lolitafashion

Joyce Tam 995679234**
 * Lolita Fashion Culture

**Introduction**
Fashion out there today means a lot to society and does cause issues between people in a certain fashion trend/community and with the society as a whole. The Lolita fashion trend is a form of Japanese street fashion (not the traditional Japanese fashion) and rarely anyone wears this style outside of Japan. Because of that, many will see this as something differently than what it is supposed to be. In order to learn or gain access of this fashion trend is through internet where there are many misconceptions and issues in the Lolita community. In the Western culture, many people do not have any knowledge of this fashion trend, due to the looks, this fashion is in many case socially rejected.

Social Misconceptions
What is the Lolita fashion? As many people might not know what it is as stated in the above paragraph, Lolita fashion is one of the more well known subcultures of Japanese street fashion compare to many others. This fashion style is heavily inspired by the French Rococo style and other eras during the 1950s which makes the overall looks of this fashion extreme compare to what people wear in everyday life. People who dress this and announce that this is the Lolita fashion style, many will automatically think it is related to the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. This fashion style has absolutely nothing to do with sexual fetishes but instead, the emphasis is on modesty, youthfulness, and cute. The following quotation is from an interview who was questioned the biggest misconception of Lolita the fashion style “People take one look at the word ‘Lolita’ and assume that the fashion has a sexual undertone, as is true of the novel of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov. However, Lolita is inspired by clothing from the Rococo and Victorian era, and it emphasizes modesty and cuteness rather than sexuality.” (Nguyen, 2008) Lolita fashion has three main subcategories: gothic, sweet, and classic. People who have heard about this fashion will automatically think that Lolita fashion is referred to as gothic Lolita or elegant gothic Lolita. With that said, people also think that gothic Lolita is related to Western Goths or what people think goth would be but “Lolita is not necessarily related to what you think of as "Goth"” (Wikihow). Another issue is that when girls dressed up in Lolita, some might think it is associated with cosplaying (costume playing) or what French maids would wear. Lolita is a fashion style in Japan but many Western people who are anime fans assume or think that Lolita is a form of costume playing. As one girl described this as her problem when dressing in Lolita, “those who confuse lolita with cosplay and maid styles” (valkyrie_chan, 2008). Many Lolita find it very offensive when people who do not know much about Lolita and just assume what they are.

Issues in the Fashion Community
Through the use of internet, many female fans learned about this Lolita fashion through websites, online communities, and even conventions. Many of these people then get together in an online community on LiveJournal called Elegant Gothic Lolita Community (EGL for short) to gather together with similar interest. This fashion trend is originated in Japan, people from the Western culture who have never been to Japan will only be able to learn about this fashion through the use of internet or other medias like magazines. The first handed experience of a fashion is different from something through a source. As one girl that has lived in Japan before from the EGL community stated “Some international lolitas’ conceptions of what it takes to be a good lolita in Japan are so horribly off-base.” (valkyrie_chan, 2008). In the Lolita community, in order to be a “good” Lolita, they have to own some sort of Lolita brand name goods while “bad” Lolita are ones who make their own or have very low quality Lolita clothes. This issue has been affecting the Lolita community for a very long time, due to this, many people with DIY or low quality or non-brand name items will be rejected or viewed lowly even if they looked good, the following quotation gives it a better view; “Japanese girls will agree that in order to be accepted and respected by other lolitas, it is necessary to buy some brand clothing” (Nessa). Lolita is after all a fashion, there is really no right or wrong to it but people try to make up rules for Lolita that simply do not have anything to do with the fashion. A lot of people consider Lolita fashion as only a style while others incorporate a lifestyle to it. Some even think that to be a true Lolita, you need to live like the “Lolita lifestyle”. The Lolita lifestyle is referred to how a character named Momoko from a novel called “Shimostuma Monogatari” by a Lolita novelist Novala Takemoto lived her life. Takemoto “expresses the wish that she could live in the carefree, whimsical and hedonistic Rococo era” (Nessa), wearing Lolita clothes as much as possible, and behave in a very relaxed and polite manner; that is what some hardcore Lolita lifestyle fans believe in. It does not matter if a person consider this as a fashion or more than a fashion, “the culture of lolita is an escape to a fantasy world free of pressures of modern-day society and adulthood.” (Nessa) in accords to Nessa.

Social Rejection
Lolita the fashion is considered to be an extreme style of Japanese street fashion. Because of the appearance of this fashion, it is socially rejected at first glance with other components. This fashion trend is aimed for mostly females in their late teens and young adulthood and is emphasized on modesty and cuteness as described in paragraph two. Many fans of this wear Lolita to feel youthful and to escape from the real modern world and adulthood as stated in the above which allows people to make comparison between Lolita and Goths. This fashion trend is a luxury, so many of the brand name Lolita clothes are very high in prices that normal teens and young adults are not able to afford. Many of these people are females who live with parents and relying on them to afford these Lolita dresses. With that said, they rather be buying these clothes than to be living independently from their parents, the following quotation states the above issues “the only way to continue buying such items is to remain living in the family home and use discretionary income to buy clothes, rather than establish one's own independent life” (Nessa) This is a way for these girls to escape from the real world and be carefree. In the Western culture, many girls try to work and save up enough money to only buy these clothes, almost the same as what Japanese girls do. When a girl is dressed up in Lolita to anywhere outside of Japan, they are exposed to many different people staring at them with different looks, questions, and sometimes being humiliated. As valkyrie_chan described her experience of wear Lolita, “people staring, men leering at you and trying to touch you, people who think it’s weird”, many of which are facts that it is socially rejected as an appearance and also culturally.

Conclusion
Lolita the fashion is still a very unknown fashion culture, it is very hard to raise any solutions to the issues. There is no right or wrong to a fashion and no given set of rules that can be broken. Everyone has the right to think what is right or wrong, so to be a true Lolita, they can break or follow the “rules” of what they think a Lolita should be like.

What is lolita?
media type="youtube" key="kJ7TVZGdL_0" height="344" width="425" Enjoy!

**Bibliography**
"How to Be a Gothic Lolita - wikiHow." __WikiHow - The How-to Manual That You Can Edit__. 05 Feb. 2009 .

"Jenna Winterberg and Michelle Nguyen Interview - Interview with the Editors of The Gothic and Lolita Bible." __Manga - Manga Reviews, Manga News and Manga Artists Interviews from About.com__. 05 Feb. 2009 .

Neko, Nessa. "Lolita and Japanese Society." __Lolita Fashion - For Lolitas of All Styles__. 05 Feb. 2009 .

Valkyrie_chan. "Egl: The State of Lolita: On the Bound of East and West." __Community Center__. 18 Aug. 2008. 05 Feb. 2009 .