Anyway, you asked stuff, and I am gonna try and reply. Hey, at least it got me to update! ;D

How is the frilly scene in Finland? What do you love, hate and miss the most (in comparison to other countries or scenes)?
I am definitely not the expert on this, because I hardly ever contribute anything to the community itself, hahah. I rarely post on the forums, but I’ve done my fair share of lurkin’, so I’ll talk about the impression I have gotten. The Finnish frills operate pretty much solely at Enfant Terrible, the (very lolita-centric) j-fashion forums. And I gotta say that I absolutely LOVE the forums. They might be a bit slow discussion-wise, but the moderating team is awesomesauce and does not let any bullshit get through. I haven’t at least heard of any major drama within the Finns, and everyone is very helpful to newbies. No complaints whatsoever – j-fashion is very popular in Finland (amongst them youngsters, that is), so it’s, to be honest, really surprising how the forums can keep up such a mature and helpful atmosphere, hahah. Well, that, and nearly everyone in Finland seems to know how to do it right (in my humble opinion), which is always a plus. I don’t actually dislike anything in the Finnish scene, now that I think of it.

I realised I don’t really have much to say about the Finnish scene (because I can’t seem to find anything negative to say!), so I am throwing it to you guys instead – how is the frilly scene in your country? (Especially the ones of you in “smaller” countries!) I honestly have no idea, at most I know a bit of how the scene is in the US and UK because of my e-learnings and what some interweb friends have told me.

What would you say are the base, essential items in your wardrobe?
No one cares about my regular wardrobe, so I assume we’re focusing on my frilly shit instead. The base probably are the simplest shorts I own and one of my “generic” white stand-collar shirts. Boring chocies, but they are indeed the “base”. They’re not my favourite items out of the stuff I own (Roland jacket, I am looking at you) but they’re the easiest to coordinate around (both casual and dressier looks) and thus they’re the most “essential”. I could have a dozen Boz jackets but I still wouldn’t have a single outfit if I lacked my shirts and shorts. ;D

What, in your opinion, is the first or most important or desirable piece when building one’s frilly wardrobe?
Depends on if you’re asking from a lolita or boystyle point of view… in both I’d say go with something fairly simple. It’s, again, not the “best” or most desirable piece, but a basic item like a fairly simple solid-color JSK for the ladies or a basic shirt with a jabot for the gents is, imho, the most “important” item when trying to build up your wardrobe. It just has to be something that can be easily coordinated around, even with things from “regular” stores without completely missing the point of the look.

Pic related to the next one, as in a “regular” outfit from yesterday. Not gonna list where the stuff is from, because I don’t even remember.

What’s your favourite thing about the way you dress?
About the “regular” way I dress, not much. I try to keep my own style, but I hardly have a favourite thing about my “normal” style. (Call it what you will, a lot of people say it looks gyaru-o inspired, but I really don’t know and don’t really care.) Which brings me to why I like frilly shit.

I am not going to mention a single favourite thing I like about the frilly shit (if you’d prefer that, we can go with “Hurrr I like ruffles!” instead). Here’s something I wrote ages ago, before I even started this blog, but never posted, it… kind of explains why I like this style. You can see it’s old because I keep referring to “my job” and I am at school now, but the point still stands:
And why did I suddenly decide to go back to kodona/ouji/what I refer to as “frilly shit”? Well, I was a goth before I got into the japanese shit. I feel too old for labeling myself nowadays, and I definitely don’ t fit in any set label anyway (I listen to eurodance and the occasional gangsta rap! BLASPHEMY!) but in all honesty I’m still goffik at heart. Goths can roughly be divided to the romantigoths and the industrial goths (almost all the other subgenres really do fit under the two of them, imho, but let’s not start fighting about that here if you disagree), and I was very obviously the former. Like all good romantigoths I was drawn to the 19th century aesthetic… you should have seen my face when I found out there was this fashion in Japan that was heavily inspired by 19th century children’s clothing, hahah. Obviously today’s lolita trends are more along the lines of “OMFG PINK! OMFG FOOD PRINTS ON SKIRTS!”, which I can’t get myself to like, by the way, but bear with me, I got into this back in 2003 when white x black was hot shit and edible things weren’t printed on skirts. What was “sweet” back then would be “HOLY SHIT IS THAT DRESS MADE FROM GRANDMA’S SOFA COVER?!?!” nowadays, strangely enough I didn’t mind that, hahah. Anyway, that was love at first sight and I started (poorly) dressing like that nearly instantly. I am a bitter old fart that listens to eurodance instead of Malice Mizer now, but back then I was a cheesy romanticist and a fashion like this thrilled me.
It was so escapist in a way, I mean come on, looking like a 19th century prince in a lousy small 21st century Finnish town? Fucking awesome! Back then I was a teenager and thus dumb (not to say all are, but some, myself included, are/were), but I can’t deny I still wasn’t partially drawn to the fashion because of that even now. Admittedly, for different reasons. I’m now older and more bitter, my life is all work and no play, and dressing like a deranged 12-year-old victorian kid on my days off makes me feel completely different from the boring me that goes to my boring job wearing a t-shirt and jeans. It’s so different from the usual dullness of my work days and responsibilities. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the “kid” aspect. I never said I want to be an adult, but there’s no helping it and I quite obviously am starting to become one. I don’t mind that. There’s a much simpler reason to that, hahah. I could have started dressing strictly aristocrat instead, but I went for ouji instead because it’s more playful and less mature in its own frilly way. I am very tongue-in-cheek all the time, and dressing so mature really isn’t who I am most of the time. Obviously mundane people would think I look ridiculous either way, but the only opinion that matters is my own in what it comes to my style, hahah. It’s mostly about the aesthetics for me nowadays, I just am drawn to 19th century inspired things, but I can’t say the escapist aspect wasn’t there. I mean I admit it, sometimes when I am sitting in the metro nowadays wearing my frilly shit and being stared at, I do turn the eurodance off my ipod and switch to the goffik shit instead. Deep inside I know I am still myself with my boring job and shit, but those moments make me feel so happy about myself that I feel like a completely different person, like a “better” me. And that’s much more than I can say about my past “vk” style, hahah.

