A Fond Farewell

Angle of Death Victorious
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/angels?before=1339651469

On November 20th 2012, the world for all those who love alternative fashions and lifestyles suffered a loss. Miss Lumpy of the wonderful blog "Her Lumpiness" hung up her hat and bid adieu to the Lolita lifestyle. In a beautiful final post, she made her farewells, explained her reasoning and introduced us to her new blog.

Her decision to move on has my complete support and understanding. But since this blog was so important to my own developing interest in alternative Aesthetics, I want to take a moment to reflect on her work.

Miss Lumpy's writing on the Lolita lifestyle is some of the best I have ever seen. This blog was inspired by her own. In addition to covering the basics of Lolita fashion, she explained how she was applying Lolita to her daily lifestyle as well: book recommendations  etsy shop reviews, daily outfit posts. But what set her blog apart is her willingness to tackle some of the deeper and more painful topics. Her posts covered the gambit from relationship abuse to bullying to self esteem. I follow a lot of blogs for alternative fashion, but Miss Lumpy's was the only one that covered such a range of ideas. She blended the profound and the beautiful together seamlessly. 

   

I will miss her posts. Her writing was clear and nuanced. Her topics inspired me to find beauty in my day to day life despite being from a different aesthetic. Her presence will be missed in my RSS feeds.

However, her goodbye to the lolita aesthetic brings up another interesting idea: we evolve. The ideas we held sacred seven years ago may have no relevance to our current life. As new ideas and information enter our minds, as new experiences shape our memories, it is a greater crime to cling to the past and stagnate rather than embrace the change. There should be no shame in putting old, fond ideas to rest if it means clearing your life for a new  inspiration. 

But, as Chinese Medicine teaches, grief accompanies every change in life- even the changes for the good. Miss Lumpy will be missed, but I look forward to reading Ally Button's new work.