Sure, That's What It Is

I used to be a pop culture expert, well perhaps not expert, but I knew way more than was necessary. This was of course before I stopped working at the retail end of the entertainment industry. Since then my knowledge has drifted toward the toddler end of the spectrum, so it wasn't really a surprise that I had not heard about the Twilight phenomenon until it started infiltrating just about everything in the last couple of months. When I heard it was about vampires, I was curious enough to do a little research. I think I learned just enough to know that I would not enjoy it and as an old school goth it was not about what I define as vampires even in the loosest sense. I can allow for a lot of changes to myths, but I'm afraid I must draw the line at fundamental changes to the legend that cause vampires to sparkle.

I am however getting away from the point of this post. I made a bracelet in the pattern I showed off yesterday. I chose to do the filigree looking base in black and I made the rose in a deep red. I think it looks positively Gothic and lovely, but something else struck me as I was taking pictures of my creation. It occurred to me that fans of this Twilight business might love this piece as it is made in the colors that appear on the novels covers and in all the Twilight inspired items saturating etsy. I was very tempted to slap a twilight tag on the sucker and exploited its success.

I'm not going to though, I just can't do it. I'm certain that others have done it and will continue to jump on any band wagon that comes along, but the piece certainly wasn't inspired by the books or movie and it just doesn't seem right to say it was. I have had the same dilemma regarding the term Lolita. I see it a lot as a tag on etsy and I have a passing knowledge of the movement and even though I could guess that my pieces would fit in with a Lolita style, I don't know enough to say that with any confidence. I guess I am trying to avoid being regarded as a poseur by assuming where my work fits in. So if a sparkly vampire lover finds my bracelet and like it, great, but I'm not going to pretend it was made just for them.