52 Weeks: How Lolita has Changed Me

This is my 3rd week in this challenge, and well, well.. if it isn't already time for number 52! I feel like I got the big, deep question so soon.. but well, I promised to go random! This weeks blogpost is gonna be about how Lolita has changed me.
And boy, has Lolita changed me!

I'd say that Lolita has made me...


..let the outside match the inside.
I got into Lolita in 2010, at the age of 17.
Before then, I had slowly started developing into a "typical girl" when it came to fashion, make-up and the like. Yup, I was very late to the party in that area. Before then, I had always been a tomboy.
I know a lot of girls who got into Lolita from being interested in japanese fashion, goth, couture fashion or some other unusual fashion-style, and from the pictures I have seen, they were all very thorough in their look before they decided to get into Lolita fashion instead. I had to start from the very bottom. I had always worn jeans, oversized sweaters and never even put my hair up in a ponytail or wore any make-up what so ever. I never bought new clothes, because as I said:
"I want stuff that is actually useful!"

Lolita made me discover that clothes and make-up can be, well... Useful.
 It's like being your own fairy godmother.
Now it matters to me that the outside reflects what's on the inside, and I enjoy looking pretty.

...Consider more ways to go with my future.
I have always been a big history geek, but Lolita broadened my horisont even further. Before I got into Lolita, it never occured to me to look into French history, the Victorian era or any other period after the Renaissance. The historical roots of Lolita inspired me to look up the 18th and 19th century, which in turn made me fall in love with historical costuming, which then again got me to stumble upon the regency era. It opened up my eyes to 200 years of awesome history that I had never bothered to look into before and now, I think I might just try and specialize my studies in that field!

...Fill out my life with things that have meaning.
Kind of related to the above, Lolita fashion also opened my eyes to a world of new interests and good reads I had never thought of on my own. My new interest in the 17th and 18th century made me want to read up on old fairytales, read Jane Austen and gothic books like "Interview with the Vampire" and watch more historical or period-inspired movies like "Jane Eyre". Like many other Lolitas, I'm also looking for sewing classes in my area. I've always liked drawing, but Lolita has inspired me to do it more often.

...More open and accepting.
Meet-ups with my local community has kind of forced me to open up. Before I got into Lolita, I always only had a small group of friends, which meant that I was kind of lonely. I never wanted to talk to people that I didn't think I had anything in common with. At first I thought that meet-ups would be the perfect way to expand my social circle to include more people that were just like myself, but it turned out to be very different from what I'd expected. Lolitas are a surprisingly diverse bunch! Now I'm a lot more open to making friends with people who have a lot of different interests and are just very different types of people from myself.

...Made me stronger and more aware.
Lolita has made made me realize how tied down everybody are by society's expectations, which has made me stand up for my right to be myself a lot more, and in general made me care a lot less what other people think. I am not, and will not, be ashamed of what I like, from MLP: FiM to Supernatural.
In the same department, Lolita has made me aware of how women are still discriminated against and in general treated as if they are below men. It has made me aware of phenomena such as "rape-culture", and feminism in general. The blogger of Herlumpiness was the one who first inspired me to look this topic up, and I'm really glad I did!

All in all, I'd say that Lolita has made me a more complete person. It has enriched my life in so many ways!

Well, this was a really interesting challenge to do! It could actually be fun to come back some day and see if I've discovered something new and different about myself.

To see the complete list of 52 Weeks I have to get through and which challenges I've already done, click here!

How has Lolita changed you? Has it made a great impact on your life, apart from the obvious?