The comments for the video were full of lolitas spewing hate towards the group for the way they were wearing brand. Commenters referred to the singers as "whores" and "fatties". Usually I would just let this go but the sheer amount of negative comments really horrified me. If lolita fashion has taught me anything it's that people can be beautiful even if they wear something a little different from the main stream, so how are these girls any different? They are just wearing something that makes them feel cute (well, perhaps something their stylists think is cute) so does it really matter that they wear it differently than the way we wear it? Is experimenting with lolita clothing only acceptable in the Eastern world?

Personally I am happy that lolita is becoming more exposed to the general public, if lolita grows in popularity that means it will become more readily available which is a step in the right direction for Western lolitas.

What do you think? Would you watch Eme 15 because they wore lolita or would you not enjoy them because they don't follow "the rules"? I personally will be keeping an eye on them, sure their style is pretty teeny bopper but they are just too cute!

Happy Valentines Day 2012

Happy Valentines Day Ruffle-Butts

I hope that your day is as beautiful as you are!

♥

Raegan