Japanese Gothic Lolitas are walking historical contradictions, especially when they’re modelling Victorian bonnets against the backdrop of modern Tokyo. Or are they? The following is the true story of Mitsuko Aoyoma, a mid-19th century Japanese teen who fell in love with an Austro-Hungarian Count. May it inspire you! (Source: Sothebys)

In the days of Queen Victoria, there lived a dashing young Count named Heinrich Coudenhove-Kalergi. He belonged to an ancient Habsburg noble line that had several castles and estates in Austria. A diplomat and brilliant linguist, Count Coudenhove-Kalergi spoke 18 languages and was posted to Athens, Rio de Janeiro, Constantinople, and Buenos Aires.

In 1891, the Count was named Deputy Minister of Austria-Hungary to Japan. He often visited a curios shop owned by a samurai family. One fateful day, his horse slipped on ice and he fell. Mitsuko Aoyama, the owner’s teenage daughter, ran to his aid and made a lasting impression on the 32-year-old bachelor. The Count convinced Mitsuko’s father to let her work as a parlor maid at his legation.

Faster than you can say ‘kawaii’, the two fell in love and the Count asked Mitsuko’s father for her hand in marriage. He flatly refused, but the couple defied him and married anyway in 1892. As a result, 18-year-old Mitsuko was disinherited and forever banned from her father’s house.

She gave birth to two of their sons in Tokyo. In 1897, the family decided to move to Vienna. Prior to their departure, Mitsuko was received by the Empress of Japan, who advised her: ‘No matter what your destiny may be, you must never forget the self-respect befitting a Yamato-nadeshiko (a Japanese woman).’

She took these words to heart – the fact that the charming and witty Count returned to Vienna with a wife, much less a Japanese one, was greeted with dismay by the young ladies of the court. Ignoring the xenophobia, Mitsuko threw herself into the study of German, French, mathematics, history, and geography. She gave birth to five more children.

When her husband died in 1906, the 33-year-old mother taught herself law and economics to manage the family estate with which she was entrusted. To provide her children with the best opportunities, she stayed in Vienna until her death in 1941. All of her children were well-educated and spoke multiple languages; her second son, Richard Nikolaus, became the founder of the ‘Pan-Europa’ movement after WWI.