Quite often lately, I have thought on the future of beauty, mainly in illustration and fashion, but also in painting and music, though the last has hardly ever been my strength. Call it the influence of the European New Right. That anti-democratic school, its potent intellectual currents fed by the best insights of the post-Nietzschean Right, as well as of traditional Catholicism, tends to be very futuristic: that is, concerned with the way perennial ideals are embodied in new forms, artistic or not, rather than in revivifying older forms. While the distinction reflects an unfair dismissal of the contributions to culture made traditionalists (the vibrancy of communal life in Latin Mass churches being a perfect reproof of the bias against them), they do have a point. Newer forms and styles of art have, despite disadvantages, great potentials yet unrealized. While I, a child of the 90s, usually prefer bubblegum pop or its close cousins when I do listen to contemporary music, after reading this thought-provoking article at a New Right publisher's website, and listening to "Whilst the Night Rejoices Profound and Still", a piano song by the neofolk group Current 93, at long last I am awed by the possibility for greatness music still holds. Though neofolk often glorifies European paganism, we can make common cause with David Tibet, the front man of Current 93, who identifies as Christian. I hope to become much better acquainted with the genre in the future, but even now, I can recommend, also, Current 93's "Tamlin", an eerie modern ballad wrought from the traditional, without fear of your boredom or disapproval, my cultured reader.

My favorite arts after the literary, however, are the visual, to most of my musings and all of my efforts are devoted. As a lover of anime for reasons beyond the standby "It's over 9000!" (if only it weren't for dubs), and even more so of Gothic manga like Rozen Maiden, Godchild, and Dantalian no Shoka, it was natural that I should eventually succumb to the charms of Imai Kira. A cutie in her own right, as you can see, she is known for her illustration artbooks, calendars, and most famously for the art she produces for Angelic Pretty, a lolita fashion clothier with, for all my Californian readers, a location in San Francisco. Just days ago, two stunning, beautiful prints featuring her trademark innocents arrived in the mail. I can't find large images of the prints on the image search, but you may see them here and here. The dealer, Lolita Desu, is run out of Denmark by a femme with the cutest Nordic name--Sasha Maria Wiinholt Foght! On her equally kawaii Facebook, she represents herself as a cuddly furry!

My favorite Imai Kira works were not available for purchase, but I post a few here for your delight. I just adore Jewelry Princess, which is the Birth of Venus on the vanity. Please click to enlarge.


























There is something profound about "The World in the Black of the Left Eye", the title of which is cut off here. Observe the birds, silhouettes of birds, fallen birds, feathers, egg, and candled pastry.


























Piano! Piano! Piano! An unmatched socked herald with Medievally plain mien.


























I believe this one is called "Sleep Child".


























My favorite, melding modesty with sprightly eroticism. The hair is gorgeous.



My, my, and that is but the famed artist herself. Her work has inspired many admiring illustrators. See for instance this LiveJournal, Pinkish-White (see also the lady's Tumblr). Whatever one's tastes, her pastel-colored works, whether finished by hand or by Photoshop, are on to something.















I cannot conclude the post without recognizing some of the adherents to lolita fashion. Often overdone or misunderstood, the fashion, done rightly, enwraps the woman in the feminine beauty of her own nature, with the returned intensity of a forgotten age. In a time of spike heels, blue jeans, and halter tops, these self-motivated damsels give me hope. Some bloggers with really exceptional, inspiring style include Alice-tan of Pink Milk Tea, at left, and some of her friends at right.

















Those interested may watch this short documentary, LoliGirls: The Story Behind The Frills and Bows, which I heartily enjoyed and is well done for an amateur project.

Russell Kirk, it may surprise even my fellow paleoconservatives to know, profiled romanticism in his epochal The Conservative Mind. Writing on "the whole struggle between philosophical radicalism and romantic conservatism," he wrote,

What the Romantics dreaded in a world subjected to Utilitarian domination was an indiscriminate destruction of variety, loveliness, and ancient rights in the name of devouring individualism and a Philistine materialism.

How true still today. May the Lord God, as we enter the fair season of Advent, soften our hearts to the finest things by the experience of beauty, Amen+