Don't try to crush the Lily in my soul

urban outfitters leotard, alberta ferretti top, and plastic skirt from sketchy ebay fetish store

DIYed barrettes and collar from ebay

vintage 50's crown, spider brooch from ebay, and alberta ferretti top

alberta ferretti top, warrior goddess necklace from etsy, and vintage top from etsy

choker from etsy and ashish top from ebay

New, old, goth, and capital 'R' Romanticism is central to our lives and constitutes a pretty large part of our interests.  We spend way too much money on Etsy buying Victorian Valentines, way too much time listening to The Cure, and reading the Bronte's. Keats puts women on flowery splendiferous pedestals, Kate Bush sings about people crushing lilies in her soul, and we can't get enough! We so related to Emma Bovary in her almost pathological inability to deal with reality-- which is basically what we do with fashion everyday.

A lot of the stuff we like unfortunately is often really problematic in terms of feminism and issues and things. Romance is not inherently sinister, but our obsessive preoccupation with frail, wispy images of women is perhaps. A lot of fashion images show passive women laying on beds, or contemplating their own melancholy in a mirror. How many barely veiled rip-offs of Millais' Ophelia are we going to see, people?! (It's really pretty painting though...and I like most of the editorials. See! It's hard.)

Trying to negotiate things we find beautiful but also acknowledge what's wrong with them is our constant struggle with fashion as a whole.