Who is the person you most admire on a kodona aesthetic way?
I… really don’t follow any specific people, nor am I a person who tends to admire others. I may like someone’s coordinate and think that s/he is doing it right, but I don’t really admire anyone because of their style. Partially because I used to do that as a teenager and just ended up looking like a poor clone, I want to do my “own thing” nowadays (quotations because really doing your “own thing” in a fashion like this is kind of an oxymoron). If I had to mention anyone as my style icon, it would be this lovely animated 13-year-old chap:

I mean come on, just look at him.

I see you change your hair a lot. Why is this? What on earth is your preferred colour?
Are you ever going to decide?
Honestly, I probably never will decide. I get bored with my hair a lot, changing my hair isn’t much different from having a different outfit every day in my books. And I restrict myself from changing my hair too often nowadays (well, recently I’ve just gotten really lazy about it, to be honest)! Back when I was 14-15 I dyed or cut my hair pretty much every two weeks because I got bored with it so fast. Oh, the horrible haircuts, having whatever was left of my hair be completely fried and go through all the colors of the rainbow within two months, those were the days…
I just like changing it often. I’d feel bored with myself if I didn’t. Of course nowadays I actually know how to take care of it (unlike back when I was 14) so it’s not really a big deal. My ideal color is grey, as dull as that may seem. I’d love to have dark grey hair, but I’ve never quite realised how to achieve that color (if someone knows, do share). I’ve had silver, and still had a few weeks ago, but the upkeep is way too much for my lazy ass nowadays. I still love me some silver hair though, hahah.

Love – a farce created by society, only temporary….or?
As a subquestion to that: marriage – a convenient way of dealing with tax issues, a romantic idea but impossible in practice, a kind of ownership…. or?
This is an interesting question, mostly because it really has nothing to do with what I usually talk about here, nor is it a thing I think a lot about, hahah. Well, I have had my fair share of relationships, some have lasted longer than others, but I honestly can’t say I have been in love in all of them. Love isn’t a farce, to me, but it’s extremely hard to come across (assuming we’re talking about romantic love – I do love my friends, but that’s different). I know people who fall in love very easily, but I am not like that. I know love is real, but I also think that it usually transforms over time – as in is “temporary” in a way. Considering I am single now, it would be safe to say my loves haven’t really lasted, hahah. I am still on good terms with some of my exes and love them a lot as friends, so I’d just say that in those cases the love has just transformed from romantic to friendly. But it’s still definitely there.
For me the “falling in love” period of a relationship isn’t even “love”, per se. It’s romantic interest mixed with getting to know the other person better (and liking what you learn) because I don’t think you can actually love a person you don’t know enough yet. After that point, if you know the other person AND the romantic interest is still there, then, well, yeah, that’s romantic love for you. But “love” to me still is loving and respecting the other person as a person and that doesn’t change even if the romantic interest dies. Of course I also know that there are situations where something happens and you just simply can’t love a person anymore because of what they’re done/said/whatever but I won’t go there right now. This is more about what I think of “love” in general.

As for marriage… I have never thought much of marriage. It’s just not my piece of cake, and in my books it’s just an official agreement to commitment to each other. Situations change and people can grow apart, I personally don’t think I even want to get married (I don’t belong to the church or believe in a god, so that part doesn’t matter to me either). As said, situations change, and I don’t want to be in a relationship where I have to make my commitment “official”. Still a convenient way of dealing with tax issues, though, can’t deny that.

Bought this lovely fine-quality precut wool from the discount bin of my fabric store the other day. I am going to make shorts out of it, and a matching vest (or jacket, if there is enough fabric, but I doubt it). I also need to start working on my ouji-style winter coat asap (I honestly don’t have a single winter coat that goes with this stuff, and Finland gets cold in the winter time), but I don’t have the money to buy the fabrics. Sometimes, just sometimes, I wish I still worked full-time.