Hello! Today I finally decided to give an intro on Lolita fashion. Lolita fashion is one of my favorite fashion styles , and I was an admirer for many years. ( Over a decade!) There are a few places online that have inaccurate information of the style, ( that is mostly opinion based; you will see such articles almost never actually interviewed or talked to anyone who wore the fashion but was someone who just really disliked it and wrote it from an outsider's perspective.)
A lot of blogs and websites these days have pretty accurate information on the style, and I will compile a list when I have time. For now though, let me give a basic run down on what I do know, being an avid fan of the fashion for many years.This is just the introductory post; I will have many more posts in the future talking about this.~
Even if you don't read anything else here, let me get down to the main points. Lolita fashion is often about modesty,and a love for old fashion clothes. Inspiration from the fashion ranges from the Rococo era, Baroque era, Victorian/Edwardian era, and some vintage/retro styles such as in the 40's or 50's. Oftentimes you will see "rules" for the fashion, but it's more of guidelines to help beginners and such. One of the most important factors is the shape; Lolita outfits typically have a bell shape, cupcake shape, or A line shape to the dresses, and coordination is important as well. It's an alternative fashion in Japan, but gained some popularity overseas as well.
Lolita fashion had a few precursor styles in Japan originating as far back as the late 70's, but a lot of it looked more akin to prairie dresses and the sort. The fashion known as "Lolita fashion" did not officially form until sometime in the early-mid 90's, as that was the time period the fashion was known as "Lolita." The name has no connection to the infamous book by Nabokov, as a lot of girls in Japan did and still do not like to be associated with the term. There are many theories as to were the name came up or why, but the best one I found was one that mentioned when the girls in the 90's first heard the name, they adapted the term thinking it was a cute Western/foreign name, and their clothes being based on old fashioned Western/foreign clothes, adapted it. When the fashion got popular and was shown in mainstream Japanese television and media in the late 90's/early 2000's, people who knew the negative connotation of the term often approached these girls and told them about the name's other meaning. By then, as the name was already popularized, most of the girls into the style could not change the name, but to avoid confusion and unwanted company, the Lolita's in Japan changed the Japanese spelling of the fashion in forums and such, to differentiate the two terms. (I read this up either in the book "Japanese Goth" or "Style Deficit Disorder." It's been a while but both books are good for information on Lolita or just Gothic fashion in Japan, as well as some other styles.)
For the record, if someone tells you they know, for a fact, where the term Lolita came for the fashion, don't believe it; the Lolita community itself, (in and out of Japan), aren't sure either. What is agreed on is that whoever named it that was someone most likely outside of the fashion, as people in Japan have a tendency of adapting a name to their fashion after someone outside of the fashion called it so. For now, because this is a general blog, and not a Lolita fashion specific one, below are some terms I will be using in future articles.
Jumperskirt: A dress you have to wear a blouse underneath. Many brands offer jumperskirts you can wear without a blouse, but some can look odd without one.
One Piece: A regular dress; you don't need a blouse under it.
Bloomers- Most though not all lolitas wear these. They're old fashion underwear you wear under the dress.
Petticoats- Those tutu like things you put under a dress to make it poofy. Most lolita outfits require a petticoat, and the poofier dresses usually have two or three underneath!
Gothic Lolita- Lolita with Gothic elements.
Punk Lolita- Lolita with Punk Elements.
Sweet Lolita- A popular category of Lolita, usually consisting of pastel colorways, and hyper feminine and cute designs. Depending how you style it, it can look like a cute, slightly childish doll, or a more formal princess look in pastels.
OTT Sweet - Known as Kote Lolita in Japan, it's the abbreviation for over the top sweet. It's sweet taken to extremes, with alot of accessories and fancier dresses or prints. Might have developed from deco-lolita, which was mixing decora fashion,(another street style), with lolita.
Classic Lolita- A category that can look cute/classy/elegant/ or mature. It looks a bit more mature than sweet, and depending on the brand, some outfits look like direct replications of actual Victorian/Vintage Clothes. Some types of outfits in Classic Lolita can pass for Sweet Lolita if worn in a different way.
Qi Lolita- Mixing traditional Chinese clothes with lolita fashion. Not commonly talked of.
