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Meta
Author Archives: Lady of the Manners
Fight Like A Girl – The Review!
Now, you didn’t think the Lady of the Manners would talk about flouncing happily around while listening to the Fight Like A Girl album without telling you all about it, did you, Snarkings? Perish the thought.
First things first: FLAG (as Fight Like A Girl is referred to), is a very fun, clever album. It is the soundtrack to Emilie’s book, The Asylum For Wayward Victorian Girls, and if the listener doesn’t have at least a passing familiarity with that book, FLAG may be a smidge confusing. In many ways, Emilie Autumn’s Opehliac release was more approachable for people not familiar with her work: its “Victorian-industrial” songs about struggling with madness, emotional turmoil, feminism, and classical poetry are catchy and stompy while retaining a sense of being covered in tattered, antique lace. (Or, as Emilie Autumn described her music: “like the best cup of English Breakfast spiked with cyanide and smashed on your antique wallpaper.”) Continue reading
Fight Like A Girl: An Interview With Emilie Autumn!
Hello Snarklings! The Lady of the Manners has been flouncing with glee around Gothic Charm School headquarters, because not only has she been listening to the new Emilie Autumn album Fight Like A Girl, but she was also given the opportunity to interview Emilie for a second time! So without further wittering or waiting, on to the interview! Continue reading
Posted in General, review: music
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On Dealing With Personal Questions
Hello, Snarklings! Oh good heavens, is it summer already? As she has said before, the Lady of the Manners much prefers autumn. Especially October, which also happens to be the name of the Snarkling who wrote to Gothic Charm School asking for advice in dealing with personal questions:
Dearest Lady of the Manners,
I am a recovering socially anxious wreck, in so many words. I am a generally shy person, but I am trying to be better about how I speak to people I don’t know. I hoped you would have some advice to help me. See, I, at the ripe old age of 21, have just entered my first relationship ever, and it is with another lady. Naturally, people tend to have questions, which I understand. However, I am a very private person, and I get very uncomfortable when people ask me personal questions, such as how serious the relationship is, what exactly my sexual orientation is, and so forth. I tend to regress to my less polite behaviors, either one-word grunting answers, or simply telling them it is none of their damn business. I feel like there is a better way to answer questions like these, but I get so nervous and uncomfortable that I don’t think my answers through. If you have any advice at all, it would be most appreciated.
Yours,
October C
Congratulations on your relationship! The Lady of the Manners hopes that you and your lady are very happy. As to your question; while the Lady of the Manners supports you in learning to be better about talking to people you don’t know, she also suspects you think you owe those people answers. To be perfectly honest, you don’t. Continue reading
Posted in Being Mannerly, General, Serious Matters
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Of Gentlemen’s Summerwear and of Alternative Genders
Hello Snarklings! Yes, the Lady of the Manners has dragged herself away from playing with dolls and reading vampire books to answer reader letters! A letter asking for some fashion advice, and two different letters touching on the trans* and genderqueer communities. This is one of the posts at Gothic Charm School where the Lady of the Manners is going to open up the comments in order to get (she hopes!) even more advice and support for the dilemmas being addressed here. However, as always, the comments will be moderated. (Does the Lady of the Manners have to point out that flaming, trolling, and hateful speech are not tolerated here? She would assume not, but better safe than sorry.) Continue reading
Posted in Being Fashionable, Being Social, Clicky-links, General, Serious Matters
Tagged genderqueer, summer goth, trans*
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The Doll House: Tonner Doll and Wilde Imagination!
Welcome to the Doll House, Snarklings! You see, the Lady of the Manners likes dolls. And doll houses, and miniatures, and fuzzy toy monsters. As it so happens, there are a lot of Goth or Goth-influenced dolls and other goodies out there! So the Doll House is where the Lady of the Manners is going to, well, talk about dolls, review various doll-related goodies, and encourage other gothy doll enthusiasts to comment!
For the first visit to the Doll House, the Lady of the Manners had the good fortune to be able to interview two well-known fabulous people in the world of collectible dolls: Robert Tonner from Tonner Doll, and Joe Petrollese from Wilde Imagination. Continue reading
Show And Tell: h. naoto Fashion Show at SakuraCon!
