Lolita 52 Challenge: The ways in which I fit (and don't fit) the cliché.

(I couldn't help myself, this topic can come off as pretty special snowflake-y haha!)

This week's Lolita 52 Challenge pulled up topic #42: the ways in which I fit the cliché. I have been involved in lolita fashion for such a long time now, I have trouble determining what is even considered cliché because it seems like everyone involved in the fashion has different opinions--and I very rarely tend to not speak too much about the fashion in depth with people who are coming in with a pretty clean slate--most everyone has already established an idea of what lolita is to them and are wearing it relatively often.

So I chose to define the cliché in this case by looking at what anime and some popular movies make lolita appear to be--which is some weird mishsmash of Kamikaze Girls/Shimotsuma Monogatari and Rachel Alucard from Blazblue with a dash of Stocking from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt.

1. I am obsessed with tea. This has been a real obsession of mine even before I really got into the fashion, and probably started with my family always brewing a good batch of traditional chai every morning. I have about thirty different teas at home, diet teas, ground teas, full-leaf teas, and a good number of tea pots! Not to mention, I really like tea parties too.
2. I enjoy sweets and tea sandwiches. I may not be as sweets-obsessed to the extent of Momoko or even Stocking, who only eat sweets, but I do like them a lot. *A*
3. I have a lot of toys. I may not necessarily carry them around all the time--as is the cliché with lolitas in popular culture, but I do have quite a collection of plushes and vinyl toys from my childhood still littering my room.
4. I love clichéd aesthetics. Twintails, crosses, medical themes, rectangular headdresses, parasols, I love them all! I think the only thing I don't like are the clichéd colours that are commonly seen in popularised lolita coordinates. Black x red (bleck), dark purples (lovely in floral prints, but not combined with other dark colours), or any kind of neon just makes me cringe. Fishnets are also out, I'm just not big on them.
5. I try to keep my surroundings cute. I'm always coming up with ways to make my room cuter, and even my dish set can be considered downright saccharine. I wear cute aprons when I cook and clean, and even my dusters are cute. (Thank you DAISO!)

This week I'm going to do something different and combine two topics from the Lolita 52 Challenge to make it more cohesive. That means I won't be posting a topic next week (sorry!! But I have something else planned instead!), but this is just going to make things meld a bit easier so you won't have to go hunting through my posts to see the opposite side of the coin. 

Topic #43 is the ways that I do not fit the clichés!

1. I am not gloomy. I feel like this cliché is kind of changing with people like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu taking the international spotlight, but I feel like most people think, "oh lolitas? They're gloomy introverts" (I think because of the connection with the gothic/emo subculture in the US). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I also heard that generally, Japanese lolitas are seen as being even more shy than the typical Japanese person (these are all stereotypes, but they feed into the cliché). I'm pretty outgoing, and can even be pushy with my personality.
2. I'm not necessarily depressed or into self-harm. This is something I noticed from taking Japanese class in college. I did a presentation on Japanese fashion in my 101 class years back, and my teacher actually pulled me aside to make sure I was okay afterwards, since it is a common stereotype there that girls that are interested in the fashion are chronically depressed or cutting themselves. I have struggled with depression previously, but never to the extent that seems to be the stereotype involving lolitas.
3. I'm really not that obsessed with cats. I know, I've had a completely cat-themed coordinate before, but I could name 100 different animals I like more than cats. My mother owns four, and I love them dearly, but I much prefer my dog (which also isn't a toy dog--another cliché that lolitas love their tiny poodles), and I really don't care for them mixing too much with my lolita. I probably won't spend money on a cat print, collect cat toys, or wear cat ears with a coordinate (anything bunny or alpaca themed would receive totally different treatment from me though).
4. I don't like Alice in Wonderland/Shimotsuma Monogatari. I think these are two big novels/movies that tend to share a common ground in lolita fashion. I found Alice in Wonderland really creepy, and I just hated Momoko's character in Shimotsuma Monogatari so much that I just didn't really enjoy the movie. I really liked a few aspects of each thing though--I love Ichiko, random quotes from the Shimotsuma Monogatari novel, the singing flowers, and the Cheshire Cat, but overall I'm not a huge fan of either thing and don't plan on changing that anytime soon.
5. I'm a Pretty Vulgar Princess™. If I even consider myself a princess at all. I curse, make lewd jokes, buy hentai, complain loudly, eat with my hands (well obviously I'm Indian so I eat with my hands sometimes, no matter the occasion), and even wear panties on my head. Sure, in situations with strangers I am polite and smiling, but when I know I can let go, I do, although never to the point of being outright rude. I'm not interested in even living my life as a princess in terms of personality. Sure I like and purchase cute and decadent things and do value respect and being polite, but when I'm with friends it all kind of goes out the door. I mean, just look at these photos.

I really need more pins that have vulgarities on them.

I hope you all enjoyed this double feature of the Lolita 52 Challenge, do let me know if you ever end up writing on this topic yourself! I try to follow all the blogs that do post the challenge so I can read everyone's responses, so leave your blog in the comments if you started doing this challenge. =D Hope you all are having a great week! There's going to be a snow storm where I am, so I'm really excited to go running around in the 10+ inches I have been promised! I also have a big surprise coming up once everything has been finalised, and I am so excited to announce it!!