Category Archive for People + Pets
GOTHIC LOLITA KITTY CATS.
Introducing our baby: Basil the Scottish Fold! Ronan Farrow raised him from kittenhood – and after I rubbed his round head and foldy ears, I couldn’t leave without him (Bazzie, that is). This delicate soul now lives in my loft and Ronan has visitation rights. He fits in with my Goth Loli aesthetic, wouldn’t you say?
In fact, Gothic Lolita fashion is pussy galore. HellCatPunks’ logo is a menacing feline skull with an ear stud and choker. Cat ear headbands, hoodies, and hats are popular (a Lolita Kisama version is pictured). Kitties are often found in prints and graphics, such as on this Putumayo top.
One of the most cat-happy Lolita designers is h.NAOTO. Every season, he releases a full line of juniors clothing, toys, and accessories featuring the undead kitties Hangry and Angry. Naoto also styled Hello Kitty for a collection of cell phone charms (as seen above), which you can purchase from Strapya World.
Felines are a recurring motif because of their Gothic associations. Anyone who’s watched Sabrina the Teenage Witch knows that scowling, hair-raised black cats are linked to witchcraft. In the Dark Ages, cats were feared as imps given from Satan to his followers. Witches supposedly took the form of their “familiars” to travel unnoticed. Many people still shudder when a black cat crosses their path, believing it to be bad luck.
But we musn’t forget that pussies have a Loli side. They are adorable, loving, gentle… everything that a Sweet Lolita strives to be. Sanrio’s Hello Kitty, Chammy Kitty, and Chococat prove that in Japan, the pointy-eared animal is the definition of totemo kawaii (uber-cute).
Fuzzy Basil is both Gothic and Lolita. Trust me, your heart melts when he raises a fat paw and mews and curls up beside your pillow. But he’s also a creature of the night, with a flat owl-face and glow-in-the-dark eyes. No wonder we had to steal him. Totemo kawaii ne???
More Basil photos on Flickr!
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KODONA FASHION INSPIRATION: ARTHUR RIMBAUD.
The next time you’re itching to dress Kodona – comme un garçon victorien – call upon the ghost of French poet Arthur Rimbaud. Ah, quelle histoire! As a boy, Rimbaud often wandered to neighboring countries and had to be brought home by the police. The poetry bug bit at age 16. Soon after, Rimbaud may have joined the Paris Commune and was possibly gang-raped by soldiers. The poet became a street-dwelling anarchist, complete with long hair, shabby clothes, and body lice – not unlike kids today, eh? He moved into the home of Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine, who promptly fell for the sullen blue-eyed teen and abandoned his pregnant wife for him. The pair ran to London and took up la vie bohème, spiking it with absinthe, opium, and hashish. They traveled; they fought; in Brussels, a drunk and raving Verlaine shot at his lover and hit him in the wrist. Quand il a realisé que Verlaine avait perdu la tête, the boy had him arrested. Verlaine was subjected to a humiliating interrogation of his lifestyle and sentenced to prison for two years.
Rimbaud returned to France, and at age 18, completed Une Saison en Enfer (A Season in Hell). The work, which switches between poetry and prose, is “widely regarded as one of the pioneering instances of modern Symbolist writing and a description of that drôle de ménage (domestic farce) life with Verlaine.”
Througout his twenties, Rimbaud worked random jobs and extended his travels to uncharted terrains. He enlisted in the Dutch army for a free ride to Java (as soon as he reached the shore, he deserted). As an importer-exporter (possibly dealing with slaves), he led caravans through Cyprus, Yemen, Egypt, Ethiopia. A knee carcinoma forced his return to France. His leg was amputated. At age 37, he was dead.
Un soir, j’ai assis la Beauté sur mes genoux. Et je l’ai trouvée amère. Et je l’ai injuriée.
One evening, I sat Beauty in my lap. And I found her bitter. And I cursed her.
+ Arthur Rimbaud, Une Saison en Enfer (A Season in Hell), 1873.
LA CARMINA