Wa Lolita- Mixing traditional Japanese clothes with lolita fashion. It's pretty,but like Qi, the western community does not talk about it much, (from what I've seen!)
Ouji - Called Kodona in the west, it's actual translation is Prince Style. This is the boy equivalent of lolita, and where as lolita is what a girl would have worn back in the day, Ouji is what a young boy/gentleman would have worn back in the day. As lolita is a primarily female dominant fashion, most of the folks who wear this are actually female. (Though there are guys too!)
Themes in Lolita : These are popular themes in lolita that appear from time to time. Lolita is an alternative fashion, and people like to incorporate other aspects of interest into the style. Usually done for photo shoots, meet-ups, or parties. Some popular themes are Military theme, Pirate theme, Sailor theme,Guro theme, (a style consisting of a broken up doll look with bandages and fake blood), and whatever else can be coordinated well into an outfit. Alot of brands will usually make pieces that follow other street fashion trends, such as hime-gal, or fairy kei, (fairy style.)
Examples Below:
Pirate Lolita
Sailor Lolita
Deco Lolita- Mixing decora and lolita fashion.
Hime-Lolita - Princess Lolita. Can be done with any style, but mostly done with Sweet or Classic. Tiaras come into play here, and many of the outfits are usually extravagant and highly detailed. Some variations of hime-lolita take inspiration from hime-gal (princess gal), a rococo inspired substyle of gal (gyaru) fashion.
Guro Lolita
Fairy Kei Lolita - At first glance, it looks like regular sweet lolita, but fairy kei
usually has a highly saturated, almost neon pastel palette. Angelic Pretty is notorious
for mixing the two together. People who wear the two styles, like any mixture of street
fashions, lean on one style over the other, or blend both in coordinates.
Types of Lolita:
These are ways Lolita can be worn and aren't categories in themselves, but some girls might mistaken these and call them a style on their own.
Casual Lolita- A toned down version of typical Lolita outfits; it's still Lolita but cute cutsew shirts and plain skirts might be used instead of an elaborate blouse/jumperskirt. Can be done with any style of Lolita like Gothic, Sweet,etc.
Ero-Lolita - A slightly controversial lolita style, ero (erotic) Lolita, is a style that is cute and slightly sexy in the old-fashioned sense of the word. (A corset and underwear is not ero-Lolita!) It's still modest by today's standards and for the most part follows the guidelines set out for Lolita's. Most girls/ladies who wear it do so because they want something cute, but mature, and they like to show off the figure of their bodies, mostly for themselves. It's rarely talked about, and from what I understand is mostly worn at clubs/ rock concerts or similar events, as it's not seen as practical for everyday wear. Many corset styles ( not all!) work well with ero-Lolita, and it can be done with any style. Bloomers alone can be seen as acceptable here, and shorter skirts/dresses work too.
Some good links for more information:
Lolita Fashion.org - It hasn't been updated in a few years, but this has good introductory info.
Hello Lace - A picture encyclopedia that is constantly updated; it has all the outfits different brands put out over the years. They have detailed info on all the styles.
Tokyo Rebel FAQ- This is a Japanese fashion boutique in New York that deals with alot of the Japanese Gothic/Punk and Lolita brands. Their Faq section has some good history about lolita and Japanese street fashion in general.
Avant Gauche - A slightly outdated website, this is a picture gallery that has old magazine photos of lolitas from the 90's-early 2000's. It's good to look at and spot what's the same and different in the fashion today.
Lolita Handbook - A livejournal site set out to help beginners getting into the fashion. It has not been updated for a while, but the archive is a good idea to get a general aesthetic of the fashion and lifestyle.
Egl Livejournal - The Elegant Gothic Lolita livejournal page. This is probably the biggest online community for lolitas not in Japan, and if you do some digging around, you can find many things such as DIY projects, hair tutorials, questions about the fashion's history, as well as some debates and other interesting things. Some posts will also discuss other street fashions similar to lolita.
Lolita Indies Livejournal - A Livejournal community that focuses on Indie, less popular lolita brands, their history, as well as some Otome (Maiden) brands. Otome stores focus on general cute fashion, but often do have dresses that could be worn as lolita. Some people will tell you this is old-school lolita of the earlier 90's, without the petticoats and other "rules." (More on this later!)
*Photos are not mine! Taken from official websites,or around the net.
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