Pretty of the Week: Art Nouveau Lolita

Art Nouveau is such a lovely, intricate style that it seems it really should have seen a handful of mixes with lolita fashion before now. Surface Spell came out with this darling dress a while back with art nouveau prints along the skirt, and personally, I think it's perfect.

The prints remind me slightly of Juliette et Justine's classic art prints, though they are confined only to portions of the skirt rather than covering the entirety of the fabric. Even so, they have such elegance to them. The frames, the flowers, the drape of fabric.

I managed to order one of these lovely pieces in the green colorway a few days ago. While it will take a bit of effort to find or make the right accessories to put a coordinate together, I've very excited to be getting this dress.

Soon.

TV Shows for Lolitas: Once Upon A Time

Let's talk about Disney does live action in a modern town for a moment.

I'll start off by saying that I have some very mixed feelings about this show. I was very excited when I first saw the promotions. Years ago I fell in love with a mini series called 10th Kingdom - an earlier modern world meets fairy tale show with great writing and special effects that were less so. The Once Upon A Time promos promised a brand new, shiny and special effect-y soul twin to this older show. Oh, I recognized the plot would be different, but the spirit would be the same.

That promise was broken in the pilot by the very Disney versions of the tales. Don't get me wrong, I love Disney in quite ridiculous amounts. However, when you're expecting something based on the original tales it's similar to strawberry sauce when you expected marinara. It's not that it's bad, but you were set for something altogether different. I realize now I had very little call for this expectation and had I done any research about the channel airing the show I would never have them in the first place. But that is not what happened, and I left off after the pilot.

Now, sometime last month I began to see fan art from some of the artists I keep up with. It happened to be interesting enough for a second chance to be given. I still disliked the pilot, though a good deal less once I knew what to expect. Something in the way it was done made the characters seem flat, which I felt lasted for a couple episodes. However, the fan art had given me a clue - Skin Deep. So I would watch at least so far as to see this episode. Gradually the show built and I began to enjoy parts of it.

I've never found the addition of cheating into a romance to add anything positive to any story, even less so when it seems to be done to add edginess. However, that was the only aspect of the story I disliked. What I very much enjoyed were the creative takes on the different back stories - Cricket, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella - and the little cameos like Pongo.

But lets really be honest here. I'm considering that I like the show for only one reason.

Sorry, but it's my favorite Disney movie and it's Chip.

I actually would recommend the show even to those not prone to watching something just for the adorable shipping, especially those that enjoy the happier tales and stories the reshape and play with those tales. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then this is something you may want to give a try.

Pretty of the week: Steam Loli Goodness

This is muppet flail worthy.

It's not a big secret that I adore Infanta. Their designs make up for just over a quarter of my wardrobe. Lately they've released several adorable pieces from their standard florals to a precious red riding hood print that matches a hoodie they sold during the winter. This one stood out over the others, though.

Infanta has released other steam-worthy designs in the past, but they've not blown me away the way this dress has. The design is fairly simple, especially once the cape is removed. For me it's the dark gold detailing and cross embroidery that makes it special. Add the cape to that and it conjures up images of exciting vampire hunts in steampunk worlds. Or perhaps I read too much.

You can never read to much.

Pretty of the Week: Fragrant Rose Memories

I try and look to the smaller brands when finding items to highlight each week, but every so often I can't help but needlessly point out...

...that this is insane levels of pretty. I love, well, everything. The skirt that's higher in the front, the exposed frills, the side lacing, the little gathers around the top. It's all so very detailed in so many little ways. It might be that I have a new dream dress.

If only I had a new, fuller wallet to go with it.