Hello Snarklings! This round of Show and Tell is less a review of items, and more burbling about an event! The fifteenth annual Sakura-Con was a few short weeks ago, and the Lady of the Manners was delighted to attend. Sakura-Con is an event that is focused on Japanese animation, comics, gaming, and cultural arts. Over the past few years, Gothic + Lolita fashion has become a larger presence at the event, including attendees dressed in their finest frills, and fashion shows from some well-known Japanese alternative fashion designers!
h. naoto is a brand the Lady of the Manners has admired ever since she first saw photos of their designs in an early volume of the Gothic + Lolita Bible. Their blend of slashed and deconstructed punk details and Gothic Victorian black lace and tulle was eye-catching, and looked like the garments were designed to be worn in (admittedly very fashionable) daily life, not just saved for special photo shoots. Continue reading
Posted in Being Fashionable, General, review: clothing, Reviews, Show And Tell
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Of Someone Not Sure About This Whole Goth Thing
Hello Snarklings! In this installment of Gothic Charm School, the Lady of the Manners is going to revisit a question that turns up somewhat frequently in the Gothic Charm School mailbox; this time, however, there’s a bit of a twist to it.
Stranded Fashionista wrote with what they call a bit of an existential crisis:
question: How do you know if you’re Goth or not? I’ve never considered myself anywhere close to Goth- but my friends who are more versed in the culture have pointed out that a lot of the things I like are “Goth.” It’s odd to think that I may be part of a sub-culture that I’ve sub-consciously judged for a lot of my life. I’m not exactly sure what help you can give- but, this is causing me a bit of existential crisis.
Posted in Being Fashionable, Being Mannerly, General
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Show And Tell: Spin Doctor Clothing!
Guess what, Snarklings? It’s time for the long-promised review of Spin Doctor Clothing! Yes, really; the Lady of the Manners has been meaning to write up this review for over a year now, but agents of chaos kept thwarting that plan. Anyway! I first discovered Spin Doctor around a year and a half ago, when I was indulging in one of my periodic insomnia-fueled searches of “Gothic Victorian” on eBay. I kept finding items that were utterly charming, with the sort of dark Victorian-but-not-entirely-historically-accurate flair that I prefer in clothing; skirts, waistcoats, jackets, and blouses all made by a company I’d not yet run across. A few days later, after I’d caught up on my sleep, I decided to look at those items again and see if I still was charmed by them, or if it was another case of magpie-brain caused by sleep deprivation.
No, it wasn’t. The items from Spin Doctor were just as enticing as I had remembered. So enticing, in fact, I gave in to temptation and bought myself the “Harriet” waistcoat. Continue reading
Posted in Being Fashionable, review: clothing, Reviews, Show And Tell
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An Assortment Of Questions
Hello Snarklings! It’s time to return to a potpourri of reader questions here at Gothic Charm School, including, oh yes, another question about Goth fashion. Which prompts the Lady of the Manners to say that she is working on a huge upcoming post about Where To Find Goth Clothes and How To Put Together Your Gothy Style, however, when the Lady of the Manners says it’s a huge post, she’s not kidding. So it may take a little while to finally coalesce and appear here on Gothic Charm School. (Yes, Gothic Charm School sees a lot of questions about finding gothy clothes. That, and many, many questions about family disapproval. Which tells the Lady of the Manners that she needs to do big blanket posts on both topics.)
But! Those are projects for the future, and the Lady of the Manners should really concentrate on the questions she’s going to talk about this time around, which are ”¦ hmmm, a question about fashion, a query about explaining one’s gothy self to one’s mom, and ”¦ oh! About Halloween! Continue reading
The Gothic Charm School Interview with Emilie Autumn!
Snarklings, the Lady of the Manners has an exciting treat for you this time at Gothic Charm School! As the Lady of the Manners has mentioned before, she’s a big fan of Emilie Autumn. While the Enchant album was lovely, it was with the release of Opheliac that Emilie Autumn really grabbed people’s attention. How could the Lady of the Manners resist someone who played the violin, wrote slyly smart and biting songs about emotional struggles, and looked like a bedraggled and possibly dangerous Victorian doll? The Lady of the Manners couldn’t, obviously, and has been following the antics (musical and otherwise) of Ms. Autumn ever since. Continue reading