About the Title
After sifting through what felt like hundreds of names, I finally decided on my first idea: The Gilded Lily. Although it is a fairly commonplace name, I felt it was appropriate for this blog and I want to share with you why I chose such a "cliche" name (and if anyone knows how to do accents in blogger, let me know).
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| http://www.sxc.hu/photo/122752 |
The language of flowers was popular among Victorians. Using this "language"--which assigned a symbolic meaning to each individual flower-- ornamental bouquets became significant messages of love, betrayal, or admiration. The lily usually symbolized purity or honor, but eventually different types and colors of lily came to mean different things. Orange lilies could symbolize hatred, whereas white lilies meant virginity, purity and youth. A tiger lily represented wealth or pride, and a lily of the valley evoked sweetness and happiness.
In general, the symbolism of the lily appeals to me. It's a lot that I want to be: pure, sweet, happy, full of honor. Gilding the Lily usually means unnecessarily adding beauty to something beautiful. Lolita fashion is a lot about adding a little beauty to your life and to the world. I am not vainly asserting that adding "gilding" to myself is unnecessary, nor is my life perfectly beautiful...But Lolita gilds my life, adding just a little more elegance to everything.
So there you have it: "Gilding the Lily."
About the Blog
Gilding the Lily is my outlet. Primarily for musings about Lolita fashion and related things, other entries may be included if I feel it gives you some insight into who I am or an important event in my life. I created this blog to share my love of Lolita and elegance with others and perhaps make some new friends. I don't pretend to be an authority on Lolita--or anything else for that matter! I may say things that are wrong or slightly misinformed, but I speak from personal opinion and experience and do my best to be knowledgeable about my subject matter. I hope you enjoy the blog!
About the Header
A short plug for the header photo creator because she makes really amazing things: it's a picture of a necklace made by Bitter Sweet. You can find her DeviantArt here, and you can find her jewelry for sale on her Etsy page. She has some elegant things, and some deliciously dark.
